Sunday, January 6, 2013

Yap stones and chartalism

Rai at the Bank of Canada - part of Canada's foreign reserves









  1. The sheer size of the stones does make them hard to steal. You can transfer ownership without transferring physical possession, but the only way to transfer ownership was with the seller's public consent (or at least recognition).

    1. Yes, mind you there are stones on record that are only 3-5 cm in diameter too.

  2. Your posting is very interesting, but only dips its toe into the Yap currency history, which goes to the original stones quarried in nearby Palau by Yapese warriors and canoed, suspended on poles in between canoes, hence the holes in the center, with great risk and casualties (thereby acquiring value) back to Yap. Later, in the 19th century, an entrprising shipwrecked American who became known as, "His Magesty O'Keefe," had a square-rigged ship and sailed to Palau to quarry the stones, thereby taking the risk out of the equation. Today the "O'keefe money" is not as valuable as the original stones and one can tell the difference from the way the stones were quarried. Yap also had another, less valuable form of currency in former times, known as "shell money." I must confess I don't know that much about that, but it seems to have been based on the difficulty of harvesting certain kinds of shells. No mistake about it, stone money even today sitting there immovable by the side of the road, retains very significant value in terms of land transactions, wedding dowries, and more. Thanks for your interesting observations. Jim Stovall

    1. Jim, thanks for adding some more colour to the story. You are right, I'm only dipping my toe into the story. An anthropologist could probably spend years investigating Yap money and still never reach a satisfying conclusion.