Aspron
The aspron (
Byzantine name for silver or silver-alloy coins
.
The Latin word asper originally meant "rough", but had gradually acquired the connotation of "fresh" or "freshly minted", i.e. not worn smooth by use, and, especially when referring to silver, "white", by the
trachy coin, which was issued in a blanched state, as an aspron. The same name was also sometimes applied to the contemporary electrum trachy as well.[1]
The name re-appears in the 14th–15th centuries as a generic name for silver coinage, such as the Byzantine
References
- ^ a b c Grierson 1991, p. 211.
- ^ Cecile Morrison, "Coin Usage and Exchange Rates in Badoer's Libro dei Conti", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 55 (2001), pp. 217-245
Sources
- Grierson, Philip (1991). "Asper". In ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.