Bob Leonard's "Curious Currency"
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Strange, Ancient, and Wondrous Money Featured in Curious Currency
Robert D. Leonard’s new book Curious Currency tells the story of money from the Stone Age to the Internet Age. The richly illustrated volume includes many images from the collection of researcher Charles J. Opitz, as well as rarely seen items from the British Museum; the Royal Coin Cabinet of Stockholm, Sweden; the Minnesota Historical Society; and other personal and public collections and archives.
Contents include:
- A foreword by Kenneth Bressett, award-winning author and longtime editor of the Guide Book of United States Coins
- Chapter 1: What is Money?
- Chapter 2: Raw Materials
- Chapter 3: Useful Articles
- Chapter 4: Ornaments
- Chapter 5: Customary Objects
- Chapter 6: Money Substitutes
- Endnotes, Selected Bibliography, and Index
The book’s six-page index offers a richly detailed snapshot of the treasures --- from the United States and worldwide --- inside Curious Currency. How many of these strange and interesting people, places, and things can you connect to money? (The answer after you read this book will be “All of them!”)
George Abernethy; Abernethy’s rock money; Abia; Abraham (Biblical figure): silver, ewe lambs as payment; Achilles; Adams & Co.; Admiralty Islands; Aegean; aes grave; aes rude; Afghanistan; Africa: arm rings, beads, cloth money, iron money, manillas, salt, slaves, tribes; King Agamemnon; aggry beads; agricultural items; Aksum; Alaric the Visigoth; Alaska: beads, dentalium shells, gold, local currency, otter skins; Albania; Albee Complex of the Late Woodland culture; Algeria; ’Amdan Bayyin; America: cut pieces of coins, gold, salt, tobacco; American Express Travelers Cheque; American Numismatic Society; American Revolution; American Southwest; Amsterdam; ammunition; Anatolia: obsidian, silver, gold; Angola: cloth money, salt; anklets; Annam: buffalo, slaves; ant-nose money; Arabia: camels, toweelah; Aristotle; Arizona; arm rings; Armenia; arrowheads; as; Ashanti; Asia: cigarettes, gold, salt; Asia Minor; Assam; Associated Press; Aswan; ATM cards; Austria: card money, cigarettes, leather money, postage stamps, trade coins, wooden notes; axes: bronze, copper, iron, stone; Aztecs: cotton textiles, cacao beans, Aztec Codex Laud; Babylonia: barley; baht; Bali; Balkans: axe heads, rings; Baltic coast; Baltic Sea; bamboo money; Ba-na: heads, slaves; bank-created (book entry) money; bark cloth; Angelo Barovier; Marietta Barovier; base metal forms; Bavaria; Beads: aggry,ceramic, chevron, cornaline d’Aleppo, donkey, esnurgny, glass trade, hippo teeth, Hudson’s Bay, Indian, jade, kelam batang umar, millefiori,Murano, ostrich eggshell, padre, Russian, shell, stone and coral, Tibetan coral, trade wind (Indo-Pacific), wampum; Bechuanaland; beetle leg strings; bèi; belts; Benia; Benin; W.H. Bentley; Bergdama; Bermuda; William Biggs; Bigirmi of Nigeria; bikěi; bills of exchange; bimetallic coins; bing; Birmingham, England: manillas, labor money; Black Sea; Bloomington (IL) Weekly Pantagraph; boars’ tusks; bochie; Boer War; William H. Bogue; Bohemia: beads, rings; Boleslaus the Pious; boloko; bones; Borneo; Borysthenes; bracelets; bracteates; brass rods; Brazil; bread; brick tea; bride-price: definition, boars’ tusks, cattle, club-shaped iron ingots, cotton cloth, feathers, furs, Katanga cross, kina shells, mamuli, miniature axe heads, neck rings, porpoise teeth, pots, red-feather money, spearheads, woodpecker scalps, mats; bridge money; Bristol board; Britain: cut halfpence and farthings, debit cards, flint, gold rings, goldsmiths transforming to banks, manillas, rings, silver, trade coins, tobacco; British Columbia: otter skins, local currency; British Isles; British Museum; bronze: axes, early money of Rome; Brooklyn; Brunei: iron, polymer notes; Brussels; bù; Burma: opium, rice, salt, toks; Byzantine Empire; cacao beans; Cairo; California: beads, bills of exchange, clamshell money, dentalium shells, gold discovery of 1848, gold rush, private mints, postage stamps; Cambodia: chickens, lat, rice; V.L. Cameron; Cameroon: club-shaped iron ingots, iron triangles, manillas, salt; Canada: bear skins, beaver skins, encased stamps, woolen blankets; candy; Caroline Islands: administration, fishhooks, pearl shells, Yap stones; Neil Carothers; Jacques Cartier; Castilian traders; Çatalhöyük; cattle; Caucasia; Celts; Central Africa: copper ingots, rods; Central America; Central Asia; Central Europe; ceramic beads; Ceylon; Chalcolithic Age; checks; Chefsurs; chevron beads; Chiang Mai toks; Chicago; Chickataubott; chief’s coppers; China: