How did metals become currencies?

            History reveals that the money we see today has appeared in differing forms before- as cattle, as salt, as tea, as tobacco etc. But none of these lasted very long. Over a period of time, the need to develop currencies that were handy and long lasting arose. This led to the birth of metals as money.

            Different metals have been made use of by different nations. Chinese made Imitation cowries or mollusc shells out of bronze and copper. Metal money in the shape of knives and spades too, were made by the people there.

            It was in Lydia, a part of modern day Turkey that the earliest electrum coins appeared. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver and Lydia was rich in its deposit. But their techniques were copied, refined, and used further by the Roman, Greek, Persian and other empires.

            Quite naturally, these metal coins had more inherent value than the previous currencies.

            By 500 BC, coins were stamped with images of gods and emperors by issuing authorities, and their values were fixed. Since then, coins have been widely used, and have also played a major role in making trade easy.