Term: Hard (money)
Definition: physical coins of a precious metal, as opposed to "soft" money such as paper currency or bank notes of credit; Cornish miners prefered being paid in hard money: they said they dug metal out of the ground and insisted on getting metal in return; the failure of many banks in the Panic of 1837 led many Wisconsin pioneers to follow their example.
[Source: Rodolf, Theodore. "Pioneering in the Wisconsin lead region" at Turning Points in Wis. History (www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/).]
