Our special video series looks at some of the more unique shells at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum on Sanibel, ...

1,200 BC: Cowrie Shells The first use of cowries ... which had more inherent value. 118 BC: Leather Money Leather money was used in China in the form of one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin ...

Comprised of cowrie shells, the collar was elegant and a unique take on garbs worn during monumental, history-defining moments. For many of us stateside Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a moment to ...

Image caption, A 19th Century illustration shows cowrie shells being used as money ... item - for those who could afford to have them. Leather was used to make currency at one point.