Money, real and imaginary. On the footing on which money now stands, it is divided into real or actual money , and imaginary money , or money of account. [1]

We call real or actual money all specie made of gold, silver, billon, copper and other matters that have value in trade, and that really exist, such as louis, guineas, écus, rix-dollars, pesos, sequins, ducats, rupees, abassis, larins, etc .

Imaginary money , or money of account , is that which has never existed, or which at least no longer exists as real specie, but which has been invented or retained to facilitate accounts by keeping them always on a fixed and invariable footing, unlike current money , which the sovereign authority may raise or lower at will.

There are nonetheless still some places where the currant money also serves as the money of account. But we will write a separate article on the principal moneys of account of Europe and Asia. See Money of account of the moderns. It suffices here to say that money of account is composed of a certain number of units that can change in their substance but are always the same in their quality. For example, fifty livres are composed of fifty units called livres , which are not real but which can be paid in various real coins, which can change, such as gold or silver louis, which in France often increase or diminish in price. [2]

We may distinguish several characteristics of real money . Some are essential and intrinsic to coins, namely the matter and the form, while others are only arbitrary and in a sense accidental but nonetheless distinct, such as the volume, the figure, the name, the graining, the legend, the date, the mark, the secret point and the place of manufacture. We will speak here briefly of each.

The most essential characteristic of money is matter . [3] In Europe we use only gold, silver and copper. Of these three metals only copper is still used in its pure state. The others are alloyed together: gold with silver or copper, and silver only with copper. The alloy of these last two composes the matter or metal called billon . See Money of billon.

The degrees of purity of minted gold and silver are measured and expressed differently. For gold we use the word karats , and for silver, pennyweights . See Karat and Pennyweight.

For several reasons moneys are minted not from pure [gold or silver], but from alloy : among other reasons are the natural mixture of metals, the cost of purifying them, the need to harden them in order to prevent their transport from reducing them, and the scarcity of gold and silver in certain countries. [4]

The other thing that is essential to money , after the matter , is what minters call the form , which consists in the weight of the coin, the cut, the remedy of weight, the impression that it bears, and the value given to it.

By the weight , we mean the heaviness that the sovereign has assigned to each coin, which helps to identify those that have been altered, and even to distinguish the good coins from those that are counterfeit or filled.

The cut is the number of coins that the prince orders to be made from a mark of silver, gold or copper.

The remedy of weight is the permission granted to the masters of the mints to use a mark in specie that is smaller by a certain number of grains than the true mark, which is called weakening . [5]

The impression , also called the image , is the imprint that each piece of metal receives, the mark that gives it public currency, that transforms it into a minted object, and in short that makes it a coin of money , that mark without which it is simply a piece of gold, silver or copper, which can indeed be employed to several uses, or sold for another good, but which cannot be received on the same footing as those which bear this impression ordered by the sovereign.

Finally the value of money is the footing on which coins are received in commerce. This footing differs from their intrinsic price because, besides the value of the matter, the prince’s duties, called seigniorage , and the charges of the manufacture, called brassage , must also be added.

As for those characteristics that are less essential, the volume of money is nothing other than the size and thickness of each coin. The figure is the external shape that presents itself to the eye: round in France, irregular with several angles in Spain, square in some parts of the Indies, almost spherical in others, or with the form a little shuttle in some.

The name derives sometimes from that which the imprint represents, such as sheep or cherubs; sometimes from the name of the prince, such as louis, philips or henries; sometimes from their value, such as quarter-écus and pieces of twelve sous; and at other times from the place where the coins are struck, such as parisis or tournois.

The graining is the little ring in the form of grain that runs all around the face of the coin, and that encircles the legends on both sides. Besides its ornamental value it renders more difficult the alteration of moneys , which is done by shaving. Legends and little patterns have also been added to the edge, thereby rendering this sort of alteration impossible.

The legend is the inscription that is engraved on one side around the effigy, and on the other around the coat of arms, or in some cases fills all one side of a coin of money . We have just mentioned that there is a third legend on the edge. The legend of the effigy contains the name and qualities of the prince there represented. The others are often composed of some passage of Holy Scripture, or of some phrase such as a motto, or even the price of the coin. We speak only of what is done currently in Europe.

The date shows the year that each coin was struck. Since the ordinance of Henri II of 1549, it is placed in this kingdom in Arabic numerals beside the coat of arms. Before that the epoch of the coinage was known almost exclusively by the name of the prince, or by that of the coiners.

The mark is a little mark that particular coiners and masters of the mints choose as they please, such as a sun, a rose, a star, a crescent, etc . It can be changed only by order of the Court of Moneys or the guardian judges. It necessarily changes at the death of the coiners and the masters, or when there are new guardian judges or inspectors.

The secret point used to be a point known only to the officers of each mint . It was placed under one of the letters in the legends to indicate the place of manufacture. The secret point of Paris was placed over the last e in benedictus , and that of Rouen under the b in the same word. This point is no longer used. We content ourselves instead with the letter of the Roman alphabet that the ordinances of our kings have attributed to each city of the kingdom where moneys are manufactured.

Finally, real moneys can be counterfeit, altered, filled or weak.

Counterfeit money is that which is not manufactured with the metals required by the sovereign, as for instance gold louis made of gold-leafed copper, or silver louis made of pewter with pure silver leafing.

