The Numismatic Bibliomania Society Logo

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 9, February 25, 2001, Article 5

CELEBRATE "SHROFF" TUESDAY BY
THROWING BAD COINS AT BANKERS

Michael E. Marotta writes:

"Discussing the etymology of "Shrove Tuesday" I discovered "shroff" in the Merriam Webster Ninth Collegiate. (It is also in the 6th and 10th. Although it is in the New World hardcover up through 1969, it is not in my paperback edition from 1979.) Searching the ANS Library returned no hits on this word. What is most interesting is that actually testing money is explicitly one of the services of the shroff.

I then found other references online that point to variants such as serafine (xerafin), a word for Arabic gold coins well known to American colonial merchants.

http://original.bibliomania.com/Reference/HobsonJobson/data/831.html

Sir Henry Yule C.B., K.C.S.I. and A. C. Burnell Hobson Jobson:

The Anglo-Indian Dictionary pages 831-832 SHROFF, s. A money-changer, a banker. Ar. sarraf, sairafi, sairaf. The word is used by Europeans in China as well as in India, and is there applied to the experts who are employed by banks and mercantile firms to check the quality of the dollars that pass into the houses.

"Shroffing schools are common in Canton, where teachers of the art keep bad dollars for the purpose of exercising their pupils; and several works on the subject have been published there, with numerous illustrations of dollars and other foreign coins, the methods of scooping out silver and filling up with copper or lead, comparisons between genuine and counterfeit dollars, the difference between native and foreign milling, etc., etc."

Wayne Homren, Editor

Google NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

This is a static archive page documenting the originally published content. Links were active at the time of publication but may no longer work. Check subsequent issues for corrections and commentary.

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature.   For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/ There is a membership application available on the web site.  To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application.  Visit the Membership page. Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page link.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: E-Sylum Editor

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS Webmaster
Privacy Policy