Monetary families
Choose a historical route
A map for reading coin history through the traditions linking monetary systems, currencies, and countries.
What historical context gave rise to a coin? Which other coins help explain it? Where can its issues be found in the catalogs? This page connects the historical features and catalogs of Valocchi Numismatics, from Roman and Byzantine roots to European traditions, their American branches, and monetary unions.
The reading route begins with systems and traditions, moves through representative coins, and reaches national catalogs. You can also start with a country and trace its coinage back to its historical context.
The families presented here are a guide to browsing, not an exclusive family tree. A country may encounter several traditions in different periods; a similar name does not guarantee the same value, weight, or metal.
Explore: by family and coin · by country.
| Route | Coins and themes | Related catalogs | Associated countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roman and Byzantine roots | As, denarius, aureus, and solidus | Roman coins | Ancient roots predate modern states; see the Roman and Byzantine catalog. |
| Carolingian tradition | Pound, shilling, and denier; lira, franc, and pound sterling routes | Il Marengo: lira; Lesfrancs: franc; Great Britain | Lira: Italy; San Marino; Vatican. Franc: France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Monaco; Switzerland; Liechtenstein. Pound sterling: Great Britain; Ireland; Malta; Cyprus. Franc and peseta: Andorra. |
| Germanic traditions | Mark, pfennig, and thaler | Germany; European catalogs | Mark and schilling: Germany; Austria; Estonia; Poland. Thaler and Nordic crowns: Denmark; Sweden; Norway; Iceland. Use of the mark before the euro: Kosovo; Montenegro. |
| Iberian traditions: Spanish branch | Spanish real, peso, and Spanish escudo | Monedanumismatica: Spain and Ibero-American countries | Spain; Andorra; other countries in the Monedanumismatica Ibero-American catalog. |
| Iberian traditions: Portugal and Brazil | Real/réis, Portuguese escudo, and Brazilian reforms | Moedanumismatica: Portugal and Brazil | Portugal; Brazil in the Moedanumismatica catalog. |
| Monetary unions and convergence | Latin Union, Scandinavian Union, and euro | Euro countries and coins; all European coins | Latin Union or its standard: Greece; Bulgaria; Romania; Serbia. Scandinavian Union: Denmark; Sweden; Norway. Euro: country groupings in the Europe table. |
| Habsburg and Yugoslav route | Austro-Hungarian crown, Yugoslav crown, and dinar | Austro-Yugoslav connection | Czech Republic; Slovakia; Slovenia; Croatia; Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later Yugoslav dinar route: Macedonia. |
| Routes from the ruble | Finnish markka, national rubles, and later currencies | European routes and sources | Finnish markka from the ruble: Finland. Leaving the ruble area: Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova; Ukraine; Belarus. |
| Florin routes | Florin and its national continuations | Florin | Netherlands; Hungary. |
| Albanian franc route | Albanian franc and lek | Albanian coins | Albania. |
| Ottoman and Turkish route | Ottoman lira and Turkish lira | Turkish coins | Turkey. |
Countries may appear in more than one route. These associations follow the Europe table and its sources: they distinguish traditions, currency successions, and exchange links without assigning each country a single monetary descent. Additional rows indicate historical routes, not new families. Catalogs outside Europe remain accessible through the Iberian traditions.
Roman and Byzantine roots
Roman and Byzantine coinage provide the starting point for the historical route developed here. The individual coin pages distinguish denominations, metals, and transformations; the catalogs organize issues by period.
Representative coins: the as, Roman denarius, aureus, and solidus. The Roman denarius and the Carolingian denier have separate pages: the similarity of their names does not mean they are the same coin.
Explore the catalogs: Roman Republic, Roman Empire, and Byzantine coinage.
Carolingian tradition: accounting and coinage
The Carolingian system offers a reference for understanding the relationships among the pound, shilling, and denier. Units of account should not be conflated with coins physically struck.
This route brings together the histories of the lira, franc, and pound sterling. It is a way to read the traditions: the individual pages explain their transformations, breaks, and national contexts without reducing them to one linear succession.
From history to catalogs: Il Marengo introduces Italy, San Marino, and the Vatican; Lesfrancs brings together catalogs from the franc area; the Great Britain page presents the national catalog.
Germanic traditions: mark, pfennig, and thaler
The page on the Germanic system brings together several traditions, not one unchanging order for every territory and period. The route distinguishes the mark, as a unit of weight and currency, the pfennig covered on the system page, and the thaler.
From history to catalogs: start with German coins or consult the European countries index. The context of individual issues depends on the period: a currency name alone is not enough to assign a country’s entire history to one family.
Iberian traditions and American branches
The Iberian overview introduces this group of routes. For the catalogs, distinguish the Spanish branch from the Portuguese and Brazilian branch: real and escudo do not automatically refer to the same coins in different contexts.
Spain and Spanish America
The pages on the Spanish real, peso, and Spanish escudo help explore the different coinages. Value relationships and reforms must be read in their own period and territory.
Catalogs: Moneda Numismática, with access to Spain and the American countries represented on the site.
Portugal and Brazil
The History of the Portuguese and Brazilian real connects the routes of the Portuguese real, the historical Brazilian real, and the Portuguese escudo.
The Brazilian real introduced in 1994 is distinct from the historical real/réis. Reforms and intermediate currencies separate the two; the Banco Central do Brasil’s Museum of Values documents this history.
Catalogs: Portugal and Brazil, on the Moeda Numismática portal.
Monetary unions and European convergence
Monetary unions offer a different way to connect national histories: a monetary agreement is not a genealogical family. The site covers the Latin Monetary Union, the Scandinavian crowns and Scandinavian Monetary Union, and the European Monetary Union.
For the initial group of participating countries, the euro was introduced in 1999 and cash in 2002, as recounted by the European Central Bank. This route concerns participating countries; the map does not automatically merge all European or American traditions into the euro.
Catalogs: euro countries and coins, and commemorative euros. For other coinages, the index of all European coins remains available.
Other coins and cross-cutting routes
The map does not cover every historical thread on the site. Features on the florin, zecchino, marengo, and crowns let readers follow other contexts and connections without forcing them into a single family.
Three ways to explore further
Once you have chosen a route, these pages help you explore it from different points of view.
- History of money — putting it in context
- A chronological account of the main stages. A coin coming after another does not necessarily mean it derives from it.
- Monetary systems — understanding the rules
- Units of account, weights, metals and value relationships, to be distinguished from simple lists of countries.
- Genealogy of coins — tracing continuities and change
- The relationships between names, units and coins, paying attention to the difference between terminological inheritance and monetary continuity.
For a first introduction, see Numismatics; to choose a catalog directly, return to the Coins portal.