The History of Money

Today, our currency is a mixture of coins and paper money. But it wasn’t always that way. Before metal coins and paper bills existed, people used a lot of unusual things to buy what they needs. In one part of the world, for example people used sharks’ teeth for money. In some place, brightly colored feathers and rare seashells were money. People in one area even used the bristles from elephant’s tails for money.            No one knows for sure when people started using metal coins for money. Archeologists have found coins dating from 600s B.C, so we know they have been around for a long time. At first people used precious metals, such as gold and silver, to make coins. They stamped the figure of a person or animal on each coin to indicate its value.            In the 1200s, people in China used iron coins for their currency. These coins weren’t worth very much, so people had to use a lot of them to make their purchases. Because it was inconvenient to carry around a large number of heavy iron coins, the government started printing paper receipt, people took these receipts to banks and traded them in for coins. This is the first example we have of paper money.            Today, most countries use a mixture of coins and paper bills for their currency. In the United States, the paper bills are all the same size and color, For example, the one dollar- bills is the same size and color as the one-hundred-dollar bill. In many other countries, the bills come in various sizes and color. The smaller sized bills are worth less money. This makes it easier for people to tell the value of their money at a glance.  All these facts make the history of money a fascinating study.            Below are some trivia points about money.            . Feathers were the lightest money ever. They were used on the pacific island of Santa                              
            Crus            . Stones were the heaviest money ever. They were used on the pacific of Yab .  Same
            Weight over 500 pounds.            .The smallest money ever used was in Greece. The coins were made of metal, but smaller’ than an apple seed.