People have used animal fur, coconuts, salt, dogs’ teeth, and even human skulls as money.
Money has been around in some form or other for more than 6,000 years. Early civilizations traded possessions for goods. But it was not always easy to pay with a barrel of barley or a cow, so instead people began to use lumps of rare metals or other precious objects as tokens of value. Around 2,500 years ago, these became standardized metal coins. We still use coins today, together with banknotes. One day we might spend and receive all money electronically, and cash could become a thing of the past.
Ancient coins
The ancient kingdom of Lydia (now western Turkey) stamped coins from around 650 b.c.e. Called staters, these were made from gold, silver, or a mixture of the two, in a range of values. Soon, neighboring civilizations also began to use coins.
Tokens of the East
The Chinese also invented a system of coins, but how it developed is still a mystery. Chinese dynasties may have been making and using bubi—bronze castings shaped like miniature farming tools, such as spades and knives—as far back as the 700s b.c.e.
Paper money
The Chinese also invented paper money, beginning with credit slips—pieces of paper that the holder could use to pay taxes on tea and salt. They first printed official paper money in the late 1100s. It was another 500 or 600 years before banknotes caught on in the Western world.
Coins tell us about other cultures, so numismatics (studying or collecting coins) can be fascinating. However, rare coins are usually expensive. The $20 Double Eagle coin seen here recently sold for $7.59 million, making it the world’s most valuable coin.
Paper engineering
In 1295, the explorer Marco Polo wrote that Chinese paper notes got so tattered that people often threw them away. Modern banknotes are much tougher. They are also packed with antiforgery devices.
Foiling the forgers
A hologram and a rainbow stripe appear when ultraviolet light is shone on this Malaysian banknote. Notes have had watermarks since the 1600s, but they may also have tiny letters that are only visible through a powerful lens or hidden pictures that change if they are photocopied.
Plastic cash
Most paper money is made from cotton and linen fibers. But Australia, New Zealand, and several Asian nations now print banknotes on a type of plastic. Tough and waterproof, the notes stay clean and last up to five times longer than paper ones.
Buy now, pay later
From the 1910s, before credit cards were invented, U.S. businesses offered their customers storecards. They permitted valued customers to pay for goods at a later date. Storecards were a popular way to pay for fuel and hotel bills.
Ref:
The Big Ideas That Changed the World (DK)