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Tea bricks were used as the preferred currency for nomads in Mongolia and Siberia, but were used as a form of currency in China, Tibet, Central Asia, and Mongolia. This was largely attributed to the extremely valuable nature of tea and could also be used as food and medicine. The use of tea bricks can be found all the way up until World War II. In Tibet, there were tea bricks of different quality levels and their values would be assigned accordingly. A popular Tibetan dish is "butter tea," where tea is mixed with cream and salt in order to eat.

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In the early Times there was barter system where people used to trade goods like crops, cattle etc to trade with each other. 1900 to 6000 BC cattle was used in Asia especially in India cows sheep camels and other livestock was the first and the oldest form of money. Later in Asia people started using grains and other vegetables as a standard form of barter system to trade with themselves full stop these items were perishable and did not serve the three basic function of money which was the unit of account the store of value and medium of exchange. Cattle was the beginning of trading with each other though it did not store its value and was not a proper medium of exchange it was almost traded world wide in earlier times. This was the beginning of the the money system which we know today. Cattle were a reliable source during that time because they provided certain value with different cattle and livestock different benefit. In India cow was widely traded compared two other livestock.

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A strange form of money that I found, that turned out to not be so strange after I learned about it, was salt.
It turns out that the word "salary" comes from the latin word "salarium" which means salt money.

Salt has been used as money in ancient rome, when officers and soldiers were paid in salt.

Salt was also used in Mongolia, where prepared and stamped salt cakes were used as money.

Most recently, Ethiopia has used salt as a currency by forming it into bars called "amole".

Salt fulfilled each of the 3 basic requirements of money: It was widely accepted a medium of exchange, it could be used as a store of value (as there were kinds of salt dedicated only to being used as a currency, instead of for seasoning), and it could be formed into a unit of account (the aforementioned bars).

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Cattle was the first and oldest form of money. Used between 9,000-6,000 BC, cattle functioned and as a medium of exchange, store of value, and a unit of account. Cattle enabled sellers to set a standard pricing. For instance, the value of one cow was approximately the same value of any cow, and two goats were traded for one cow as cows were deemed to be more valuable than goats. Cattle are still used in places like Africa as form of money. Brides in certain parts of Africa a priced in cattle and then exchanged for cattle during marriage. At times large forms of debts are also settled with cattle.

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The strangest form of currency is cacao beans. A cacao bean is a dried and fermented seed used for chocolates, so it's a food currency. Cacao beans are a barter currency and they used to be/are trade for food and clothes. In the past, the Aztecs used it to pay taxes, and it later became an established to use these beans to pay taxes in Belgium. I thought this currency was unique because in my past history classes, I've learned about cacao beans and its exporting, so it was interesting to see it resurface to my knowledge.

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One strange form of money that was used are ancient tea bricks cast in metal mold. These were used in Asia mainly by the people of China, Mongolia, and Tibet. The form of money is a type of metal and food. This money serves the three basic functions as the value of the currency depended on the quality of tea leaves used and it was stored in metal casting and exchanged for goods.

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A strange form of currency that I found was tobacco. Tobacco was used as a form of currency back in the 17th and 18th centuries. This use existed mostly in Europe as it tobacco was said to have been discovered by Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus. It was used in place of metal when there were shortages. Tobacco along with other essentials such as flour, maize, and cattle were traded to get other goods and services.

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A strange form of currency is potato mashers. It was used in the Republic of Cameroon during the 19th century. The tribe of Bafia were the primary users of this strange currency. The potato mashers are iron. They were only used for rare or symbolic transactions like a man buying a wife.

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A strange form of currency is squirrel pelts. During the medieval era, red squirrel pelts were used as currency in the countries of Finland and Russia. Moreover, the body parts of the squirrel such as the claws or snout were utilized for change. A tikkuri was made up of 10 pelts and kiihetely was made up of 40 pelts. Furthermore, 100 pelts would allow someone to purchase a cow. Moreover, the currency was heavily popularized in the mentioned areas, and it was being used until the year 1926.

