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COUNTERFITTING
Counterfeiting dates to the invention of money. Even wampum was a target. Forgery proved such a huge problem around the world that harsh penalties were enacted. Chinese currency from about the 14th century carried the warning that counterfeiters would be decapitated, & England was known for punishing perpetrators by burning them at the stake.
In the American colonies too, death greeted early cheaters, & many measures were taken to prevent forgeries. Ben Franklin, who owned a firm that printed money for several colonies, notably misspelled Pennsylvania, believing that ——s would correct the error in their forgeries.
Today anti-counterfeiting measures are much more elaborate. EXP : the most copied note in the U.S. – the $20 bill – has been improved by adding a watermark & security thread, which are visible when the note is held to the light. However, in recent years penalties for counterfeiting have relaxed – the maximum prison sentence is 20 years.
In the Beginning: BARTER
Barter is the exchange of resources or services to mutual advantage, & the practice likely dates back tens of thousands of years, perhaps even to the dawn of modern humans. Plants & animals have also been bartering in symbiotic relationships. Among humans, barter certainly pre-dates the use of money, & today individuals, organizations & governments still use – & often prefer – it .
9000 – 6000 B.C.: Cattle
Throughout history & across the globe – cattle (including sheep, camels & other livestock) are the first & oldest form of money. In many cultures, with agriculture also came the use of grain & other vegetable or plant products as a standard form of barter
1200 B.C.: Cowrie Shells ++
Historically, the cowrie is the most widely & longest used currency. They had a number of advantages: they were similar in size, small, & durable. Many other societies adopted them as money, & even as recently as the mid-29th cent, cowries have been seen in some parts of Africa.
• Another currency from nature was made from whale teeth, used by Fijians
• The people of Yap Island (now part of Micronesia) carved huge disks of limestone that eventually became currency, & remain part of the island’s culture..
1000 B.C.: First Metal Money & Coins
While the use of metal-money can be traced back to Babylon before 2000 B.C., standardized & certified coinage may not have existed until the 7th century B.C.. Bronze & Copper cowrie-imitations were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age & are considered some of the earliest forms of metal tender.
500 B.C.: Modern Coinage
Outside of China, the earliest coins were made of lumps of silver. They soon took the familiar round form of today, stamped with various gods & emperors to mark their authenticity. These first appeared in Lydia in Turkey, but were copied & further refined by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, & later the Roman empires. These new coins were made from precious metals (gold, silver, bronze), which had more inherent value, unlike Chinese coins which depended on base metals (bronze, copper, tin, lead).
118 B.C.: Leather Money
About the 6th century BC leather from animal hides as currency came into fashion. The Chinese emperor Wudi (reigned 141–87 BC) created currency out of skins from his personal collection of white stags, in one-foot-square pieces. It was fringed & decorated with elaborate designs. This could be considered the first documented type of banknote.
Early ancient Rome reportedly used this type of money, also found in such areas as Carthage, & what is now France, & Russia is believed to have used leather money well into Peter the Great’s reign (1682–1725 CE). Although no longer used, leather money has left a lasting legacy: some believe it gave rise to the use of buck as slang for dollar.
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A.D. 800 – 900: The Nose
The phrase “to pay through the nose” comes via Balor of the Evil Eye, a Fomorian giant who once ruled over Ireland. He collected an ounce of gold ‘per nose’ in taxes, & if you didn’t pay, it was off with your nose.
The Norse god Odin collected either a Scotpenny or a penny a nose from the Swedes. The 9th century Danes instituted a “nose tax” reminiscent of Balor’s. Pay one ounce of gold, or have your nose slit. (MORE….)
A.D. 806 : Paper Currency
Paper is widely believed to have originated in China & the first known paper banknotes appeared there. This innovation is widely thought to have occurred during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong (997–1022 CE), made from the bark of mulberry trees (So, in a way – money really did grow on trees!) (More….)
It used for over 500 years, from the 9th through the 15th century. Over this period, paper notes were over-produced so their value eventually depreciated & inflation soared. 
By the late 18th & early 19th centuries, paper money had spread to other parts of the world. However, most of it was not money in the traditional sense. Instead, it served as promissory notes – to pay specified amounts of gold or silver – which were key in the development of banks.
Starting in 1455, their use of paper money disappeared for several hundred years, a long time before paper currency would reappear in Europe, & 300 yrs before it was considered common.
NEXT : Timeline #2
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