SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #460

[david friedman]

At 10:27 AM +1100 12/9/97, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
>Assuming we are thinking of GBP Pounds Sterling (so-called) I think a
>pound of silver pennies has appreciated a bit.
>Charles

The pound sterling is one of the descendants of the pound defined by the
Carolingian monetary reform--which, incidentally, was a unit of account,
not an actual coin. Initially, 240 pennies weighed a pound. When the penny
was debased over time, instead of defining a pound as "the number of
pennies that weighs a pound, however much that is" they defined a pound as
240 pennies.

For the long version, see Carlo Cippola, _Money, Prices and Civilization in
the Mediterranean World_. A good book.

David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
ddfr at best.com
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


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