Currency money or book money, which are fiat money. Currency money Currency money is money in full circulation that takes its value from the precious metal it contains, that is, its market value is (almost) the value of the metal it contains (apart from the Seigniorage or the minters' profit), though this is always overcompensated for in coins and banknotes from a country undergoing debasement. Currency money is usually made of silver or gold, but in very rare cases plated metal and even copper may be used. Currency money is commodity money, as opposed to coins whose metal value is less than
Mill (currency) comes from the Latin "millesimum", meaning "thousandth part". In the United States, the term was first used by the Continental Congress in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar." The Coinage Act of 1792 describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar: The mint of Philadelphia made half cents worth 5 mills each from 1793 to 1857. Tokens in this denomination were issued by some states and local governments (and by some private interests) for such uses as payment of sales tax. These were of inexpensive material such