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How Did the First Coins Change Trust in Ancient Money? - The Invention of Coinage in Ancient Lydia | Sleepy Facts About History
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Before coins existed, ancient economies relied on weighed pieces of precious metal to conduct business. This system required merchants, soldiers, and ordinary people to carry scales and touchstones to verify the weight and purity of every lump of silver or gold in every transaction. The invention of coinage in western Anatolia in the seventh century BCE did not create money from nothing. Instead, it solved a specific practical problem by transferring the burden of verification from the…
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