La Specimilo and Stelo

## La Spesmilo (1907-1914)

The spesmilo was an obsolete decimal international currency, proposed in 1907 by René de Saussure and used before World War I by a few British and Swiss banks, primarily the Ĉekbanko Esperantista. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spesmilo) This was the first major attempt at creating an Esperanto-based international currency.

**Key characteristics:**

- With a value of 0.733 grams of fine gold, which was worthing at the time 50 US cents, or 2 British gold shillings, one spesmilo is divided into 1,000 spesoj. [Languages and Numbers](https://www.languagesandnumbers.com/articles/en/monero-crypto-esperanto/)

- The basic unit, the speso (from Italian "spese" meaning expenses) [DBpedia](https://dbpedia.org/page/Spesmilo) , formed the foundation of the system

- Commemorative coins were issued in 1912 in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Unua Libro, the first publication describing Esperanto. [Fandom](https://currencies.fandom.com/wiki/1_spesmilo_coin)

The spesmilo movement was cut short by World War I, which disrupted international cooperation and made such currency experiments impractical.

## La Stelo (Stelloj) (1945-1993)

The stelo ("star"; plural: steloj) was from 1945 to 1993 a monetary unit of Esperantists, one of whose aims was to achieve a single world currency. [Numista](https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia23986.html) This was the second major Esperanto monetary initiative, organized by the Universala Ligo (Universal League).

**Key characteristics:**

- The idea was to link the Stelo to existing currencies on the basis of relative purchasing power in different countries. The value of a Stelo would equal the price of a standard loaf of bread in the Netherlands, which at that time cost 0.25 Dutch guilders. [Steemit](https://steemit.com/esperanto/@johano/esperanto-money)

- Theoretically it was supposed to be equal to the value of 1 kg of bread, but in practice, it became equal to one-fourth of a Dutch guilder [Transparent Language](https://blogs.transparent.com/esperanto/mono-money-en-esperanto/)

- After long discussion they concluded that the Stelo should be revalued from a fourth of a guilder to a half-guilder. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelo)

**Physical coins:**

Although not a coin backed by a recognized government, the Universala Ligo (Universal League) minted these coins for their own use and promotion throughout the world. [CoinQuest](https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=18151) Coins were minted in denominations of 10 and 25 steloj between 1959 and 1965.

## Cultural and Historical Significance

Both monetary movements reflected the Esperanto community's broader vision of international cooperation and unity. The stelo is a monetary unit of Esperantists, again in hope of achieving a single world currency. [CoinQuest](https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=18151) These initiatives represented practical attempts to create economic instruments that could facilitate international commerce while promoting the use of Esperanto as a universal language.

Today, while these historical currencies are no longer active, they remain important symbols of the Esperanto movement's ambitious goals for global communication and cooperation. Modern connections to Esperanto in the monetary world include the Monero cryptocurrency, which takes its name from the Esperanto word for "money" [Languages and Numbers](https://www.languagesandnumbers.com/articles/en/monero-crypto-esperanto/) , though this is not directly connected to the historical Esperanto monetary movements.

Citations:

- [Spesmilo - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spesmilo)

- [Monero, learn Esperanto with a cryptocurrency — Of Languages and Numbers](https://www.languagesandnumbers.com/articles/en/monero-crypto-esperanto/)

- [About: Spesmilo](https://dbpedia.org/page/Spesmilo)

- [1 spesmilo coin | Currency Wiki | Fandom](https://currencies.fandom.com/wiki/1_spesmilo_coin)

- [1 Stelo (Esperanto) - Esperantujo – Numista](https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia23986.html)

- [Esperanto- money — Steemit](https://steemit.com/esperanto/@johano/esperanto-money)

- [Mono (Money) en Esperanto | Esperanto Language Blog](https://blogs.transparent.com/esperanto/mono-money-en-esperanto/)

- [Stelo - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelo)

- [Coin Value: World (Esperanto, Universala Ligo) 10 and 25 Steloj 1959 to 1965](https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=18151)

More sources:

- [Esperanto | Currency Wiki | Fandom](https://currencies.fandom.com/wiki/Esperanto)

- [Esperanto Currency System. I first heard about Esperanto from my… | by J. Chitty | Medium](https://medium.com/@chitty/esperanto-currency-system-8839e7359a25)

- [Esperanto in Numismatics](https://bulteno.esperanto-usa.org/a/2024/01/numismatiko/)

- [René de Saussure - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_de_Saussure)

- [Spesmilo | Currency Wiki | Fandom](https://currencies.fandom.com/wiki/Spesmilo)

- [★ Spesmilo - modern obsolete currencies .. Info | About | W](https://en.google-info.org/index.php/3054130/1/spesmilo.html)

- [Saussure’s Value(s) – Recherches sémiotiques / Semiotic Inquiry](https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/rssi/2014-v34-n1-2-3-rssi02602/1037153ar/)