Altered money is that which is not made to the standard and weight required by the ordinances, or which having been made in good quality has had its weight diminished by the scraping or filing of the edge, or by removing some part of its surface with aqua regia if it is made of gold, or with aqua fortis if it is made of silver.

Filled money is, so to speak, half-way between counterfeit money and altered money . It is made of a piece of iron, copper or some other metal that the counterfeiter covers on both sides with sheets or silver or gold, depending on the coin he wishes to counterfeit, and that he welds together carefully and precisely all around the edge. This false token is struck like a real one, and can even receive a legend and pattern on the edge. The falseness of the coin can be discovered only by the weight, or by the volume, which is always thicker and larger than that of good coins.

Weak money is that which is greatly alloyed, and strong money is that which is less alloyed.

Silver [money] used to be called white money , and that of billon was called black money . Mr. Boizard will explain to you all the other terms relating to money . Consult him. [6]

As for minting by hammer and mill, see the article.

Several scholars have written on real and fictive moneys , both ancient and modern: for example Freherus, Agricola, Spanheim, Sueldius [?], Selden, etc. ; [7] in France Budé, Dumoulin, Sarot [ sic , for Savot], Ducange, Bouteroue, le Blanc, Boizard, Dupré-de-Saint-Maur; [8] in England Brerewood, Bernard, Locke, Arbuthnot and others. [9]

1. This and the following two paragraphs are based heavily on a passage in Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences , 2 vols (London: Knapton, etc., 1728), vol. 2, p. 569. See also vol. 1, pp. 247-248.

2. The distinction between real currency and the currency of account is likely to seem puzzling or unnecessary to the modern reader. One should keep in mind that, though prices were quoted in units of the currency of account, coins (real currency) were not stamped with any denomination of the currency of account. Rather, royal edicts stipulated the coins’ value in the currency of account, which new edicts could then alter.

3. “Matter”: matière . French has no exact equivalent for the English word “bullion.”

4. This paragraph is based heavily on a passage in Chambers, Cyclopædia (1728), vol. 1, p. 251. Where Jaucourt refers here to reduction of the coins due to transport ( fret ), he seems to mean the added wear to which a softer metal would be exposed.

5. In English the “remedy” was also called the “tolerance.”

6. Jean Boizard, Traité des monoyes, de leurs circonstances & dépendances (Paris: Coignard, 1692). Jaucourt is probably thinking of the glossary (pages unnumbered) that Boizard includes with the front matter to the 3 ^rd edition, 2 vols (Paris: Le Febvre, 1711), vol. 1, and the 4 ^th edition, 2 vols (Paris: Coustelier, 1714), vol. 1.

7. Marquard Freher, De numismate census, a Pharisaeis in quaestionem vocato (Heidelbergae: Cambierum, 1599); Marquard Freher, De re monetaria veterum Romanorum , et hodierni apud Germanos imperii. Libri duo (Lubduni: Voegelinum, 1605); Georg Agricola, De re metallica libri xii (Basileae: Frobenium & Episcopium, 1556); Georg Agricola, Libri quinque de mensuris & ponderibus in quibus plaeraque a Budaeo & Portio parum animadversa diligenter excutiuntur (Parisiis: Wechelus, 1533); Ezechiel Spanheim, Dissertatio de praestantia et usu numismatum antiquorum (Romae: Deversin & Cesarettum, 1664); Alessandro Sardi, Liber de nummis in quo antica pecunia romana et graeca metitur precio ejus, quae nunc est in usu (Moguntiaci: Behem, 1579). Sardi’s book was falsely attributed to John Selden when it was republished in London (1675) and Edinburgh (1685). Readers who can identify “Sueldius” are invited to contact the translator.

8. Guillaume Budé, De asse et partibus eius libri quinque ([Paris]: Ascensianis, 1514); Charles du Moulin, Tractatus commerciorum et usurarum redituumque pecunia constitutorum & monetarum (Paris: Tiletanum,1546); Louis Savot, Discours sur les médailles antiques, divisé en quatre parties (Paris: Cramoisy, 1627); Charles du Fresne du Cange, “Moneta,” in Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis , 3 vols (Lutetiae Parisiorum: Billaine, 1678), vol. 2, col. 609-660; Claude Bouteroue, Recherches curieuses des monoyes de France depuis le commencement de la monarchie (Paris: Cramoisy, 1666); François le Blanc, Traite historique des monnoies de France depuis le commencement de la monarchie jusques a present (Paris: Jombert, 1690); Jean Boizard, Traité des monoyes, de leurs circonstances & dépendances (Paris: Coignard, 1692); Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur, Essai sur les monnoies, ou, Réflexions sur le rapport entre l'argent et les denrées (Paris: Coignard, 1746). Surprisingly Jaucourt does not mention the most widely read discussion of real and imaginary (or “ideal”) money by a French author: book 22 of the baron de Montesquieu’s Esprit des Lois , 2 vols (Geneva: Barrillot, 1748).

9. Edward Brerewood, De ponderibus, et pretiis veterum nummorum eorumq[ue] cum recentioribus collatione, liber unus (Londini: Billium, 1614); Edward Bernard, De mensuris et ponderibus antiquis libri tres (Oxoniæ: Theatro Seldonio, 1688); John Locke, Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money (London: Churchil, 1692); Further Considerations Concerning Raising the Value of Money (London: Churchil, 1695); John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures, Explain’d and Exemplify’d in Several Dissertations (London: Tonson, 1727).