Thefactthatthecurrencyofcoinsitselfeffectsaseparationbetweentheirnominalandtheirrealweight，creatingadistinctionbetweenthemasmerepiecesofmetalontheonehand，andascoinswithadefinitefunctionontheother？thisfactimpliesthelatentpossibilityofreplacingmetalliccoinsbytokensofsomeothermaterial，bysymbolsservingthesamepurposesascoins。Thepracticaldifficultiesinthewayofcoiningextremelyminutequantitiesofgoldorsilver，andthecircumstancethatatfirstthelesspreciousmetalisusedasameasureofvalueinsteadofthe—moreprecious，copperinsteadofsilver，silverinsteadofgold，andthatthelesspreciouscirculatesasmoneyuntildethronedbythemoreprecious？allthesefactsexplainthepartshistoricallyplayedbysilverandcoppertokensassubstitutesforgoldcoins。Silverandcoppertokenstaketheplaceofgoldinthoseregionsofthecirculationwherecoinspassfromhandtohandmostrapidly，andaresubjecttothemaximumamountofwearandtear。Thisoccurswheresalesandpurchasesonaverysmallscalearecontinuallyhappening。Inordertopreventthesesatellitesfromestablishingthemselvespermanentlyintheplaceofgold，positiveenactmentsdeterminetheextenttowhichtheymustbecompulsorilyreceivedaspaymentinsteadofgold。Theparticulartrackspursuedbythedifferentspeciesofcoinincurrency，runnaturallyintoeachother。Thetokenskeepcompanywithgold，topayfractionalpartsofthesmallestgoldcoin;
goldis，ontheonehand，constantlypouringintoretailcirculation，andontheotherhandisasconstantlybeingthrownoutagainbybeingchangedintotokens。[35]
Theweightofmetalinthesilverandcoppertokensisarbitrarilyfixedbylaw。Whenincurrency，theywearawayevenmorerapidlythangoldcoins。
Hencetheirfunctionsaretotallyindependentoftheirweight，andconsequentlyofallvalue。Thefunctionofgoldascoinbecomescompletelyindependentofthemetallicvalueofthatgold。Thereforethingsthatarerelativelywithoutvalue，suchaspapernotes，canserveascoinsinitsplace。Thispurelysymboliccharacteristoacertainextentmaskedinmetaltokens。
Inpapermoneyitstandsoutplainly。Infact，cen’estquelepremierpasquicoûte。