TOKEN

MONEY  , the term employed originally to describe the counters or " tokens " issued by traders to meet the lack of small change . It has now been appropriated by economists and officials to denote the smaller currency that circulates at a nominal value higher than its cost . It is contrasted with " standard " money, and is limited in its amount by state authority . Its power of discharging debts is also limited: in England, e.g., silver is legal tender only up to 4os., copper to 12 pence . Various substances have been utilized for the manufacture of token coinage—silver at a lower degree of fineness, copper in different alloys, and nickel . The French term monnaie divisionnaire has much the same meaning; so has the German Scheidemunze . A currency, restricted in amount, but with full legal tender power—such as the Indian rupees and the French 5-franc pieces—is midway between token and standard money . Representative money also bears some analogy to token coinage . (See MONEY and SEIGNIORAGE.) (C . F .