Moneta
Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,365
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Square Foot Spade (350- 250B.C.); Zhao Kingdom 趙國. Ānyáng fāngzúbù 安陽方足布 - Warring States period. From the State of An-Yang in Hebei. David Hartill CCC# 3.183 (small size); other ref. FD16, DCD250, S13-27. This type is in the 'common' category. This has a museum acquisition number on the obverse.
Some of the earliest money was made in China, where coins were cast in the shape of tools such as spades and knives. Utilitarianly worthless, these token objects recollected real implements with actual utility value, items that had traditionally been bartered for livestock and land. The change to a make-believe version in the 7th century BCE increased commerce by easing exchange “ i.e., friction was reduced by lightning the load“ but these coins reminded people at every trade that money was merely symbolic. Knife and spade money arguably countered the abstraction of wealth and the concomitant distortion of values. [NNP, Newman Numismatic Portal article]
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