My Science School

          Derived from the name of the French finance minister under Louis XIII, Claude de Bullion, ‘bullions’ are bars or ingots of valuable metals like gold, silver, and platinum.

         The form of the metal, however, is not important in this system; instead, it is the weight and purity that count.

          Though bullions ensured purity, it was difficult to get enough quantity of gold and silver. That was when coins made of metal alloys appeared in the market. Their values were also fixed, depending on the metal used.

             Today, bullion coins are meant mostly for the purpose of investment, and are minted by official agencies. Though they have the status of legal tender, such coins do not enter common circulation.

             They are mainly seen in the form of bars and jewellery. Yet, bullion coins like the Maria Theresa thaler of Europe, and the Krugerrand of South Africa were in circulation throughout the 20th century. 

          Ancient coins looked very different from the ones today. They were way beyond our imagination!

         The coins from Lydia were of oval shape, and were found in varying weights. On one side, the coins had images of animals, and the other side was punched with some design. 

         In Ancient China, coins were first made of bronze. They were different from coins produced in the West as Chinese coins were manufactured by being cast in moulds. Unlike the modern coins these coins had no standardized weight or value.

         Besides that Ancient coins had no guarantees. A guarantee is a kind of certification given by the government or some authorized body. Coins that had guarantees were developed in 650 BC.

         In ancient times, coins appeared not just in bronze, but in silver and gold too.

         Today, gold coins are not circulated in any country.

 

 

         Since the very beginning of history, the Chinese have made significant contributions to all discoveries. They had their own modes of payment that were special in technology and design. The coins they used were also different from the global trend.

         Cast in bronze, Chinese coins appeared in different shapes. It is said that they were made by melting bronze, and then pouring them into moulds of various shapes. One of the widely circulated coins looked like a knife with a handle. Yet another looked like a spade.

          Years later, round coins were introduced in China. But the difference was that they had square holes in the centre. It is believed that the Chinese also used ‘coin swords’. They were used to ward off evil!

 

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         The significance of Ancient Rome in history is unparalleled. Many aspects of present day society, including laws and religion have been influenced by Ancient Rome. Well, there was much more to this mighty empire. One such was its system of coins, which influenced the whole of Europe.

          The currencies of Rome consisted of gold, silver, bronze, copper as well as orichalcum coinage. Often, the portraits of the emperors and gods were also seen on the coins.

           Thus, coins were also part of the Roman culture. They were introduced to other parts of the continent by means of trade. These currencies were known to have been used as jewellery by non-Romans. But in the centuries that followed, Rome was invaded by other empires, and this affected their coinage too.

             A collapsing empire by then, Rome’s economy fell, and the supply of silver especially, began to decrease. By AD 476, Roman currency was replaced by Byzantine coinage, as the currency of the Mediterranean. 

It is believed that the earliest coins in Rome were produced in the 4th century BC in Italy. Their minting continued for the next eight centuries throughout the empire. The first metal currencies were cast out of irregular lumps of bronze and called ‘aes rude’.

           Later, they were replaced by ‘aes signatum’, large, decorated ingots of bronze. It was after this that smaller coins took over as currencies. The Romans also used silver coins. Gold coins were, however, known to be rare.

           The images of emperors, gods, and goddesses were also seen in Roman currencies. It was Julius Caesar who first issued coins bearing his own portrait. This trend was copied by subsequent rulers.

           According to Greek history, it was ‘electrum’, an alloy of gold and silver, that was first used as currency in Greece. It is believed that the finest coins were made in Syracuse, Sicily.

 

        Considered as one of the earliest mass forms of coinage, silver currencies of varied shapes and sizes have been used for more than 1000 years.

        Among the earliest civilizations to use silver was the Mesopotamian, where payments were often made in terms of silver. Ingots of silver mass were cut into scraps or thin wires or even rings of certain weight. It was considered a symbol of power and wealth to use silver. As there was no production of the metal in the land, it had to be imported, which made it all the more pricey.

       Greeks too, are known to have used silver coins as currency. They were manufactured by hammering the metal.

       But, soon after the Roman invasion of Greece, minting of coins came to a halt, and Roman coins took over as currency.

       The presence of silver coins can be found in almost all civilizations. 

          It is believed that coins came into use during the 7th century BC. Coins appeared in different forms in different parts of the world, and it is quite difficult to trace their origins.

          The most widely accepted version of history holds that coins first appeared in Lydia, which is part of the present-day Turkey. They were made of ‘electrum’, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, and had a design on one side.

           In the same era, coins were developed in the Indus Valley too, out of silver. They were of a standard weight, and were punched multiple times. It is believed that such coins were used till the 4th century BC.

              According to some historians, the first coins appeared in China sometime in the 7th century BC itself, but were in the shape of knives and spades. Later, they underwent a lot of changes in shape, size, and design. The Chinese cast coins in bronze with holes in the centre. There were sometimes strung together too.

             Yet another advancement that the era saw was the establishment of the weight-and-measure system. The first person to officially set standards for weight and money was Pheidon, the King of Argos, Greece. 

            History reveals that the money we see today has appeared in differing forms before- as cattle, as salt, as tea, as tobacco etc. But none of these lasted very long. Over a period of time, the need to develop currencies that were handy and long lasting arose. This led to the birth of metals as money.

            Different metals have been made use of by different nations. Chinese made Imitation cowries or mollusc shells out of bronze and copper. Metal money in the shape of knives and spades too, were made by the people there.

            It was in Lydia, a part of modern day Turkey that the earliest electrum coins appeared. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver and Lydia was rich in its deposit. But their techniques were copied, refined, and used further by the Roman, Greek, Persian and other empires.

