Where Would Pre-Euro Currencies Trade at Now?

The European Union’s single currency continued to slump, despite a $1 trillion rescue loan package, as traders and investors remained skeptical about the fiscal strength of euro zone members like Greece and Portugal.

The euro hit a 4-year low against the dollar on May 17, and there has been speculation about whether the current currency union format will survive. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull France out of the euro if an aid package for Greece was not delayed – something officials later denied.

And Harvard economist Ken Rogoff told CNBC the EU should probably have moved for the orderly exit of Greece and Portugal for the stability of the monetary group.

If countries left the euro, old currencies would have to be revived. But where would they trade? Each country entered the euro with an “irrevocable conversion rate.” The IMF uses the rates in its World Economic Outlook to compare and transform data prior to 1990. Using those rates and the latest euro close of $1.236 on May 14, we can see how those currencies would trade against the greenback.

By Kim Khan
Posted 17 May 2010

Conversion Rate: 13.7603 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 11.1329 per dollar

The schilling became the national currency of Austria in 1924. Mozart has featured on the 5,000 schilling note, while Sigmund Freud had his portrait on the 50 schilling note.

The word schilling comes from England (shilling), and was originally defined as the value of a cow in Kent, or that of sheep outside of Kent.

Conversion Rate: 40.3399 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 32.6375 per dollar

Belgium adopted the franc after being annexed by Napoleon. The first Belgian banknotes were used only by banks and wealthy clientele as certificates of deposit, but banks would not accept notes from rivals, hurting confidence in paper money.

Conversion Rate: 0.585274 per euro
Would Return Trading At: $2.1118 per Cyprus pound

The Cyprus pound started circulation after the country’s independence in 1960, but was pegged to British sterling until 1972. It was originally divided into 1000 units, before switching to a division of 100 units.

Conversion Rate: 1.95583 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 1.5824 per dollar

Introduced by the Western Allies in 1948 in post-war Germany, the currency was designed to replace the black market economy where cigarettes were the mainly accepted form of currency (60,000 cigarettes could buy a Volkswagen, according to moneymuseum.com.)

Germans were still skeptical of paper money following the hyperinflation between the world wars. At the inflation’s peak in Nov. 1923, a US dollar was worth more than 2 trillion paper marks, varying from city to city throughout Germany.

Conversion Rate: 5.94573 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 4.8105 per dollar

Finland was granted its own currency in 1860 by Russian Czar Alexander II. It was tied to the Russian rouble, which was not pegged.

Conversion Rate: 6.55957 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 5.3072 per dollar

The first franc minted was a gold coin to commemorate the release of King John the Good during the Hundred Years War. The revolutionary franc was the first decimal coin in France.

France was also a founding member of the Latin Monetary Union, formed in 1865, along with Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. The members promised to exchange their currencies for 0.290322 grams of gold or 4.5 grams of silver.

Conversion Rate: 340.750 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 275.6877 per dollar

The oldest of the pre-euro currencies, the drachma dates back to silver coins used in the 6th century BC. The name comes from the Greek “to grasp” and the value is said to be that of a handful of arrows.

Greek banknotes debuted in 1822, but a silver 20 drachma piece replaced the note in 1960.

Conversion Rate: 0.787564 per euro
Would Return Trading At: $1.5694 per pound

The peg between the Irish and UK pound only ended in 1979 and for a large part of the currency’s history, Irish banknotes and coins were minted in England.

A committee led by WB Yeats, widely considered Ireland’s national poet, was in charge of deciding on an emblem for the currency and chose the Irish harp, according to the BBC.

Conversion Rate: 1,936.27 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 1,566.56 per dollar

The lira was reintroduced to Sardinia by Napoleon and became the currency for the unified kingdom of Italy in 1860. The Vatican had its own lira, trading at 1-to-1 against the Italian lira and now has its own euro coins.

Conversion Rate: 40.3399 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 32.6375 per dollar

The grand duchy was anotherstate to inherit a currency from Napoleon, but the Luxembourg franc has never been widely used. After a monetary agreement with Belgium, Belgian coins and notes were accepted in Luxembourg.

Conversion Rate: 0.42930 per euro
Would Return Trading At: $2.8791 per lira

The currency began in 1972 –replacing the Maltese pound – and remained one of the strongest currencies in terms of exchange rates until the euro was adopted.

Conversion Rate: 2.20371 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 1.7829 per dollar

The guilder – evolving from the Dutch word for golden – was minted in the United States from 1943 to 1945, in anticipation of its use as currency for the liberated Netherlands, after the end of World War II.

Two Dutch coins, florin and guilder, were used as the names of the countries in the movie “The Princess Bride.”

Conversion Rate: 200.482 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 162.202 per dollar

In the 1920s the confidence in the escudo was shaken by a massive counterfeit scheme conducted by Alves dos Reis. By 1925 Reis had passed forged notes into the economy worth nearly 0.9 percent of gross domestic product.

Conversion Rate: 30.1260 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 24.3738 per dollar

After independence, Slovakia introduced its own koruna, which replaced the Czechoslovak koruna at one-to-one.

Conversion Rate: 239.640 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 193.883 per dollar

The largest denomination of the currency was the 10,000 tolar note, which featured a picture of Ivan Cankar, considered by many to be the greatest Slovenian writer.

Conversion Rate: 166.386 per euro
Would Return Trading At: 134.617 per dollar

The currency was introduced with a view to joining the Latin Monetary Union, which Spain did, along with Greece, in 1868. During the Spanish Civil War the peseta was divided into a Republican peseta and a Nationalist peseta.

Spain had a rocky road to euro integration, and was devalued in the mid-90s.