The term ‘money’ is always associated with notes and coins, but such is not the case when it comes to the traditional side of Solomon Islands.

Solomon Times sat with John Dioko from Simbo in the Western Province who explained the significance of the ‘bokolo’ in their society.

“The bokolo is a form of money which our people use to pay for bride price, buy land, tribal reconciliation and compensation,” he said.

Bokolo is made of clam shell and “normally, collectors from overseas are the main people to buy this artifact because of its uniqueness.”

“One very interesting thing about the bokolo is that it is not made out of wood but from a sea shell, and it’s very rare to find people who know how to make it,” said Mr. Dioko.

Solomon Times learnt that one bokolo is worth SBD$5,000 and according to Mr. Dioko, “some of the museum in the world really want it.”

Asked on its history, Mr. Dioko said that their ancestors used the bokolo as their defender.

“The ancestors would chant sacred songs so that whatever plans they make, they have to be strong,” he added.

Solomon Times understands that there are special artifacts in the country which are still forbidden to be showcased publicly, but there are revived ones that can be exported overseas, and one of them is bokolo. Read Full Story

David Rittenhouse, Pennsylvania |April 1792 - June 1795

David Rittenhouse was born the son of farmer Matthias Rittenhouse in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He married Eleanor Coulston, and then after her death, Hannah Jacobs. He became an astronomer, mathematician, instrument maker and one of the leading American scientists of the eighteenth century, second only to Benjamin Franklin.

Self-taught, he early showed mathematical and mechanical ability, and mastered Newton’s Principia in an English translation. As a young boy Rittenhouse constructed a model of a watermill, and by the age of seventeen he had built a wooden clock, but having little opportunity to attend school, he largely educated himself from books and a box of tools inherited from his uncle David Williams, a furniture maker. At the age of nineteen he began making clocks and other mechanical and scientific devices.

Over the next thirty or forty years he made many highly-prized and innovative mathematical and astronomical instruments, most famous of which were two orreries he constructed for the Colleges of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). These orreries show the solar and lunar eclipses and other phenomena for a period of 5,000 years either forward or backward. After moving to Philadelphia in 1770, Rittenhouse used both astronomical and terrestrial observations to survey canals and rivers and to establish the boundaries between many of the Mid-Atlantic States. He held the post of city surveyor of Philadelphia in 1774. (more…)

The island’s numismatic history (the study or collection of money and coins) can be traced back over two millennia. This is a timeline:

218BC: The Carthaginians were the first to introduce bronze coins in Malta. Following the conquest by the Romans, a local bronze coinage based on Roman weight standards was emitted.

35BC: At about this time Maltese coins became completely Roman in character with the first appearance of the Graeco-Latin inscription - MELITAS (of Malta) - on the coinage. After the first century there is no evidence that any more Romano-Maltese coins were struck and the Roman metropolitan coinage, current throughout the Empire, became the standard currency.

AD395 to 1530: Between the division of the Roman Empire in AD395 and the arrival of the Order of St John in Malta in 1530, the coins in circulation were those of successive rulers: Arabs (890-1090); Normans (1127-94); Swabians (1194-1266); Angevines (1266-1283); and Aragonese (1284-1530). Although no Maltese coins of the mediaeval period are known to exist in public or private collections, reference to Maltese specie can be found in official documents.

1530-1798: The Order of St John acquired the right to mint its own coins in Malta. Throughout its rule, various gold (the Zekkin), silver (Skud tal-Fidda) and copper coins were struck.

1798-1800: After the surrender of Malta to Napoleon in June 1798, the French seized all the gold and silver and precious stones they could lay their hands on. Some of the silver was taken to the mint in the Conservatoria, now Malta’s National Library, and converted into 30 and 15 Tarì pieces bearing the bust and arms of Ferdinand von Hompesch, the last Grandmaster to govern Malta. During the subsequent blockade no minting was carried out and the confiscated gold and silver was converted into ingots, stamped with their intrinsic value and circulated as money.

1800-1850: With the advent of the British Protectorate in 1800 the mint ceased to function. During the first 50 years of British rule the circulating coinage was a potpourri of foreign coins. British gold sovereigns and half sovereigns were also introduced in 1826.

1855: British coins were declared the sole legal tender with all the remaining gold and silver of the Order and the foreign coins demonetised. Despite this, the Sicilian dollar continued to dominate the local circulation, until it was finally withdrawn in 1886 when it was demonetised by the Italian government.

1972: On May 16, Malta changed over to a decimal currency and abandoned the British system of pounds, shillings and pence. The Maltese Pound (renamed Maltese lira in 1983) was retained as the currency unit and the first set of decimal coins was issued in eight denominations: 50c, 10c, 5c, 2c in copper nickel; 1c in bronze; and 5m, 3m, and 2m in aluminium.

1975: An octagonal 25c denomination in brass was introduced in December.

1986/1987: A new set of seven definitive coins in denominations of Lm1, 50c, 25c, 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c was issued.

2008: On January 1, the island adopted its own euro coins with symbols of the island’s Coat of Arms, the Maltese Cross and the altar of the Mnajdra Temples. There are eight denominations in all: €2, €1, €0.50, €0.20, €0.10, €0.05, €0.02 and €0.01.

* Information adapted from a lecture by Commendatore Joseph C. Sammut at the 19th annual conference of Banking and Finance in the Mediterranean (July 2007).

The Rules and Regulations under the Hobby Protection Act require that all imitation numismatic and imitation political items sold in, or imported into, the United States be marked with the word “Copy” or the year of manufacture. An amendment to the Rule in 1988 permits manufacturers of miniature numismatic items to mark the word “Copy” in smaller dimensions than those required under the previous Rule.

The Commission determined, at that time, that the amendment would facilitate compliance with the Rule and eliminate potential costs, in both time and resources, to industry and the Commission from individual variance applications for miniature numismatic items. The Commission is conducting a review of this Rule under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 USC 601 et seq., as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

At the same time, and as part of its systematic review of all current Commission rules and guides, the Commission requested comments on, among other things, the economic impact of, and the continuing need for, this Rule, possible conflict between the Rule and state, local and other federal laws, and the effect on the Rule of any technological, economic, or other industry changes, with particular emphasis on the effect on small businesses.

Related Links to Commentary on the Hobby protection Act:
No Protection Help From The Feds by Harry Rinker (more…)

The following is from a submission by W. David Perkins written to the editor of the John Reich Collectors Society (JRCS) e-newsletter #119 concerning a letter from noted collector John Pitman, that was included with a Book sold at the recent George Kolbe Numismatic Literature Sale 104.

W. David Perkins writes:

The recent November 1, 2007 George Kolbe Numismatic Literature Sale 104 offered the John J. Pittman numismatic literature collection. Included in this sale was Lot 117, a signed copy of the First Edition of The United States Early Silver Dollars From 1794 To 1803 by M. H. Bolender. I placed a bid on this lot but was not the winner. I also cannot say I was the underbidder, despite what I thought was a strong bid. This lot realized $325, which may be a record price for a copy of the Bolender book. Prices in this Kolbe sale were very strong indeed! (more…)

What is gold?
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum, meaning shining dawn) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground “veins” and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile of the known metals. Pure gold has a bright yellow color traditionally considered attractive.

Gold forms the basis for a monetary standard used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.

Chemically, gold is a trivalent and univalent transition metal. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as “inquartation and parting”. Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term “acid test,” referring to a gold standard test for genuine value. (more…)