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Nouns Money · Global Barter collection
Global Barter.
100 currencies inspired by the ways people trade without money, from salt caravans and barter fairs to work parties and repair cafés. Every note carries a different actual Noun.
100currencies
100actual Nouns
6regions
200print faces
Design concepts inspired by real traditions, not issued by or for the communities that keep them. Not legal tender, not for sale, no cash value, no redemption and no investment rights. Nouns art is CC0; not affiliated with or endorsed by Nouns DAO.
Africa & the Middle East.
Salt, cloth and caravans.
Caravan trades, market days, salt bars and the community-credit networks that keep neighborhoods trading when cash runs short.
G001 · Noun #19 · cookie
Nnoboa Turn
Akan farmlands, southern Ghana · pre-colonial to present
Neighbours take turns weeding each member's farm.
G002 · Noun #31 · icepop b
Debo Day
Amhara and Oromia, Ethiopia · traditional; ongoing
Neighbours work your field; you feed them and repay the favour.
G003 · Noun #73 · rangefinder
Silent Shore
Atlantic coast, northwest Africa · recorded c. 430 BCE
Goods left on the sand and answered in kind, with no words spoken.
G004 · Noun #54 · sunset
Tiwizi Hands
Atlas villages, Morocco · centuries-old; ongoing
Households pool labour for harvests, houses and shared channels.
G005 · Noun #13 · trashcan
Swop Shop
Western Cape, South Africa · since 2003
Collected recyclables swapped for groceries and school supplies.
G006 · Noun #83 · toaster
Milk for Grain
Central Nigeria · long-standing
Women's milk and butter traded with farming neighbours for grain.
G007 · Noun #99 · cat
Copper Deben
Deir el-Medina, Luxor, Egypt · c. 1550–1070 BCE
Prices set in weights of copper, paid in grain, oil or cloth.
G008 · Noun #41 · wallet
Amole Bar
Ethiopian highlands, Ethiopia · to early 20th c.
A bar of rock salt as small change, worth more the farther it went.
G009 · Noun #52 · retainer
Copper Cross
Haut-Katanga, DR Congo · 19th–early 20th c.
Cast copper crosses that travelled as a store of value.
G010 · Noun #62 · lipstick2
Dhofar Resin
Khor Rori, Dhofar, Oman · antiquity–late medieval
Frankincense from Dhofar's groves, traded for cloth, grain and oil.
G011 · Noun #76 · sponge
Maize Bucket
Lupane, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe · 2007–2009
When cash failed, rural households traded livestock for maize.
G012 · Noun #56 · zebra
Coastal Voucher
Mombasa and Kilifi, Kenya · since 2010
Community-issued vouchers circulating beside the shilling.
G013 · Noun #81 · bubble speech
Okaz Verse
Near Taif, Saudi Arabia · c. 6th–8th c.; revived 2007
A seasonal fair where tribes traded goods and poets competed.
G014 · Noun #96 · oyster
Dilmun Pearl
Qal'at al-Bahrain, Bahrain · c. 2300–1600 BCE
An island harbour linking Mesopotamia, Oman and the Indus.
G015 · Noun #12 · beer
Barley Measure
Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq · c. 3000–500 BCE
Barley and silver as the yardstick for wages, goods and debts.
G016 · Noun #63 · scorpion
Tan-Tan Moussem
Tan-Tan, Morocco · since 1963
A yearly gathering of Saharan nomads to trade, race and recite.
G017 · Noun #79 · scorpion
İmece Harvest
Anatolian villages, Turkey · customary for centuries
Village hands pooled for harvests, winter stores and building.
Europe.
Rings, fairs and mutual credit.
From barter rings and business mutual-credit circuits to the old work parties where a village turned out for one farm at a time.
G018 · Noun #69 · film 35mm
Grain de Sel
Ariège, France · since 1994
Neighbours swap skills and goods, logged in 'grains of salt'.
G019 · Noun #35 · pipe
Auzolan Stone
Basque Country, Spain and France · customary for centuries
Every household lends a hand to keep roads and fountains going.
