Monetary Conventions and Unions

agreements among states aimed at standardizing the weight and purity of mutually accepted coins. Monetary conventions were established as early as the Middle Ages. The better known of such agreements among the Germanic states include the Austro-South German Conventions of 1753 and 1837, the North German Conventions of 1836 and 1838, and the Austro-German Monetary Union of 1857; in accordance with these, the weight and purity of coins in common use were defined by the participating countries. The Latin Monetary Union (1865–1926) and the Scandinavian Monetary Union (1872–1924) also took the form of such agreements.