Silver was very well placed to be the normal amount that people spend with. The smaller denominations used bronze and other base metals which had more dubious valuations relative to silver but they were often considered unimportant due to the small value exchange with these lower denomination coins. The wealthy then played a lot in the Global Silver-Gold exchange rate with many naval vessels secretly transporting large quantities of either metal from one country to another depending on where the exchange rate was most favourable. This led to collapse of various East Asian economies who stuck to non-floating Silver-Gold exchange rates and allowed foreign powers to take advantage of this arbitrage.