this is part of Money Factor a Kid's guide to money and finance
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Created by cecilia valente
about 4 years ago
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Close
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Created by cecilia valente
about 4 years ago
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* Barter depends on the double coincidence of want (check Unit 2 Flashcards, if you don't remember what this means)
* This innovative technology had to be:
1) accepted by all
2) the same weight, shape and form for everyone who used it
3) portable (easy to carry)
* The coin ticked all the boxes.
* Let's apply all these parameters to the coins you use every day. If you live in the UK you are used to £1 coins. So let's use £1 as an example
* The first kind of coins were minted in Lydia (modern day Turkey) in around VII century BCE
* Soon coins were used in cities all over the Mediterranean Sea to pay for goods and services
* Coins were used to...
1) pay mercenaries (professional soldiers, who fought for wages)
2) pay for public services (for example: law courts)
3) do business when barter and/or credit were not possible
* silver was the precious metal of choice for drachmas
* the first kind of coin, the Elektrum, was a mixture of gold and silver