bamboo money, bark cloth, brick tea, bridge money, coins, cotton notes, cowry shells, fish money, grain, knife money, paper money, postage stamps, silver ingots, spade money, State of Chu, trade coins; Chinook; chocolate; cigarettes; club (ensuba); cocaine; Code of Hammurabi: fixed value of barley to silver, silver; Codex Mendoza; Coinage Act of April 22, 1864; coins: bimetallic, counterfeit, countermarked, cup-shaped, cut pieces, farthings, halfpennies, Islamic, knife, nonmetallic, odd-shaped coins, oversize, plugged coins, porcelain, private, Renaissance, trade; Colonial America: cut coins, furs, musket balls, paper money, skins, Spanish dollar, wampum; Colorado; Confederate States of America; Congo: brass wire, cloth money, cotton cloth, elephant tails, guns, leg rings, neck rings, salt, u-shaped rods, throwing-knife money; Joseph Conrad; Niccolò Da Conti; Continental Congress; Conus; copper: axes, ingot, trolley wire; coral beads; cornaline d'Aleppo beads; Costa Rica; counterfeit coins; counterfeit paper money; countermarked coins; cowry shells; credit cards; Joe Cribb; Croatia: marten skins, olive oil; King Croesus; Cuerdale hoard; cup-shaped coins; Robert Curzon; cut pieces of coins; Cypraea Moneta; Cyprus: silver, copper, postage stamps; daler; Danish traders; William Davenport; deben; debit cards; Denmark: silver, bread, postage stamps, encased stamps; Dentalium pretiosum; dentalium shells; deoganta; Depression: California clamshell money, labor money, tokens, wooden nickels; Bernal Diaz del Castillo; dibanda; dihunga; Diomedês; distilled spirits; diwarra; doa; dog teeth; Dông So'n; donkey beads; drachma (drachme); drugs; drums (mokos); Duke of York Island; DuPont Tyvek®; Dutch: beads, manillas, abolished moko system in Alor Island, pepper; Dutch East India Company; East Africa; Ecuador: axe heads, salt; efufy; eggs; e-gold®; Egypt: beads, copper, gold, manillas, new kingdom, silver, Ek-Chuah; Elam; elephant tails; Alexander L. Ely; embedded integrated circuit; encased stamps; England; ensuba; Ephron the Hittite (Biblical figure); ermine pelts; esnurgny; Ethiopia: cloth money, salt, manillas, bimetallic coins, trade coins; Eurasia; Europe: beaver pelts, charge cards, cigarettes, encased stamps, iron, oversize coins, pepper, tokens; Exodus; fae metmet; farthings; feathers: wetapup, red-feather money; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Federal Reserve Banks; Federal Reserve Board; fiat money; Fiji: bark cloth, whale’s teeth, jaws; Haji Firouz; fishhooks; fish money; Flanders; flint; Flores; Florida; flying fox jaws; food as money; specific edible items used as money; forgeries; four-armed copper ingots; France: card money as legal tender, manillas, paper money, postage stamps, smart cards, trade coins; Harry Franck; French Indochina; French West Africa; fuang; furs; Gabon; Galapagos Islands; Gambia; Garment Needs; Gaul; John Gault; Guatemala: beads, maize; Gazelle Peninsula; General Assembly of Virginia; Genoa; Georgia: gold rush of 1829, private mints; German traders; Germany: bracteates, card money, Caroline Islands, cheese, cigarettes, herring, manillas, nonmetallic coins, paper money, pepper, postage stamps, silver, wine, Yap; Ghana: gold, stone money; ghost head money; Gilbert and Ellis Islands; glass trade beads; Glaucos; god bells (deoganta); gold; gold rings; Gold Coast, beads; gold rushes; grain; Grand Khan; Great Britain; Great Lakes; Greece: coins, colonists, gold, obsidian, olive oil, pepper, postage stamps; Alan Greenspan; grivna; Guadalcanal; Guam; Guatamala: cacao beans, eggs, obsidian trade; Guernsey; guĭ tóu; Guinea; gum; guns; hachas monedas; hackgold; hacksilver; Haida; Haiti; halfpence; heiliges geld: definition, Togoland; Herero; Hermus River; Hershey bars; Lee F. Hewitt; hippo teeth beads; his-ssu; Hittite Empire; Hmong; Hogge Money; hohlpfennigs; Hollywood; Holy Roman Empire; Homer; Honduras; Hong Kong; hongs; Hopewell; hu; huā; Huan, Duke of Qi; Abbé M. Huc; Hudson’s Bay Company: beads, beaver skins, guns, woolen blankets; human skulls; Hungary; huò; Huron; Iberian; ikat; Illinois; Incas; India: beads, bitter almonds, cowry shells, pepper, postage stamps, odd-shaped coins, ostrich eggshell beads, traditional silver; India ink; Indian beads; Indian corn; Indian Ocean; Indochina; Indonesia: beads, cotton cloth, drums, human skulls, mamuli; Internet; invisible money; Iran: beads, silver wire; Iraq; Ireland: axe heads, barley, gold rings, oats, slaves; Irian Jaya (West Papua); iron; Iron Age: Europe, torcs; iron hoes; iron triangle (ensuba); Iroquois; Islamic coins; Isle of Man; Israel: livestock, rings, silver; Italy: bimetallic