Cool Money Facts

We bet you didn’t know these crazy cool facts about money!

1. Cattle are probably the oldest form of money. People used cattle as money all the back to 9000 BC, but did you know that some cattle were still used as money in parts of Africa in the middle of the 20th century?
2. The first coins were pieces of bronze shaped like cattle which appeared in 2000 BC. The value of these coins were determined by their weight, making their use cumbersome.
3. Coins with value imprinted on them were first produced by Lydia (present day Turkey) around 650BC. Around AD 806, the Chinese invented and used paper currency, but the first consistent use of paper money was by the French in the 18th century!
4. The Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in America in 1690. The colonies would later form the United States.
5. On April 2, 1792, Congress created the U.S. Mint. A month later, land was purchased for its construction in Philadelphia, which was then the U.S. capitol.
6. The U.S. Mint produced its first circulating coins in March 1793. Soon after, the mint began issuing gold and silver coins.
7. Before the days of paper money, Americans traded animal skins for goods and services, specifically deer and elk bucks. That is where the term “buck” came from, which is used to describe money.