Worthless Platinum
2019-08-27 00:27:23.443196+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Oh this is fascinating, and a good thing to ponder when considering commodity-backed currencies (as in "the gold standard") vs fiat currencies. From Transatlantic Trade and Global Cultural Transfers Since 1492:
In 1707, Spanish colonial authorities in New Granada forbade the adulteration of gold with platinum, and subsequently, the mining of the metal was prohbiited and its export to Europe banned. These measures, taken to ensure the purity of the Spanish coin, resulted in dumping large quantities of platinum ore into rivers and inaccessible locations. ...