The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-06-11
CURIOUS FACTS
ABOUT MONEY
First Coinage Was Made 895 3. c.
Iron and Lead Currency.

KING OF Argos IN sos B. C., II
must not be supposed that there
had not existed keen apprecia-
ton Of the value and Use of money
for centuries previous to the in
PRODUCTION of coinage, The an
cient Egyptians had a gold and
silver standard of currency and
their money was in the form of
gold and silver ornaments, rings
and nuggets, the purchasing value
of which depended on their
weight.
The Greeks improved somewhat
on this system by first marking
the weight on gold and silver mug
gets so that it would no longer be
necessary to reweigh them every
time they were to be used for the
purpose of exchange or trade.
Then, says the New York World,
came the introduction of gold, sill
yer and copper nuggets of graded
uniform sizes and values. The
next step was the moulding and
stamping of discs made from the
precious metals, Some of these
first coins were enormous, the idea
apparently being to discourage the
greedy from attempting to accum-
ulate and carry around too many
of them. There were copper coins
as large as dinner plates. While
the idea was based on excellent
motives, it had to give way before
the demand for smaller and more
convenient 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 Egyp-
tians, weighing in scales heaps of
gold and silver. There is no actu-
al record, however, that these
rings were what may be termed
coins with a fixed value.
Iron, judging from the state
nent of Aristotle, was once extern
sively employed as currency. Lead
has also served as money. In fact
it still does in Burmah.
Copper has been more widely
employed as money than either of
of the two last mentioned metals.
The early Hebrew coins were chief
ly composed of il, while down to
269 B. c. the sole Roman coinage
was an alloy OF copper.
Tin money was once used in
England, probably on account of
the rich tin mines of Cornwel1.
Early English coinage contained
much Of this tin money, principal
~ in the form of farthings and
halfpence.
Silver formed the oasis for the
early Greek coins and was intro
duced in Rome in 269 B. c. Me
diaeyal money was principally
composed of silver.
The only other metals for money
are platinum and nickel. The
former was coined for 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
familiarly 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 the money
did not receive the round form to
which we are accustomed until the
lapse of another hundred years or
so.
The oldest coin in the United
States is owned by a southern col
lector. 1t was minted about the
year 100 B. c. in Aegina. The
design in high relief represents a
tortoise crawling across the face of
the piece.
The Swiss were the first to date
the 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