Purity standards and the actual amount of Gold and Silver in coins
Most non-bullion coins are not made with pure metal.
Gold and Silver "currency" coins were typically made using alloys of other metals.
One reason for this is because pure metals are often soft and therefore such coins would be easily damaged in ordinary circulation.
Another reason is the obvious one that including less expensive metals in the mix makes such items cheaper to produce: and obviously, for regular currency, the value of the precious metal in a coin must not exceed the stated value of the coin - otherwise people will melt the coins down! In recent eras, the value of precious metals has far exceeded the monetary value of coins and so it is no longer appropriate to include precious metals in ordinary coins
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