The first “plastic money” was actually made of cardboard. In what’s still known in the industry as “the First Supper,” in 1950 Frank McNamara used the first Diners Club card to pay for dinner at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York City. Subsequent cards were made of more durable plastic, […]

Americans like to think of the dollar as king, but in the historical context of currency, that honor probably belongs to the humble cowry. A type of mollusk shell widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, the cowry was used as money as early as […]