CURRENCY MUSEUM, BANK OF CANADA

Trade is what people do. You have something I want; I have something you want. What enables trade to take place? CURRENCY -- money used as the medium of exchange between persons.

Ottawa’s Currency Museum is on the main floor of the glass and steel Bank of Canada building on Wellington Street across from the Victorian-style Canadian Parliament.

Examining ancient currency in its various forms gave one a sense of the sweep of history.  What are some unusual examples of currencies?

            Elephant hairs woven into a bracelet – from Africa.

            Rare animal teeth and shells. 

       

           Chinese tea mixed with blood was made into embossed blocks to be cut into different sized cubes depending on the value of goods traded.

            Salt, a necessity of life, was used as a means of exchange. In fact, the word salary derives from the Latin “saladium, i.e. salt.  Roman soldiers could be paid their salaries with salt, hence, a person not worth his salt is someone who might not be paid.

            A “made beaver,” i.e. one trapped in winter with a full fur coat, was currency at the Hudson Bay Trading Post.

Various forms of currency held value as they were based on items that were hard to obtain or make --beads, wampum (belts of beads), copper, gold and silver.

Emperor Hadrian

Made Beaver Pelt

New Canadian 20 - with see through panel, holograms, and other hidden protections

   

 Roman emperors glorified themselves by issuing coins embossed with their faces. Under the glass case, we could examine with a magnifying glass – the likeness of Hadrian, Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar, to name a few. The custom of making coins for exchange spread to India with the conquests of Alexander the Great. Today the Lincoln penny, Washington quarter, among other American coins, are adapted from this tradition.

In about 200 C.E., the Chinese were the first to use paper money. Paper money retained its value based on trust. Issuing too much paper with no economic base can lead to inflation and devaluing of paper currency. In fact, the soldiers of the Continental Army during the American Revolution often used the paper bills with which they were paid to line their boots for warmth. Hence, you may have heard of the phrase for this relatively valueless means of exchange, “not worth a continental.”

Since paper money can be readily counterfeited, new polymer materials (like Tyvek) are now used in Canada and Australia. They are offer protection against debasement of the currency and are quite beautiful, practically indestructible, and virtually impossible to mime.

Since admission to the museum was free, we left no currency behind.