Money money money money! We might not have a lot of the stuff (although $20 can buy you heaps in certain countries), but we surely couldn’t live with out it.
And because it’s so indispensable to our lives, isn’t it time we learnt a bit more about it?
Here are six interesting things you’ve probably never pondered about money.
1. Where did the word dollar come from?
The dollar is the world’s most common unit of currency, and you’ll find it used right across the planet, from Australia, to Canada, the USA, New Zealand, Singapore and even Fiji.
But have you ever stopped to consider why a dollar is called a dollar?
Well, according to an interesting OxfordWords blog post, it turns out the word dollar actually stems from the Flemish word “joachimsthal” which referred to a silver mine in Joachim’s Valley in what is now the Czech Republic. Coins back in the day (we’re talking around the 1500s here) were originally minted in silver, and so coins that came from this mine were called “joachimsthaler.”
Then, throughout the course of time, this word was shortened to “thaler” and then if finally morphed into “dollar.”
Check out this cool video explains this, and the history behind other currencies around the world.
2. Have we always traded in small coins?
No, hell no.
On the island of Yap in Micronesia, coins were the size of small houses, ranging in size from five to 20 feet in diameter! Imagine lugging one of those bad boys around to the pub?
The “coins” were called Rai stones, and their value was dependent on their size, weight, and how bloody hard it was to transport them.
And you thought the change in your pocket was weighing you down…
3. What is the smallest coin EVER?
This title goes to the Quarter silver Tara of Vijayanagar in India, which weighed just .06 grams and had a diameter of 4 mm – that’s about a sixth of the size of an Aussie one dollar coin!
4. Are all Euros the same?
No.
Each country within the European Union can print its own images and designs on the back side of a Euro coin. The common side – the side that displays the value of the coin – is the same everywhere within the EU.
5. Have we ever traded in a currency that was edible?
Historically, salt is one of the oldest forms of payment used by man to trade, and was used extensively in East Africa and the Sahara desert. Over in the Solomon Islands, turmeric spice wrapped in coconut fibers was used by the locals for currency. And in Central America and Mexico, cocoa beans become the currency of trade.
6. What is the strangest unit of currency ever made?
It doesn’t get any stranger than this.
In 2007, Mongolia decided to do something a little different with its 500 Tugrik coin and pay tribute to an American hero – John F. Kennedy. What they did was produce a unique 500 Tugrik coin with Kennedy’s face on one side and a button on the other that you could press to listen to a sound bite from Kennedy’s famous 1961 “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech!
Crazy or what?!
These historical coins are now worth about $65 on eBay.
