AGIOTAGE, OR AGIO, was a term first used in Venetian finance to denote the difference in exchange between depreciated currency and metal of full value. Such depreciated currency formerly consisted mainly of debased or worn coins, but more recently paper money, whether bank notes or government notes, have afforded illustrations under this head. The banks established at Venice, Hamburg, Genoa, Amsterdam and elsewhere, were bound by law to receive deposits and make payments according to certain standards, and the premiums charged upon such money as compared with the general circulation represented the agio payable to the banks in question. These banks were used in making international payments for the reason that their standard was a fixed, not a varying quantity, and served greatly to introduce the system of economising coinage by exchanging bills and promises to pay instead of actual metal. See BANKS, EARLY EUROPEAN.