Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects that have value in themselves as well as value in their use as money.
Examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, peppercorns, large stones (such as Rai stones), decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, candy, barley, laundry detergent, etc. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or price system economies.
Read more about Commodity Money: Aspects, History, Functions of Commodity Money, Legal Tender Issues and Commodity Money
Famous quotes containing the words commodity and/or money:
“There used to be a thing or a commodity we put great store by. It was called the People. Find out where the People have gone. I don’t mean the square-eyed toothpaste-and-hair-dye people or the new-car-or-bust people, or the success-and-coronary people. Maybe they never existed, but if there ever were the People, that’s the commodity the Declaration was talking about, and Mr. Lincoln.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
“You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their labour, than when you give money merely in charity.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)