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Coinage of the Old West
Before coins ... gold and gold dust was the medium of exchange.
Measurements were a tad less than accurate. How much
for the blanket my good man? And a bit o' chawin' terbaccy?
And a couple a them candy cane peppermint sticks? Can't abide
bein' without my peppermint sticks. Two bits, you say?
And the old prospector would dip into his bag and bring
up--between thumb and forefinger--a pinch of gold dust. A
pinch back then was calculated to be worth two bits. And
it is this practice that gave birth to the saying: "How much
can you raise in a pinch?"
But before coins were used as money ... what was it that they used
for currency back in the beginning of things? Well ... there was
grain and wheat and barley and rice. There was metal in lumps
or ingots. There were rings and bracelets and axes and hoes. And
then ... and then ... there was salt. It was given as an allowance
to military personnel. The Latin word for salt, you ask? Oh ... what
a clever question. Why ... of course ... it's "salarium" ... from
which is derived the word "salary". And here I digress for a scant
second to give credit to a friend of mine named Ron who promised to
march in the Saint Patty's Day Parade and who loves words even more
than I do--if you can believe such a thing--who said to me after
I told him the salt story ... that must be where they got "He ain't
worth his salt". Methinks ol' Ron is right.
****elds were also used as currency ... as were knives and surely
spears. How much for that spear my good man? One ****eld sire. And
the exchange was made. Now one had a weapon and one had an
anti-weapon. The more things change ... the more they remain the same.
In certain parts of the world ... dog's teeth were used as currency.
They were quite valuable ... as only the upper canines were used.
Dog farms came into being ... used for the sole purpose of raising
the animals for their teeth. Money ... it would appear ... was the
root of all teeth.
And then along came the civilization that invented coins. The Greeks.
It was an ancestor of King Croesus of Lydia who used gold to make
the first coins. And then there was America. And we created our own
coins. Some rather mundane. Some quite gorgeous. And some very unique.
It's the unique ones I like best. A one hundred dollar gold piece. A
coin of extreme uniquability.
Now here's the thing of this old coin which dates back to the 1850's
San Francisco and was minted by one H. M. Naglee & Co. ... it's
rectangular and it's easily identifiable. It looks a bit like an
ingot. Take this info and compare it with today's government’s
attempts to make a one dollar coin which nobody wants. And why don't
they want it? This is only my opinion ... but it looks like all the
other coins and is easy to mix up. Make it rectangular however ...
make it unique ... and it will be accepted ... with pride no less. One
man's opinion only. Let me know if you agree or not.
That said ... as I end my refrain ....
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may
I direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where
you will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area
that says Current Tidbits ... and then click on it in order to
view an old gold rectangular coin that looks a bit like an ingot and
is worth one hundred dollars. Front is value. Back is purity of gold.
And there ya have it.
That's it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
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