Nick Szabo 🔑 on Twitter: "As their craft skills, precision techniques, and industrial technologies advanced, Europeans also increasingly disrupted each others' money. https://t.co/0U7GlmaXKY"

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Another category of indicia of scarcity was (and still is, in the art world) indicia of artistic skill and effort -- the improbability of the artistic skill involved and time needed for that rare skill to produce a work of art or craft.

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Size and in particular length was a common indicia of scarcity of a class of objects, for example the Rai stones of Yap. The Yurok categorized the value of their dentalia shells by size, and tattooed rulers onto their forearms for measuring them. https://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2017/02/conflict-and-collectibles-among-yurok_87.html …pic.twitter.com/SOTQokh5xt

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Small polished metal objects and glass beads had a supernormal shininess and may have been the largest source of Columbian inflation in indigenous societies. These glass beads were made in Venice and exchanged in Mali in the 16th or 17th centuries.pic.twitter.com/JWapdPSQmL

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Cultures that imported European collectibles or money eventually adapted their indicia, their methodologies for assessing and judging scarcity, to the new materials and techniques, but not before usually radical disruption to and inflation of their native system of collectibles.

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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The Iberian explorers and conquistadors and their successors opened up copious new supplies of gold and silver in the Americas. The resulting Colombian inflation in Europe is well known.pic.twitter.com/gFIh8BNozH

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Most modern economists think this an acceptable, or even too low, rate of inflation. But many then considered it unnatural & dangerous. Very-long-term contracts, such as centuries-long or perpetual real estate tenancies, now imposed hardships & became embroiled in disputes.

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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European trade routes became global, and as a result the silver inflation became global. In 1575 the price of rice in China was about 20 grams of silver per hectoliter. By 1825 that price had risen to above 70 grams/hectoliter.pic.twitter.com/2Q7KgUj4du

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Technological advances in the wake of the European expansion usually impacted indigenous collectibles more and more quickly. Here for example is the wampum price of beaver pelts in New Netherlands / New York in the mid-to-late 17th century. (Source: https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/NNWampumCharts.html …)pic.twitter.com/1UWJaz9YOQ

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Although this falls far short of 20th century fiat hyperinflations, it is comparable to most inflation in major fiat currencies. For example when the U.S. went off the Bretton Woods gold standard, its inflation was similar to the technological disruption of wampum shell beads:pic.twitter.com/Bx3XC0GWVG

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Nick Szabo Retweeted Nick Szabo

The main indicator of scarcity for the famous Rai stones on Yap was their size, and they too succumbed to technological disruption.https://twitter.com/NickSzabo4/status/1152254987616940033 …

Nick Szabo added,

Nick Szabo @NickSzabo4

Replying to @Rainmaker1973

This characterizes only the last, pathological stage of the Rai collectibles that had been inflated -- including literally in their size -- by more advanced European & Chinese tools and shipping. The traditional Rai stones were much smaller, held by owners, carried on poles. pic.twitter.com/ZnnMQhQp4G

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Nick Szabo ‏ @NickSzabo4 Aug 11

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Nick Szabo Retweeted Nick Szabo

As their craft skills, precision techniques, and industrial technologies advanced, Europeans also increasingly disrupted each others' money.https://twitter.com/NickSzabo4/status/1145207850727178241 …

Nick Szabo added,

Nick Szabo @NickSzabo4

Some of the same craft skills & tech that gave us the industrial revolution also made it much easier to counterfeit coins. As fake coins spread, use of bank notes grew. Here's a fake silver dollar made in Birmingham via a technique invented in Sheffield. https://www.coincommunity.com/articles/swamperbob_8_reales_birmingham_counterfeit.asp … pic.twitter.com/Qbx7heTq2p

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3:41 PM - 11 Aug 2019