During the 14th century a wealthy Hindu empire flourished as a trading center in southern India known as the Vijayanagar Empire. One of the world's most interesting coins was made by it. A gold coin called Bele. This 1 Bele gold piece is only 2 millimeters to 3 millimeters in diameter and weighs in at a miniscule 1/2 gram making it the world's smallest gold coin. The moneychangers of Vijayanagar were known for having such precise scales that they could accurately weigh a single strand of a camel's hair, thus they could count the tiny Bele gold pieces by weight. A depiction of a Hindu god or goddess (the coins are so small and so crudely made, it is hard to tell whether the depiction is male or female) is on one side of the coin and a sanskrit character on the other side. Let me know if you enjoyed this bit of trivia, Clinker
