1. Katanga crosses
Once used as currency in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Katanga crosses were large rudimentary X-shaped casts made of copper, weighing a kilo each and measuring eight inches across.
Fun fact: A Katanga cross could get you 10kg of flour. And ten crosses traded for a gun. You could say the cross is a weapon in itself.
2. Lobi Snakes
An agrarian people of West Africa, the Lobi respected snakes – so much so they forged large iron snakes to use for barter and trade.
Fun fact: The Lobi would wear these snakes around their calves to protect from snake bites. Must be great strength training, too.
3. The Rai stones of Yap
These 12-feet-wide, 8-tonne limestone discs are currency in the Solomon Islands. Far from pocket change, much of their high value comes from the effort and sacrifice of human life it takes to carve and move around.
Fun fact: The export of rai stones is banned, but there’s one on display in the lobby of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa.
4. The quarter silver tara of Vijayanagar
The world’s smallest coin is only 4mm in diameter. It was in circulation in the 1400s under East India’s Vijayanagara empire.
Fun fact: The Guinness Book of Records named Nepal’s quarter java the smallest coin. But since it was never in circulation, coin experts deem the tara as the legit smallest.
5. The Romani 10-bani note
We’ve done the world’s smallest coin. Now for the world’s smallest note, issued in Romania as part of a war series in 1917. The 10-bani banknote measured 44 mm by 33 mm, featuring King Ferdinand I and the Romanian coat of arms.
Fun fact: The 10-bani note somehow still had space to include small print threatening counterfeiters with prison fines. The Ministry of Finance clearly had relentless risk and legal teams.
You won’t find heavy metal shapes or pieces of shrapnel in Zing – we’re all digital. But with our app and card, you can hold, spend and send money home and abroad in a range of real and totally normal international currencies.
If this article inspired you to take the worry out of your international money then get tapping on this link to download Zing now.
