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Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of . Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Ancient Greek; their silver Ancient drachma were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 BC. Before 1797, British English Penny were made of silver.
As with all collectible coins, many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its scarcity, demand, condition and the number originally minted. Ancient silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense, while more recent collectible silver coins include the Morgan Dollar and the Spanish Milled Dollar.
Other than collector's silver coins, silver are popular among people who desire a "Inflation hedge" against currency inflation or store of value. Silver has an international currency symbol of XAG under ISO 4217.
More or less simultaneously with the development of the Lydian and Greek coinages, a coinage system was developed independently in Ancient China. The Chinese coins, however, were a different concept and they were made of bronze.
In the Mediterranean region, the silver and other precious metal coins were later supplemented with local bronze coinages, that served as small change, useful for transactions where small sums were involved.
The coins of the Greeks were issued by a great number of , and each coin carried an indication of its place of origin. The coinage systems were not entirely the same from one place to another. However, the so-called Attic standard, Corinthian standard, Aiginetic standard and other standards defined the proper weight of each coin. Each of these standards were used in multiple places throughout the Mediterranean region.
In the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedonia came to dominate the Greek world. The most powerful of their kings, Alexander the Great eventually launched an attack on the Persian Empire, defeating and conquering it. Alexander's Empire fell apart after his death in 323 BC, and the eastern mediterranean region and western Asia (previously Persian territory) were divided into a small number of kingdoms, replacing the city-state as the principal unit of Greek government. Greek coins were now issued by kings, and only to a lesser extent by cities. Greek rulers were now minting coins as far away as Egypt and central Asia. The tetradrachm (four drachms) was a popular coin throughout the region. This era is referred to as the hellenistic era.
While much of the Greek world was being transformed into monarchies, the Ancient Romans were expanding their control throughout the Italian Peninsula. The Romans minted their first coins during the early 3rd century BC. The earliest coins were - like other coins in the region - silver drachms with a supplementary bronze coinage. They later reverted to the silver denarius as their principal coin. The denarius remained an important Roman coin until the Roman economy began to crumble. During the 3rd century AD, the antoninianus was minted in quantity. This was originally a "silver" coin with low silver content, but developed through stages of debasement (sometimes silver washed) to pure bronze coins.
Although many regions ruled by Hellenistic monarchs were brought under Roman control, this did not immediately lead to a unitary monetary system throughout the Mediterranean region. Local coinage traditions in the eastern regions prevailed, while the denarius dominated the western regions. The local Greek coinages are known as Greek Imperial coins.
Apart from the Greeks and the Romans, other peoples in the Mediterranean region also issued coins. These include the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Jews, the Celts and various regions in the Iberian Peninsula and the Arab Peninsula.
In regions to the East of the Roman Empire, that were formerly controlled by the Hellenistic Seleucids, the Parthian Empire created an empire in Ancient Persia. The Parthians issued a relatively stable series of silver drachms and tetradrachms. After the Parthians were overthrown by the Sassanians in 226 AD, the new dynasty of Persia began the minting of their distinct thin, spread fabric silver drachms, that became a staple of their empire right up to the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD.
Muhammad established the Constitution of Medina in 622 in the Arabian Peninsula. After the death of Mohammed in 632, the state was governed by , thus named 'the Caliphate'. As the caliphate expanded into Byzantine territories to the Northwest and conquered the Sassanian (Persian) Empire to the Northeast, the question of a caliphal coinage became imminent. The caliphate adapted the Sassanian drachm as their silver coin. Initially, Arabic inscriptions were added to the Sassanian coin type. Later, the type was completely revised, so as to include inscriptions and ornaments only. (Depictions of human beings is prohibited according to Sunni Islam). These coins are known in Arabic as dirhems. The dirhems of the caliphate gained wide acceptance. They are consequently found along trading routes in Ukraine, Russia and Scandinavia.
As the power balance within the caliphate changed (weaker central power), the names of local leaders, or feudal lords, were increasingly indicated on the dirhems. Various Arabic dynasties continued to issue dirhems for centuries after the demise of the classical caliphates. There is a great variety of types, although retaining the inscriptions and ornaments only formula.
In medieval Europe (outside the Byzantine Empire), the coinage was very complex, as the types were often different from one (small) region to another. In some regions, certain coin types became a commonly accepted coin type in inter-regional trade. For instance, the silver were a popular type of coin in England, the Netherlands and the Frisian region. The penny was a popular interregional silver coin, thus being known in several different languages as 'penny' (English), 'pfennig' (German) and 'penning' (Scandinavian languages). Medieval coin types frequently suffered from gradual debasement, and the coins were generally small. This changed when the great amounts of silver began to flow into Europe from the New World.
With the accession of the Safavid dynasty, Persia emerged as an independent state, also in terms of language and identity. This coincided with a shift from the use of Arabic to Persian in the coins' inscriptions. The coins now tended to employ cursive and interlaced script, radically altering the appearance of the coins.
The Sanskrit word rūpyakam (रूप्यकम्) means "wrought silver" or a coin of silver. The term could also be related to "something provided with an image, a coin," from Sanskrit rūpa "shape, likeness, image."
The word Rupee was adopted by Sher Shah Suri, a renegade governor who broke off from the Mughal Empire and created the Sur Empire during his short rule of northern India between (1540–1545). It was used for the silver coin weighing . He also introduced copper coins called Dam and called Mohur that weighed . Later on, the Mughal Emperors standardised this coinage of tri-metalism across the sub-continent in order to consolidate the monetary system.
Europeans started silver mining in the "New World" soon after discovery of the Americas to answer a demand for silver in Europe inspired by the fine craftsmanship of the Renaissance. The discovery of silver in Joachimsthal also gave rise to the silver joachimsthaler coin. Production of silver in the Americas influenced trade and politics in Europe and transformed European relations with other regions of the world, particularly China and the Ottoman Empire. The influx of silver into Europe led to the sometimes uncontrolled minting of coins. All countries of Europe eventually began to issue large size silver coins. Europeans then used these silver coins to purchase goods abroad which eventually led to inflation. The great amounts of new silver supply caused the relative value of silver against gold to drop.
After silver was removed from US circulating coins the US Mint made special commemorative coins minted for sale to coin collectors and, starting in 1986, primarily sold to investors. Both types, although legal tender, are not expected to circulate for commerce.
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