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One currency that fits under the category of food as money are cacao beans. Native to South America, cacao beans were used as a barter currency during the 16th century. They were cultivated by the Mayans and Aztecs, and so when those civilizations interacted with one another, they often used cacao beans when trading. It was used in daily transactions, such as food or clothes, but also could be used to buy slaves as well. Cacao beans were a fitting currency because they had a lot of value because of the difficulty that came along with growing cacao beans and cultivating cacao also had relatively low yield.

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A Strange form of currency that I found was the Medieval English tally sticks that recorded transactions and monetary debts in Medieval Europe.
I was also fascinated by the Mesopotamian shekel was the first known form of currency that emerged nearly 5,000 years ago. The earliest known currency date to 650 and 600 B.C in Asia, where the elites of Lydia and Ionia used stamped silver and gold coins to pay armies. The discovery of coins of lead, copper, silver and gold all over the globe suggests that coinage was used especially in Europe, Asia and North Africa and was recognized as a medium of commodity money at the beginning of the first millennium A.D.

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A strange from of currency that I found was Shire Silver. It was made in New Hampshire, USA and it was first brought up in the year 2007 also is still in used today. the value of this silver can fluctuate with prices of gold and silver; Shire Silver is made with small amount of gold or silver and is roughly the size of a credit card. It started as a local currency in New Hampshire, though its creator claims to have received orders from all over the world.

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A strange form of currency that I chose is dolphin teeth. In the Solomon Islands, dolphin teeth were, and still heavily are, used as a form of currency. They are small, transportable, and highly durable. Dolphin teeth are especially important when purchasing a bride, with the going rate of roughly 1,000 teeth per bride, which is the equivalent of 10 dolphins. The teeth are especially valuable for traditional uses, such as dowries. Many commodity currencies have increased in value as a result, including dolphin teeth. From 2008 to 2013, the value of dolphin teeth increased fivefold.

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Generally speaking, today our system of paper and coin money is not something we think of eating. And it certainly doesn't rot or spoil like what was used in Europe during the 1500's BC. During this time period, many Europeans used flour to trade and buy stuff from each other and even used it to pay taxes. And of course, also for the obvious reasons of cooking and baking with it. Throughout parts of Europe such as Italy and Spain, this form of currency did pretty much everything modern currency does today. It had a significant value and a large use, which made it suitable and usable to trade for almost anything from livestock to wood to tools or for loans. Since it also takes time to make, as it is derived from wheat, barley, and other grains, that adds to its value since it can't just be found anywhere.

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One of the most unique currencies I found out about is shell money which was and is still used in Langa Langa Lagoon, Solomon Islands. The shell trade started as a direct commodity exchange but can also be used for peace offerings and even would even be offered during bridal ceremonies. The value of the shells have increased since they are more rare to find today.

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Sycee is a form of currency that used as a medium for exchange since 300BC in ancient China. It is a ingot that made by gold or silver. Sycee has different shape and weight, and the value was determined by money handlers and based on the purity and weight. Normally it was a currency used for high-value transactions, so that people don't have to carry a large amount of heavy copper coin.

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A strange form of currency that I found is squirrel pelts, which was used by Russians during the Middle Ages. They killed the squirrels in order to use their pelts as currency and when Europe was hit by the Black Plague, Russia suffered the least because it was carried by rodents. Finland currently recognizes squirrel pelts as currency and they are valued at three cents each.

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Salt has been a form of currency dating back to 2700 BCE in China. Salt has also been used as a form of currency in many regions of the world such as ancient Rome and Sub-Saharan Africa including modern day Ethiopia due to its preservative properties. Massive blocks of salt were weighed (and tasted as proof of validity) to measure its value in trade and other transactions. Another interesting fact is that salt was actually the currency that Roman soldiers were paid in, called "solarium argentum" from which we derived the word "salary."

