Ring Money, Tea and Beetles' Legs: Traditional Money in Asia and elsewhere
The most original form of trade was barter: the exchange of goods for other goods, or of goods for services. If the desired commodity could not be exchanged directly, some other item – something everyone wanted, something convenient and lasting – was used as medium of exchange. Under different geographical, climatic and political conditions, the diverse cultures thus created various forms of coins and currencies.
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Africa, Bundle of Paludina Shells
Denomination: Ten Strings of Paludina Snails Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 80 Diameter (mm): 272.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Money consisting of snail shells or seashells (mollusk money) is used by many cultures. Sometimes from the entire shell, sometimes from parts of them, takes that form of money all imaginable shapes. The use of shells as money is not limited to any particular part of the world; in one form or another it is well-nigh universal.
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Africa to Asia, Cowrie Shell Cypraea annulus
Denomination: Cypraea annulus (Ring Cowrie) Mint Authority: Mint: Year of Issue: 1900 Weight (g): 3.42 Diameter (mm): 22.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Cowries are sea shells living in more than 200 varieties in warm oceans. They were used as coins in Asia, Africa and Oceania for over 3500 years: Around 1500 BC, cowries were circulating as means of exchange in the Chinese lands; and in 1960 a Dutch expedition in New Guinea was confronted with the problem of having to pay their bearers a considerable amount of cowrie shells.
Cowries owed their popularity as money to their durability and manageability. They were easy to transport and forgery-proof. Besides, their nice and shiny surface made them popular as embellishments.
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Africa, Cowrie Shell Necklace
Denomination: Cowrie Shell Necklace Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 105 Diameter (mm): 420.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This necklace from cowrie shells was made in Africa, supposedly during the late 19th or early 20th century. Cowries circulated in Africa well into the 20th century.
Cowries were worked up to adornments or used as decorations for weapons and garments over centuries. Moreover, cowries were said to have magical power – especially to guarantee a long life and female fertility. To wear cowrie jewelry guaranteed this magic; besides, it was also a comfortable way to always have some money at hand.
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Kongo, Batetela Tribe, Musanga Shell Disc Money
Denomination: Musanga Mint Authority: Batetela Tribe Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 1.4 Diameter (mm): 20.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Traditional African money is often made of shells. This one consists of the shell of a land snail living in the Congo. The shells are broken into more or less equal-sized pieces, pierced and strung together. The strings, called musanga, cannot be used as adornment because of the sharp edges and serve no other purpose than money. Musanga is little used in trade but forms an important part of the traditional bride price. The more attractive the bride and the higher her social status, the longer are the strings paid for her.
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Angola, Quiranda de Dongo Shell Disc Money (Achatina Money)
Denomination: Quiranda de Dongo Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 125 Diameter (mm): 850.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This money-string went under the wonderful name "quiranda de dongo" in West Africa. It consists of finely polished slices of shells of the giant African land snail Achatina and is therefore also known as achatina money. Quiranda de dongo were principally used in West Africa to pay bride-prices or to pay fines and taxes. The Portuguese colonial administration accepted tax payments in the form of quiranda de dongo into the second half of the 19th century.
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West and Central Africa, Necklace from Pigeon Egg Beads (also Dogon Beads or Dutch Beads)
Denomination: Necklace from Pigeon Egg Beads Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 166 Diameter (mm): 62.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Beads are the most common traditional monies. They exist in an infinite variety of materials, shapes and colors. Pigeon's egg beads from Holland, like the ones shown here, were very popular among the Dogon people of Mali. Accordingly, these beads are also known as Dogon beads or Dutch beads. The Dogon used pigeon's egg beads for especially valuable transactions, for instance to pay the bride price, or for religious ceremonies.
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West Africa, Necklace of Bauxite Beads (Abo)
Denomination: Necklace from Beads of Bauxite (Abo) Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 230 Diameter (mm): 850.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Beads from bauxite were cut since the 14th century in West Africa. Bauxite is an aluminum ore with a warm reddish color, coming from traces of iron. Bauxite beads were cut, carved, polished, drilled and strung together. Women would wear them in girdles or as necklaces. Strings of bauxite beads were not only used as decoration, but also as means of payment. In the 1940s one string was worth about 1 shilling 6 pence sterling – today, that would amount to about 3 pound sterling, or 6 dollars.
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Ghana/Togo/Sierra Leone, Sokpé Quartz Disc Money, c. 1600 to 1950
Denomination: Sokpé Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1600 Weight (g): 87 Diameter (mm): 55.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Stone money was widespread in many parts of Africa. In pre-colonial times, people in Togo and parts of Ghana used flat, rounded discs of quartz with a diameter of about 3 to 10 centimeters (1.2 to 3.9 inches) and a hole in the middle as money. This stone money was called sokpé (thunder stones) because African legends had it that they fell from the sky during thunderstorms.
