Cities and empires traded without using coins for over 2,000 years. But when ancient Mediterranean kingdoms like Lydia (in modern Turkey) began issuing pieces of electrum (a mixture of gold and silver) like this one, of a consistent weight and purity, the idea quickly caught on. This is one of the earliest coins in the world, and today the change in our pockets is based on the same inspirational idea that brought it into being.
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Theme: the beginnings of
coinage
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