282 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM IVIAGAZTNE. 





5. 



(1) Chinese " Knife Money." (2) Chinese " Spade Money." (3) Bronze Crown 

 of James II., 1690. (4) Turkish Coin with kalima, 18.^9. ;5) Siamese 

 " Bullet Money," or " Pical." (6) Indian Currency, or " Larin." 



It"diici'd by one-third. 1 Plioto. — G. C. CluUon. 



rings, and many other commodities. 

 Even to-day some are employed as 

 currency. In the early days of settle- 

 ment here, rum was used in this manner. 

 It was quite usual for a contractor to be 

 ]>aid in this s]iirit, and we read that the 

 i)est inducement to reca^iture an es- 

 caped convict was to offer a reward of 

 five gallons of grog. This form of 

 currency was at first tacitly recog- 

 nised, but later it became an almost 

 ineradicable curse, and before its final 

 disajjpearance as a medium of exchange, 

 it caused much recrimination between 

 those favouring its retention and the 

 local authorities. 



Some of the forms of currency were 

 perpetuated in the shape give to the 

 coinage. Chinese annals record the 

 issue of bronze " knife money "' as 

 early as the 7th century B.C., and shell 

 sha]Ded coins, or metallic cowries in the 

 6th century, B.C. Later, in China also, 

 " spade money " was circulated. It 

 seems that currency and coinage were 



for some time recognized side by side, 

 as in B.C. 221, the emperor forbade the 

 use of gems, pearls, cowries, and other 

 natural forms. 





Lydian Coin. 



\AII<'r Mac Donald. 



As distinct from currency, a coin 

 may be defined as an object, usually of 

 metal, bearing an authoritative im- 

 ]irint. The credit of striking the fiist 

 coin has been divided between Europe 

 and Asia. Sometime about 700 B.Ci 

 silver coins were struck at Aegina, 

 Greece, by Pheidon, King of Argos : 

 but almost contemporaneously electrum 

 coins were made at Lydia, Asia Minor, 

 at the instance of King Gyges. These 

 electrum coins contained the proportions 

 of twenty-three per cent silver and 

 seventy -three ])er cent gold. These early 



