Theexchange—valueofthecommoditythusacquiresonlyaseeminglyindependentexistence。Wehaveseen,ontheotherhand,thatgold,whenitfunctionsonlyasspecie,thatiswhenitisperpetuallyincirculation,doesindeedrepresentmerelytheinterlinkingofthemetamorphosesofcommoditiesandtheirephemeralexistenceasmoney。Goldrealisesthepriceofonecommodityonlyinordertorealisethatofanother,butitneverappearsasexchange—valueinastateofrestorevenacommodityinastateofrest。Therealitywhichinthisprocesstheexchange—valueofcommoditiesassumes,andwhichisexpressedbygoldincirculation,ismerelytherealityofanelectricspark。Althoughitisrealgold,itfunctionsmerelyasapparentgold,andinthisfunctionthereforeatokenofitselfcanbesubstitutedforit。
Thetokenofvalue,sayapieceofpaper,whichfunctionsasacoin,representsthequantityofgoldindicatedbythenameofthecoin,andisthusatokenofgold。Adefinitequantityofgoldassuchdoesnotexpressavaluerelation,nordoesthetokenwhichtakesitsplace。
Thegoldtokenrepresentsvalueinsofarasadefinitequantityofgold,becauseitismaterialisedlabour—time,possessesadefinitevalue。Buttheamountofvaluewhichthetokenrepresentsdependsineachcaseuponthevalueofthequantityofgoldrepresentedbyit。Asfarascommoditiesareconcerned,thetokenofvaluerepresentstherealityoftheirpriceandconstitutesatokenoftheirpriceandatokenoftheirvalueonlybecausetheirvalueisexpressedintheirprice。InthecircuitC——M
——C,insofarasitexpressesmerelythedynamicunityofthetwometamorphosesorthedirecttransformationofonemetamorphosisintotheother——andthisishowitappearsinthesphereofcirculation,withinwhichthetokenofvalueoperates——theexchange—valueofcommoditiesassumesinthepricemerelyanominalexistenceandinmoneymerelyanimaginaryorsymbolicexistence。Exchange—valuethusappearstobesomethingpurelyconceptualoranimaginedentitybutpossessingnorealityexceptinthecommodities,insofarasadefiniteamountoflabour—timeismaterialisedinthem。
Thetokenofvaluethereforeseemstorepresentthevalueofcommoditiesdirectly,sinceitappearstobenotatokenofgoldbutatokenoftheexchange—valuewhichexistssolelyinthecommodityandismerelyexpressedintheprice。Buttheappearanceisdeceptive。Thetokenofvalueisdirectlyonlyatokenofprice,thatisatokenofgold,andonlyindirectlyatokenofthevalueofthecommodity。Gold,unlikePeterSchlemihl,hasnotsolditsshadow,butusesitsshadowasameansofpurchase。Thusthetokenofvalueiseffectiveonlywhenintheprocessofexchangeitsignifiesthepriceofonecommoditycomparedwiththatofanotherorwhenitrepresentsgoldwithregardtoeverycommodity—owner。Firstofallcustomturnsacertain,relativelyworthlessobject,apieceofleather,ascrapofpaper,etc。,intoatokenofthematerialofwhichmoneyconsists,butitcanmaintainthispositiononlyifitsfunctionasasymbolisguaranteedbythegeneralintentionofcommodity—owners,inotherwordsifitacquiresalegalconventionalexistenceandhencealegalrateofexchange。Papermoneyissuedbythestateandgivenalegalrateisanadvancedformofthetokenofvalue,andtheonlykindofpapermoneywhichdirectlyarisesfrommetalliccurrencyorfromsimplecommoditycirculationitself。Creditmoneybelongstoamoreadvancedstageofthesocialprocessofproductionandconformstoverydifferentlaws。Symbolicpapermoneyindeeddoesnotdifferatallfromsubsidiarymetalcoinexceptinhavingawidersphereofcirculation。Eventhemerelytechnicaldevelopmentofthestandardofprice,orofthemint—price,andlatertheexternaltransformationofgoldbarsintogoldcoinledtostateinterventionandconsequentlytoavisibleseparationofinternalcirculationfromthegeneralcirculationofcommodities,thisdivisionbeingcompletedbythetransformationofcoinintoatokenofvalue。Moneyasasimplemediumofcirculationcanafterallacquireanindependentexistenceonlywithinthesphereofinternalcirculation。