Currency money is money in full circulation that takes its value from the precious metal it contains, that is, its market value is (almost) the value of the metal it contains (apart from the
Seigniorage or the minters' profit), though this is always overcompensated for in coins and banknotes from a country undergoing
debasement
A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins. A coin is said to be debased if the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nick ...
. Currency money is usually made of silver or gold, but in very rare cases plated metal and even copper may be used. Currency or face value coins are a type of
commodity money, money whose value is derived from the what it is or what it is made of (e.g. shell, cigarettes, tea or a certain metal) as opposed to coins whose metal value is less than their nominal value, paper money, and deposit or book money, which are
fiat money.
Currency
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