A moneyer is a private individual who is officially permitted to mint

money 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: m ...

. Usually the rights to coin money are bestowed as a concession by a state or government. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. They became most prominent in the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, and continued into the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. In Rome the position of

Triumvir Monetalis The ''triumvir monetalis'' ( ''tresviri'' or ''triumviri monetales'', also called the , abbreviated IIIVIR A. A. A. F. F.) was a moneyer during the Roman Republic and the Empire, who oversaw the minting of coins. In that role, he would be respon ...

, held by three people at a time, was a minor magistracy awarded by the Senate, often the first office held by young politicians, including

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

. Moneyers were not limited to the ancient world. During the Middle Ages, European moneyers created currency on behalf of kings and potentates. For a large part of that era, virtually all coins in circulation were silver pennies, and these often bore the name or other identification of the moneyer.Grierson et al. 2007 In 17th century North America, John Hull acted as a moneyer for the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

Notes

External links

Hollander, David B (2003). The Management of the Mint in the Late Roman Republic''Eligivs''. A prosopography of the mint workers
{{in lang, it * https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/MAMintDocs.studies.html Numismatics Directors of coin mints * Production of coins

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links