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Cowries: Until the 19th century, cowries were used as money in West Africa. It was used before the 19th century and it was used as a medium of exchange and performs all the functions that money does today. Up to date, the cowries play important part in the different cultures in West Africa. It is so important as money that it was the decoration on the building of Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (Central Bank of West African States) in Benin. The use of the cowries as money is also manifested on the CFA currency that is used by eight West African French speaking nations and on a 20 Cedi coin in Ghana. In fact, the word Cedi, which is Ghana’s currency means cowry in the Akan language. The Yoruba people of Nigeria have a proverb that: “Whoever is patient with a cowrie shell will one day have thousands of them.” This is why today, in this part of the world, it is still connected to wealth and prestige, and even sewn on precious garments. It is also used as protection and made into jewelry.

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Salt at one point was a source of currency. This currency was the main source of currency in the Sahara dessert during the middle ages. Salt was used as a currency because it can be divided, and it holds its own value. Blocks of salt would often be broken into smaller pieces and used for trade.

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This form of currency came from Langa Langa Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Shell money could have been used as early as 1200 B.C., and is still being used today. The form of this money is in shells. This currency serves the function of a medium of exchange because they are used to create jewelry that is traded, used as peace offerings, or offered during bridal ceremonies. This currency serves the function of a unit of account because One string of shell money is worth 1,000 Solomon dollars. This currency serves the function of a store of value because the shells have become increasingly rare over time so their value has increased as well.

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Today, when we think of money, we think of coins or green paper. However, according to PBS, we used to use cattle as currency in 9,000-6,000 B.C. Cattle included cows, sheep, cattle, and other livestock. With more research, I learned that cattle was used as a medium of exchange. For example, a cow could be exchanged for another good or service.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/history-money/
https://medium.com/strategem/money-is-made-where-value-is-created-5f904cae58c

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A strange currency that I found was the shell money. It is basically the exchange of certain cowrie shells. This was used in the 19-20th centuries in parts of Asia, Africa and Oceania. Different regions make the shell money differently, some need to be processed longer, while others just needs to be dried out. Shell money was used as a currency of exchange for goods and services.

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Physical forms of currency has been part of human history for many generations and still as of 2021, yet paperless "currency " called cryptocurrency, Bitcoin for example came out in 2009 back when it was less than a penny and now the current price of a single bitcoin is  35000, this form of money is finally being recognized by  El Salvador as a form of payment. The growing attention around Bitcoin has raised this price of the coin but not enough to keep it stable. The unlimited amount of it has trading and driving the price. The store value of this is not yet there because even though the coin is worth a lot, businesses , countries, and more have not accepted it for this reason.

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I’ve found a particularly tasty form of currency. In Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, a traditional bank called Credito Emiliano accepts parmigiano-reggiano as collateral for loans. Parmigiano-reggiano is a hard, dry aged cheese made from skim milk. This is the only region in the world allowed to call their cheese parmigiano-reggiano. It’s a bit like the fact sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it was made in the region of Champagne, France. This form of collateral is still used today. I consider it a form of money because it serves the basic functions of money. It has a value that is used to make exchanges mainly involving the cheese and some loan amount. Because of this, it is widely accepted in the region as a store of value. It needs to be aged for a certain time around 18-36 months and it is considered to hold and increase value during that time.

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The strange currency that I chose is mobile phone minutes. According to Business Insider, people in various countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Zimbabwe, and Romania have been using these as currency since 2011 and they continue to do so today! When doing so, the value of airtime being transferred, equals the value of goods and services being purchased 1:1. The minutes can be used in exchange for cash or as barter for goods and services. They can even be swapped or spent in shops for small transactions.
https://www.businessinsider.com/alternative-forms-of-currency-2016-4#mobile-phone-minutes-8

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Have you ever use a stamped like a currency for daily transaction? In Vietnam have a strange from of currency called "stamped green money"  It operated like the old Green Stamp coupon book. In subsidy period, in Vietnam they use this kind of money to separate the level of people in social. You just need to pick one stamped  when you want to buy anything. Stamped specifying the type of goods and the number of people allowed to buy, according to a number of criteria such as rank and age. Each stamps are correlative with each items. Example: people who has an authority or army can buy 5kg meat in one month , as normal citizen just have 1.5kg meat in one month. Stamps were widely to utilized in the history of Vietnam.

