So I've been reading Wealth of Nations recently and was fascinated by the part where Smith talked about where money came from. To skip past his wordiness and confusingness (;)), basically it involves you to stop and think about where exactly money came from. Not bills and coins--but where and when gold and silver became the primary method of currency. Why did people decide that gold and silver should be used as money?

To cut to the chase, basically Smith argues that its because of the prettyness of gold and hence it's valuable, it's easily transportable, it can be in small enough quantities that you can buy small items with it, and it's rare. But I realized that this does seem to be a rather unique instance where money didn't have to be created this way.

After all, other people used different objects. In the old times, cattle was the primary instrument of currency. The Aztecs used cocoa powder. And I think that some of the eastern countries in Asia used spices at some point.

So I began to think about why gold/silver would be used in my world, and what other instruments of currency could be used to make it more unique and realistic, and am trying to brainstorm some ideas. So have any of you thought about what would be the currency of your world other than gold/silver? Or do any of you have ideas to help me along with figuring this out? Any help would be appreciated.

There are a couple threads on the subject, describing the different currency systems -
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2315
I'll try and find that other one asap. :-)

Ah. Guess I should have searched a bit harder for similar threads before making this new one. If you want to go ahead and merge my thread with that one in order to provide greater fluency, go ahead.

Something else to take into consideration is bartering. Nomadic tribes, for example, have little access to precious stones and metals, and similarly valuable objects, generally have little interaction with societies outside of their own, and tend to have a subsistence economy (they generally make, raise, tend, and grow whatever they need). Such people will probably rely on bartering.

Bartering systems are complex and have a lot of variety, so it's hard to pin down the basic characteristics. Without bothering to look it up, this is what I can come up with:

1. Based on an exchange of similarly valued (value in barterers' minds) items.
2. Does not involve "money" or a monetary system.

Village barter is, of course, very complex. Let's suppose a reasonably complex situation as an illustration:

You are a shepherd. Your leather breaches are very worn, and you need a new pair. You visit the village tanner, and you agree to give him some of the wool you have been storing in exchange for a pair of breeches.

Now, suppose that that winter is also coming on. You want some nice, worm, woolen chaps for your breaches. When you mention this to the tanner, he mentions that he is in need of a warm pair of pants too. So you offer to give him enough wool for two chaps, and he can make woolen chaps and breaches for you and himself.

Now suppose, on the other hand, that tanner happens to own a cow, and you want a cow. The cow is very valuable to the shepherd because he can breed it with other cows, he can milk her (she's a milk cow), and when she gets old, he can eat her (waste not want not) and tan her hide. You could offer to trade a sheep, but a single sheep cannot do all those things. So instead, you offer to trade a ram. The ram can be used for breading, it can be eaten, and it can be shorn for wool every once and a while. The tanner accepts the trade and you are both happy.

These are, obviously, a mere sampling of the sort of situations that happen in a bartering society, but I hope they give you a hint of how complicated bartering actually is.

In Eartea, there are a number of nomadic tribes, each of which has their own bartering society. Many of these tribes also meet at annual trade gatherings, where they exchange goods that the other groups cannot produce.

Yeah; bartering is definitely complex! I think that it's the most basic form of currency/trading exchange, but definitely has its limitations; hence why money was developed. I like your illustrations of the complexity of bartering. I may end up doing something similar for Ritharael, but am still unsure how bartering would work out when placed into large-scale empires...

Actually, since this thread is about your particular world, and its money systems, it can stay here.

(Mods, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.)

Yes, the thread can stay unmerged, but it'd be great if you could edit the title so that people know that this is a different, less general thread than the other one on money.