In the past, coins have been made from valuable metals such as silver, gold, copper, bronze, or brass. Some of the earliest coins were made of electrum which is an alloy of gold and roughly 20 percent silver. These were consistent in weight which meant they were intended to have a set value, but this varied due to other coins possessing the same weight but different ratios of gold to silver. Because of this these earlier coins were only produced for around fifty years and were replaced by silver coins.

Gold and silver coins are said to be of intrinsic value because their worth closely approximated the value of the bullion that makes up the coin. Wight of individual coins of the same value were monitored closely as was the purity of the metal used for gold and silver. During Greek and Roman times gold coins were usually more than 95 percent pure gold. Silver coins were also of equally high purity until the Roman emperor Nero lowered the silver content to about 90 percent. By Imperial times some silver coins only contained around 2.5 percent.

In most cases, coins of precious metal such as silver were overvalued. This is to be expected to cover the cost of minting, but in some cases, states minted coins for the purpose of profit. Overvaluation of the Athenian drachm was around 5 percent although it could have been higher in other states seeing as how Athens had their own mineral sources and could afford to keep the overvaluation lower.

Copper coins weren’t common until the later fourth century B.C. They had a value unrelated to the value of metal though, and like modern coins, were called token or fiduciary coins. These were overvalued in terms of their metal content and turned a higher profit when the state produced them. Less care was given to the weight of copper coins and also to the purity of metal used. Today coins are made from metals. Most commonly a combination of copper, zinc, and nickel.

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