Pantocratorian Ducat
The Pantocratorian Ducat (∂) is the currency of Pantocratoria. There are one hundred nummis (ν) in a ducat (100ν = ∂1). A ducat is worth approximately $1.80 US Dollars, €0.90 Knootian Euros, and S1.09 Danaan Sterling. It is issued by the Imperial Bank.
Origins
The first coin known as the ducat was minted by Roger II of Sicily - the name was later used for gold coins minted in Venice and used throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Venetian traders brought the coin about the Mediterranean, including to Constantinople. In its Venetian form it was considerably more valuable than the Byzantine bronze follis. When the Knights of the Order of the Pantocrator and their band of refugees fled Constantinople, the ducat and the follis were the two primary coins they took with them, although some Byzantine gold coins were taken as well.
History
The follis had a nominal value of forty nummis, the original smallest value of coin minted in Byzantium, although as time went on, only the forty nummi coin, the follis, continued to be minted. This would remain the case in Pantocratoria when it began to mint its own coins in the reign of the Emperor Demetrius II Palaeologus. It wasn't until the reign of Constantine XIII that the value of Pantocratoria's two coins was properly set when the currency was reminted en masse to establish a consistent standard for commerce - one ducat was to be worth nine follis, whose theoretical value was still forty nummi, although there was no nummi coin.
In response to deflation, one of the first acts of the first Pantocratorian Imperial Parliament began minting denominations smaller than the follis in 1674 - a tiny one nummi copper coin, a tiny five nummi bronze coin, and a small twenty nummi coin (the half-follis). Follis coins were often cut in half by merchants and used as half-follis coins.
To help finance the build-up of the Pantocratorian navy for the Second War of Insolence, Emperor Manuel V withdrew the gold ducat coin in 1713 and replaced it with a paper currency. Inflation took off, and in 1720 the paper money was withdrawn and the gold ducat coin was reissued, along with a silver five follis coin, which became known as the manuel d'argent or just the manuel.
The Pantocratorian currency was completely revalued in 1862 by Chancellor Louis-Manuel de Tourraine's Frank Party government. The follis and the half-follis coins were withdrawn completely. The one and five nummi coins were also withdrawn and replaced with larger copper coins, with a value of one nummi. The manuel was withdrawn and reissued as a smaller silver coin with a set value of sixty of the new nummis. The gold ducat coin disappeared forever and was replaced with paper ducats with a value of two of the new manuels. Old ducats were replaced at an exchange rate of one new ducat and one new manuel.
The ducat moved to a decimal system in 1922 under Chancellor Philippe Mercer's Imperial Patriotic Party government. There would now be one hundred nummis in a ducat. The new fifty nummi coin became colloquially known as a manuel. The decimal ducat's value was the same as the pre-decimal ducat - it was the nummi which was revalued as being one hundredth of a ducat. The government still set the value of the ducat.
The ducat was deregulated in 1992 under Prince Basil's United Christian Front government, from which point market forces have set the value of the ducat instead of the Pantocratorian Imperial Government.
Coins
There are five denominations of Pantocratorian coins: the one nummi (1ν) coin, the five nummi (5ν) coin, the ten nummi (10ν) coin, the twenty nummi (20ν) coin, and the fifty nummi (50ν) coin, or manuel d'argent (also just called the manuel). The first four coins are all copper, but the manuel is a silver-coloured coin of copper / nickel composition. Each coin carries the Emperor's head (in side portrait) on one side, encircled by the Latin phrase "ANDREUS IMPERATOR PANTOCRATORIA" for coins minted prior to 2004. From November 2004 onwards, coins are minted with this motto translated into either French or Greek in equal porportion (which is to say that half the coins minted bear the French "ANDREUS EMPEREUR PANTOCRATORIEN", and half the coins bear the Greek "ΑΙΝΔΡΕΑΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΠΑΝΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΙΑΣ"). On the other side each coin carries either the coat of arms (in the case of the one, five, and ten nummi coins), a picture of the Palais du Parlement (in the case of the twenty nummi coin), a portrait of the Imperial Family or a special design to commemorate an event (in the case of the manuel).
Notes
There are seven denominations of Pantocratorian paper notes: the one ducat (∂1) note, the two ducat (∂2) note, the five ducat (∂5) note, the ten ducat (∂10) note, the twenty ducat (∂20) note, the fifty ducat (∂50) note, and the one hundred ducat (∂100) note (which is rarely seen). Every note is printed on light blue paper and bears the Pantocratorian coat of arms in full colour in the top left corner of each side. The Emperor is depicted in his coronation robes on the front of every note, and the back of each note depicts a commemorative scene.