coins, candy, cigarettes, pepper; Ithaca (New York) HOURS, local currency; itkira moko; Ivory Coast: hippo teeth beads, manilas; iyayaw; Jambi; Japan: bamboo money, beads, knife coins, magatama, oversize coins, postage stamps, rice, yen; Java; Thomas Jefferson; Jersey; Jerusalem; William Stanley Jevons; Job (Biblical figure); Judah (Biblical figure); juju; Julius Caesar; k'a k'im; ka muäk; Kadman Numismatic Museum, rings; kappa; Karok; Katanga cross; kauri; kelam batang umar; Kentucky: candy, raccoon pelts; Kenya; kilindi; kina shells; Kissi penny (kilindi); kodo; kogok; Korea: beads, knife coins, kogok, postage stamps; kpoloi; Kroisos; kumal; Kusaie; Kyrgyzstan; labor money; Laos, iron, lat, neck rings; larins; lat; Bernard Laum; Hugues Le Roux; leather money; Leeward Islands; Joseph Lesher; Leyden: leather money, paper coins; Liberia; Liberty Dollars; libra; libripens; liganda; Michael Linton; Lipari; liquor; Lithuania; livestock; Dr. Livingstone; local currencies (LETS and CCC); Local Employment and Trade System; Lombardy; London; Louisiana; Lualaba River; Lycurgus; Lydia: coins, gold; Madagascar; madiba; Madrid Codex; magatama; maize; Malaya: animal ingots, square hat ingots; Maldive Islands: cowry shells, traditional silver; Mali; mamuli; Manila; manilas; Mansa Musa; mantles; Maori; Maqrīzī, al-; Maria Theresia: thalers, trade coins; Marshall and Solomon Islands; marten pelts; Martinique; Maryland; Masai; Massachusetts: beads, beaver pelts, Indian corn, musket bullets, mats; Maximilian (emperor of Mexico); Mayas: cotton textiles, jade beads; John C. McGregor; Margaret Mead; Mecca; Queen Medb; Meissen porcelain; Mekong Valley; Melanesia: arm rings, feathers, mats, rings, shark vertebrae; Mendoza Codex; Méo; Mesoamerica: copper axes, obsidian trade; Mesopotamia: copper, gold, obsidian, rings, silver; Jacques de Meulles; Mexico: beads, cacao beans, copper axes, gum, maize, salt, trade coins; Domenico Michaele; Micronesia: pearl shells, mats; Middle Ages; Middle Kingdom of Egypt; millefiori beads; mimboss (mimbass); mina; mind-altering drugs; Ming; miniature axe heads; miniature spearheads; mokos; money trees; Mongolia; Mongol China; Monomotapa; Moravia, rings; Jacques de Morgan; Morocco money: trees, shells; Morse code; Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin; Mt. Tmolus; Murano beads; Muscat and Oman; Benito Mussolini; mutisalah; Nama; Namibia; Nan; Nassa shell; Nassarius gibbosulus; Native American: copper currency axes, cultures, dentalium shells, flint roughouts, pre-Columbian, stone disks, wampum; Nauru Island; Navajo; navela; ndap; Near East; neck rings; Neolithic Age; Netherlands: cigarettes, silver; New Amsterdam; New Britain: arm rings, obsidian, pots, sacred shell money; New England: beads, maize; New France; New Guinea: arm rings, boars’ tusks, cowry shells, feathers, human skulls, Rossel Island, teeth, tobacco; New Hebrides; New Ireland: arm rings, jaws, rings; New York: beads, encased stamps, Federal Reserve Bank of; New Zealand; ngbele; Ngombe; Nicaragua; Nigeria: arm rings, hippo teeth beads, iron hoes, liquor, manillas, neck rings, Ogoja pennies, salt; nileng; Nissan Island; Richard Nixon; nkö; nonmetallic coins; nonwearable rings; Nootka Indians; NORFED; Normandy; North America; North Carolina; Northern Mariana Islands; Northwest Coast, potlatch; notgeld; Bernard von NotHaus; Oaxaca; obans; obelos; obsidian; Oceania: bark cloth, belts, cowry shells, pigs, rings, sacred shell money, salt, tobacco; odd-shaped coins; Ogoja penny; Ohio; David Sean O’Keefe; Olbia: arrowheads, odd-shaped coins; olive oil; Charles J. Opitz; Oregon; Ossetes; ostrich eggshell beads; Ovambo; oversize coins; Robert Owen; Duarte Pacheco Pereira; Pacific Coast; Pacific Island bark cloth; Pactolus River: coins, gold; padre beads; Palau, stone money, udoud; Palestine, Illinois; Papago Indians; paper money, counterfeit; Papua New Guinea: cowry shells, kina shells, obsidian, pigs, pots, salt; patolquechtli; PayPal; pearl shells; pecunia; pelts: bear, beaver, ermine, marten, raccoon, sable, squirrel; pepper; Persia; Persian Gulf: larin, silver; Peru; Philippines: beads, human skulls; K.L. Phillips; Phoenicians; piki moko; Pima Indians; Pismo Beach; pistareen; plugged coins; Plutarch; poata(arm rings); Poland: liquor, pepper, sable pelts; Marco Polo; polymer notes; Polynesia; porpoise teeth; Portugal: beads, manilas; postage stamps; potlatch; pots; private coins; Pteropus; quachtli; raccoon pelts; rawrenock; reales; Rebekah (Biblical figure); Red Sea; red-feather money; Renaissance; rings: all kinds, arm, bronze, gold, lead, leg, neck, potin, silver, stone, torcs, turtle shell; Romania; Rome: early money, leather