As said in the title I wonder how gold was actually considered a currency since ancient times, I get it it’s shiney & humans love shiny stuff but still
In: 0
There are a couple things that make something a good currency.
1) your currency must be durable. It must last long periods of time in storage without deteriorating. Most other metals will rust and crumble to nothing over a long period of time. Gold is fairly non reactive and stable
2) your currency must be reasonably difficult to acquire. Gold exists in very few places..at least in concentrations which make it worth refining into a solid metal. Most other metals we knew about at the time we’re either too rare and not able to be held in sufficient quantities or too abundant andaking coinage out of them would be meaningless.
3) the currency must be equally valued by all under your influence. While gold didn’t have any intrinsic uses man at first, it was unique in its beauty. There weren’t any metals that provided such a shiny bright color. Even bronze was a full brown compared to gold. Thuse gold had aesthetic value to most societies.
But believe it or not gold was not the most common currency for the longest time. For much of prehistoric human history, we used cowry shells as currency. These small discarded snail shells were impossible to counterfeit, reasonably durable, and occured just rare enough to make them valuable. Once again we liked their speckled and varied patterns in jewelry. So they became a currency of sorts for early man.
Latest Answers