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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 4584202, member: 72790&quot;]I don&#039;t think there is any commodity that can be measured or accepted as a constant fixed value. Big gold strike somewhere, its value decreases. Silver mines close, silver goes up. If there was any commodity that was a measure or store of value, though not very portable and not very stable, it was grain. To the average person of the ancient world precious metal prices were about as important to them as they are to us. For the government of city states, kingdoms and empires of that period the availability and the value of precious metals was essential for the payment of services to the state, especially its armed forces, but for most people it was the availability of the humble bronze coinage and the fecundity of their flocks and fields that determined the fate and fortune of their lives. Even merchants, while they might have used drachmas and denarii as coins of account, usually exchanged good for goods rather than cash in their transactions. We may be overstating the importance of specie in the smooth operation of the marketplace.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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