money, oversize coins, pepper; rongo; rongo pura; rongo sisi; Rossel Island money; Royal Geographical Society; rublit; Russia: brick tea, cattle, cigarettes (as U.S.S.R.), copper plate money, fur scraps, liquor, postage stamps, silver; Russian American Company; Russian beads; sable pelts; sacred shell money (diwarra); sacred shell money of the Solomon Islands; saddle money; Sahara Desert; salt; salt caravan; salu’ng; Samoa; San; San Francisco; San Francisco Alta California; San Matthias Island: beetle leg strings, belts; Santa Cruz Islands; sapi; Sarah (Biblical figure); Sardinia; Saxony; Sènègal; Serbia; Shah Jahan; Shang Dynasty; Shanghai; shark vertebrae; sheet silver; shell rings; shell beads; shells; shields; Siam: bullet money, porcelain gambling tokens, salt, toks; Siberia: brick tea, reindeer, furs; Sichuan-Shaanxi Worker-Peasant Bank; Sicily; Sierra Leone: Kissi penny, manillas, salt; sik; silver: ancient, jewelry, traditional; Singapore; Sio; skins; slaves; smart cards; Snettisham hoard; Society Islands; Solomon Islands: arm rings, jaws, shells, shields, teeth; Solon of Athens; Sommer Islands; South America: Ecuador axe money, reales; South Dakota; Southeast Asia: beads, opium, salt; Southern Banks Islands; Southern Kwakiutl; Soviet Union; Spain: Caroline Islands, nonmetallic coins, trade coins; Spanish Umayyd Dynasty; Spondylus shell; squirrel pelts; Sri Lanka; State of Franklin (eastern Tennessee); Statutes of Kalisz; stipendium; Stockholms Banco; Stone Age; stone: axes, beads, blades, money, rings; stored-value cards; sub-Saharan Africa: cotton cloth, iron hoes, neck rings; Sudan: bitter almonds, manillas, odd-shaped coins; suftaja; Sulawesi; Sumatra: human skulls, pepper; Sumba,; Sunshu Ao, Prime Minister of Zhuang, Duke of Chu; Sweden: paper money, plate money, silver; SWIFT; Swiss Lake Dwellers; sycee silver ingots; Syria: cornaline d’Aleppo, shell rings, silver; Táin Bó Cúailnge; Taiwan; Tajikistan; tambua; tampang; Tartars; tau; teeth: boar, dog, hippo (counterfeit), porpoise, whale; Télécarte; Tennessee: axe heads, raccoon pelts, State of Franklin; Thailand: bullet money, cigarettes, gambling tokens, lat, neck rings, toks, Third Dynasty of Ur; Thrace; throwing knife; Tibet; Tibetan coral beads; Tibetan god bells; Tierra del Fuego; tiger tongues (lat); Timor: beads, cotton cloth; tin: fish, hat ingots; ting; Tlingit; tobacco; Togoland; tokens; toks; Tonga; tools; torcs; Torres Straits; toweelah; Toyotomi Hideyoshi; trade coins; trade wind (Indo-Pacific) beads; traditional base-metal forms; traditional silver forms; traveler’s checks; Tridacna gigas; Trobriand Islands; Tubetube Island; Tung Hli Yung K’An; Turkey; U.S. Civil War: counterfeits, encased stamps, postage stamps; udoud; Uganda: cowry shells, iron hoes; Ukraine: beads, postage stamps; Umboi Island; Unemployed Relief Club, Inc.; United Kingdom; United States: Caroline Islands, charge cards, cigarettes, counterfeits, cut coins, fiat money, gum, plugged coins, trade coins; University of Illinois; u-shaped rods; Vanuatu: feathers, mats, stone rings; Venice: beads, manilas; vessels; Vietnam: cigarettes, drums, neck rings, salt, slaves; Vikings; Virginia; Vitiaz Strait; Volga Bulgars; Wa; wampum; Wandel; Wang Mang; Warring States Period; Waterloo, Iowa; wauri; weapons; Conrad Weiser; West Africa: aggry beads, arm rings, cowry shells, gold, hippo teeth beads, Kissi penny, leg rings manillas, millifiori beads, neck rings, Ogoja penny, rods, Togoland stone money; West Indies; Western Union; wetapup; whale’s teeth; White Russian; wire transfers; wood: bamboo, bowls, nickels; woodpecker scalps; World War I: beetle leg strings, card money, cloth money, encased postage stamps, furs, leather money, liquor, porcelain, postage stamps; World War II: bamboo money, Caroline Islands, cigarettes, encased postage stamps, Hershey bars, mats, postage stamps, olive oil; World Wide Web; woven cloth; Würm glacial period; Wuxi City Office; yakaro; Yap: paper money, pearl shells, turtle shell rings, stones; Ibrahim ben Ya’qub; Yemen; yĭ bí qián; yuan bao; Yuork; Yuroks; Zadar; Zhou Dynasty; and Zimbabwe: beads, copper ingots, paper money.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Award-winning author Bob Leonard has collected odd and curious money for more than 45 years. He has written 17 studies on specific unusual monies, earning literary awards from the American Numismatic Association and the Numismatic Literary Guild. In Curious Currency Leonard engagingly explores the lessons that elephant tails, woodpecker scalps, neck rings, Yap stones, cocoa beans, whale teeth, and other odd and curious monies have for our economy today.
