Silver has been used as coinage or store of value since
it's discovery around 500 B.C., with the earliest coinage
appearing in Messopotamia in the eastern Mediterranean.
From that introduction, silver has acted
as the base of many worldwide economies as they grew into
or adopted silver based money. Silver was plentiful enough
for average barter for most transactions, while gold was
reserved for the wealthy due to its scarcity. As time has
gone on, this relationship changed somewhat as more gold
has been slowly introduced into the worldwide economy and
become more used in trade, in many instances displacing
silver as the standard measure.
Most countries were on a silver standard until about the
late 1800's. China was the last economy in current times
based on a silver standard, only dropping it early this
century in favour of a fiat economy. Mexico still uses
some silver in it's coinage and there is a signifigant
discussion as to reintroducing true silver coins as a dual
system of payments within the general economy, an argument
supported by a large portion of the citizenry and state
governers as protection from inflation. Today, most major
countries issue pure silver as bullion or commemorative
coins to investors or collectors, with some nominal stamped
value, but considered outside the general exchange economy
dictated by fiat.
Currently Canada issues the 'Maple Leaf', Australia the
'Kookaburra', Mexico the 'Libertad', China the 'Panda'
and 'Lunar', the U.S. the 'Eagle', and Germany coins based
on the 'Euro'. Additionally
major silver mining companies will issue rounds or bars,
(such as Sterling Mining or Pan American Mining), and private
business entities will sometimes also introduce commemorative
coinage from time to time.
