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Comment by code_duck | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think currency is a good explanation for the use of these stones - they seem more like assets, such as real estate or gems.

“The value of stone money has always been fluid, challenging the Western concept that currency value is pre-determined and fixed”

The value of commodities and real estate continually change in relation to currencies and each other.

“The coins are valued by their size – they range from 7cm to 3.6m in diameter – as well as their ornateness and even for the sheer difficulty in obtaining the rock. How much a coin is worth also depends on who you give it to, and what for.”

Sounds similar to gemstones or jewelry. What if these stones were faceted and fit on a ring? It doesn’t sound to me like this is a currency system. It’s simply assets that they use for trade.

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It's not the stones that have value IMO - It sounds like they're more like a physical representation of more abstract values like "honour" and "respect". A physical token to represent these concepts can then be placed around a dance floor and to the people there, that looks awesome to them.

But if, say, a foreigner use a machine tool to carve one such stone in 3 days and transport it into the island to sell it to the residents, it's not going to be worth much, compared to the stone that's been in one of their families for decades, and where a few years ago they did a ritual with their son with it.

Going further, if said foreigner marries into a local family, and then performs a ritual with his first born son, in front of the newly crafted stone, the ritual involving the whole village, suddenly the stone that didn't have value, would now be valuable and accepted in trade. And later on, if now grown-up son's child commits a mistake and harms another family, that stone can then be offered as an apology.

It has a corollary to our own currency, but the values they represent are different - in our society, currency represents the values of "productivity", "offering what people want" and "cleverness".

Anyway, that's my speculation.

> It doesn’t sound to me like this is a currency system. It’s simply assets that they use for trade.

The concepts fade into each other pretty easily. Stones => gems => gold => gold-backed paper => payer

How many currencies are backed by gold? Certainly not the USD.

Not today, but historically it was.

See the Coinage Act of 1792, which set a "dollar" as 371 4/16 grains of silver or 24 3/4 grains of gold.

Prior to 1930, pretty much every western currency was backed by gold (and sometimes silver).

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