I've always personally thought of hacksilber (in its earliest forms) as more like "proto-money", in that the users knew and agreed that the metal
had value, but it wasn't issued by some ruling authority in specific "
denominations". It was essentially an agreement between the two parties to exchange an agreed upon
weight of precious metal for goods or services.
I'm not familiar if the
Celts had some somewhat agreed upon value system for the exchange of hacksilber, as existed in pre-coinage times in the
Levant. For example, when you read in the Bible about someone
buying a piece of land or livestock, or paying for some
type of service for an amount stated in shekels, as we all know that equated to a weighed out amount of silver or gold according to the accepted
weight of a
shekel then in use.
For example, in Genesis 23:16 - And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he
had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current
money with the merchant.
Craig
