Commodity money

Commodity money is money made from or redeemable for a useful or scarce commodity, whose value derives partly or wholly from that commodity.

Intrinsic value: The value an object has because of its properties or uses, apart from its role as a token or symbol. Commodity money can retain value through the usefulness or scarcity of its material.
Barter: Direct exchange of goods or services without using money as an intermediary. Commodity money can emerge when useful goods become widely accepted intermediaries in barter.
Gold coin: A coin made primarily of gold and valued for its metal content as well as its monetary status. Gold coins are a canonical form of commodity money with high value in compact form.
Fiat money: Money that has value by legal and social acceptance rather than redemption for a commodity. Its monetary value depends primarily on institutions and confidence, not the value of its material.
Price-specie flow mechanism: An adjustment process under a gold standard in which international gold flows affect domestic money supplies and prices. It describes how commodity-linked money could transmit trade imbalances across countries.
Commodity-backed currency: Currency whose issuer promises redemption for a specified quantity of a commodity. Unlike commodity money itself, this currency is typically a claim rather than the commodity in circulation.
Shell money: Shells used as money in societies where they were valued, recognizable, and sufficiently scarce. It illustrates how a nonmetal commodity could serve as money when communities accepted it.
Silver coin: A coin made primarily of silver and used as money, often with value tied to its metal content. Silver supported everyday and large-scale exchange where gold was too valuable for routine payments.
Representative money: Money that represents a claim redeemable for a specified commodity or other asset. It can circulate like money while the underlying commodity remains in reserve.
Deflation: A sustained decline in the general level of prices. A limited supply of monetary commodity can constrain money growth and contribute to falling prices.

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