Previous | Next

a particularly disturbing example of a foreign form of currency

unusual objects once used as money

final panel

“The Story Of Money” begins with a short introduction by this book’s kilt-wearing host and narrator:

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT:
The instinct to provide for future needs is as important to mankind as it is to many creatures.

(Y’know, that’s just about the worst phony Scottish accent I’ve ever heard…er, read!) Sandy shows us images of a farmer and his family gathering cattle fodder, canning fruits and vegetables and stacking firewood. Then, to illustrate Sandy’s point, we’re shown bees storing honey, squirrels storing nuts and dogs burying bones. Next, we see ancient men engaged in various commercial transactions:

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT (in narrative caption):
From earliest times, people bartered the things they did not need for something they wanted or needed. But as civilization progressed, this became difficult when one trader found that he did not have what another trader needed or wanted. So when trade grew between nations, their “medium of exchange” became things that EVERYONE wanted.

After an illustrated quote from Homer’s ILIAD, we’re shown the first coin (the “Lydian Electrum”), the first inscribed coin (found at Halicarnassus), the first round coin (the “Tetradrachm of Egypt”), the “shekel of Israel” and iron disks used as money in ancient Sparta (“according to Plutarch, it took a cart load for a days shopping!”). Then we’re shown a variety of unusual currency from around the world, including Chinese “knife-money”, “tree money” of Malaya, almond nuts used as money in India, the huge and heavy stone-coins of the island of Yap and Dentalium and cowrie shells. Here’s a particularly disturbing example of a foreign form of currency:

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT (in narrative caption):
Natives of Malaiti in the Solomon Islands drove porpoises into shallow water where they smothered in the mud…and then extracted their teeth and used them for trading.

Next, we’re shown salt crystals, Indian wampum, blankets, beaver skins, tobacco, “hand-wrought” nails and gold dust, all used for money in various parts of the world. This is followed by historically important coins from different nations, including Spain’s “doubloon”, the silver “Napoleon” and Russia’s six-ruble coin, the only one ever made of platinum. Then we’re shown a variety of North American coins, including the “pine tree shilling”, the “New Jersey cent”, the “excelsior cent”, the “Fusio cent”, Canadian playing-card money and other early forms of paper currency, as well as American gold, silver, nickel, bronze, copper and even wooden coins. Then we’re shown which famous Americans appear on American paper money (including Confederate currency), including Thomas Jefferson (who was on the two dollar bill) and Salmon P. Chase (who was on the ten thousand dollar bill). And, just to keep things interesting, we’re shown more unusual objects once used as money, including musket balls, gun “cartridge money” (traded on the Amazon River), fish hooks, spear blades, peach pits (“used in Sacramento”), buttons and cigarettes (“valued at $20 a carton during World War II”).

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT (in narrative caption):
But the most fantastic of all was the Hungarian 1,000,000,000,000,000 pengo note of World War II!

Then we’re show some of the more mundane uses for money, such as to “buy food”, “buy a bus ticket” and “pay for a haircut”. Accompanying a mention of America’s financial system are panels depicting the U.S. Treasury building and a “hometown savings bank”. Finally -- on the second-to-last page of “The Story Of Money” -- we get our second word balloon containing dialog in this entire sixteen-page comic. It seems that Sandy has a new friend, a little red-haired kid named “Billy”:

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT:
Now, Billy, your mom and dad know all about banks -- so I’ll just tell you what you must do to start having money in the bank.

As Sandy provides a narrative, we’re show images of Billy opening a savings account at a bank, the bank’s vault with an armed guard standing nearby, a stack of burning currency, Billy making a bank withdrawal and a glowing bank book:

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT (in narrative caption):
Well, first of all you come to our bank and open a savings account…In a bank, your money is protected from theft…It is also protected from loss due to fire or being mislaid. Furthermore! In a bank your money works for you. -- It earns wages, called interest as long as you leave it on deposit. If you leave it there long enough your interest earns wages too. -- That is called compound interest. You will be given a bank book and each time you deposit some money, the amount will be entered in the book…And you can watch your savings grow!

Finally, Sandy makes another appearance. (And it’s high time, Sandy; after all, this comic’s nearly over!)

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT:
Just a word of advice. Don’t just hoard money -- have a definite purpose in mind -- Dad is saving up for your college education, and to have some money on hand if one of the family gets sick -- so you start saving for something definite too --

Below Sandy’s sage wisdom we’re shown a bicycle, a pair of roller skates, a wrapped birthday presents and a scouting troop on a hike. (This is probably the real message behind THE STORY OF MONEY: in order to be a good consumer -- and therefore, a good American -- you’re gonna need a lot of spending money!) Next, we see young Billy making a withdrawal from the bank and in the next panel, Billy’s riding a brand-new bike!

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT (in narrative caption):
And remember: The safety of your money is GUARANTEED when your bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation just as we are!

In this comic’s final panel, Sandy intrudes on Billy’s family to deliver one last spiel for using a bank to save your money. But due to a particularly sloppy bit of production, it looks like poor Sandy -- well, not “poor” in a monetary sense -- has had his left arm, leg and entire side sliced off (it’s a good thing he’s saved so much money; looks like Sandy’s gonna be spending some time in the hospital):

SANDY THE SAVING SCOT:
And let me tell you…It’s a wonderful feeling of security…when you have MONEY IN OUR BANK!

Also included in this issue of THE STORY OF MONEY is the following advertisement:

• “Our 50th Year”, a back-cover (Page Sixteen) ad for the Gary National Bank of Gary, Indiana.

ODDBALL FACTOID – Another comic that provided educational material about money and was hosted by a stingy Scottish stereotype was Gold Key’s UNCLE SCROOGE AND MONEY, adapting an animated educational film produced by Walt Disney and released on March 23, 1967, the first time this Carl Barks comic book creation ever appeared in an animated cartoon!

New Next Week: ODDBALL COMIC #1,221 – MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2008 -- Here’s a long-running funnybook series that never once mentions the name of its star! It’s “Radio’s No. 1 Hit!”, DC’s anonymous crime-fightin’ public servant, MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY -- and he’s letting the world know that “I Defended The Monkey Man!” Then our straight-laced lawman busts the “Fake Accident Racket!” and “The Phoney Talent Scouts!” Plus, tons of nutty strip-ads, including another exploit of cartoonist C. C. Beck’s “Captain Marvel”-esque candy-huckster, “Captain Tootsie”! It’s undefendably ODDBALL!

Just how odd is today's Oddball Comic?
Cast your vote right now -- from one to five oddballs --
in the poll on the left. Then come talk about it
on the Oddball Comics' discussion board!