Primitive Money

[ChrisB]

I didn't see that we have every had a topic on primitive money. I have picked up a few pieces here and there. Feel free to pile on with your own examples. The first three can be attributed to Charles Opitz.

AFRICA: CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC): copper leg band (2076g), Opitz p.279 (plate example), Ballarini p.115, ca. 24cm wide, 14cm high, small cut on inner rim, pleasing patina and style, a few tiny casting fissures on rims, used by the Mbole people in marriage transactions, VF, ex Charles Opitz Collection.

 

AFRICA: CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC): AE neck ring (4215g), Opitz (2011) p.133 (plate example), Ballarini p.271 (9.3 lbs), ca. 20.5 x 19cm, 36mm thick, known locally as bongoombwa, worn by women and sometimes used as currency, a rather hefty example, VF to EF, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Visit www.traditionalmoney.com for a downloadable copy of Odd & Curious and Traditional Money (Opitz, 2011).

 

 

 

 

AFRICA: NIGERIA: AE bracelet (2203g), ca. 11cm wide and 4cm tall, completed with a crescent-shaped insert with sharp blades at both ends, made from solid copper and decorated with intricate geometric figures, a very hefty and well-made example! EF, ex Charles Opitz Collection.

 

This last one was purchased at the same auction although I don't consider it to be primitive money. Just purchased because it was cool. They had a bunch of varieties of these with some going for crazy money. 

ASIA: BURMA: bronze opium weight (32.27g), early 20th century, Opitz p.376-78, Mitch-2848, 26 x 21 x 18mm, elephant type on an elongated octagonal base, cast to a standard of 2 kyat or baht, VF.

 

[Sulla80]

Beautiful artifacts @ChrisB.  I have a little sub-collection of unusual money.  My favorite in this category are some cowrie shells that are 2-3K years old

see: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/cypraea-moneta

Shang Dynasty Cowries - The cowrie shell has been used as money in China during the Shang (sixteenth to eleventh centuries BC) and Zhou  (eleventh century to 221 BC) dynasties.

And for some other non-traditional shapes of money from Africa, Thailand, & China - The "Peking Glass" trade bead was made in 19th century China and found in Siam (ex Robert Tye).  Top right from the Kingdom of Lanna : Ka-kim :  silver bars beaten into rings, bent into the shape of a woman's pelvis, and stamped with the denomination, the issuing city, and a coin mark.  The orange lump is a Tok Chiang Mai or Tok Oyster Mai which is supposedly colored by blood and egg yolk, although more likely a tree resin and/or gold leaf? Pod duang bullet money, tiger tongue money, spade money, ...and more.

Edited August 29 by Sulla80

[Bonshaw]

@ChrisB, thanks for introducing this topic. I think it is useful to start by discussing what we mean by "primitive money." 

I like the framing of this question that George Dalton used way back in 1965 (Dalton, George. "Primitive Money 1." American anthropologist 67.1 (1965): 44-65.):

"Moreover, if one asks what is "primitive" about a particular money, one may come away with two answers: the money-stuff ---woodpecker shells, goats, dog teeth --- is primitive (i.e., different from our own); and the uses to which the money-stuff is sometimes put --- mortuary wealth, bridewealth --- are primitive (i.e., different from our own).

Primitive money performs some of the functions of our own money, but rarely all; the conditions under which supplies are forthcoming are usually different; primitive money is used in some ways ours is not; our money is impersonal and commercial, while primitive money frequently has pedigree and personality, sacred uses, or moral and emotional connotations. Our governmental authorities control the quantity of money, but rarely is this so in primitive economies.

Failure to understand the reasons for such differences leads to disputes about bridewealth versus brideprice, to arguments about whether cows, pig tusks, and potlatch coppers are "really" money, to the assumption that modern coinage merely "replaces" indigenous forms of money, and to disagreement of authorities over minimal definitions of money."

It is also useful to discuss what we mean by "real", "official," "fiat", or "legal tender" coins. But I like to start with the above positive definition of primitive money itself. And not by a very exclusive definition; but by the fact that the money "stuff" is primitive, and the "uses" are primitive (i.e., different from our own).

An extensive discussion of the nature of fiat money is one that I look forward to, but this is not the thread for it.

Edited August 28 by Bonshaw

[ChrisB]

24 minutes ago, Sulla80 said:

The orange lump is a Tok Chiang Mai or Tok Oyster Mai which is supposedly colored by blood and egg yolk, although more likely a tree resin?

