I have read Moses Finley and
his 'Ancient Economy' (and World of Odysseus), and found it very interesting at the time, but I am not really sure what I brought away from it. It has been awhile. I have looked at Seaford but not gotten into him in depth. Carl Menger is the first "Austrian economist," better known in Austrian economics is Hayek, "Road to Serfdom," (critique of socialism), and Ludwig Von Mises. I mention Carl Menger here because he is relevant (Origin of
Money), but also he is probably neglected. He is from a time when 'real'
money was coinage. The Austrian Economists are also very conservative, and whereas economists and political theorists may look at him, the university in general, and humanities in particular are liberal, if not radical in their bent, and would tend to overlook someone like Carl Menger. I do not think that Menger is new, but he is overlooked and neglected and may be new to you, so I bring him up. I do not particularly think that he is "right" (absolutely correct), rather I think him as food for thought, and pragmatically, he may be useful to others. [He is not "right," but neither is anyone else, if someone was philosophically 'right,' we would have the absolute answer, and philosophy would stop, nothing more would need to be written. ok it is a weird view, but I think you might see what I am saying.]
As I believe it was Joe who pointed out, the article is about
money, not necessarily coinage, although I think that the article presents a nice base upon which someone could construct the next step, and go into coinage. Of course, the "precious" metal is
electrum, a mixture of gold and silver that is not necessarily standardized. Menger's analysis of the use of precious metals is more appropriate for 'pure' silver or gold.
I am glad my reference to Carl Menger has sparked such discussion, I have not read anything else by him, but I do want to read the 'Diamond/Water paradox.' I think it probably says that diamonds are
rare and not
good for much, but hence very valuable, whereas what is common and
good for lots of things, but not that valuable. The same logic explains why you can have a diamond cartel left alone by national powers, but an oil cartel is always susceptible to countries acting to undermine it. (OPEC).