Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-21

side, and rough edges prevailed until COM
paratively recent times. While circular
which others have from time to time been
cast are peculiar Many octagonal and hex
agonal pieces have been issued in Germany,
and money in the form Of squares and loz-
enges has been used in England. Plates Of
copper, seven and a half inches square,
bearing an imprint In each corner, circu-
lated in Sweden in the eighteenth century.
The Japanese coinage is composed Of OBJ
long fiat pieces of silver covered on both
sides with designs and legends. and oval
pieces of copper with square hole In the
center The square holes In the center of
the circular Chinese money permit the
coins to be strung. Scimitar-shaped pieces
formerly circulated in Persia.
The first issue of continental currency In
l7i6 figured a sun over a dial and the
coins bore the admonition, Mind your bust
ness" This. however. was but an expert
mental issue. and until the mint was es-
tablished. in 1892. the several states main
tanned each its own currency. The designs
are fantastic and varied.
To go back to the earliest currency is
sued by those Of European nationality In
America, the date reached is 1870 AID, when
Cortez coined copper at San Domingo. The
hog pennies" of Bermuda, 1920, are the
earliest American issues by English author
tiles. The New England sixpence Of 1862
was silver disc bearing on one side simply
the letters NE and on the other the nu-
neral VI
The largest collection of coins in the
United states IS tnat at the fnllaoelDhla
mint Other fine exhibits are at the Ma
tfonal Museum, the national treasury
building, the New York subtreasury and
the rooms of the Numismatic Societies of
Philadelphia and New York.
Money Systems of the Indians.
The money systems of the American
aborigines are peculiarly interesting. The
Indian standard of value best known to
white people is the wampum belt. This
was made legal tender by the court OF
Massachusetts in the seventeenth century.
1t was prominently a relic of the orna-
men- type OF money, and consisted OF
strings of shell beads made into a belt of
ornate design. The shell used was the COM
mon clam of the Atlantic coast, the belt
form of wampum being Characteristic of
the New York and other northeastern
tribes. The clam beads reached the tribes
OF the Missouri by traffic, where they met
the horn-like dentalcium shells used in a
similar manner by the Indians about the
mouth OF the Columbia river The brilliant
coiored ear shell of California travelled in
land TO the Pueblo Indians and from Mas
sachrsetts to Florida the large spiral shell.
Pyrula- was used as currency without mod
ification
Apparently the currency of the "mound
builders" was the same as that OF the In
dams known to the Europeans. for II "a
conceced that there is no break of contin-
uity between them. The pyrula shell. shell
bea Is and Tennessee river pearls have haen
taken from the mounds in large nm ers
Whether the polished stone figures were
used for money as well as for ceramonioI
cannot of course be settled
Prof Mason Of the National Museum is
gradually collecting the material from,
which in time it may be possible to de-
velOp a satisfactory science of American
aboriginal currency.
RUSSELL THOMPSON.