Money was historically an emergent market phenomenon that possessed intrinsic value as a commodity; nearly all contemporary money systems are based on unbacked fiat money without use value. Its value is consequently derived by social convention, having been declared by a government or regulatory entity to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private", in the case of the United States dollar.
Play money, toy money, or formally ludic money is money that functions as a toy or a token in a game or when playing.
The first such toy money was printed in 1880 by the Milton Bradley Toys company, and was actually a teaching tool, distributed to schools so that children could play at commercial transactions and learn skills for reckoning change, recognizing coins, and budgeting purchases. (Full article...)
... that according to legend, the Jain temple of Pisanhari Ki Marhia was built by a poor old woman who saved up money by milling flour?
... that medievalist Edward Rand rang the doorbell of Harvard president Charles William Eliot and asked him: "I would like to go to Harvard; do you have any money?"
... that Colin Stubs spent the prize money from his first international tennis title on an old Volkswagen to travel around Europe?
... that the manager of WVSS at the University of Wisconsin–Stout spent about $6,000 of his own money to buy more than 500 classical music CDs to program the station?
Image 11Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, obverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 12Athens coin (c. 500/490-485 BC) discovered in Pushkalavati. This coin is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far east. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 13Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script,obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 16Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791),reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 17Paper money from different countries (from Money)
Image 18Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script,reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 19A 640 BC one-third staterelectrum coin from Lydia. According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins. It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650 to 600 BC. (from Money)