France And Italy Coins

France

In France the sou (until 1715 sol) was the first name of a coin. It was initial minted in gold, from the 1200s in silver and during the 1700s in copper. The sou tournois was a 12-denier coin, one-twentieth of the livre tournois (Tournois pound), although the sou parisis was a 15-denier coin. After decimalisation in France, the sou became the forename for a five-centime coin, one-twentieth of the French franc(Until the late 1960s, the expression "20 sou" was a synonym of 1 Franc).

To this day, sou is used as jargon for currency, as in j'ai pas de sous. "I'm broke", "I haven't got two bob to rub together".

Sou of copper, coined 1767 designed for Louis XV of France

Italy

The first name of the medieval Italian soldo (plural soldi) was derived from solidus.

Solidus coin

A solidus (the Latin word for solid) was initially a gold coin issued by the Romans.

Julian solidus, ca. 361.It was introduced by Constantine I in the AD 309–10, and was used from beginning to end the Byzantine Empire until the 10th century AD. The coin replaced the aureus as the major gold coin of the Roman Empire.

The name solidus had beforehand been used by Diocletian (284-305) for the gold coin that he introduced, which is different from the solidus introduced by Constantine. The coin was struck at a theoretical worth of 1/72 of a Roman pound (about 4.5 grams). Solidi were wider and thinner than the aureus, with the exclusion of some dumpy issues from the Byzantine Empire. The weight and fineness of the solidus remained moderately constant throughout its long production, with few exceptions. Fractions of the solidus recognized as semisses (half-solidi) and tremissis (one-third solidi) were also produced.

Avitus tremissis, ca. 456.The word soldier is eventually derived from solidus, referring to the solidi with which soldiers were paid.

Beaver Coins

Beaver Coins, also identified in Pioneer days as Beaver Money, were gold coins temporarily minted by the Provisional Government of the Oregon Territory in the late 1840's. The coins were accessible in $5 and $10 dollar denominations. Their name comes from the well-known Beaver depicted on the face of the coins. Today these coins are moderately rare and valuable.

The influx of settlers into the Oregon Country produced a scarcity of circulating currency. The population at the moment in time resorted to using gold specks or minting their own gold coins for utilize in trading. Many settlers began lobbying the territory's new government to accurate this situation.

The Provisional Territorial Legislature at Champoeg then gave the endorsement for the Oregon Exchange Company to mint currency. Although the Oregon Exchange Company was generally a private organization, the territorial legislature set the coin's values, authorized a mint, and appointed the officers to the mint.