G020 · Noun #47 · shark
Brighton Seed
Brighton and Hove, England · since 2002
Growers bring home-saved seeds to a big February swap table.
G021 · Noun #34 · blueberry
Talkoot Call
Finland · centuries-old; ongoing
Villagers and club members gather to finish a job together.
G022 · Noun #74 · lint
Vaðmál Ell
Iceland · c. 12th–17th c.
Standard homespun wool, measured in ells, paid for prices and taxes.
G023 · Noun #40 · void
Winter Market
Jokkmokk, Swedish Lapland, Sweden · since 1605
A February market reached along frozen rivers in Lapland.
G024 · Noun #48 · bagpipe
Kaláka Raising
Lázárfalva, Székely Land, Romania · traditional; movement since 2001
Neighbours raise a house, and now village baths, together.
G025 · Noun #10 · highheel
Swish Party
London, England · since 2000
Bring a good garment, leave with someone else's.
G026 · Noun #49 · garlic
Ecoxarxa Fair
Montseny, Catalonia, Spain · since 2009
Eco-networks trading at barter fairs in their own social currency.
G027 · Noun #37 · washingmachine
Dugnad Day
Norway · agrarian roots; ongoing
Unpaid shared work for the co-op, the school and the club.
G028 · Noun #23 · bagpipe
Meitheal Sheaf
Rural Ireland · centuries-old; to mid-20th c.
Neighbours saving hay and cutting turf together, repaid in help.
G029 · Noun #78 · pipe
Factory Swap
Russian Federation · 1992–c. 2000
Cash-short factories paid one another in goods and offsets.
G030 · Noun #55 · pizza
Sardinian Circuit
Serramanna, Sardinia, Italy · since 2009
Island traders on a zero-interest credit ledger.
G031 · Noun #3 · boot
Toloka Wall
Ukrainian villages, Ukraine · traditional; into 20th c.
Villagers raise clay-and-straw walls together, then celebrate.
G032 · Noun #92 · whale
Pomor Cod
Vardø, Norway–White Sea, Russia · c. 1740–1917
Russian rye flour for Norwegian cod along the Arctic coast.
G033 · Noun #77 · calculator
Volos Exchange
Volos, Magnesia, Greece · since 2010
Residents trading on a shared ledger as austerity cut incomes.
G034 · Noun #18 · calculator
Basel Ring
Zurich and Basel, Switzerland · since 1934
Firms kept trading on book-entry credit through the 1930s slump.
Asia.
Tea roads and harvest hands.
Mountain caravans, river markets, barter fairs and the labor exchanges that bring in a harvest or rethatch a roof.
G035 · Noun #16 · queencrown
Butter and Grain
Bhutan · until the 1960s
Grain, butter and cloth traded directly in a Himalayan kingdom.
G036 · Noun #21 · fan
Bamboo Shoot
Countryside near Tokyo, Japan · 1945–late 1940s
City families shed valuables layer by layer for rice.
G037 · Noun #28 · garlic
Hanbat Circle
Daejeon, South Korea · since c. 2000
Neighbours trading goods, services and labour on a local ledger.
G038 · Noun #32 · skilift
Dolpo Salt
Dolpo, Karnali, Nepal · centuries-old; reduced
Yak caravans carrying Tibetan salt south for hill-grown grain.
G039 · Noun #33 · frog
Attam Paddy
Kandyan hill country, Sri Lanka · traditional; declining since 1970s
A day in your paddy repaid with a day in mine.
G040 · Noun #85 · unicorn
Kota Belud Tamu
Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia · since 1878
A weekly meeting place for seafarers, farmers and traders.
G041 · Noun #89 · console handheld
Tea Brick
Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia · centuries-old to c. WWII
Compressed tea bricks, scored so pieces could break off as change.
G042 · Noun #64 · moon
Jonbeel Fair
Morigaon, Assam, India · centuries-old; each January
Hill produce traded for plains rice cakes, without cash.
