Gold has the reputation of being a haven. First and foremost, though, gold is a money. It delivers the essential services of money—store of value and medium of exchange—even though in different ways and in some respects less efficiently than in previous epochs when leading nation-states had their currencies fully convertible into gold. Convertibility meant that the issuer of banknotes would promise to redeem these at par on request in gold, and gold could be taken to the mint in exchange for gold coins of the same weight. Gold coins circulated widely in everyday use.