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Tem phiếu - loại tiền kỳ lạ bậc nhất thế giới

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One strange form of currency was bamboo tallies. They were used in Eastern China, particularly around the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi, from the 1870s to the 1940s. They were made from the stalks of bamboo and usually had their denomination enscribed on one side and the name of the bank issuing them along with a serial number on the other side. They supplemented Chinese cash coins and were produced following the Taiping Rebellion. The government's resulting loss of authority caused the people to lose trust in the government   and a currency shortage. Bamboo tallies were a medium of exchange because they were widely accepted throughout Eastern China.

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A strange but wonderful form of currency are cacao beans, used by the ancient Mayan civilization. According to Joshua Rapp Learn, writer for Science, there is evidence that cacao beans were used like coins, as works from around 691 C.E to 900 C.E show them being delivered to Maya leaders as some kind of tax. Maya leaders collected much more cacao beans than they consumed, indicating that it may have been used to "pay palace workers or to buy things at the marketplace". When cacao beans were consumed, it was often done so as a hot drink. Evidence shows that this drink was also used as a form of bartering, as work from the 7th century C.E. shows a woman trading this drink to a man for "dough used to make tamales".
Source of information: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/maya-civilization-used-chocolate-money

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A strange form of currency would be squirrel pelts. In medieval Russia, squirrel pelts were a common currency of exchange. Snouts, claws, and ears were apparently the most used as change. A fun fact I found interesting was during the Black Plague, Russia did not get hit as hard as everybody else, the squirrel pelt may have reduced the number of disease-bearing parasites.

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A strange form of currency, particularly in recent times, has been Dogecoin. Dogecoin falls under the category of Cryptocurrencies, a new phenomenon that been growing popular by internet users in the past decade. At the moment, Dogecoin can be accessed in any part of the world via the internet, though it is used the most in the U.S. Stock market. Unlike coins and bills, there is no physical form of cryptos like Dogecoin. Instead, the value of the crypto fluctuates based on a numerous amount of factors. Though a few companies have accepted cryptocurrencies as a method of payment, most people see cryptos as a highly volatile stock. This means that people will usually keep these cryptocurrencies, such as Dogecoin, hoping that they will increase in value, so that that they can sell these cryptos in exchange for higher amounts of USD.

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One of the strangest forms of currency would be salt/salt blocks. Salt and salt blocks still exist in the world, but it was mostly used during the Roman Empire and Middle ages. It was also used in Ancient Greece. It had a high value due to it's ability to preserve food, and was also used as a form of trade as well as currency. The way the salt was accepted included people tasting the salt blocks in order to conclude that it was real. They would also break pieces of the salt blocks in order to make change! It is still used today in parts of Ethiopia. (Pictured here are Himalayan salt blocks.)

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What would you say if you could pay taxi rides or even get away with not getting a ticket by paying with beer bottle caps? Well that was possible in 2005 in Cameroon, Central Africa. There were prizes under the beer bottle caps that include luxury cars, mobile phone and more. The cost of the beer was $1 which was just a bit more than a taxi drop in town. Almost every bottle had a price so it got to the point where taxis would accept these as a form of payment and then taxi drivers would get away with paying of the police with some of the same as well.

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Compressed tea leaves cast into a metal mold, known as "Tea Bricks" were a popular form of food used as currency  in the 9th century throughout  parts of Asia like China, Tibet, and Mongolia.
This served the "unit of account" function since it was widespread and common throughout Asia.
It's unclear how well this form of currency could serve the "store of value" function because I believe that it's perishable and therefore cannot be saved for long periods of time.
Tea Bricks were also a good medium of exchange because they were very popular during that time period, the article I read mentioned that, "People actually preferred receiving payment with tea bricks because they could then consume the tea".

