Schreiner is the curatorial specialist for the exhibit of North Carolina money inside Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill.

"But to, to just see how much different things were in the past than they are in the present is sort of the essence of history. And we learn to some extent to compare what we do today with what was done in the past," Schreiner said.

He explained colonies controlled by Great Britain weren't allowed to make their own money before the Revolutionary War.

"The object was to have all of the money. And at that time money meant coins of gold and silver and copper of intrinsic metal value. It wasn't money unless it as an object was worth something," Schreiner said.

It meant in order to buy something from Great Britain it had must be paid for in coins of intrinsic value.

"So that meant our flow of coins went to Great Britain, and we never had enough money here. Great Britain would let the colonies produce paper money, which everyone hated, because everyone wanted coins of intrinsic value," Schreiner said.

North Carolina then produced about 25 different issues of paper money, the images on the money in that time helped people accept the money, because it was attractive and had images they recognized.

"If they didn't know that it was good, it looked good and might be good enough to let them accept it and transaction," Schreiner said.

In 1799 gold was discovered in North Carolina and changed the way money was thought of again.

"Some private entrepreneurs set up a mint in North Carolina. They were jewelers and goldsmiths from Germany originally. And they produced coins from what miners brought to them," Schreiner said.

To read the complete article, see:
UNC exhibit shows history of North Carolina-made money(https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2024/07/08/north-carolina-money-museum-)