Stone Money Pubblico Deposited
Edmond Planchut, in a reference to the Caroline Islands, contributed to the Scientific Review (Sept., 1885), states that "in that mysterious archipelago... the money consists of circular stones, which have a hole in the centre, and vary in diameter from twenty centimetres to one metre. With this stone currency, the material of which is very hard, and which comes from the neighboring islands of Palaos, where it is also used for the same purpose, the natives pay their tribute to the chiefs of their villages." The native name for this money is Fei.
Mr. Howland Wood in The Numismatist (1906) described the curious stone money of Yap, one of the Caroline Islands. In the same periodical (1911) he adds that stone used as currency is not confined, however, to this group of islands, as upon the testimony of the missionary Spiess, it was used formerly also on the Gold Coast and in the vicinity of Togoland on the west coast of Africa. On his return to Europe Spiess brought with him four specimens of these stones, of which three were of crystalline quartz and the fourth of a softer component material. The quartz specimens were polished, of a diameter of forty to fifty millimetres, and of a thickness of fifteen to twenty millimetres. The holes in the centre of the stones were funnel shaped from both sides, evidently indicating that the coins were intended for suspension. "This stone money," says Spiess, "is obtainable in only one district of the Gold Coast and is now no longer in use." Some years ago some laborers on the road between Lome and Palime in Togoland discovered a quantity of these stones, and they were sent to Europe by one of the officials. The specimens confirm the earlier observations of Spiess. They are of a white and yellowish crystalline quartz, and appear to have received a polish from the action of water. Their diameter varies from thirty-two to sixty millimetres, and their thickness from fifteen to twenty millimetres. With this lot was found a single stone, cylindrical in shape and of a material resembling jasper; the height of the same was eighteen millimetres, and the diameter twenty-six millimetres.
It is supposed that this specimen represents some higher unit of value than the remainder.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)