The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-01
PECULIAR MONEY.
THE SUBSTITUTES FOR COIN CUR
RENT IN SOME COUNTRIES.
Animals as a Medium of Exchange
Egytians the First to Use Metal
early Coinage in Amer
ica - Ideal Cash.

| Indians still use pelts for currency; skins
Of wild animals were so used by the an
cient Russians, and in the carly days of
, settlement in Illinois raccoon and deer
skins passed as money.
After the hunting age came the pas
toral, and then the animals themselves
took the place of money. Sheep and
oxen were principally employed, their
relative value by the old Romans being
set ct ten sheep for one OK, "a standard
that still obtains among the Indian races.
The Icelandic and Irish laws yet bear
traces of the use of cattle for money !;
many Teutonic fines were paid in cattle,
and oxen forms the circulating medium
among the Zulus and Kaffirs in this year
! of grace.
A direct link between this practice and
the metal coins for money is found in the
fact that the earliest Roman money was
first shapeless pieces of bronze Clipped
off from lump, these being followed by
Jumps of regulated weight, on which
were stamped the image of en- OK or
; sheep.
TIE Romans, however, were by no
means the first to use metal for money.
The Egyptians used both gold and silver
; as far back as the days of Abraham, but
it was counted by weight, and not by
! face value, and it was the ingenious man
who conceived the happy idea of stamp
ing these pieces to show their value who
! was the firss coiper.
Numismatics, as a rule, go no further
back than the use of stamped pieces of
metal by the Libyans and Greeks at q
date varying from 900 to 400 years B. G.
Before the introduction of coined money
! into Greece, skewers or spikes of iron
and copper were Il currency, six being a
drachm or handful. Iron spikes are sill
:"..|aloyed in the same way in certain parts
! oi Cent-a, .ifri".,. and according to Adam
, Smith, it is not s., very long ago that
naiis were used as a subsidiary cnip in
| Scotland. Hence, perhaps, the term
''tenpenny nall. e., ten for a penny.
The Hebrews, in addition to shekels,
talents and drachns of silver, had a
'jewcl money" The Egyptians i'm
proved on their metal humps by introduc-
ing gold and silver rings.
The earliest coinage for America was
that made in 1912 for the Virginia COM
pany. at the Somers Islands, now called
Bermudas. The coin was of brass, with
the legend "Sommer Island" and a
''hoggc on one side, in memory of the
abundance of hogges which were found
on their first landing" This was the
famous ''hog money"
The earliest colonial coinage was in
massachusetts in 1862: 4 mint howse"
being established at Boston, and the
"quoines" being shilling, sixpence and
three-penny piece. Before this the cur
rency of the colonists was a very mixed
one. Musket balls passed for change at
a farthing apiece, and were legal ten
der for sums under a shilling. Tobacco
and tobacco receipts were legal tender; !;
corn and beans and Goldfish were also
employed.
Wampum, however, was the common
est currency of all. 1t was the shell
bead money of the Indians, and was soon
accepted by the colonists as a convenient
token. There were two kinds of wam-
pum-wampumeag, which was white and
! made from the conch or periwinkle; and
suckanhock, which was dark purple and
! made from the hard-shell clam. The
purple was worth twice as much as the
! white The shell was broken in pieces,
rubbed smooth on 4 stone till about the
thickness of pipe-stem, then pisrced
with a drill and strung into necklaces,
bracelets, and belts. The English, French
and Dutch settlers all used wampum, the
, value being fixed in 1910 at six beads for
! a penny. The strings were called
fathoms, and varied in value from five to
! ten shillings.
Shell money has played quite an i'm
portant part in the worlds commerce.
The small, hard shell known as the
cowry is still nsed in India, the Indian
islands, and Africa, in the place of sub
sidiary coin. In 1851 more than 1000
tons of these shells were brought from
India to Liverpool to be exported to the
coast of Africa in exchange for palm oil.
In Bengal they are worth 5000 to the
! rupee or about seventy to the cent.
The list of what may be curious money
! is a long one. Among some OF the native
Australians greensboro Gade) and red
ochre form the currency. In the retired
districts Of New Guinea female slaves
form the standard of value. Norway
/ even now uses corn for coin. Whales
! teeth are used by the Fijians, red feath-
! ers by some of the South Sea islanders,
and salt in Abyssinia. In India cakes Of
tea pass as currency, and in China pieces
of silk. Tin, indeed, to-day forms the
standard of value at. the great fairs of
Nishni Novgorod, in Russia. In the
British West Indies pins, a slice of bread,
! 4 pinch of snuff, or a dram of whisky
have all purchasing power, while on
the African coast axes arc the accepted
currency.
The strangest coin of all, though, is
the ideal money spoken of by Monies
! quieu as being found in certain parts of
Africa. 1t is an ideal money called
'maconte," but is purely sign of value
without q rnit.-.San Francisco Chronicle.