 This is in contrast to representative money, which has little or no intrinsic value but represents something of value, and fiat money, which has value only because it has been established as money by government regulation.Examples of commodities that have been used as media of exchange include gold, silver, copper, salt, peppercorns, tea, decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, silk, candy, nails, cocoa beans, cowries and barley.Several types of commodity money were sometimes used together, with fixed relative values, in various commodity valuation or price system economies.