The Value of Money

＂The story of money is a global one. For thousands of years, communities around the world have designated objects to represent value and facilitate transactions. Objects that at first seem to have no relationship to one another--tiny metal discs, massivestones, and colorful seashells--have become associated through their use as money, connecting them, and the communities that used them, through this shared aspect of human history. The practice of collecting monetary objects, both by individuals and museums, has brought together a vast range of material and created ’money collections,’ where local and national histories can be compared in the context of wider global histories. The National Numismatic Collection, the Smithsonian Institution’s collection of money, is one of those collections＂--