Early Non-Metal Money

Again the Chinese took the lead .They were the first to introduce non-metal forms of value exchange.In 118 B.C. One-foot square pieces of white deerskin edged in vivid colors were commonly exchanged for goods. This was the forerunner of the first actual paper currency used in China from the ninth century to the fifteenth century A.D . Unfortunately, in 1455 the use of paper currency vanished from China, much before Europe had even got round to the idea of printing currency.An important point to note is that most forms of Chinese paper money were non-institutionalized i.e. in private hands.