Shire Silver Design Contest!

[John Edward Mercier]

If you want to create your own currency, you ought to give it a name other than "dollar". I would suggest "granite". One granite could equal a tenth of an ounce of silver, so a silver round would be 10 Granites. Instead of using a dollar sign, you could use a capital "G" with two lines through it.

Caleb

Isn't the unit of measure grams?  Why invent a fake system of currency?  Just put .999 fine silver (or Ag) X grams.  With a slight modification to the idea of a "Granite" you have this which you could use for grams Ag, non?

I like it, and the idea of just using "grams" as the names. Most currency "names" as we understand them nowadays were originally units of weight (e.g., the British pound, the Greek drachma), mathematical divisions thereof (e.g., the cent), or the place of origin (e.g., the thaler). That the weight-based names have been so thoroughly disconnected from the real unit of weight, so as to become a proper noun, is merely a result of inflation, debasement, seigneurage, and other government meddling in the value of the currency.

IMO... Shire would be a more appropriate 'name'.
1 Shire could equal 1 Troy ounce of silver... or some smaller denomination. Like 100 Shires equal 1 Troy ounce of silver.

[J’raxis 270145]

In one of these other threads, I remember mentioning the gAu (grams of gold) currency unit from Vernor Vinge's novels as a potential name. I just realized that such a nomenclature would result in silver coinage being called a "gAg". Probably not such a good idea...

[Kat Kanning]

LOL @ Lloyd rounds 

[Ron Helwig]

In one of these other threads, I remember mentioning the gAu (grams of gold) currency unit from Vernor Vinge's novels as a potential name. I just realized that such a nomenclature would result in silver coinage being called a "gAg". Probably not such a good idea...

Aug/Agg works better, IMHO.

I could swear I saw a list of acronyms for currencies that included gold and silver grams, but lately all the lists I see only show ounces (XAU/XAG).

One of the things we have talked about quite a bit is to get away from "naming" the currency. One of the problems with the current monetary system is that we call the primary unit a "dollar" and not "ounce of silver". Once people started thinking about their money as dollars and not ounces of silver, it was much easier to debase the dollar.

That being said, I do like Shire Silver as a brand name. "You can trust that a Shire Silver 10 Gram Token is just that - 10 grams of pure silver!"

[Dave Ridley]

tom that is the funniest thing i've seen on NH free all year !

ROFLMAO!!!!!

[J’raxis 270145]

In one of these other threads, I remember mentioning the gAu (grams of gold) currency unit from Vernor Vinge's novels as a potential name. I just realized that such a nomenclature would result in silver coinage being called a "gAg". Probably not such a good idea...

Aug/Agg works better, IMHO.

I could swear I saw a list of acronyms for currencies that included gold and silver grams, but lately all the lists I see only show ounces (XAU/XAG).

One of the things we have talked about quite a bit is to get away from "naming" the currency. One of the problems with the current monetary system is that we call the primary unit a "dollar" and not "ounce of silver". Once people started thinking about their money as dollars and not ounces of silver, it was much easier to debase the dollar.

That being said, I do like Shire Silver as a brand name. "You can trust that a Shire Silver 10 Gram Token is just that - 10 grams of pure silver!"

Those names are the ISO currency codes, and as far as I know XAU and XAG are the only ones for those respective metals. The denomination is in Troy ounces because that's customary, I guess. ISO codes are usually <country-code><first-letter>, for example USD, CAD, CNY, and so on. The one exception is the Euro (EUR), presumably because EUE would look stupid. The X* codes are all "private-range" codes that represent no country, and precious metals are always X<atomic-symbol>.

I quite agree about getting away from names and back to widely used units of weight or mass, and I posted to that effect earlier. This is also a good reason to push for grams, a universally recognized and used unit of mass, instead of Troy ounces, a bizarre and archaic unit only used to measure precious metals.

[Kat Kanning]

tom that is the funniest thing i've seen on NH free all year !

ROFLMAO!!!!!

Wow, Dave laughed at something on here!

[jaqeboy]

In one of these other threads, I remember mentioning the gAu (grams of gold) currency unit from Vernor Vinge's novels as a potential name. I just realized that such a nomenclature would result in silver coinage being called a "gAg". Probably not such a good idea...

Aug/Agg works better, IMHO.

I could swear I saw a list of acronyms for currencies that included gold and silver grams, but lately all the lists I see only show ounces (XAU/XAG).

AUG & AGG, as used by e-gold: http://e-gold.com/currentexchange.html

[J’raxis 270145]

In one of these other threads, I remember mentioning the gAu (grams of gold) currency unit from Vernor Vinge's novels as a potential name. I just realized that such a nomenclature would result in silver coinage being called a "gAg". Probably not such a good idea...

Aug/Agg works better, IMHO.

I could swear I saw a list of acronyms for currencies that included gold and silver grams, but lately all the lists I see only show ounces (XAU/XAG).

AUG & AGG, as used by e-gold: http://e-gold.com/currentexchange.html

They're gonna be screwed if Australia or Antigua ever begin using a currency starting with a G.

[jaqeboy]

Tony Hargis began using gmAu back when he wrote In Gold I Trust in about 1973, and continuing on through using it for accounts in his gold bank in L.A.

Some links to info on Anthony L. Hargis:
The Crime of...
Anthony L. Hargis & Co. - A Case Study in the Present Danger
Operator of Warehouse Bank Sent to Jail
FEDERAL JUDGE FREEZES EIGHT BANK ACCOUNTS IN THREE STATES IN SHUTDOWN OF TAX EVASION SCHEME; Computers, Customer Funds, Bank Records Also Seized
book by Tony: Law v. Freedom
Mention of Hargis' Liberty Dollar on forum thread

Probly some lessons to be learned here as well as in the NotHaus Liberty Dollar case.

[Eli]

AUg's and AGg's.... Auggies and Aggies.  I like it.

[sandm000]

Instead of being gAu ("gaw") and gAg ("gag") why not pronounce it gAu (gah-yewz) and gAg (gah-jeez).  I like to preserve the word order.  One wouldn't say I have 10 gold grams to sell (unless you were talking about 10 individual coins) you would say I have 10 grams gold to sell.

[J’raxis 270145]

The xXx format does look a bit better, the camelCaps helping to plainly show it's two words abbreviated. "gAg" is just too easy for someone to mispronounce, either accidentally or otherwise.

[ReverendRyan]

I've got a radical idea, why not call them "gold" and "silver"?

[J’raxis 270145]

I've got a radical idea, why not call them "gold" and "silver"?

Sure. But, denominated in what unit? Troy ounces? Standard ounces? Grams? Grains? &c.. Let's assume grams: So now it's "grams of gold" and "grams of silver"—so how do we abbreviate it, since for practical purposes there needs to be a short way of writing a currency's name (e.g., USD, $, EUR, £, &c.). That's where this "Aug" vs. "gAu" vs. "G" vs. &c. debate is coming in.