            Quite naturally, these metal coins had more inherent value than the previous currencies.

            By 500 BC, coins were stamped with images of gods and emperors by issuing authorities, and their values were fixed. Since then, coins have been widely used, and have also played a major role in making trade easy. 

          Giro was a mode of banking first used by Egyptians in the 4th century BC. The idea behind the system was to transfer money from one person to another. State granary units acted as banks then, and accepted ‘giro’ payments.

          What initially began as collecting the customers’ money to help them save it later became a form of banking. The granary authorities, in the course of time, helped the customer transfer their money to another person’s account.

           Such transactions were recorded in their storage books too, which formalized accounting. Large amounts of money could easily be transferred through the giro system. It is known that these banking (granary) units had a central bank in Alexandria.

            By 1619, Venice launched the Banco del Giro to facilitate payments from its creditors. By 1883, a concept of postal giro arose in Austria. The idea behind it was the same- direct transfer of money with the help of a centralized accounting office. But the banking system moved from granaries to post offices.

            By the mid 20th century, almost all countries in Europe had a postal giro service. 

          At a time when a tiny card can facilitate payments of all kind, it might seem strange that centuries ago, people used ‘tea’ as a mode of payment. But yes, some actually did!

         Tea money or tea bricks were used as means of payment in countries including China, Siberia, Mongolia, Russia and Tibet between the 9th and 20th centuries. They were leaves and stalks of tea plants, finely ground into brick forms of various sizes. They were also stamped with values that varied, according to the quality of the tea.

          In case of smaller transactions, the bricks were broken, and pieces of it given instead. The demand for these edible currencies was so high, that swords, horses, and other valuable properties were sometimes given in exchange for a certain number of bricks.

          Historians note that most of the tea bricks were made in China, and carried to other countries on camels and yaks. The popular belief is that the bricks were consumed in times of hunger, and also brewed as medicine. 

          Tobacco is something we have always been told to keep away from. It is hazardous to health, and can possibly kill its users. But ages ago, it was considered money, just like tea and salt.

          Starting from 17th century AD, tobacco had a major role as currency in American colonies. For its value on par with gold, tobacco was held as the safest and most stable currency in places like Virginia and North Carolina.

          In 1727, ‘tobacco notes’ became legal tender in Virginia, where the Legislature had already rated three shillings for high quality tobacco.

          As time passed by, almost all transactions including levies and fine were made in terms of the substance. The system went to the extent of estimating a person’s assets in annual pounds of tobacco.

          However, the price of tobacco fell in course of time, and it made way for other currencies. By mid 18th century, the tobacco-system was abandoned. 

       No diet can be complete without a pinch of salt. Not only does this mineral make our food tasty, but it also helps in preserving them. A healthy person should have an adequate amount of salt in his body to avoid many diseases.

       These are snippets of information most of us already know. But how many are aware of the fact that salt was once considered a form of money? Or that many global routes were initially established for the trade of salt?

        The use of salt as a way of payment came from the obvious reason that it is something Man cannot live without. This made the substance as precious as gold in earlier days. Believe it or not, there were times when merchants paid salt to buy slaves and other essentials. In Abyssinia, slabs of rock salt or ‘amoles’ were used for trade exchange.

        The most recent example of salt money was seen in Ethiopia, where people in remote areas used salt bars up till the 20th century.

        Now, one can guess how important ‘salt’ is in the history of mankind. The very word ‘salary’ is derived from the Latin word ‘salarium’ which means salt money. 

          Long before currencies came into existence, people used different mediums for payment. One such medium was shells. They were exchanged for the goods and services one wanted.

         The history of shell money dates back to 3500 BC. It is believed to have been used since then on almost all continents- America, Asia, Africa and Australia. But the shells would differ.

         History records that portions cut and polished from cone shaped shells were used by the Ancient Sumerians, who were among the first to use shell money. Native Americans, on the other hand, used long-shelled molluscs.

         Australian tribes too, are known to have used varied kinds of shells. Interestingly, each tribe had their own peculiar shell money. Hence, the ‘currency’ of one tribe was rarely accepted among others. 

        We have seen that people, long before the invention of currencies, depended on the exchange of goods and services for getting by. But what were the things worthy of transaction? Strange enough, there were goods ranging from feathers to gold!

        Hard to believe, isn’t it? Well, historians note that small figures carved out of gold were used by the Aztecs for exchange, whereas rings of gold, copper and bronze were used by the Egyptians.

        In countries like India, cattle were largely used as a means of making payment. Those with a larger number of cattle were considered rich then, just as we now consider people with substantial savings wealthy. Yet another item of exchange was rice, as used by the Chinese.

        However, some countries followed ways that seemed quite unconventional- as in Papua New Guinea where people used canine teeth for bartering, or Ghana, where they used quart pebbles, Yap Island where they chose to trade lime stone discs, and the Solomon Islands where they resorted to the exchange of feathers!

        Studies show that the items of trade varied from country to country. Bartering of slaves too, was considered a mode of payment in Ancient Rome and Greece. But as time went on, goods were slowly replaced by other forms of money like shell money and salt money. 

         Exchanging a toy for another, or a book for a new one, seems interesting. But what would happen if you were to exchange your essentials for things that were equally necessary? Such a transaction, called bartering, is where two beneficiaries exchange goods and services without giving or taking money.

         This system was in practice centuries ago, before the invention of currencies. What began as an exchange of goods for meeting daily needs, later developed to the exchange of craft and fur items for expensive silk materials, spices, perfumes etc.

          One of the main drawbacks of the system was that it depended largely on trust and need. There was no warranty for the goods one received, nor were they given a worthy exchange every time. Besides that it is very time consuming.