Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1890-07-16
MONEY IN EARLY DAYS.
SOME sTRAyGE SUBSTITUTES USED
FOR GOLD IND SILVER COIN.

among mankind as q circulating meuluil.
Numismatics, as rule, 60 no further
back than 800 or 900 years before the
Christian era to the stamped pieces of
metal circulated among the Greeks and
Lydians.
1t may be of interest, says 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 current
used by man is believed to have been the
skins of animals. This medium of eX-
change was employed by the ancient
Russians, and also by the first settlers of
this country Certain tribes of the
Alaskin Indians to-day 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 be-
ing determined by the ancient Romans
at 10 sheep for 1 OK. which standard is
still recognized among the Mongol tribes.
Traces of this custom are still visible In
the Irish and Iceland laws.
Among the early Teutonic races fines
were often paid in cattle, and the Zulus
and Kaffirs in this year of grace make
use of this old time medium.
A direct link between the practice and
the use of metal coins for moneys is
found in the currency of the early Ro-
mans, who used pieces of brass clipped
off from mass.
Later, in the time of Servius Tullius,
the brass was coined and marked with
the figure of an OK. An interesting lit
tie bit of chronological lore is connected
with this custom, for the Latin word for
money, "pecunia whence our modern
term pecuniary-was derived from "pe-
Gus, 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" i'll
addition 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, it may
be considered, on the earlier metal lump.
Before the introduction Of coined
money into Greece, skewers or spikes OK
iron and copper constituted the currency,
six making drachm or handful.
This iron money continued in use
among the Spartans for many centuries,
and Plutarch tells us that to great
quantity and weight of this but small
value was assigned, SO that to lay up 10
mina "a little over f3D whole room
was required, and to remove it nothing
less than yoke of oxen.
In certain parts of central Africa iron
spikes are still used after the Spartan
fashion; and, according to Adam Smith,
it was not so long ago that nails were
used as a subsidiary coin in Scotland.
Hence, perhaps, we obtain the term ten
penny nall. e., ten for 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 sta nped with the
arms of the powerful republic.
The currency of the Aztecs consisted
of transparent quills of gold dust, of bits
of tin cut in the form of 7, and of bags
of cocoa containing a specified number of
grains.
Blessed money, exclaims the old an
nalist, Peter Martyr, (which excepts its
possessor from avarice, since it can not be
long boarded or hidden under ground. "
The earliest coinage i'll America was
the famous "hog money, made in 1912,
for the Virginia Company. at the Som
mer Islands, now the Bermudas. The
coin was of brass, with the legend Son.
ner Island, and a" hogge on one side, in
memory of the abundance of hogges
which were found on their first land
ing"
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
receipts were also legal tender, and corn,
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 a convenient token.
There were two kinds of this shell
money - "wampumeag, which was
white, and made from the conch or peri
winkle and "suchanhock, " 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 stone till
about the thickness of pipe stem. then
pierced with drill and strung into neck
laces, bracelets, and belts.
The English, French. and Dutch set
tiers all used wampum, the value being
fixed in 1910 at 6 beads for penny. The
strings We're called fathoms, and varied
in value from 5 to 10 shillings.
Shell money has played quite an inn
portant part in the worlds commerce.
hesmall hard shell known as the "cowry"
isused to-day in India, the Indian islands,
and Africa in the place of subsidiary
coin.
In 1881 more than 900 tons Of these
shells were brought from India to Liv-
erpool to exchange for palm oil. Their
value in Bengal is 5000 to the rupee, or
about 20 to the cent.
The list of what may be termed curious
money is an extensive one. Salt is used
in Abyssinia and whales teeth in the