page_title: Silver coin
section_title: Spanish America, the peso/dollar and Pacific trade
hierarchical_section_title: Silver coin / Early Modern period / Spanish America, the peso/dollar and Pacific trade
caption_attribution_description: English: 1888 Republica Méxicana 8 Reals Silver "Trade Coin" with multiple "chop" marks made by Chinese merchants to assure it authenticity.
context_page_description: Silver coins are possibly the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612-330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver.
  As with all collectible coins, many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its rarity, demand, condition and the number originally minted. Ancient silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense, while more recent collectible silver coins include the Morgan Dollar and the Spanish Milled Dollar.
  Other than collector's silver coins, silver bullion coins are popular among people who desire a "hedge" against currency inflation or store of value. Silver has an international currency symbol of XAG under ISO 4217.
context_section_description: With the Spanish colonization of the Americas after 1492, there were significant finds in both New Spain (Mexico) in various sites in mainly in the zone outside indigenous settlement and in Peru, with the discovery of the great silver mine of Potosí (in modern Bolivia).  The Spanish crown licensed mining sites with the provision that a fifth of the proceeds, the quinto would go to the crown.  The crown established mints in Mexico and Peru, such that over the whole colonial period high quality, uniformly minted coins became the international currency.  Not only did silver flow to Spain and then to the rest of Europe, enriching the Spanish crown and stimulating industries in Europe, Spanish silver coins were transported to Asia, via the Manila Galleon. China in particular preferred silver coinage and the high quality Spanish coins paid for high quality Chinese porcelains and silks and other luxury goods. Mexican silver coins continued to be exported to China in the late nineteenth-century. 
  Europeans started silver mining in the "New World" soon after discovery of the Americas to answer a demand for silver in Europe inspired by the fine craftsmanship of the Renaissance.  The discovery of silver in Joachimsthal also gave rise to the silver joachimsthaler coin. Production of silver in the Americas influenced trade and politics in Europe and transformed European relations with other regions of the world, particularly China and the Ottoman Empire. The influx of silver into Europe led to the sometimes uncontrolled minting of coins. All countries of Europe eventually began to issue large size silver coins. Europeans then used these silver coins to purchase goods abroad which eventually led to inflation.  The great amounts of new silver supply caused the relative value of silver against gold to drop.
caption: 1888 Mexican 8 Real coin with Chinese chop marks
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