Weekend QoD: October 12: Answers & Points

[wintergreen48]

1. The loser king who issued the first bi-metallic currency was: Kroisos, aka Croesus (as in ‘rich as…’)

2. The country that had the first decimal currency was: Russia. This was one of Peter the Great’s earliest and most important innovations, actually creating a Russian economy.

3. The Secretary of the Treasury/Chief Justice of the U.S. who was for paper money before he was against it was: Salmon P. Chase.

4. Virginia’s first ‘currency’ was: Terbaccy, which was long regarded as ‘The Golden Leaf.’ FWIW, John Rolfe (Pocahontas’ husband) is the one credited with finding that tobacco would actually be a profitable crop for the Virginia colony.

5. ‘Wampum’ was: Shells. I accepted ‘beads’ also, because I am real easy.

6. Della had $1.27 in change, with none of it being pennies, because: While O. Henry probably just goofed, it is possible that she did have this in change because during the 19th Century the US minted 2 cent coins (this was an answer to a $1,000,000 question on Prime Time WWTBAM) and 3 cent coins (both silver and nickel coins), and in the 18th and 19th Centuries the US minted 1/2 coins. If she actually had $1.27 in change, it was probably done with 3 cent coins, as these were the most ‘current,’ having been issued within 20 years of the story being written.

7. The good king who invented the ‘franc’ to pay his ransom was: John II, known to the frogs as Jean le Bon (‘John the Good’).

8. A shilling had how many pennies? Twelve; same as the number of deniers in a sou, or the number of denari in a soldo.
A pound had how many shillings? Twenty, same as the number of soldi in a lira and the number of sous in a livre.

9. ‘L’ stood for ‘pound’ because: they liked Latin (as well they should), and the Latin word for ‘pound’ is Libra (which also means ‘balance,’ hence the zodiacal sign).

10. ‘D’ stood for ‘penny’ because: they like Latin (as well they should), and the basic silver coin during most of the period of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the ‘denarius,’ which was equated with the ‘penny’ (which, until the end of the 18th Century, was a silver coin; they still make silver pennies, but these are ceremonial things, for Maundy Thursday). The Biblical quote refers to the 'render to Caesar what is Caesar's stuff, and render to God was is God's stuff' episode, where Jesus is asked about whether or not people should pay taxes, and He asks to be shown the coin of tribute; the original Greek version, and the Latin translation, refer to the coin as a 'denarius,' which was the workhouse coin of the Roman economy at that time; the traditional English translation for this has been 'penny.'


Points:
jarnon = 7
a1mamacat = 3
Bob### = 4
Marley = 6
kroxquo = 5
NellyLunatic = 7
jbillygirl = 7
frogman = 3
jsuchard = 7
weyoun = 9
Confessor = 7.5 (half credit for the final answer, which was not quite right, but I liked the rationale)
VADame = 8
AndrewJackson = 10
macrae = 10
plasticene = 6
tanstaafl = 8
AnnieCamaro = 7
LynPayne = 6
KillerTomato = 8

[KillerTomato]

Points:
jarnon = 7
a1mamacat = 3
Bob### = 4
Marley = 6
kroxquo = 5
NellyLunatic = 7
jbillygirl = 7
frogman = 3
jsuchard = 7
weyoun = 9
Confessor = 7.5 (half credit for the final answer, which was not quite right, but I liked the rationale)
VADame = 8
AndrewJackson = 10
macrae = 10
plasticene = 6
tanstaafl = 8
AnnieCamaro = 7
LynPayne = 6

Um....Mr. Wintergreen, sir? Did I do something to upset you?

viewtopic.php?p=115544#p115544

[wintergreen48]

Um....Mr. Wintergreen, sir? Did I do something to upset you?

viewtopic.php?p=115544#p115544

No.