A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money
IX.: Gold coins should pass as money.
19th Century John Ramsay McCulloch (ed.) English- Although silver is the only standard measure of all our contracts; yet gold having every other quality fitting it for money, excepting its being too dear; it may be very fit and useful to coin gold, to ascertain its fineness; and to let these coins pass in lieu of money, at some given rate: For gold coins are very convenient, in large payments. But it should not be said or understood, that a guinea, for instance, should be always an equivalent for the same quantity of silver. For as gold, like other commodities, must be ever subject to alter in its value, with respect to silver; the price of this dazzling metal can be no otherwise settled, than pro tempore. And in all contracts, the price of gold at the time of payment is only to be considered; and not what price it might bear, at the times when the contracts were made.