Robert D. Leonard’s new book Curious Currency tells the story of money from the Stone Age to the Internet Age. The richly illustrated volume includes many images from the collection of researcher Charles J. Opitz, as well as rarely seen items from the British Museum; the Royal Coin Cabinet of Stockholm, Sweden; the Minnesota Historical Society; and other personal and public collections and archives.
Contents include:
- A foreword by Kenneth Bressett, award-winning author and longtime editor of the Guide Book of United States Coins
- Chapter 1: What is Money?
- Chapter 2: Raw Materials
- Chapter 3: Useful Articles
- Chapter 4: Ornaments
- Chapter 5: Customary Objects
- Chapter 6: Money Substitutes
- Endnotes, Selected Bibliography, and Index
The book’s six-page index offers a richly detailed snapshot of the treasures --- from the United States and worldwide --- inside Curious Currency. How many of these strange and interesting people, places, and things can you connect to money? (The answer after you read this book will be “All of them!”)
George Abernethy; Abernethy’s rock money; Abia; Abraham (Biblical figure): silver, ewe lambs as payment; Achilles; Adams & Co.; Admiralty Islands; Aegean; aes grave; aes rude; Afghanistan; Africa: arm rings, beads, cloth money, iron money, manillas, salt, slaves, tribes; King Agamemnon; aggry beads; agricultural items; Aksum; Alaric the Visigoth; Alaska: beads, dentalium shells, gold, local currency, otter skins; Albania; Albee Complex of the Late Woodland culture; Algeria; ’Amdan Bayyin; America: cut pieces of coins, gold, salt, tobacco; American Express Travelers Cheque; American Numismatic Society; American Revolution; American Southwest; Amsterdam; ammunition; Anatolia: obsidian, silver, gold; Angola: cloth money, salt; anklets; Annam: buffalo, slaves; ant-nose money; Arabia: camels, toweelah; Aristotle; Arizona; arm rings; Armenia; arrowheads; as; Ashanti; Asia: cigarettes, gold, salt; Asia Minor; Assam; Associated Press; Aswan; ATM cards; Austria: card money, cigarettes, leather money, postage stamps, trade coins, wooden notes; axes: bronze, copper, iron, stone; Aztecs: cotton textiles, cacao beans, Aztec Codex Laud; Babylonia: barley; baht; Bali; Balkans: axe heads, rings; Baltic coast; Baltic Sea; bamboo money; Ba-na: heads, slaves; bank-created (book entry) money; bark cloth; Angelo Barovier; Marietta Barovier; base metal forms; Bavaria; Beads: aggry,ceramic, chevron, cornaline d’Aleppo, donkey, esnurgny, glass trade, hippo teeth, Hudson’s Bay, Indian, jade, kelam batang umar, millefiori,Murano, ostrich eggshell, padre, Russian, shell, stone and coral, Tibetan coral, trade wind (Indo-Pacific), wampum; Bechuanaland; beetle leg strings; bèi; belts; Benia; Benin; W.H. Bentley; Bergdama; Bermuda; William Biggs; Bigirmi of Nigeria; bikěi; bills of exchange; bimetallic coins; bing; Birmingham, England: manillas, labor money; Black Sea; Bloomington (IL) Weekly Pantagraph; boars’ tusks; bochie; Boer War; William H. Bogue; Bohemia: beads, rings; Boleslaus the Pious; boloko; bones; Borneo; Borysthenes; bracelets; bracteates; brass rods; Brazil; bread; brick tea; bride-price: definition, boars’ tusks, cattle, club-shaped iron ingots, cotton cloth, feathers, furs, Katanga cross, kina shells, mamuli, miniature axe heads, neck rings, porpoise teeth, pots, red-feather money, spearheads, woodpecker scalps, mats; bridge money; Bristol board; Britain: cut halfpence and farthings, debit cards, flint, gold rings, goldsmiths transforming to banks, manillas, rings, silver, trade coins, tobacco; British Columbia: otter skins, local currency; British Isles; British Museum; bronze: axes, early money of Rome; Brooklyn; Brunei: iron, polymer notes; Brussels; bù; Burma: opium, rice, salt, toks; Byzantine Empire; cacao beans; Cairo; California: beads, bills of exchange, clamshell money, dentalium shells, gold discovery of 1848, gold rush, private mints, postage stamps; Cambodia: chickens, lat, rice; V.L. Cameron; Cameroon: club-shaped iron ingots, iron triangles, manillas, salt; Canada: bear skins, beaver skins, encased stamps, woolen blankets; candy; Caroline Islands: administration, fishhooks, pearl shells, Yap stones; Neil Carothers; Jacques Cartier; Castilian traders; Çatalhöyük; cattle; Caucasia; Celts; Central Africa: copper ingots, rods; Central America; Central Asia; Central Europe; ceramic beads; Ceylon; Chalcolithic Age; checks; Chefsurs; chevron beads; Chiang Mai toks; Chicago; Chickataubott; chief’s coppers; China: bamboo money, bark cloth, brick tea, bridge money, coins, cotton notes, cowry shells, fish money, grain, knife money, paper money, postage stamps, silver ingots, spade money, State