A coin is a piece of metal with a mark everyone trusts.
Long ago in Lydia, people paid with lumps of metal. Every lump was a different size, so a trader had to weigh each one.
The king had round discs made that all weighed the same, and a lion was stamped on each one. The mark meant the weight was right.
Now people could trust a coin without weighing it, and coins passed from hand to hand.
Soon other lands made coins too, with their own marks. It began about 2600 years ago.
These are some of the questions on the sets. The printable sheets have more and an answer key.
A lion. The lion was the king's mark.
The weight was right. So nobody had to weigh the coin.
It had to be weighed every time. Every lump was a different size.
About 2600 years ago. The first coins began about two thousand six hundred years ago.
With a grown-up, look closely at a coin and find its picture or mark. Who put it there, and why?
Find a coin together and look for its marks. Who put them there, and why? A mark that everyone trusts is the whole idea of a coin.
