Topics of coins
The Great Polish Economists – Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) is primarily
known as an exceptional astronomer who
formulated the true model of the solar
system, which led to an unprecedented
change in the human perception of Earth’s
place in the universe. This great Pole, who is
rightly included among the greatest minds
of the European Renaissance, was also
a clergyman, a mathematician, a physician,
a lawyer and a translator. He also proved
himself as an effective strategist and military
commander, leading the defence of Olsztyn
during the Polish–Teutonic War. Later on,
he exhibited great organizational skills, quickly
rebuilding and relaunching the economy
of the areas devastated by the invasion
of the Teutonic Knights. He also served in
diplomacy and participated in the works of
the Polish Sejm.
Copernicus’ scientific achievements in the field
of economics were equally significant, and place
him among the greatest authors of the world
economic thought. In 1517 Copernicus wrote
a treatise on the phenomenon of bad money
driving out good money. He noted that
the “debasement of coin” was one of the main
reasons for the collapse of states. He was
therefore one of the first advocates of modern
monetary policy based on the unification of
the currency in circulation, constant care for
its value and the prevention of inflation, which
ruins the economy. In money he distinguished
the ore value (valor) and the estimated
value (estimatio), determined by the issuer.
According to Copernicus, the ore value of
a good coin should correspond to its estimated
value. This was not synonymous, however, with
the reduction of the coin to a piece of metal being
the subject of trade in goods. The ore contained
in the money was supposed to be the guarantee
of its price, and the value of the legal tender
was assigned to it by special symbols proving its
relationship with a given country and ruler.
Although such views are nothing new today,
in his time they constituted a milestone
in the development of economic thought.
Additionally Copernicus was not only a theorist of
finance, but he was also the co-author of a successful
monetary reform, later also implemented in other
countries. It was Copernicus, the first of the great
Polish economists, who in 1519 proposed to
King Sigismund I the Old to unify the monetary system of the Polish Crown with that of its
subordinate Royal Prussia.
The principles described in the treatise
published in 1517 were decades later
repeated by the English financier Thomas
Gresham and are currently most often
referred to around the world as Gresham’s
law. Historical truth, however, requires us
to restore the authorship of this principle
to its creator, for example through
the popularization of knowledge about
the Copernicus-Gresham Law.
Artur Adamski