This is different for each of the principal coins, being about one-fifth of one per cent on a gold eagle.

The _par of exchange_ between standard coins of different countries is the expression of the ratio of fine metal in them.
Thus the par of exchange between the American dollar and the English sovereign (the "pound") is 4.866; that is, that number of dollars contains the same amount of fine gold as an English gold sovereign.
The embossed design is merely to make the coins easily recognizable and difficult to counterfeit; and milled or lettered edges are to prevent clipping and otherwise abstracting metal from the coins.
10.

#Seigniorage defined#.

Coinage, as practised by early governments and rulers, came to be a function of great importance politically as well as economically.

The right to issue money came to be one of the most essential prerogatives of sovereignty.