I was doing one of my random crawls around the internet this morning looking for interesting tidbits about ancient coins. I came across a reference to this "Axe Money" type of currency that was used by Central and South American cultures prior to the arrival of Europeans. This kind of took me by surprise as I had been under the impression that, aside from gold and silver for ornamental purposes, Native American technology had not advanced beyond the stone age. Apparently, they had independently developed the ability to produce bronze, although the copper tended to be alloyed with arsenic instead of tin . Very interesting, learn something new every day! Anyway, I wanted to add these to my very long list of "Things that I'd like to get someday". But, my searches have not produced much information with respect to the availability or sale prices for such things. I did come across this Cointalk thread from 9 years ago where they mention that they have been available from time to time, but nothing with respect to how to track one down or how much one should expect to pay. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/aztec-axe-money.212149/ I do not have paid access to any special archival databases for sales data or anything, but it still seems strange that I can't find any sales information at all (I did find a few Ebay/Proxibid type lots, but I'm assuming those aren't representative and might even be fake). Would these types of things even be listed in coin auctions? If so, under what headings? (Ancients, World Coins, etc) Is there a better search term to use than "Axe Money"?
The central and South Americans seem to have been more advanced than native North Americans, far as I know. There’s tons of intricate metalwork and monumental stone structures down south. Not too surprised they had metal money. North Americans on the other hand, seem to have been significantly less advanced, with the exception of the Missippian culture and the Floridian mound builders, but I know of no place in North America with the type of stonework that exists almost everywhere south of the border.
Hoe money is also used. I believe I own every type, including the very rare Incan examples from Ecuador. I find them fascinating.
I see them more often described as "Aztec hoe money", typically listed among 'odd and curious money' in auction catalogs. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_835166 Copper was being utilized in the Upper Midwest at least 6,000 years ago. https://www.mpm.edu/research-collections/anthropology/online-collections-research/old-copper-culture
Fantastic! Any pictures of your collection? I, and probably many others, would love to see it. "Hoe money" does produce some results that I wasn't getting before. It seems like one should be able to obtain a single, authentic example for a couple hundred bucks or so. That would be great. Then I could get some cacao seeds and say that I have a "Complete Pre-Columbian Native American Currency Type Set" . Far from the truth I'm sure, but true so far as I know! (ignorance is bliss)
This is a bit different in form. I suspect it is from the African continent. It weighs in at 12.2 ozs. of hammered copper. I acquired it in a collection primitive money I purchased.
