art on Imperial Credits

[steve98052]

I'm designing some Imperial Credit currency for use as game props. I would expect that Credits have more to them than just a design and the basic information (denomination, serial, date, and sector of issue), and I can do a lot with graphic design, but I would expect that there's also some art on each note or coin. In fact, I'd expect that each sector of issue would have some design elements that are left to the sector duke's discretion, within a set of general constraints.

What sort of art would one imagine on Imperial Credit currency? My thoughts are that the most-frequently used notes and coins would be the most prestigious positions; the emperor wants his face on notes that people see every day, not a huge-denomination note that one might never see without asking a bank to show it to them just so they can say they've seen one.

Here's a list of ideas, just to start the discussion:
1/4 coin: Imperial star seal
1/2 coin: Empress Arbellatra (as founder of the Alkhalikoi dynasty)
1 Credit coin: current emperor
5 Credit coin: founding Emperor Cleon
10 Credit note: current emperor and imperial family
50 sector duke / recent event / subsector duke montage
100 long-serving past emperor / historical event, place, etc.
500 short-term past emperor or montage / sector historical event
1000 honored military person(s) / military event or image
10000 honored civilian(s) / non-military event or image

Also, does anyone out there have actual art that I could use in my prop currency, as opposed to ideas about what might be on it?

 

[locarno24]

My thoughts are that the most-frequently used notes and coins would be the most prestigious positions; the emperor wants his face on notes that people see every day, not a huge-denomination note that one might never see without asking a bank to show it to them just so they can say they've seen one.

He's probably on all of them (or at least all produced within the current reign). There are two sides, after all. The proles and the artists can fight over who's on the back.

 

[Condottiere]

Holographic picture, that could kaleidoscope through a range of portraits or be an animated GIF.

 

[steve98052]

My thoughts are that the most-frequently used notes and coins would be the most prestigious positions; the emperor wants his face on notes that people see every day, not a huge-denomination note that one might never see without asking a bank to show it to them just so they can say they've seen one.

He's probably on all of them (or at least all produced within the current reign). There are two sides, after all. The proles and the artists can fight over who's on the back.

That's a fair point, though coins don't offer a lot of space for that, particularly if we assume that coins have serial numbers on them too. Notes are a bit on the small side (at 75×125 mm), but that's not so small that it would get in the way of a current emperor portrait on every note's "heads" side with the variety on the reverse.

Assuming every note has the current emperor, the matter of who or what is honored on the reverse still works the same way: the most-circulated notes are likely to be where nobles most want to appear, or where people associated with events or other images would like their cause to be recognized.
"Sure, the Fifth Frontier War was a bigger operation than the Fourth, but we won that one, rather than ending up right where we started. We veterans of the Fourth deserve to be the ones on the 100 note; the youngsters who were in the Fifth can settle for the 500."

The question of whose face goes on the money would get a bit complicated during the Barracks Emperor era, and in the Rebellion timeline.
"Sorry, we're not allowed to accept Lucan notes here. I wouldn't count on anything else issued after 1116 for much longer, except maybe Zirunkariish Travellers' Checks."

--

In terms of designing game props, putting art on both sides doubles the amount of art necessary, but if the front has the same face for all denominations that makes things easier.

 

[Mithras]

Maybe the 1/4 could be called a 'quarter' (natch) and the half a credit a 'Demi', at least one denomination should be called a 'Ponii' after the English slang for £25, which is 'Pony'.

 

[Mithras]

The question of whose face goes on the money would get a bit complicated during the Barracks Emperor era, and in the Rebellion timeline.
"Sorry, we're not allowed to accept Lucan notes here. I wouldn't count on anything else issued after 1116 for much longer, except maybe Zirunkariish Travellers' Checks..

In the 3rd century of the Roman Empire, emperors were replaced with great frequency (probably the inspiration for the Barracks Emperors), and some reigned for just weeks or days, some of these were able tto issue coins, and, because they held intrinsic value the continued in use despite the emperor being assassinated by a rival who could do nothing about the silver coins now floating around the economy.

 

[steve98052]

The question of whose face goes on the money would get a bit complicated during the Barracks Emperor era, and in the Rebellion timeline.
"Sorry, we're not allowed to accept Lucan notes here. I wouldn't count on anything else issued after 1116 for much longer, except maybe Zirunkariish Travellers' Checks..

In the 3rd century of the Roman Empire, emperors were replaced with great frequency (probably the inspiration for the Barracks Emperors), and some reigned for just weeks or days, some of these were able tto issue coins, and, because they held intrinsic value the continued in use despite the emperor being assassinated by a rival who could do nothing about the silver coins now floating around the economy.

Given that a whole lot of Traveller history is inspired by Roman history, I have little doubt that the Barracks Emperors of the Imperium were inspired by the Barracks Emperors of Rome in the third century CE.

The Long Night looks a lot like the Dark Ages too, except that it's set before the Third Imperium, while the Dark Ages were after the Roman Empire.

As for intrinsic value of coins, that's true. As long as silver is recognized as a commodity with intrinsic value, silver coins will hold value, except to the extent that a major influx of silver can be inflationary. What makes uncommon metals useful as money is that their scarcity makes them less prone to abrupt inflationary expansions of the amount of money in circulation.

By contrast, the value of the Imperial Credit (like most present-day currencies) is based on the Imperium's promise to recognize the Credit's value, and the population's willingness to trust that promise. With such currencies, it's easy for someone with control of the treasury to increase spending in an emergency situation by authorizing new currency. The catch is that authorizing too much new currency sparks inflation. In extreme cases, one ends up with situations like the now-discontinued Zimbabwe Dollar.

In the event that a currency suffers runaway inflation, the need for money as a unit of exchange remains. In the modern world, the typical result is a switch to other nations' currencies. In a political entity as huge as the Imperium, that wouldn't be a readily available option, because there are no larger, more-trusted governments around to provide an external currency. However, if one or more of the faction-leaders in the Rebellion-era fragments of the Imperium were to issue so much new currency that inflation became a problem, currency issued before the Rebellion would remain stable (though possibly deflationary). The biggest risk in that case would be if a faction leader decided to issue back-dated currency, which amounts to counterfeiting by someone authorized to issue legal tender too.

 

[dragoner]

T5 has pictures of Imperial currency, MegaTraveller as well iirc.

Silver and gold have no intrinsic value, people used to use cowrie shells as money; a commodity or metallic currency is still a "fiat" currency. The Romans, albeit crudely, manipulated the supply of the sesterce by varying the content of silver. I'm leery when people start talking about Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic, as they often have dubious affiliations.

 

[steve98052]

T5 has pictures of Imperial currency, MegaTraveller as well iirc.

Which books include pictures of the currency? There's a picture of a ten-Credit note on the Traveller wiki (this image in this article), but it doesn't have a source citation.

 

[Condottiere]

The easiest way to establish value is to insist that taxes will paid with that currency.