Some of the strangest forms of currency

I think the hole allowed two people to carry the stone around with a pole through the middle, since they were so large and heavy.

 

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Very educational thanks for the lesson.

 

Nice but no photos found.

 

Shells have been used as money by many worldwide cultures before and even after European arrival. The use of cowrie shells as money in West Africa is a notable example, but wampum (another type of shell money) was initially used by Indians in North America but was also recognized as money by the colonists in the 1600s, mainly for use in Indian trade. The Red Book actually discusses wampum as money in the section on Massachusetts silver, I believe.

 

The Molucca bean, or sea heart. Fron the giant seed pods of the monkey ladder vine, or, Entada gigas, commonly known as the monkey-ladder, sea bean, cœur de la mer or sea heart, is a species of flowering liana in the pea family, Fabaceae of the Mimosa subfamily, which is often raised to family rank. They are native to Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America, and Africa.
They fall when the heavy rains come and wash to the sea where they can travel for up to two years, even found as far away as Northern Scotland and Norway.
Sea Hearts have many medicinal uses. They can be ground to treat inflammations. They are also used for constipation, snake bites and stomach complaints. In Norway and Northern Europe the shells of the seeds were used for snuff boxes, match boxes and lockets. They were an important item of commerce. They are 2.4 in x .80 in, and there are about 15 seeds to a pod.
Also pictured is a tagua nut

 

An interesting study:
"Chumash Indians Were Using Shell Bead Money 2,000 Years Ago"
http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/chumash-money-09303.html

History of wampum in New England:
"From Beads to Bounty: How Wampum Became America’s First Currency—And Lost Its Power"
https://indiancountrytoday.com/arch...ame-americas-first-currencyand-lost-its-power

I found this particularly fascinating - wampum was also used to communicate.
"Wampum was the essential medium of all peacemaking. Every act of diplomacy, both within the [Iroquois] League and outside it, had to be carried out through the giving and receiving of wampum. If a message had to be sent, it would be spoken into belts or strings of wampum, which the messenger would present to the recipient. Such belts were referred to as words; beads were woven into mnemonic patterns bearing on the import of the message. Without them, no message stood a chance of being taken seriously by its recipient."