Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
MONEY In EARLY DAYS,
Some Strange Substitutes Used For
Gold and Silver Coin.
Romans We're the First to Adopt a
Metal Currency, Using Pieces Of
Brass Roughly Shaped.

than 800 or 900 years before the Christian
era to the stamped pieces of metal circu
lating among the Greeks and Lydians
It may be of interest, says the Golden
Days, to glance at some of the early forms
of currency and at the strange substitutes
for money still in use among barbarous
people.
The earliest substitute for coin cur
rency used by man is believed to have been
the skins of animals This medium of
exchange . was employed by the ancient
Russians, and also by the first settlers of
this country. Certain tribes of the Al
askin Indians today use the pelts of bears
and foxes for currency.
The pastoral age succeeded the hunt
ing age, and men began to use animals
themselves instead of their skins for a
circulating medium.
The animals principally employed were
sheep and oxen, their relative value being
determined by the ancient Romans at ten
sheep for one OK, which standard is still
recognized among the Mongol tribes
Traces of this custom are still visible in
the Irish and Icelandic laws.
| Among the early Teutonic races fines
! were often paid in cattle, and the Zulus and
Kaffirs in this year of grace make us of this
| OlIi-Ilule
A direct link between this practice and
the use of metal coins for money. is found
in the currency of brass clipped off from
mass.
Later, in the time of Sarvius TuIlus, the
brass was coined and marked with the
figure of an OK An interesting little bit
of genealogical lore is connected with this
custom, for the Latin word for money.
''pecunia whence our modern term pc
cuniary-was derived from ''pecus,
| cattle.
| Metal money was used, however, long
! before the time Of the Romans. As far
back as the days of Abraham the Egyp-
tians used gold and silver for currency. 1t
was counted by weight and not by face
! value.
The Hebrews had Jewel money in adj
dition to shekels and talents and drachms
of gold and silver. On the Egyptian tombs
gold IS represented as being weighed In
rings for commercial purposes, rather an
improvement, il may be considered, on the
| earlier metal lump.
Before the introduction of coined money
into Greece, skewe1s or spikes of iron and
copper constituted the currency, six making
a drachm or handful.
This iron money continued in use among
the Spartans for many centuries, and Plu-
tarch tells US that to great quantity and
weight of this but of small value was as
signed, so that to lay up 10 mime ia little
over Ell a whole room was required, and,
to move it nothing less than a yoke of
oxen.
In certain parts of Central Africa iron
spikes are still used after the Spartan fash
ion; and, according to Adam Smith, it was
not so long ago that nails were used as a
subsidiary coin in Scotland Hence, per-
haps, we obtain the term ten penny
nail e, ten for 8 penny.
| During the commercial supremacy of
| Carthage the common currency used by
her merchants and sailors, both in their
| trade at home and with foreign nations,
was pieces of leather stamped with the
arms of the republic.
The currency of the Aztecs consisted of
transparent quilts of gold dust, of bits
of tin cut in the form of T. and of bags
of cocoa containing a specified number of
grains.
BLESSED money" exclaimed the old
possessor from avarice, since it cannot be
long boarded or hidden under. ground; -
The earliest coinage in America was the
the Virginian Company, at the Sommer
Island, now the Bermudas. The coin was
of brass, with the legend ''Sommer
Island, and ''hogge on one side, In
memory of the abundance of hogges which
were found on their first landing"
The currency of the early colonists was
a very mixed one. At one time Musket
balls passed for change at a farthing
| apiece, and were legal tender for sums
under shilling. Tobacco and tobacco
beans, Goldfish, and peltries were likewise
employed.
Wampum, the shell-bead money of the
Indians, was the currency most In use,
however, being accepted by the colonists
as convenient token.
There were two kinds of this shell
wampumeag, which was white,
and made from the conch or periwinkle,
and "suchanhock, which was dark purple
and made from the hardshell clam.
The purple was worth twice as much
as the white. The shell was broken in
nieces, rubbed smooth ON stone till about
the thickness of pipe-stem, then pierced
with 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 import
ant part in the worlds commerce. The
small, hard shells known as the ''cowry"
is used to-day in India. the Indian is
lands, and Africa in the place of subsidiary
coin.
In 1881 more than 1000 tons Of these
shells were brought from India to Liver
pool to exchange for palm oil. Their value
In Bengal is 200 to the rupee, Or about 70
to the cent.
The list of what may be termed curious
money is an extensive one. Salt is found
in Abyssinia and whales teeth in the Fe-
jill Islands
In some of the South Sea islands red
feathers form the currency. Among the
native Australians greensboro and red
ochre are used
Female slaves from the standard of
value in the retired districts of New
Guinea.
In the rural parts of Norway corn is
used for coin. Pieces of silk pass as cur
rency in China and cakes of tea in Thibet.
At the great fairs of Lower Novgorod, in
Russia. tin is the accepted standard of
value. In the British West Indies pins. a
slice of bread. pinch of snuff, or dram
of whiskey all have purchasing power,
while on the Africa coast axes are the cur
! rency most in vogue.
The strangest coin of all. however, is the
&