Money: History in Your Hands - Part I

money shuttles and shillings pounds and pence pieces of eight dollars Gennaro Lucca dough cash coin of the realm gravy bread bucks lettuce and kale banknotes and Bill's moola money money it's difficult to imagine a world without it it's been around in one form or another for nearly 3,000 years every country has its own but what exactly is money hello I'm James Earl Jones money can be many things it's coins and currency credit cards and checks and some cultures has been stones feathers beads salt and tobacco money can represent something else too you've heard the expression money is the root of all evil or money makes the world go round what about money talks each piece of money has a story to tell the people places and events portrayed on it who made it and why it was made money its history you can hold in your hands money is always fascinating not just how people chase after it but how it relates to important events and historical figures pirates fought and died for gold doubloons silver pieces of eight it is said George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River some people have superstitions about money find a penny pick it up all that day you'll have good luck a penny or a cent may not by much but each is rich with information and you can start a coin collection with just a handful here's the Lincoln Memorial a tribute to our 16th president the Emancipation Proclamation the Civil War the Gettysburg Address all these images brought to mind by this coin first issued 100 years after Lincoln's birth look closer you can see the motto In God We Trust reflecting America's devotion to religion and liberty the principle on which our country was founded there's even the Dayton mint mark to tell when and where the coin was made and those initials on the back they tell who designed the coin VDB for Victor David Brenner the famous artist from the turn of the century all that on one coin and every coin has a story to tell in this program you'll see how money is made and here's some fascinating stories about famous coins and currency you see why millions of people enjoy the Hobby of coin collecting a hobby of numismatics a coin show is a good place to answer the question what is numismatics numismatics is the science study and collecting of coins tokens medals paper money and similar objects there's a coin show held somewhere across the country almost every weekend some are small with only a dozen or so dealers others are large lasting several days with hundreds of dealers and thousands of visitors you can always find interesting and unusual items to collect price from a few cents to hundreds or thousands of dollars money comes in many shapes sizes and denominations the United States has produced coins as small as a half cent copper coin to as large with a $50 gold coin from a three-set banknote to a $3.00 bill to a hundred thousand dollar bill at the Bureau of Engraving and printing in Washington DC 32 notes are printed on each sheet of specially made paper as many as eight thousand sheets go through each press every hour that's more than 6 million pieces of currency every 24 hours billions of coin destruct circulation each year at the mints in Philadelphia Denver and San Francisco modern coins are churned out with amazing speed and efficiency some coin presses can pan out as many as thirty six thousand points per hour but high-speed presses a relatively new company for centuries coins were made by hand one at a time audits would take days to carefully engraved eyes for the designs on the front and back of each coin then a heated piece of metal was placed between the two dies and a hammer slammed everything together to produce a magnificent coin even with such crude production methods beautiful coins were created some of the greatest art work of the ancient world is easily available to collectors today stamped onto little pieces of gold silver and bronze and you can find the faces to accompany familiar names from ancient history names like Alexander the great Julius Caesar Nero Cleopatra and Jesus many coins are mentioned in the Bible the Gospels tell us that when Jesus was shown a Roman coin he declared render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods the client Jesus was shown was called the tribute penny it was probably a Roman Denarius a silver coin about the size of a dime made during the reign of the emperor Tiberius scholars ibly the thirty pieces of silver that Judas received to betray Jesus or probably shekels from the city of Tyre in what is now Lebanon some ancient coins are worth thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars each but many Roman and Byzantine coins can be purchased for ten dollars or less an inexpensive way to touch the past many figures from recent history are also depicted on coins you know their names but do you know what they look like you can by looking at their coins England's end of the eighth Queen Elizabeth first Napoleon Daniel Boone Booker T Washington John F Kennedy important places and events are remembered as well such as the writing of the Constitution the Oregon Trail the Battle of Gettysburg and the landing on the moon you see money is more than just something to earn and spend it's something to collect and study it can be great art a lesson in geography or a tale from history and it's always fun