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Lets talk about Parmigiano Cheese beside being delicious it was also used as a form of currency in Italy. During the middle ages up to today Parmesan cheese has been used for financial operations. It has been used through history for collateral bank loans. After World War ll, Italy had a big recession and this form of collateral greatly helped cheesemakers finances during there tough economic period. Each wheel of cheese takes years to age. About 440,000 wheels of cheese total value is $187.5million. But most importantly it is delicious!!!

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A strange form of currency that I found is dolphin teeth. Dolphin teeth were used as currency on the Solomon Islands, and they were also used as jewelry (a medium of exchange) or simply sold for cash. The Solomon Islands used dolphin teeth as a currency starting in the 1960s, and have been using up until recently. The way the teeth are collected is through hunting, in which 20 to 30 people go out and "drive hunt" the dolphins. Drive hunting is the strategy of hitting stones underneath the surface of the water to create a sound barrier that traps the dolphins. Then the hunters capture the dolphins and kill them for their meat and teeth. The practice of using dolphin teeth has been challenged by various organizations in order to stop the killing of dolphins, but it seems as though the people of the Solomon Islands are still using the teeth as currency.

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Kissi penny was used as a form of currency in West Africa in the 20th century. It is a twisted rod of iron with flattened ends. One side is a spatula and the other one is a T shape. It has low value individually so it was used as a bundle like 20. The longer one has a higher value. Made of iron to weird shape, it protects its value of metal content. It should be not broken to be used as money. The interesting is the only way to use broken Kissi is by a witchdoctor, Zoe. The person restores the broken one. It was a general-purpose currency. 100 bundle of Kissi penny valued for a cow.
(http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/kissi.htm)

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Cowry shells similar to coins are used in the 14th century as a currency in Asia, Africa, Oceania and some parts of Europe, but mostly used in China and India  the shells have value use for body ornaments. I think it serves as a weak store of value since there's uncertainty for the price of a cowry to change. Its also unpractical to carry around these shells in your pocket. But I find cool and weird that people used to use these shells as a currency. Wouldn't that mean there were jobs for individuals to dig up these shells? Fun fact, these shells are used to play a traditional game called "congklak" in my country.

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A strange looking currency that has never been seen is the Katanga Cross. This type of cross is a currency used in (DRC) Democratic Republic of the Congo. Was used in the 19th and early 20th century and was national symbol of its independence as State of Katanga. Back in the old days, this currency was used to buy any goods such as food. Most importantly this helped those who pay for property payment even for the wealthy people to restore their values. The type of object was made from Copper. Not only Katanga was used specifically in the State of Katanga but was used for trade in different parts of Central Africa.
Image: https://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2010/07/katanga.htm

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Tea, as a beverage nowadays, had more functions in the past, being a currently. In Asia, tea is so valuable that it was treated as a currency in the areas of China and Mongolia in the 19th century. People compressed tea leaves into bricks so it's easier to be carried and traded. Considered as valuable, people in these areas tended to use tea bricks to trade rather than regular currency so it was a medium of exchange. Different types of teas have different values, so the values of different types of tea bricks vary. When people were making tea bricks, they also mark the quality of the tea on the tea bricks so people can easily see their values. At last, as it was compressed, tea bricks can be reserved for a long time. Moreover, as tea has been valued in Asia, the value of tea bricks reliable over time. Hence, tea brick definitely was being a store of value. During wars, tea bricks can also become a type of food, so even if it's not a currency, it still maintains its value.

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One type of money that might seem strange to our modern western society, but was quite useful in its time, were knives used in ancient Zhou dynasty China. According to legend, the knife currency was brought forth by a prince who allowed his troops to use their knives as a currency when he was running low on money. Over time, knife money became sophisticated, with different types of knives having different values, and them becoming actual currency different from knives after a certain point in time.

Image by Peng Yenan (Neo-Jay), on Wikimedia