Barter Rings

Currency > Coins > World Coins

The earliest Filipinos traded ring-like ingots, very similar to the coins invented in the kingdom of Lydia, in present-day TURKEY. Barter rings were circulated in the Philippines up to the 16th century The Philippines' first coin was the Penniform Gold Barter Ring that the country adapted. This coin is believed to have been circulated between the eighth and the 14th centuries. Specimens of varisized gold artifacts resembling this type have been recovered from many archaeological sites in Laguna, R izal, Mindoro, Cebu, Leyte and Bohol together with 12th- 14th-century Oriental ceramic tradewares. These gold rings were probably used by the Filipinos' ancestors in trading with the Chinese.