of Chu, trade coins; Chinook; chocolate; cigarettes; club (ensuba); cocaine; Code of Hammurabi: fixed value of barley to silver, silver; Codex Mendoza; Coinage Act of April 22, 1864; coins: bimetallic, counterfeit, countermarked, cup-shaped, cut pieces, farthings, halfpennies, Islamic, knife, nonmetallic, odd-shaped coins, oversize, plugged coins, porcelain, private, Renaissance, trade; Colonial America: cut coins, furs, musket balls, paper money, skins, Spanish dollar, wampum; Colorado; Confederate States of America; Congo: brass wire, cloth money, cotton cloth, elephant tails, guns, leg rings, neck rings, salt, u-shaped rods, throwing-knife money; Joseph Conrad; Niccolò Da Conti; Continental Congress; Conus; copper: axes, ingot, trolley wire; coral beads; cornaline d'Aleppo beads; Costa Rica; counterfeit coins; counterfeit paper money; countermarked coins; cowry shells; credit cards; Joe Cribb; Croatia: marten skins, olive oil; King Croesus; Cuerdale hoard; cup-shaped coins; Robert Curzon; cut pieces of coins; Cypraea Moneta; Cyprus: silver, copper, postage stamps; daler; Danish traders; William Davenport; deben; debit cards; Denmark: silver, bread, postage stamps, encased stamps; Dentalium pretiosum; dentalium shells; deoganta; Depression: California clamshell money, labor money, tokens, wooden nickels; Bernal Diaz del Castillo; dibanda; dihunga; Diomedês; distilled spirits; diwarra; doa; dog teeth; Dông So'n; donkey beads; drachma (drachme); drugs; drums (mokos); Duke of York Island; DuPont Tyvek®; Dutch: beads, manillas, abolished moko system in Alor Island, pepper; Dutch East India Company; East Africa; Ecuador: axe heads, salt; efufy; eggs; e-gold®; Egypt: beads, copper, gold, manillas, new kingdom, silver, Ek-Chuah; Elam; elephant tails; Alexander L. Ely; embedded integrated circuit; encased stamps; England; ensuba; Ephron the Hittite (Biblical figure); ermine pelts; esnurgny; Ethiopia: cloth money, salt, manillas, bimetallic coins, trade coins; Eurasia; Europe: beaver pelts, charge cards, cigarettes, encased stamps, iron, oversize coins, pepper, tokens; Exodus; fae metmet; farthings; feathers: wetapup, red-feather money; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Federal Reserve Banks; Federal Reserve Board; fiat money; Fiji: bark cloth, whale’s teeth, jaws; Haji Firouz; fishhooks; fish money; Flanders; flint; Flores; Florida; flying fox jaws; food as money; specific edible items used as money; forgeries; four-armed copper ingots; France: card money as legal tender, manillas, paper money, postage stamps, smart cards, trade coins; Harry Franck; French Indochina; French West Africa; fuang; furs; Gabon; Galapagos Islands; Gambia; Garment Needs; Gaul; John Gault; Guatemala: beads, maize; Gazelle Peninsula; General Assembly of Virginia; Genoa; Georgia: gold rush of 1829, private mints; German traders; Germany: bracteates, card money, Caroline Islands, cheese, cigarettes, herring, manillas, nonmetallic coins, paper money, pepper, postage stamps, silver, wine, Yap; Ghana: gold, stone money; ghost head money; Gilbert and Ellis Islands; glass trade beads; Glaucos; god bells (deoganta); gold; gold rings; Gold Coast, beads; gold rushes; grain; Grand Khan; Great Britain; Great Lakes; Greece: coins, colonists, gold, obsidian, olive oil, pepper, postage stamps; Alan Greenspan; grivna; Guadalcanal; Guam; Guatamala: cacao beans, eggs, obsidian trade; Guernsey; guĭ tóu; Guinea; gum; guns; hachas monedas; hackgold; hacksilver; Haida; Haiti; halfpence; heiliges geld: definition, Togoland; Herero; Hermus River; Hershey bars; Lee F. Hewitt; hippo teeth beads; his-ssu; Hittite Empire; Hmong; Hogge Money; hohlpfennigs; Hollywood; Holy Roman Empire; Homer; Honduras; Hong Kong; hongs; Hopewell; hu; huā; Huan, Duke of Qi; Abbé M. Huc; Hudson’s Bay Company: beads, beaver skins, guns, woolen blankets; human skulls; Hungary; huò; Huron; Iberian; ikat; Illinois; Incas; India: beads, bitter almonds, cowry shells, pepper, postage stamps, odd-shaped coins, ostrich eggshell beads, traditional silver; India ink; Indian beads; Indian corn; Indian Ocean; Indochina; Indonesia: beads, cotton cloth, drums, human skulls, mamuli; Internet; invisible money; Iran: beads, silver wire; Iraq; Ireland: axe heads, barley, gold rings, oats, slaves; Irian Jaya (West Papua); iron; Iron Age: Europe, torcs; iron hoes; iron triangle (ensuba); Iroquois; Islamic coins; Isle of Man; Israel: livestock, rings, silver; Italy: bimetallic coins, candy, cigarettes, pepper; Ithaca (New York) HOURS, local currency; itkira moko; Ivory Coast: hippo teeth beads, manilas; iyayaw; Jambi; Japan: bamboo money, beads, knife coins, magatama, oversize coins, postage