Editing Numismatics (section)

==History of money==
{{Main|History of money}}
Throughout its history, money itself has been made to be a [[scarcity|scarce]] good. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarce [[precious metal]]s and [[cowry shell]]s through [[cigarette]]s to entirely artificial money, called [[fiat money]], such as [[banknote]]s. Many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact.

Modern money (along with most ancient money) is essentially a token – an abstraction. Paper currency is perhaps the most common type of contemporary physical money.  However, goods such as [[gold]] or [[silver]] retain many of the essential properties of money, such as price fluctuation and limited supply, although these goods are not controlled by one single authority.