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Shells and the first coins

Long before banks, people used things that were valued and hard to fake. In ancient China that included cowrie shells, jade and bronze, according to the British Museum.

A myth to bust: the school-book story says people first bartered (swapped goods), and then money neatly replaced barter. The museum record says it was messier. Barter carried on alongside coins for centuries. And many people in early coin-using societies never touched a coin (BBC/British Museum).

Around 650 BC, Lydia (in modern Turkey) struck the first coins from electrum, a natural gold-silver mix, to strict weights. Later Lydia minted gold and silver separately.

More reading: BBC

Timeline for this chapter

1. Prehistory onward · Shells and the first coins
   Before coinage, valued materials served as money. In ancient China these included jade, bronze and cowrie shells; bronze inscriptions record strings of cowries as gifts and later as payments. britishmuseum.org
2. Ongoing · Shells and the first coins
   MYTH (caveat): the textbook story of a "barter economy" that money replaced cleanly is not what the museum record shows. Barter ran in parallel with coins for centuries, and most people in early coin-using societies never handled a coin. bbc.com
3. c. 1300 BC · Shells and the first coins
   The Bank of England dates the earliest documented use of cowrie shells as currency to China, c. 1300 BC (the British Museum says "1000 BC onwards": dates vary). The cowrie survives in Chinese characters for money and buying. bankofengland.co.uk
4. c. 650 BC · Shells and the first coins
   The first coins were struck in Lydia (modern Turkey) from electrum, a natural gold-silver alloy, to strict weight standards; a lion's head was likely a royal symbol. money.org
5. 6th c. BC · Shells and the first coins
   Lydia was the first state to mint gold and silver separately; after the Persian conquest of Lydia (547 BC) the practice spread through the Persian Empire. britishmuseum.org
6. 221 BC · Shells and the first coins
   After China's unification, the Qin round coin became the standard shape for about 2,000 years. britishmuseum.org
7. c. 2nd c. BC – 16th c. · Shells and the first coins
   The Silk Roads were a shifting network of land and sea routes linking China, Central Asia and the Mediterranean, carrying silk, other goods and ideas. The Chang'an–Tianshan corridor (~5,000 km) developed from the 2nd c. BC and stayed important into the 16th c. unesco.org, whc.unesco.org

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