Billon coins
The word originates from the middle Latin billo, meaning “a coin containing mostly copper”, or just “unit of payment”.
Billon is an alloy of a precious metal (most commonly silver) with a majority base metal content (copper). It is used for making coins, medals, and token coins.
Use of billon coins date through Middle Ages to ancient Greece. During 6-5th century BC, some cities on Lesbos used coins made of 40 percent silver and 60 percent copper. In Ancient times and the Middle Ages, leaner mixtures were adopted, with less than 2 percent silver content.
The definition of “billon” is: a primarily copper alloy coin with less than 50% of its weight in silver. According to Webster’s Dictionary: “An alloy of silver with more than its weight of copper, tin, or the like.” For a coin to qualify as billon, it must have more than half its weight in copper and less than half its weight in silver.
Related Silver or Coin posts:
Silver Hallmark
Quality index of silver is hallmark. The higher the hallmark the higher and better the silver quality and the more costly the coin made of this silver. The higher hallmarks are 945, 925, 903, 900, 810, 720, and 640. The coins with hallmarks under 500 are billons. They made of
Alloys and Bullion
Alloy An alloy is a combination of two or more pure metals mixed together. All coins are made out of some measure of alloy, except bullion coins. Bullion Bullion is the pure form of a precious metal such as silver, gold, copper, or platinum, from which coin metal alloys are made. The U.S.
Glossary: Letter B: Numismatics to English
bag the heavy cloth bag used by the Mint to ship coins bagmark the nicks and dings caused when coins smack into each other Barber coinage Dimes, Quarter Dollars, and Half Dollars designed by Charles Barber and issued from 1892 to 1916 bas relief raised design elements in a sunken area beaded border a decorative, outer ring of tiny
Silver coins as an investment
Silver, like other precious metals (Gold, Palladium, Platinum), may be used as an investment. For more than 4000 years, silver has been regarded as a form of money and store of value. However, since the end of the silver standard, silver has lost its role as legal tender in the
Pobjoy Mint Ltd.
The Pobjoy family have been associated with fine metalwork since the Middle Ages. The Company was recently granted permission to use the family Coat of Arms in which the Medieval Popinjay is the central motif. Over the past 300 years, the Pobjoy Mint has been involved in many diverse fields, but