# Who invented coin money and how did it work? It occurred to me, as I was writing a scene in a [[Bronze Age]] fantasy market, that currency is actually a relatively new concept. But how new? How did early coinage work?  ## Fun Facts - The academic discipline that studies physical manifestations of money is known as "numismatics." - Coins were independently invented in three different places in Asia; Lydia (modern Turkey), Pakistan/Afghanistan (although this is often called the "Indian" tradition), and China. - In Lydia, the first coins were die-struck and made out of electrum (a mix of gold and silver that my spellchecker doesn't recognize as a word).  - It's important to remember that not all coins are money (consider commemorative military "coins" for example), and not all money is coin. - Despite glib answers and modern instinct, academics aren't actually sure why money was invented.  ## Coinmarks In order to be considered a coin and not a metal disc, money must have mint marks with the mark of an authority, the minting place, and the rough time period. This helped regulate coinage. \[[Read More](https://www.academia.edu/33778310/Dating_Indias_earliest_coins_in_South_Asian_Archaeology_1983_Naples_1985_ed_M_Taddei_and_J_Schotsmans_pp_535_54)\] ## Knife & Spade Money In China, early money wasn't round like the coins we see today. Instead, people cast marked metal icons representing (most commonly) knives and spades, and sometimes bridges. \[[Read More](https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/call-spade-spade-or-coin)\] ## Punch Marked Early Indian coins were marked primarily with motifs from nature like the sun, animals, trees, hills etc. They were made by cutting blanks from metal sheets then punching a series of small indentations on one side. \[[Read More](https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/mc_ancient.aspx)\] ## Rods & Hammers Early Lydian coins were hammered into dies (like molds but for cold-hammering instead of casting) with a bundle of rods before people figured out that you could put the coin between two dies and hit them with a hammer to mark them. \[[Read More](https://britanniacoincompany.com/blog/minting-technology-through-the-ages/)\] ## Notes - Inspired by [[Coins and Commodity Money]]