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Money facts

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Money facts

Money facts

  • Before the arrival of money, people would barter, using cattle and grain to pay for goods. In about 1200 BC, the Chinese began to use shells as a basic currency. By 1000 BC they had started using metal replicas of the shells.

  • The Chinese also developed paper money After experimenting with money made of leather, they started using paper in 806 AD. It would be many centuries before Europe caught up - the first British bank note was printed in 1855.

  • Between 1837 and 1866, almost anybody in America could open a bank and issue paper money. By 1860, roughly 8,000 different banks had done just this. The problem was that when a bank went broke their notes became worthless.

  • The most valuable note ever circulated in the USA was the $10,000 bill. These are still legal tender but you aren’t likely to find one outside a museum.

  • Liberia and the Sierra Leone boasted a highly unusual form of currency in the early 20th century. Kissie pennies were twisted iron rods, about 7 to 10 inches long, which were believed to contain souls. If broken, the kissie penny’s soul would escape and it would lose its value as money.

  • The expression "paying through the nose" comes from an Irish tradition in the ninth century AD of cutting open the noses of people who didn’t pay their taxes.

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