The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-06-19
INCoNvERTIBLE CURRENCY.
Ancient substitute for the Modern Green

! AOA
| back.
Mr.. A. N. Bernardakis has publishe,
a valuable paper, in which he trace
the hiJbcry Of incOnvertible currencie
Il. e., of carTencies without intriusi
Rome, Russia, China, Persia, etc
The only differ ence between the incon
vertible currencies of ancient times ant
those Of our own is, that the latter are
in paper, the former were of parchment
leather, small pieces OF skin, tin, pew
ter. iron, etc.
Eschincs, the disciple of Socrates
thus describes the money of the Car
thagenians
"ln small piece OF leather they en-
veloped q something of the size of &
piece of money equivalent to foul
| dracbmas but what is contained in the
envelope no one knows except those
who have manufactured it. Once
sealed, they are put in circulation, and
| the person who has the mo of them
is considered to have most money, and
! to be the richest citizen. But, no mat
| ter how many of them one of us should
have, he would be no better off than II
they were so many pebbles. In
ETHIOPIA, engraved stones are used as
money, but Lacedemonian coul make
no use of them"
Aristides. the orator, says THE
Bvzantines coin iron, and the Carthage.
mans stamped leather" The iron money
of the Lacedemonians had some value I;
and the engraved stones of the Cartha-
genians, though not precious stones,
we're rare enough to endow them with
some also. That such money was
known in Rome is evident from the
words of Seneca GA debtor is one
who owes gold, or leather struck with a
public mark, such as was used by tho
LacedemCnians, among whom 1t held
the place of money" Isidore OF Sc
vile says 1T was OF the skins of an
imals that money was cut and stamped.
In Russia skins were at one time the
circulating medium. On account OF
their inconvenience, the government
had small pieces cut out of them, and
then withdrew the skins from circula-
tion, using the small pieces alone to
represent them-the skins themselves
remaining in the government treasury
It happened that the Russian govern
ment was once IN need of money, and,
silly and at little expense, it was or
dcred that a number of skins should be
cut into small piec, s. This was done,
the pieces of skin were sealed by the
government, and made to pass current
as money. At first these small pieces
of skin were redeemable in the wholes
from which they had been cut. Later,
when the needs of state demanded 1t,
they were made inconvertible.
In work containing fragments from
Alcxandrian authors, edited by Huitche,
we read 81 am acquainted also with a
wooden talent at Antioch. As TO the
wooden talent of Alexandria, it differs
about one-fifth from that of Antioch"
Here was money made of wood. Aris-
totle mentions a people who struck
iron money, and gave it circulation, es.
timating it as if it were so much silver.
In his Economics he cites the following
fact "Denys the Ancient, wanting
caused pewter money to be
struck, and convoking an assembly OF
the people, he spoke to them so favora-
bly, of the new money, that he persua-
ded the citizens to employ it." Pollux
relates the same fact "Denys the
Ancient" he says, "having had pewter
money struck, compelled the Syracu
sans to use it instead of silver, and this
money was worth four attic drachmas
instead of one" The following fact is
also related by Aristotle Timothy
the Athenian, being engaged in a war
with the Olynthians and being in need |
of money, had copper money struck,
and distributed it among the soldiers,
who became very indignant thereat.
He then told them, and the merchants |
and all who were engaged in trade, to |
go on buying, that with the copper they |
could purchase what they wanted and |
that if any remained over beyond what |
they needed for buying and selling he |
would exchange it for silver. In China,
paper money was known as far back as |
the year 10 before Christ. Parchment |
or pieces of card were used sometimes |
instead of paper. They were provided |
with the government seal, and were |
used generally in trading. Pieces OF |
skin and pieces of bark also were made |
TO do service as money IN the Celestial |
A MahOmmedan traveller, |
Chuk- Thu. Batoutah, who visited China |
about the middle of the fourteenth cen |
tury, saws of the inhabitants They |
use in their commercial transactions |
neither gold nor silver. They buy and |
sell by means of pieces OF paper, each |
one of which is about the size of the |
palm of your hand, and bears the mark |
Of a seal. Twenty-Five of these notes
are called Jalicht, which means a piece
Of gold. When any one has mutilated |
bills oD his hands he takes them TO an
like the mint, where,
upon surrendering them, he gets new
ones in the place of them"