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Liberia/Sierra Leone/Guinea, Kissi People, Kilindi (Kissi Penny), until Mid-20th Century
Denomination: Kilindi (KIssi Penny) Mint Authority: Kissi People Mint: Undefined in West Africa Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 35 Diameter (mm): 420.0 Material: Iron Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The name of this money is Kilindi. But because these rods were made by the Kissi people, the Europeans used to call them Kissi pennies. The Kissi people live in the hinterlands of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The length of the individual iron rods varies between 25 and 40 centimeters. They are about as thick as a pencil, twisted and with hammered ends; one end is T-shaped, the other beaten to a flat disc. Iron that can be hammered and twisted is always of high quality.
A single Kissi penny had only a limited purchasing power, which is why they were mostly used in whole bundles – for example, a cow was worth 100 bundles each of 20 rods.
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Denomination: Bronze Ring Bar Mint Authority: Dogon Tribe Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1600 Weight (g): 1,130 Diameter (mm): 109.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
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Piece of a Salt Bar
Denomination: Piece of a Salt Bar Mint Authority: Mint: Year of Issue: 1900 Weight (g): 210 Diameter (mm): 105.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Salt was used as means of payment in some form or other on all continents at some time. The "white Gold" was traded in the form of bars, slabs or other shapes, which was possible thanks to the dryness of Central Africa. The oldest reference to the use of bars of salt as money goes back to the Greek traveller Cosmas, who travelled through the empire of the Axumites, today's Ethiopia, in the year 525 BC.
Although usually very durable, the rainy season could become a problem for the circulation of salt money. Badly stored salt would then dissolve in no time. Incidentally, in peasant dwellings salt had to be stocked out of the reach of cattle, or else it would be eaten.
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Tibet/China/Mongolia/Burma/Siberia, Tea Brick, 20th century
Denomination: Tea Brick Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1900 Weight (g): 11,620 Diameter (mm): 235.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Tea has been used since immemorial times as a currency. In China, tea was, just like salt, for centuries a monopoly of the state and hence a secure currency – not liable to major fluctuations in value. And if tea would for once not have been saleable, it could always be drunk.
Slabs of tea were used as money in China, Mongolia, Tibet, Burma, and in parts of Russia, and in some places they are still in use. This slab is modern, since the perishability of the material means that genuine old slabs rarely survive in good condition.
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Latin America, Cocoa Beans, Ancient Times until Today
Denomination: Cocoa Bean Mint Authority: Mint: Year of Issue: 1500 Weight (g): 0.11 Diameter (mm): 24.0 Material: Others Owner: Schenkung
Until the fall of the Aztec Empire in the 16th century, cocoa beans were part of an actual currency system. Single beans circulated as small change and, packed in certain numbers, they were used for the payment of larger sums. From the year 1545 we even know a list, in which different prices are handed down. According to that list, one cocoa bean would buy one big tomato; a fish wrapped in corn leaves cost 3, a turkey 200 cocoa beans. In the growing areas of Mesoamerica, sole beans were used as small change until the 19th century.
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St Matthew's Island, String of Beetles' Legs
Denomination: String of Beetles' Legs Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): Diameter (mm): 450.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This brilliant string of beetles' legs is from the island of Lavongai, one of the St Matthew's Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Whether such chains of beetles' legs actually served as money on St Matthew's is controversial, however. It seems to have been the colonialists who liked the strings of beetles' legs so much that they paid relatively high prices for them. In German New Guinea, to which the St Matthew's Islands belonged until 1914, the currency was the German mark. The Germans paid one mark for 2 fathoms of beetles' legs, which on St. Matthews was the price of a chicken.
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Fiji Islands, Whale Tooth Money Tambua
Denomination: Tambua Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 480 Diameter (mm): 180.0 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Tambua, the tooth of the sperm whale, was the most valuable medium of exchange on Fiji. They were used only for important payments like the bride money.
The older and bigger the teeth were, the higher their value. Sperm whales have 25 to 50 teeth in their lower jaw; big teeth have a length of about 20 centimeters (7.85 inches) and can weigh up to 1 kilogram (35.3 ounces). The older the teeth are, the redder they get. Our specimen has a length of 18 centimeters (7 inches), a weight of 480 grams (16.9 ounces), and is of slightly reddish color.
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Sarmatia, Olbia, Bronze Dolphin, c. 480 BC
Denomination: Dolphin Coin Mint Authority: City of Olbia Mint: Olbia Year of Issue: -480 Weight (g): 4.23 Diameter (mm): 45.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This small dolphin originates from Olbia, an ancient city on the mouth of the River Bug and on the coast of the Black Sea. Dolphins were very frequent in these waters. They liked to accompany seagoing vessels over long distances, which is why they became symbols of maritime transportation and trade. The dolphin coins of Sarmatia expressed this in a very picturesque manner.
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Malaysia, Sultanate of Perak, Fish Money, 17th Century
Denomination: Fish Money Mint Authority: Sultanate of Perak Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1600 Weight (g): 2.04 Diameter (mm): 2.4000000953674316 Material: Others Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Fish money can be found in different cultures and through different times. This piece comes from the Sultanate of Perak in modern Malaysia. It is made of tin, which is no surprise, since Perak is renowned for its rich tin deposits. Tin money was in circulation in Perak since the 15th century, and was often cast in form of animals. The beasts are always molded in great detail; besides fishes there are crocodiles, elephants, turtles and crabs, goats, grasshoppers and roosters – animals thus that were popular trading goods in Perak.