stamps, rice, yen; Java; Thomas Jefferson; Jersey; Jerusalem; William Stanley Jevons; Job (Biblical figure); Judah (Biblical figure); juju; Julius Caesar; k'a k'im; ka muäk; Kadman Numismatic Museum, rings; kappa; Karok; Katanga cross; kauri; kelam batang umar; Kentucky: candy, raccoon pelts; Kenya; kilindi; kina shells; Kissi penny (kilindi); kodo; kogok; Korea: beads, knife coins, kogok, postage stamps; kpoloi; Kroisos; kumal; Kusaie; Kyrgyzstan; labor money; Laos, iron, lat, neck rings; larins; lat; Bernard Laum; Hugues Le Roux; leather money; Leeward Islands; Joseph Lesher; Leyden: leather money, paper coins; Liberia; Liberty Dollars; libra; libripens; liganda; Michael Linton; Lipari; liquor; Lithuania; livestock; Dr. Livingstone; local currencies (LETS and CCC); Local Employment and Trade System; Lombardy; London; Louisiana; Lualaba River; Lycurgus; Lydia: coins, gold; Madagascar; madiba; Madrid Codex; magatama; maize; Malaya: animal ingots, square hat ingots; Maldive Islands: cowry shells, traditional silver; Mali; mamuli; Manila; manilas; Mansa Musa; mantles; Maori; Maqrīzī, al-; Maria Theresia: thalers, trade coins; Marshall and Solomon Islands; marten pelts; Martinique; Maryland; Masai; Massachusetts: beads, beaver pelts, Indian corn, musket bullets, mats; Maximilian (emperor of Mexico); Mayas: cotton textiles, jade beads; John C. McGregor; Margaret Mead; Mecca; Queen Medb; Meissen porcelain; Mekong Valley; Melanesia: arm rings, feathers, mats, rings, shark vertebrae; Mendoza Codex; Méo; Mesoamerica: copper axes, obsidian trade; Mesopotamia: copper, gold, obsidian, rings, silver; Jacques de Meulles; Mexico: beads, cacao beans, copper axes, gum, maize, salt, trade coins; Domenico Michaele; Micronesia: pearl shells, mats; Middle Ages; Middle Kingdom of Egypt; millefiori beads; mimboss (mimbass); mina; mind-altering drugs; Ming; miniature axe heads; miniature spearheads; mokos; money trees; Mongolia; Mongol China; Monomotapa; Moravia, rings; Jacques de Morgan; Morocco money: trees, shells; Morse code; Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin; Mt. Tmolus; Murano beads; Muscat and Oman; Benito Mussolini; mutisalah; Nama; Namibia; Nan; Nassa shell; Nassarius gibbosulus; Native American: copper currency axes, cultures, dentalium shells, flint roughouts, pre-Columbian, stone disks, wampum; Nauru Island; Navajo; navela; ndap; Near East; neck rings; Neolithic Age; Netherlands: cigarettes, silver; New Amsterdam; New Britain: arm rings, obsidian, pots, sacred shell money; New England: beads, maize; New France; New Guinea: arm rings, boars’ tusks, cowry shells, feathers, human skulls, Rossel Island, teeth, tobacco; New Hebrides; New Ireland: arm rings, jaws, rings; New York: beads, encased stamps, Federal Reserve Bank of; New Zealand; ngbele; Ngombe; Nicaragua; Nigeria: arm rings, hippo teeth beads, iron hoes, liquor, manillas, neck rings, Ogoja pennies, salt; nileng; Nissan Island; Richard Nixon; nkö; nonmetallic coins; nonwearable rings; Nootka Indians; NORFED; Normandy; North America; North Carolina; Northern Mariana Islands; Northwest Coast, potlatch; notgeld; Bernard von NotHaus; Oaxaca; obans; obelos; obsidian; Oceania: bark cloth, belts, cowry shells, pigs, rings, sacred shell money, salt, tobacco; odd-shaped coins; Ogoja penny; Ohio; David Sean O’Keefe; Olbia: arrowheads, odd-shaped coins; olive oil; Charles J. Opitz; Oregon; Ossetes; ostrich eggshell beads; Ovambo; oversize coins; Robert Owen; Duarte Pacheco Pereira; Pacific Coast; Pacific Island bark cloth; Pactolus River: coins, gold; padre beads; Palau, stone money, udoud; Palestine, Illinois; Papago Indians; paper money, counterfeit; Papua New Guinea: cowry shells, kina shells, obsidian, pigs, pots, salt; patolquechtli; PayPal; pearl shells; pecunia; pelts: bear, beaver, ermine, marten, raccoon, sable, squirrel; pepper; Persia; Persian Gulf: larin, silver; Peru; Philippines: beads, human skulls; K.L. Phillips; Phoenicians; piki moko; Pima Indians; Pismo Beach; pistareen; plugged coins; Plutarch; poata(arm rings); Poland: liquor, pepper, sable pelts; Marco Polo; polymer notes; Polynesia; porpoise teeth; Portugal: beads, manilas; postage stamps; potlatch; pots; private coins; Pteropus; quachtli; raccoon pelts; rawrenock; reales; Rebekah (Biblical figure); Red Sea; red-feather money; Renaissance; rings: all kinds, arm, bronze, gold, lead, leg, neck, potin, silver, stone, torcs, turtle shell; Romania; Rome: early money, leather money, oversize coins, pepper; rongo; rongo pura; rongo sisi; Rossel Island money; Royal Geographical Society; rublit; Russia: brick tea, cattle, cigarettes (as U.S.S.R.), copper plate money, fur scraps, liquor, postage