HACKSILVER.

HACKSILVER. An actor at Dublinia, dressed as a Viking, introduced us to hacksilver, which is described in this wikipedia article. He was wearing a necklace and a bracelet made up, in this case, of fairly uniform beads of silver which had been measured by weight. This was hacksilver. If a Viking wanted to make a purchase, he could break off one or more units of silver which would serve as coins. The wikipedia article says that Vikings amassed silver through both raiding and trade. I think of trade as spreading ideas and culture—civilization.