The daily gazette., 1879-12-29
ancient MONeu.

were In the zenith Of their power, the
coinage was, tor those days, handsome
and artistic In design; many fine pieces
III the British Museum of the reigns of
julius Caesar, Claudius and Augustus at
test this. But on the decline of the
Roman power. and during that subse-
quent period known as the dark ages,
when ignorance and superstition hung
as pail over the whole of Europe, the
coinage degenerated into mere shapeless
Jumps OF metals, with oftentmes MOTH
ing but rudely punched hole for de-
sign.
The earliest account of the precious
metals, either as wealth or money, is
found IN Genesis 1872, where it is stated
that Abraham returned from Egypt rich
IN cattle, silver and gold; and the
earliest record of q commercial transac-
tion, when the pre- cious metals were
given as a consideration for commodi-
ty, is the purchase of the field of Mac
pelah, when four hundred shekels of
silver, current money with the mer-
Chants, we're weighed to Ephron. Here
We see that the money was not counted
but weighed, the precious metal being
cut into block, and stamped or marked
with the weight. The shekel was the
Hebrew unit of weight, and was equal to
about half all ounce avoirdupois, which
was the weight of the earliest known
coin of that name, the shekel of Simeon
Macabaeus. Its value was between so and
W cents. The golden shekel was but half
this weight, worth about 81. In the Bible
we read of the sacred and royal shekel,
supposed by some authorities to have
been two separate staDdards-as our
troy and avoirdupois weight-the pro-
portions between which was as five to
three in favor of the of the sacred shekel.
The talent, a measure used by nearly
all the nations of antiquity, was a term
originally used by the ancient Greeks to
denote balance for weighing, and in
this way came to repr, sent certain
quantity, just as the English pound ster-
ling formerly meant a pound of gold.
But it would appear that the talent was
never coined, it being used simply as
money of account. The Oldest talent
was the BabyloDan, and it may be SAT-
| ly assumed that the Hebrew talent was
almost identical with it., and was worth,
in round numbers, about $500. The
wife of Midas, the legendary King of
Phrygia, has been accredited with being
the originator of the first coins; but bet
ter authority ascribes it TO the Lydians,
about 1900 b. c., and was probably of
electrnm, seeing that several of the old
est specimens estant are of that metal.
And the Chinese claim an antiquity as
great for their small copper coin, the
cash. While most of the nations of an-
tiquity had coins of silver and gold,
Rome, for five hundred years after its
foundation, had none but copper and
brass. The Roman unit of weight, the
libra,was pound weight Of either of the
two metals just mentioned, was oblong,
and was cast not stamped in the form OF
birck. Gold and silver were not coin
ed in Rome till about $50 b. g., and ii
was not until the time of Julius Caesar,
j. G. 40, that the former came into ex-
tensive circulation in the realm. When
rency of brass and iron which was meas
ured by weight, in use among the ma
tives;and during the reign of Augustus a
mint was established near what is now
the town of Colchester, in Essex, and
here have occurred some of the richest
'finds" of Roman coins in England. Un
der Claudius, the Roman coinage super
ceded that of the natives, but on the
abandonment of the island in the fiftl
century it would appear to have gradual
ly fallen into disuse. The Norman
Kings had a curious practice of coming
silver pennies, so deeply marked by ;
cross that they were readily broken into
half-pence and farthings, and, as nigh
have been expected, spurious fractions o
the penny soon appeared. But all thi!
time the circulation of the preciou
metals, as money, was confined almost
. entirely to the cities and the centres O
buying and selling. Elsewhere system
of barter existed, or eles the unit of val
ne was something peculiar to the peopl
among whom it originated. Thus anon
the Hebrews cattle and grain found grea
, favor; in ancient Greece and Rome cat
tie were also used as money-hence ou
word pecuniary, from pecunia, which i
turn from pecus, cattle. In Greece, be
fore the introduction of coined money
It there was a unit value called drachn
meaning handful composed of six iro
or copper nails; and the Jews had ais
sJewel money" Under the C;9 Ian
or the docum ents representing land wei
= made money; the Carlhaginians ha
leather money; and so recently as til
Norman conquest there were in Britai
two kinds of money in use, known {
j. "living" and "dead" money; the fir
consisting of slaves and cattle, and I'll
: latter of metal or some other inanimal
commodity. At all times and in a
semi-ciyilized nations iron has bee
highly considered as a standard of valu
l. from the readiness with which it coul
be converted into weapons for battle I
the chase. In India cakes of tea, and
II China pieces of silk pass as currenc
and curiously enough at a great fair he
annually at Novgorod, in Russia, II
price of tea is first fixed, and all otht
commodities are guaged by this stant
I. ard. Among the primitive peoples oftl
American Continent it might be sa
p that they had used in turn nearly eve
RI product of the three natural kingdom
a, IoJ money.
Almost every mineral, shell and ski
y were, and are still to a great exter
Is used Among the early European st
tiers in New England the Indian wan
nun was used as money, and ridiculo
to relate, was even counterfeited, and
:, the same time, among the same peopl
musket- balls passed current at farthil
apieee and were taken in sums OF n
= more than the shilling. AT the prese
day ivory and calico are the money
% the interior tribes of Africa and in q
South Sea Islands axe-heads are the o.
8, thing sought for. In New England al
Virginia, up to the beginning OF g
eighteenth century, Goldfish and tobac
,l were principal moneys OF account; al
| lo anrannta of the Nav N atha