Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-29
CURIOUS MONEY FACTS.
First Coinage ss5 3. c.-lron and
Lead Currency.

Lead Currency.
While the first actual coming Of
money Is attributed to Pheidon, king
Of Argos, in 895 B. c., it must not be
supposed that there had not existed
keen appreciation Of the value and
uses Of money for centuries previous
to the introduction of coinage. The
ancient Egyptians had gold and sill
YER standard Of currency and their
money was in the form of gold and
silver ornaments, rings and nuggets,
the purchasing value Of which de-
pended on their weight
The Greeks improved somewhat on
this system by first marking the weight
on gold and silver nuggets so that 1t
would no longer be necessary to re-
weigh them every time they were to
he used for the purpose Of exchange or
trade. Then, says the New York
World, came the introduction Of gold,
silver and copper nuggets Of graded
uniform sizes and values. The next
step was his molding and stamping of
discs made from the precious metals.
Some of these first coins were enor-
nous. the idea apparently being to
discourage the greedy from attempting
to accumulate and carry around too
many Of them. There were copper
coins as large as dinner plates. While
the idea was based on excellent mo-
tives, 1t had to give way before the
demand FOR smaller and more con-
venient forms of currency, and the
giant pennies soon dwindled in size to
meet the popular demand.
The earliest trace Of the use Of gold
as money Is to be found in the pictures
of the ancient Egyptians, Weighing in
scales heaps of rings Of gold and sill
yer. There is no actual record, how
ever, that these rings were what may
be termed coins with a fixed value.
Iron, judging from the statement Of
Aristotle, was once extensively en-
ployed as currency. Lead has also
served as money. In fact, 1t still does
in Burmah.
Copper has been more widely en-
ployed as money than either Of the two
last mentioned metals. The early He
brew coins were chiefly composed Of
II. while down to 269 B. c., the sole
Roman coinage was an alloy Of cop
per.
Tin money was once used in Eng
land, probably on account Of the rich
tin mines Of Cornwall. Early English
coinages contained much Of this tin
money, principally in the form Of
farthings and half-pence.
Silver formed the basis for the ear
ly Greek coins and was introduced in
Rome in 269 B. C. Medieval money
was principally composed of silver
The only other metals for money
are platinum and nickel. The former
was coined for a short time by the
Russian government and then given
up as unsuitable. The latter is used
as an alloy and in this country for the
scent piece Familiarity referred to as
a nickel.
Coined money was first used on the
continent of Europe twenty-five years
before the Christian era. 1t was in
copper and silver. The gold was not
coined there till the eleventh century,
and money did not receive the round
form to which we are accustomed un-
til the lapse of another hundred years
OF so.
The oldest coin in the United States
is owned by southern collector. 1t
was minted about the year 700 B. c.
in Aegina, The design in high RELIEF
represents tortoise crawling across
the face Of the piece.
The Swiss were the first to date
their coinage They introduced the
dated coin 400 years ago, and the style
was universally adopted within a very
short time.
The coin Of the smallest value ever
issued is the mite" so called, such
as the widow of the Bible story con-
tributed to the poor. Its shape was
hexagonal and it's face value one
VI SChl' FiNC
mites" are the equivalent in value OF
one American dollar.
Probably the queerest coins in the
world are the roundish, irregular Jumps
Of silver used in Siam. They vary in
size from that Of a walnut to a half
buckshot, according to the value rep
resented.
All kinds Of guesses have been made
as to the number of one-dollar bills
that would be required to equal the
weight of a five dollar gold piece. The
guesses range as a rule from about
50 to 5OO And when a humorist in
the subtreasury asks a visitor which
he would prefer, all the five-dollar
gold pieces he could lift or the same
weights in one dollar bills, the visitor
Immediately votes for bills, imagining
as he does that the proportion will be
about ten to one in favor Of one-dol-
lar bills as against gold. AS mat
ter Of fact, there is very little differ
ence between the weight Of one five
dollar gold piece and five one-dollar
bills. To be exact, just six and half
bills will balance the five-dollar gold
piece.