but not all money is made of metal not all money is little either some kinds of pocket change they wouldn't fit into your pocket even if you wear a double extra-large this is stone money from the tiny Pacific island of Yap some of these are as big as six feet in diameter and weigh several thousand pounds yupp stones are the largest and heaviest form of money ever American Indians traded wampum for food and other necessities the wampum was hand-carved from clam shells and strung together like a necklace in colonial America tobacco farmers could import a field worker from Europe purchase a bride or enslave a man for 120 pounds of tobacco when Marco Polo returned to Italy from his incredible travels in Asia he brought back strange-looking pieces of paper they were covered with inscriptions and pictures of coins and Dragons this flying money as it was called was invented in China and was the world's first paper money although we take paper money for granted today it was not widely used outside China into the 18th century Sweden was the first country in Europe to use paper notes and with good reason Sweden was the world's largest producer of copper and because of a shortage of silver it was forced to make copper coins and big rectangular shapes I mean really big they're called plate money and some plates weight as much as 44 pounds what did people use for money in the American colonies at first they used coins produced by other countries the most common was the Spanish pillar dollar its design symbolized the Gateway to the old and the new worlds united under the crown of spain coins made from the silver mined in Central and South America by the Spanish conquistadors had the denomination eight reales this is where we get the famous expression pieces of eight there were also large gold coins of the era with the denomination alias kudos known as doubloons another historical reminder of pirate treasure in early America the colonies faced severe shortages of coins for trade the kings of England refused to allow them to make their own coins they were afraid the colonists would become too independent if they made their own money one colony did anyway Massachusetts struck its own coins in defiance of the king an act of defiance that eventually led to our nation's independence when the American Revolution erupted money shaped and reflected public opinion in the colonies this piece of paper money from Maryland shows England's King George trampling on the Magna Carta England's version of the Constitution are setting fire to an American city and even in colonial times the unscrupulous sought to profit by counterfeiting so a warning was placed directly on some of the bills the first coin approved by the Continental Congress was a copper coin known as the Fujio cent one side shows a sundial and the Latin word Fujio meaning time flies the other side of the Fujio cent was a symbolic linking of 13 rings representing the unity of the 13 colonies the first silver coins struck for the United States had an odd sounding name half Dean legend says the silver used to make these first federal coins came to Martha Washington's own silverware and some people believe that that maybe Martha Washington's portrait on the coins in 1793 the first large cents were produced they were made of copper and were as big as today's half-dollar they had a design similar to the Fujio cent but this time there was an outcry of criticism some people claimed the chain links symbolized bondage not freedom so the chain cent design was quickly ordered replaced by a less controversial floral wreath production of silver dollars started in 1794 they portrayed Miss Liberty on the front and a rather scrawny eagle on the back critics called it a Buzzard fewer than 2,000 of these silver dollars were made and surviving specimens a highly prized by collectors silver dollars were made at different times over the next 200 years and are some of the most popular United States coins they're big the made of precious metal and depending on the particular coin can be purchased for reasonable prices even those minute an 1800s gold coins have tremendous appeal perhaps as the gold itself the stuff dreams are made of maybe it's the marvelous artistic tradition displayed on many u.s. gold coins or maybe it's the range of denominations and sizes a denomination of two and a half dollars may sound strange today but our history is filled with all kinds of wonderfully odd denominations strange coins which often filled specific needs for example two cent pieces were struck to relieve the coin shortage caused by people hoarding small coins during the Civil War Congress introduced a three cent coin when it lowered the rate for a first-class stamp the mint also experimented with a lovely little four dollar gold coin called the Stella it was rumoured that some of the first pieces presented the congressman for approval was spent in the brothels of Washington DC a more conservative version was created but neither is

Channel: Professional Numismatists Guild

Views: 10,074

Keywords: The story of money, Video about coins, Video about money, James Earl Jones, James Earl Jones tells the story of money, Professional Numismatists Guild, Collecting coins, PNG video, Ancient coins, History in your hands, The importance of coins

Id: Ir_oCtaXloc

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 03 2016