stamps, silver; Russian American Company; Russian beads; sable pelts; sacred shell money (diwarra); sacred shell money of the Solomon Islands; saddle money; Sahara Desert; salt; salt caravan; salu’ng; Samoa; San; San Francisco; San Francisco Alta California; San Matthias Island: beetle leg strings, belts; Santa Cruz Islands; sapi; Sarah (Biblical figure); Sardinia; Saxony; Sènègal; Serbia; Shah Jahan; Shang Dynasty; Shanghai; shark vertebrae; sheet silver; shell rings; shell beads; shells; shields; Siam: bullet money, porcelain gambling tokens, salt, toks; Siberia: brick tea, reindeer, furs; Sichuan-Shaanxi Worker-Peasant Bank; Sicily; Sierra Leone: Kissi penny, manillas, salt; sik; silver: ancient, jewelry, traditional; Singapore; Sio; skins; slaves; smart cards; Snettisham hoard; Society Islands; Solomon Islands: arm rings, jaws, shells, shields, teeth; Solon of Athens; Sommer Islands; South America: Ecuador axe money, reales; South Dakota; Southeast Asia: beads, opium, salt; Southern Banks Islands; Southern Kwakiutl; Soviet Union; Spain: Caroline Islands, nonmetallic coins, trade coins; Spanish Umayyd Dynasty; Spondylus shell; squirrel pelts; Sri Lanka; State of Franklin (eastern Tennessee); Statutes of Kalisz; stipendium; Stockholms Banco; Stone Age; stone: axes, beads, blades, money, rings; stored-value cards; sub-Saharan Africa: cotton cloth, iron hoes, neck rings; Sudan: bitter almonds, manillas, odd-shaped coins; suftaja; Sulawesi; Sumatra: human skulls, pepper; Sumba,; Sunshu Ao, Prime Minister of Zhuang, Duke of Chu; Sweden: paper money, plate money, silver; SWIFT; Swiss Lake Dwellers; sycee silver ingots; Syria: cornaline d’Aleppo, shell rings, silver; Táin Bó Cúailnge; Taiwan; Tajikistan; tambua; tampang; Tartars; tau; teeth: boar, dog, hippo (counterfeit), porpoise, whale; Télécarte; Tennessee: axe heads, raccoon pelts, State of Franklin; Thailand: bullet money, cigarettes, gambling tokens, lat, neck rings, toks, Third Dynasty of Ur; Thrace; throwing knife; Tibet; Tibetan coral beads; Tibetan god bells; Tierra del Fuego; tiger tongues (lat); Timor: beads, cotton cloth; tin: fish, hat ingots; ting; Tlingit; tobacco; Togoland; tokens; toks; Tonga; tools; torcs; Torres Straits; toweelah; Toyotomi Hideyoshi; trade coins; trade wind (Indo-Pacific) beads; traditional base-metal forms; traditional silver forms; traveler’s checks; Tridacna gigas; Trobriand Islands; Tubetube Island; Tung Hli Yung K’An; Turkey; U.S. Civil War: counterfeits, encased stamps, postage stamps; udoud; Uganda: cowry shells, iron hoes; Ukraine: beads, postage stamps; Umboi Island; Unemployed Relief Club, Inc.; United Kingdom; United States: Caroline Islands, charge cards, cigarettes, counterfeits, cut coins, fiat money, gum, plugged coins, trade coins; University of Illinois; u-shaped rods; Vanuatu: feathers, mats, stone rings; Venice: beads, manilas; vessels; Vietnam: cigarettes, drums, neck rings, salt, slaves; Vikings; Virginia; Vitiaz Strait; Volga Bulgars; Wa; wampum; Wandel; Wang Mang; Warring States Period; Waterloo, Iowa; wauri; weapons; Conrad Weiser; West Africa: aggry beads, arm rings, cowry shells, gold, hippo teeth beads, Kissi penny, leg rings manillas, millifiori beads, neck rings, Ogoja penny, rods, Togoland stone money; West Indies; Western Union; wetapup; whale’s teeth; White Russian; wire transfers; wood: bamboo, bowls, nickels; woodpecker scalps; World War I: beetle leg strings, card money, cloth money, encased postage stamps, furs, leather money, liquor, porcelain, postage stamps; World War II: bamboo money, Caroline Islands, cigarettes, encased postage stamps, Hershey bars, mats, postage stamps, olive oil; World Wide Web; woven cloth; Würm glacial period; Wuxi City Office; yakaro; Yap: paper money, pearl shells, turtle shell rings, stones; Ibrahim ben Ya’qub; Yemen; yĭ bí qián; yuan bao; Yuork; Yuroks; Zadar; Zhou Dynasty; and Zimbabwe: beads, copper ingots, paper money.
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Award-winning author Bob Leonard has collected odd and curious money for more than 45 years. He has written 17 studies on specific unusual monies, earning literary awards from the American Numismatic Association and the Numismatic Literary Guild. In Curious Currency Leonard engagingly explores the lessons that elephant tails, woodpecker scalps, neck rings, Yap stones, cocoa beans, whale teeth, and other odd and curious monies have for our economy today.
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Comments
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>Each word was lovingly hand-turned and polished to a lustrous gleam --- by an assistant undersecretary to my secretary's under-assistant. >>
Wow.