As a preliminary to negotiating

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct68% picked this

   Because refined gold varied considerably in purity, specifying a price as a number of refined-gold coins did not fix the quantity

   Why this is right

   This answer shows why using refined gold coins had a detriment when it came to specifying price --- the actual value the seller received in gold coins could vary a lot, depending on whether the coins received were 90% gold / 95% / 100%. Meanwhile, Senegalese gold was unrefined, so it was a guarantee you were getting 92% gold. To put it another way, I'd rather get paid in nickels if I can be guaranteed each one is worth 5 cents, than to be paid in dimes if their actual value is going to vary between 8-12 cents each.

   Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   68%
2. B

   Opposite, if anything3% picked this

   During this period most day-to-day trading was conducted using silver coins, though gold coins were used for costly

   This sounds like merchants preferred silver coins, since it was the typical coin used in most day-to-day trading. A merchant is usually found in a marketplace, selling day-to-day items to locals. This answer also only helps us to explain why now and then a merchant might want to use gold, but this answer does nothing to differentiate Senegalese gold from other forms of gold.

   3%
3. C

   Opposite, if anything19% picked this

   The mints were able to determine the purity, and hence the value, of gold coins

   We were suspecting that maybe the advantage the Senegalese gold has was that you could bank on (no pun intended) its gold content being a steady 92%. But according to this answer, the mints were able to determine the purity / value of other coins just as well.

   19%
4. D

   Opposite, if anything8% picked this

   Since gold coins’ monetary value rested on the gold they contained, payments were frequently made using coins minted

   This doesn't sound like merchants insisting on gold from Senegal (or West Africa, at the time). It sounds like they were fine getting coins minted in several different countries. And to the extent that gold coins' monetary value rested on the gold they contained, it deepens the paradox. Why wouldn't merchants have specified that payment should be in a coin that was higher than 92% gold (as we know some coins were)?

   8%
5. E

   Opposite2% picked this

   Merchants obtaining gold to resell for use in jewelry could not sell the metal unless

   First of all, this sounds like a very narrow edge case, not a typical situation confronting most merchants. But even in this fringe case of obtaining gold to resell in jewelry, it's saying that the preference would have been for refined gold, whereas Senegalese gold was famously unrefined.

   2%