I have one of those as well but need to take a picture of it. 

[ominus1]

..here's a carved bone cowrie shell in my collection, along with other kinds but this is the oldest i believe..and cowrie shells were used up until the 18th century in certain parts of the world

[ChrisB]

 

3 Celtic Rouelles.

ex. Numismatik Naumann (formerly Gitbud & Naumann) e-auction38 lot 201 6/12/2015

[ChrisB]

@Sulla80 You reminded me that I had these. Took some quick pictures.

 

[robinjojo]

While not primitive money, the sycee ingots of China are fascinating and now very expensive items to collect.

China 10 taels AR salt tax sycee, 1870.  Purchased from Rick Ponterio in 2005.

322.4 grams

平遠縣 (written from right to left) - Pingyung Country (Guangdong / Kwangtung).

同治九年 - 1870 十二月銀匠陸裕祥 - December, Silversmith.

 

And this big chunk of silver, circa 1911.  1,865 grams.  ex Bebee.

China, Shanxi Province, 50 taels AR sycee. Side view.

 

Top view, panels enlargement. Purchased from Scott Semans in 1993.

 

 

Semans label, 1993.

Edited August 30 by robinjojo

[Sulla80]

In the same category (not primitive, but a bit different)- I have almost no idea what time period these are from? These are also sycee, silver ingots used as currency in China. Sycee come in various shapes and sizes, as illustrated by @robinjojo's ingot and can include characters that indicate their weight, purity, and sometimes the issuing authority - which I cannot read.  I think these are 1 - 3 Tael (兩) Sycee. The middle bar weighs 101 grams, the smallest on the right is 58g and the one on the left is 72g.

[ChrisB]

2 hours ago, robinjojo said:

While not primitive money, the sycee ingots of China are fascinating and now very expensive items to collect.

Just curious. Why aren't these considered primitive money?

[robinjojo]

From my perspective the Chinese sycee are denominated in tael weight which was often used in modern China.  They were contemporaneous with other circulating coins, including 8 reales and dollars. Sycee were a ingot currency based on a specific modern weight standard. Apparently they were used in large transactions, such as paying taxes. I guess I should stock up on a few more in preparation for the next tax bill from the IRS!

I suppose they can be called primitive because of their various shapes, plus the fact that they were cast, but then so were ancient Roman coins of the Republic period, which I think are not regarded as primitive, but ancient.  The shapes of these ingots are quite standardized and regional in nature.

In my mind primitive money includes things such as cowry shells, beads and the like.

This "saddleback" ingot is typical for Yunnan Province, and one of the more common types out there.  

China, Yunnan Province, 4.5 taels AR sycee.  I picked this example up through my local coin dealer in 1981, out of a box with other sycee ingots.  In retrospect I should have bought the entire box!.

 

Edited August 31 by robinjojo

[Sulla80]

10 hours ago, ChrisB said:

Just curious. Why aren't these considered primitive money?

I struggle a bit with applying "primitive" to any money because it can carry a connotation of inferiority that was use to justify colonialism and colonial exploitation.  To avoid any implications that I am being dismissive of the complexity of the societies that used barter systems and traditional currencies, I lean on alternative terms like: "traditional forms of currency", "proto-money", or "barter currency". "Unusual money" an easy broad term for anything that doesn't look like the money we know today.  "proto money" brings to mind things like this Hacksilber:

or this bronze from ancient Rome (shown with an later denarius for scale):

Sycee would not fit my definition of "traditional currency" or " items used as currency that have other uses such as shells, beads, or livestock, however these Sycee were issued with a defined weight standard as a currency and are in my view a less common shape for a coin - but essentially big coins.

Another neighboring category - here is some unusual money that I doubt is ever used in any transaction - A $5 coin from cook island with a chunk of a meteorite glued onto it - I definitely include that in the category of "unusual money" 🙂

and this odd physical representation of a digital currency????

and I will add a few relevant references:

• Quiggin, Alison Hingston. A Survey of Primitive Money: The Beginning of Currency. Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1949.
• The Weirdest Currencies In the World, CNBC, Jul 6 2009, Paul Toscano
• Traditional Money exhibits (virtual) at the Money Museum https://www.money.org/money-museum/virtual-exhibits-hom/
• Curious Currency, Robert Leonard, Kindle Edition

Edited August 31 by Sulla80