{1}
Most of my readers know that my site ChilliGavva has a currency reference. if you don't, read the colophon in the about page! My good friend Bharath Raganathan is a walking wikipedia on history and trivia on a number of subjects. Lately I have been spending time at another interesting blog TuLu Studies run by Ravi Mundkur from my native Mangalore. Both of them expressed curiosity on shells as currency, and whether I knew anything about it. Today I spent some time on some internet research, and stumbled upon two references, which I have promptly added to my colophon. The read was very fascinating for me.
Long before our era the cowry shell was known as an instrument of payment and a symbol of wealth and power. This monetary usage continued until the 20th century. If we look a bit closer into these shells it is absolutely not astonishing that varieties as the cypraea moneta or cypraea annulus were beloved means of payments and eventually became in some cases huge competitors of metal currencies. All characteristics of money, i.e. durability, handiness or convenience,...