Portal:Money

The Money Portal

Euro coins and banknotes

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

Money was historically an emergent market phenomenon that possessed intrinsic value as a commodity; nearly all contemporary money systems are based on unbacked fiat money without use value. Its value is consequently derived by social convention, having been declared by a government or regulatory entity to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private", in the case of the United States dollar.

The money supply of a country comprises all currency in circulation (banknotes and coins currently issued) and, depending on the particular definition used, one or more types of bank money (the balances held in checking accounts, savings accounts, and other types of bank accounts). Bank money, whose value exists on the books of financial institutions and can be converted into physical notes or used for cashless payment, forms by far the largest part of broad money in developed countries. (Full article...)

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Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, influence the foreign exchange rate of its currency, and to maintain confidence in financial markets. Reserves are held in one or more reserve currencies, nowadays mostly the United States dollar and to a lesser extent the euro.

Foreign exchange reserves assets can comprise banknotes, bank deposits, and government securities of the reserve currency, such as bonds and treasury bills. Some countries hold a part of their reserves in gold, and special drawing rights are also considered reserve assets. Often, for convenience, the cash or securities are retained by the central bank of the reserve or other currency and the "holdings" of the foreign country are tagged or otherwise identified as belonging to the other country without them actually leaving the vault of that central bank. From time to time they may be physically moved to the home or another country. (Full article...)

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Obverse
FERDIN[ANDUS] VII DEI GRATIA 1821"Ferdinand VII by the Grace of God, 1821." Right profile of Ferdinand VII with cloak and laurel wreath

The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (Spanish: real de a ocho, dólar, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content 25.563 g (0.8219 ozt) fine silver. It was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency.

Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century. (Full article...)

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... that medievalist Edward Rand rang the doorbell of Harvard president Charles William Eliot and asked him: "I would like to go to Harvard; do you have any money?"
... that while executives believed the Golden Rondelle Theater would be a waste of money, it was one of the 1964 World's Fair's most popular attractions?
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that Russian money, known as qiang tie by locals, was used as legal currency in some regions of China for decades?
... that a TV station in Windsor, Ontario, was spared from closure even though it lost money for ten consecutive years?
... that the general manager of a Cleveland TV station believed its owner to be "just tired of losing money"?
... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin?
... that Martha Washington's portrait on the 1896 US one-dollar silver certificate is the most recent time that a woman has been featured on US paper money?

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The following are images from various currency-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Banknotes of different currencies with a face value of 5000 (from Money)
Image 2Euro banknotes and coins (from Money)
Image 3Money Base, M1 and M2 in the U.S. from 1981 to 2012 (from Money)
Image 4A hoard of mostly Mauryan punch-marked coins (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 5Ancient Jewish coin, engraved menorah, from the Hasmoneon kingdom 37-40 BCE (from Money)
Image 6Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 7A 1914 British gold sovereign (from Money)
Image 8Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money (from Money)
Image 9Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 10Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 11"Bent bar" of the Gandhara Janapda unearthed with Achaemenid and Greek coins, Gandhara, c.350 BC. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 12A 640 BC one-third stater electrum coin from Lydia. According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins. It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650 to 600 BC. (from Money)
Image 13Silver, ½ Karshapana coin, “Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (450 BC - 315 BC) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 14Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 15A check, used as a means of converting funds in a demand deposit to cash (from Money)
Image 16Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 17Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 18Punch-marked coins discovered from Chandraketugarh. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 19Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, obverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 20Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, reverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 21Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 22Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, obverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 23Tenga of Muhammad Khudayar Khan, struck at the Kokand mint, dated 1862–1863 (from Kokand tenga)
Image 24Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 25Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 26President J. K. Paasikivi illustrated in a former Finnish 10 mark banknote from 1980 (from Money)
Image 27Gold coins are an example of legal tender that are traded for their intrinsic value, rather than their face value. (from Money)
Image 28Paper money from different countries (from Money)
Image 29A person counts a bundle of different Swedish banknotes. (from Money)
Image 30Printing paper money at a printing press in Perm (from Money)
Image 31Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, reverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 32US dollar banknotes (from Money)
Image 33“Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (350 - 315 BCE) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 34Huizi currency, issued in 1160 (from Money)
Image 35Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)