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China, Zhou Dynasty, Yü Pi (Fishmoney), 1045-221 BC
Denomination: Yü Pi Mint Authority: Zhou Dynasty Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: -1122 Weight (g): 12.54 Diameter (mm): 75.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC, bronze came in use in China. Soon there was a great demand for it. The bronze was traded in popular and therefore widely accepted forms such as bronze knives, spades, bells and fishes – all of them highly valued objects in Chinese society.
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Thailand/Burma/Laos, Silver Bangle, 19th century
Denomination: Silver Bangle Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1800 Weight (g): 95 Diameter (mm): 70.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Silver bangles are jewelry and stores of value at the same time. This is what they have always been used for, even though they are not standardized and have no guaranteed silver content. At one time, collectors used to classify bangles as currency, but most are now of the opinion that these bangles, as described in old Chinese novels, were part of the savings of any good housewife – they were the "nest egg" in the family budget, and were valued not only by weight but also according to their artistic quality.
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Kingdom of Lanna, Ka Kim (packsaddle money) worth 5 Baht
Denomination: Ka Kim Mint Authority: Undefined King of Lanna Mint: Chiengmai Year of Issue: 1550 Weight (g): 78 Diameter (mm): 35.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The currency of the Kingdom of Lanna in today's northern Thailand was Ka kim; it circulated from the 13th century until the downfall of the realm in the mid-16th century. Ka kim is said to have developed from rings or bangles: silver bars were beaten into flat rings, cut at the back and bent into the shape of a woman's pelvis. Then the coins were stamped with the denomination, the name of the issuing city, and a coin mark.
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Laos, Kingdom of Luang Prabang, Lat Money (Tiger-Tongue Money) worth 1 1/2 Tamlung, 18th Century
Denomination: Lat Money at 1 1/2 Tamlung Mint Authority: Undefined King of Luang Prabang Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1707 Weight (g): 89 Diameter (mm): 105.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Such bars are called lat money and known among collectors as "tiger-tongue coins." They originated in Lan Xang, a kingdom in what is now Laos and eastern Thailand. The tiger tongues were issued from the late 16th to the early 18th century. In 1707, Lan Xang split into diverse kingdoms which adopted the lat currency.
In the kingdom of Lan Xang and its successor states, bronze ingots representing smaller denominations circulated alongside the silver tiger tongues. They were of the same shape as the tiger tongues but had a smooth surface and are accordingly known as boat or canoe money.
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Laos, Kingdom of Luang Prabang, Lat Money (Boat Money), 1707-1889
Denomination: Lat Money Mint Authority: Undefined King of Luang Prabang Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1707 Weight (g): 79 Diameter (mm): 97.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This so-called boat or canoe money is of bronze, unlike tiger tongue money, the silver ingots in the same currency area. Tiger tongues were issued from the 16th to the 18th century in Lan Chang, a kingdom on the Mekong River in the border area between present-day Laos and eastern Thailand. In 1707, Lan Chang split into diverse kingdoms which adopted the traditional currency. The succession state Luang Prabang additionally introduced such bronze boat ingots in 1707.
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Kievan Rus, Grivna, 12th-13th century, Kiev
Denomination: Grivna Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Kiev Year of Issue: 1150 Weight (g): 162.4 Diameter (mm): 83.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Russian duchies did not issue any coins of their own. Instead people used silver ingots as means of payment. These ingots were called grivna. They existed in different varieties – the grivna of Kiev, for instance, was a longish hexagon that weighed about 160 grams (5.64 ounces); the grivna of Novgorod, on the other hand, weighed 200 grams (7 ounces) and was cast in various forms.
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Black Sea Coast, Ring Money, 6th-5th Century BC
Denomination: Ring Money Mint Authority: Undefined Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: -700 Weight (g): Diameter (mm): Material: Copper Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The currency in Europe from the 5th to 3rd millennium BC was flint stone. The material was in high demand and traded all over Europe. In addition, rings of bone and shells were used. Later metal rings came in use, first in ancient Egypt, later among the Celts and presumably also among the Germanic tribes. These bronze rings come from the coast of the Black Sea, from what is now Bulgaria.
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Central Italy, Undefined Italic Tribe, Aes Rude, mid-5th to late 4th c.
Denomination: Aes Rude Mint Authority: Undefined Italic Tribe Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: -450 Weight (g): 1,558 Diameter (mm): 120.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
Before the introduction of coined money, the peoples of central Italy used cast lumps of bronze, as well as their fragments, as means of exchange. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (*c. 23 BC, † 79 BC) referred to these bronze lumps in his encyclopedia "Naturalis historiae" as aes rude – as amorphous bronze in an unworked state. Numismatists have retained this expression.
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