We’re taught from a young age that money is whatever the government prints on paper or mints in metal. But if you take a peek at the past, you’ll find that currency is actually a much more flexible concept. From the local bank vault to the back of the pantry, people have used everything from wheels of cheese to blocks of compressed tea to settle their debts.

If you think your credit card balance is stressful, imagine trying to keep track of your life savings when they’re a few slabs of salt or a bag of whale teeth. Here are five of the strangest currencies used throughout human history.

1. Animal Teeth
2. Parmesan Cheese
3. Seashells
4. Tea Bricks
5. Salt Bars

Animal Teeth

In a twisted way, the tooth fairy might actually have some economic merit. While our modern-day baby teeth only net a few dollars at most, there was a time when teeth were the currency. From the polished sperm whale teeth known as tabua in Fiji to dog-tooth necklaces in Melanesia, the canines of various creatures served as highly prized wealth, used to purchase everything from canoes and food to peace treaties.

While Fijians favored whale teeth during the 19th century, the people of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands valued dog, pig, and even dolphin teeth for generations.

Parmesan Cheese

Cheese equating to gold in Italy used to be more than a figure of speech. By the 13th century, Parmigiano-Reggiano had become a kind of edible investment in northern Italy. Its value was substantial enough that today, Italy’s Credem Bank still accepts wheels as collateral for loans, storing millions of dollars’ worth of cheese in climate-controlled vaults. Aside from those, most Parmesan cheese today can’t be used to pay your rent, just to top off your pasta.

Seashells

That instinct you have to collect pretty shells at the beach? It could very well be an evolutionary adaptation—or at least, a nod to your ancestors. Indigenous peoples around the world, from North America to West Africa, once used shells as currency. Northeastern Native American tribes, including the Algonquin and the Wampanoag, crafted wampum beads from quahog shells to pay for goods and formalize treaties.

Across the oceans, sea snail shells—specifically the cowrie—became the main form of payment, remaining in use across parts of Africa and Asia well into the 20th century.

Even though we eventually swapped shells for paper, this ancient form of currency is still connected to our modern-day money. The American slang term “clams” for a dollar, which emerged in 19th-century America, was directly inspired by Native American shell money.

Tea Bricks

Today, your daily caffeine fix—whether it’s coffee or tea—might set you back $10. But at one point in Central and Northern Asia, that same craving could cost you a few blocks of compressed tea itself. These bricks, made from dried leaves in China, were the gold standard for trade in remote regions like Tibet, Mongolia, and Siberia. Because they were durable, portable, and edible, they were the perfect “liquid” asset for merchants traveling the Silk Road.

Tea bricks were often stamped with marks indicating quality. Some were even engraved with intricate designs to prove they were the real deal before you broke off a piece for a trade. Tea as currency was so powerful that even as late as the early 20th century, travelers in remote corners of Mongolia and Tibet found that tea held more purchasing power than gold or silver.

Salt Bars

In ancient Ethiopia, salt was so crucial for survival that it was known as “white gold.” Often traded in standardized rectangular bars called amole, these slabs were valuable amongst desert traders. Harvested from the harsh crust of the Danakil Depression, these salt slabs were used for payment, trading, and even seasoning. In fact, if you’ve ever been told someone is “worth their salt,” you’re referencing a tradition that dates back to Roman soldiers, whose salarium (or salary) was essentially a salt allowance.

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