Currencies

Illustrating the concept of money, many objects from different cultures that have been used throughout history as means of payment, as a measure of value and that have proved useful to accumulate wealth: metals, minerals, vegetables, wood, cloth, paper or plastic. Tokens, coupons, actions, checks or cards are well-known formats of money, widely spread in the West, and which have been part of numerous daily transactions, since the twentieth century. But the concept of money also covers other curious pieces used as payment in different cultures: bracelets, weapons, tools, glass-paste beads, knives, axes, hoes, porcelain tiles, bamboo sticks, textiles, bronze or silver ingots, lead coins, salt, tea, cocoa or quartzite pebbles. A great safe employed by the Council of Valencia in the nineteenth century stands out in the room.