The Maria Theresa thaler from Austria is an example of a trade coin.
Trade coins are coins minted by a government, but not necessarily legal tender within the territory of the issuing country. These quasi-bullion coins (in rarer cases small change) were thus actually export goods – that is, bullion in the form of coins, used for the bulk purchase of important goods from other countries, where they could be bought at a favourable price, compared to the purchasing power of the same amount of bullion within the trade coins' country of origin.
A distinction must be drawn between full-value bullion trade coins, that were used in ordinary peacetime trade on the one hand, and on the other hand debased coins, that were usually made with the intention to deceive. Such debased "trade coins" were occasionally minted during times of war, e.g. the Prussian ephraimiten, silver-clad copper coins minted during the Seven Years' War. If these were ever accepted or approved as legal tender, they would be valued far below the regular coins, their value being calculated according to a specified formula. The conversion rates were even then usually significantly below the intrinsic value of the coins, to cover costs of melting and recoinage etc.
Since the 1920s there have been hardly any true trade coins, though some are still traded by coin collectors with a premium. Their role has now been taken over by (paper or electronic) United States dollars as, in some ways, a world currency.
Tradecoins are coins minted by a government, but not necessarily legal tender within the territory of the issuing country. These quasi-bullion coins...
to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government. Coins often have images, numerals, or text on them. The faces of coins or medals are...
The ducat (/ˈdʌkət/) coin was used as a tradecoin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat...
of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular tradecoins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies...
Nagasaki tradecoins (長崎貿易銭), also known as Nagasaki export coins, refer to Japanese mon coins specifically cast for export by the Tokugawa government...
numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money...
Trade dollars were silver coins minted as tradecoins by various countries to facilitate trade with countries in East Asia, especially China and Japan...
issuing tradecoin equivalents of silver Spanish coins, without much success. In the early part of the 17th century, English East India Company coins were...
Rijksdaalder, and the Dutch liondollar (leeuwendaalder). The latter coin was used for Dutch trade in the Middle East, in the Dutch East Indies and West Indies...
Theresa thaler (MTT) is a silver bullion coin and a type of Conventionsthaler that has been used in world trade continuously since it was first minted in...
round of depreciations. As a result, the gulden equivalent of different tradecoins passing through the Low Countries also rose in value, as follows: The...
export to other countries: Nagasaki tradecoins notably bear the inscription of many Song dynasty coins because those coins were already widespread in circulation...
economic, political and artistic force in Europe. Its coin, the florin, was the dominant tradecoin of Western Europe for large scale transactions and became...
their success as the premier tradecoin of their era. Tetradrachms on this weight standard continued to be a widely used coin (often the most widely used)...
quantities of Trade dollars of 420 grains, but these were meant for export and had legal tender limits in the US. See Trade dollar (United States coin). Obverse...
dollar coin of the United States depicting the goddess Liberty, minted from 1849 to 1889 Trade dollar (United States coin), a silver tradecoin of the...
lasting from the 12th to the 17th century. Coins were obtained from China through trade or through "Wakō" piracy. Coins were also imported from Annam (modern...
ended in 1872 with the minting of "centavo" coins except for the silver 8-reales which was revived as a tradecoin from 1873 to 1897. The Second Mexican Empire...
coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins, while continuing to circulate it at face value. A coin is...
Coin Master game is a casual mobile game that incorporates mechanics from village building, slot machines, and social interaction. This game was developed...
century, the 8-real coin (referred to since then as a dollar, a peso or a piece of eight) became an internationally recognized tradecoin in Europe, Asia...
The history of coins stretches back to the first millennium BC/BCE. Notable examples of coins include the Lydian Lion coins, Persian daric and siglos,...
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