Early accounting: the tally and checkerboard, by W. T. Baxter, in The Accounting Historians Journal, 1989, Vol 16. No 2. PP 43-84.
Medieval accounting by M. Chatfield in A History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia, 12996b, pp 412-414.

The medieval experience, 300-1400 By Jill N. Claster (New York: NYU Press, 1982.) pp 281-282

The Dialogus De Scaccario (c.1179): The First Western Book on Accounting? by Michael J. Jones in Abacus, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 443-474, December 2008

Accounting in the late medieval town: the account books of the stewards of Southampton in the fifteenth century
by Anne Thick in Accounting, Business & Financial History, 1466-4275, Volume 9, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 265 – 290

This message board is well regarded by numismatists and I cite it to show that we accept the origins of the “exchequer” in the medieval checkerboard accouting.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=48184.0
by Arminius
Re: French medieval copper coin or medal ?
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2008, 11:57:34 pm »
——————————————————————————–
With your helping interpretation i found it.
A French “calculation token” from the 15th century:
http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotviewer.php?LotID=430882&AucID=318&Lot=6482
from http://www.finds.org.uk:
Reckoning counters (commonly known as jetons) are coin-like objects, usually made of copper alloy, intended to assist in arithmetical calculations, particularly in accountancy, at times when illiteracy was widespread and cumbersome Roman numerals were used to record values and sums of money.
They would normally be used with a checkerboard or cloth, in a process similar to using an abacus. Initially actual coins were used in reckoning, but from the late 13th century special counters were made. They came into general use from the 14th century and continued to be widely used in accounting until the late 17th century, when the spread of Arabic numerals made written calculations much simpler, reducing greatly reliance on manual reckoning.
From the early 15th century France initially was the main supplier for jetons. The city of Tournai was a major manufacturing centre. The stylised designs, such as crowns, the French coat of arms and decorated crosses, used on these imports were based on French coin-types. Religious inscriptions, such as AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA (Hail Mary, full of grace), were common, but the legends soon became garbled.
Nuremberg took over as the main European centre for jeton manufacture in the 16th century.
regards
ps: to rearrange the reverse like a decorated cross results in a very misshaped figure (second picture).
————————
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta

However, I promise not to dodge the challenge to prove my claim. I am finishing a couple of graduate courses this month for Spring Semester. I am free for the summer term, so, I will dig for the research that I relied on in the first place and then come back to post the validations.

Moreover, the so-called “dollar” sign is used for the Mexican peso, but was also the mark of the Portuguese escudo before the euro. So, the semata was ambiguous, as opposed, say to the scripty L for pounds UKP or the double-bar Y for yen JPY.

We have several theories for the dollar as a “buck” most common being the value of a buckskin at a trading post. However, to “pass the buck” seems to have a different origin entirely, refering to a buckhorn-handled knife, perhaps, passed with the deal at card games.

In the UK they call the treasury the “exchequer” and we forget that this refers to the checkerboard accounting systems of the middle ages, and we still call bank drafts “checks” perhaps from the same source.

The key word in the title might not be change but memory. That is, the true variable affecting which currency to use is not the price but frequency of purchase. If the first time you bought a house or a car was a long time ago, you paid old francs. So if you want to be able to compare what a house or car today costs, you think in terms of old francs. And even if you were born after the conversion to new francs, you still grew up hearing people talking about the prices of these things in old francs.

So, like you, I am surprised that the price of toothpaste still has a price in new francs. But go up the road and ask the price of a 1959 Pol Roger, and you might well qet a quote in old francs. . .with a whole lot of zeros.