dj -
From 'The History of Money', by Jack Weatherford, p. 20 -
"Chocolate, like all other types of money, has no inherent value outside of a cultural context. ... The Mesoamerican love of chocolate as a food and as a means of exchange contrasted greatly with the values of the first European pirates to seize a ship loaded with cacao beans: the pirates mistook the cacao beans for rabbit dung and dumped the entire cargo into the sea."
p 31, -
"The wealth of Croesus and his ancestors arose not from conquest but from trade. During his reign (560-546 B.C.), Croesus created new coins of pure gold and silver rather than electrum. Using their newly invented coins as a standardized medium of exchange, the Lydian merchants traded in the daily necessities of life -- grain, oil, beer, wine, leather, pottery, and wood -- as well as in luxury goods such as perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, musical instruments, glazed ceramics, bronze figurines, mohair, purple cloth, marble, and ivory."
Finally, a real basket of goods basis for CPI calculations. -g-
Regards, Don |
