I remember learning about bartering in some elementary school, but it didn’t occur to me to ask until now. How the heck does a society collectively agree that “mm yes these metal circles equate to cows”? Does the government just give everyone 100 shmeckles and let supply and demand cover the rest?
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The answer generally is that the government or other powers that be declare that people damn well better pay in currency or their head will be bashed in.
The initial process of how these coins got out is lost to history. Maybe the government spent some years purchasing goods with coins before then enforcing the use of currency. Maybe they asked everyone to come in and convert their silver ingots into coins for use. The ‘value’ of these coins was created by declaring the government wants them or you’re in big trouble.
(It’s always odd how whenever this question or similar come up, there’s not actually someone answering it in the comments.)
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