G043 · Noun #15 · pill
Caring Ticket
Osaka and across Japan · since 1995
Hours of help for older people, saved for later or sent to family.
G044 · Noun #1 · fox
Anyui Fair
Ostrovnoye, Chukotka, Russia · 1788/89 to 19th c.
A river fair where Chukchi traders met Russian merchants.
G045 · Noun #29 · nigiri
Prahok Season
Ponhea Leu, Kandal, Cambodia · long-standing; Dec–Feb
Farmers bring rice to the river and leave with fish for prahok.
G046 · Noun #58 · noodles
Đổi Công Day
Rice villages, northern Vietnam · long-standing; ongoing
Households trade days of labour for transplanting and harvest.
G047 · Noun #53 · hair
Yui Thatch
Shirakawa-go, Gifu, Japan · Edo era to now; ledger from 1792
Neighbours re-thatch a steep roof in a day, logged in a ledger.
G048 · Noun #38 · unicorn
Asar Call
Steppe auls, Kazakhstan · nomadic era to present
Relatives and neighbours raise a yurt or a house together.
G049 · Noun #27 · jellyfish
Sulu Sea Barter
Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, Philippines · pre-colonial; revived 2018
Seaweed and farm goods swapped across an old sea border.
G050 · Noun #86 · pufferfish
Wulandoni Market
Wulandoni, Lembata, Indonesia · long-standing; weekly
Coastal fish and salt traded for upland maize and bananas.
G051 · Noun #71 · road
Tea Horse Road
Yunnan and Sichuan to Tibet · c. 10th–20th c.
Brick tea carried over mountain routes in exchange for horses.
Oceania & the Pacific.
Islands of exchange.
Island markets, trading voyages, seasonal gatherings and community swaps across the Pacific, described as the communities themselves describe them.
G052 · Noun #61 · pickle
Trepang Season
Arnhem Land coast, NT, Australia · c. 1700s–1907
Makassar crews traded cloth and tools for access to trepang.
G053 · Noun #97 · dino
Bunya Gathering
Bunya Mountains, Qld, Australia · pre-colonial–1902; being revived
Nations gathered whenever the bunya pines cropped heavily.
G054 · Noun #0 · gnome
Crop Swap
Comboyne, NSW, Australia · since March 2026
Neighbours swap surplus homegrown produce as fuel prices bite.
G055 · Noun #45 · island
Solesolevaki Work
iTaukei villages, Fiji · customary; ongoing
Villagers pool unpaid labour for the common good.
G056 · Noun #90 · volcano
Island Seed Swap
Kona, Hawaiʻi Island, USA · since 2002
Farmers and gardeners swap seeds of locally adapted crops.
G057 · Noun #24 · squid
Saltwater Market
Lau Lagoon, Solomon Islands · pre-colonial; into 20th c.
Lagoon fish traded for inland taro, yams and almonds.
G058 · Noun #70 · cone
Harbour Hour
Lyttelton, Christchurch, NZ · since the mid-2000s
A town time bank that held firm through the earthquakes.
G059 · Noun #82 · lightning bolt
Maleny Exchange
Maleny, Queensland, Australia · since 1987
Australia's first LETS, trading in a local unit called the bunya.
G060 · Noun #4 · wine
Wairarapa Green
Masterton, Aotearoa NZ · since 1991
A rural mutual-credit exchange for local goods and services.
G061 · Noun #88 · porkbao
Fish for Sago
Middle Sepik River, PNG · pre-colonial; 20th c. records
River women traded fish for sago at markets reached by canoe.
G062 · Noun #57 · pie
Hiri Voyage
Port Moresby to Gulf of Papua, PNG · voyages into the 20th c.
Clay pots sailed west by lakatoi and traded for sago.
G063 · Noun #65 · maze
Siassi Voyager
Siassi Islands, Morobe, PNG · pre-colonial; 1960s record
Seafaring middlemen turning taro into pots, and pots into pigs.
G064 · Noun #93 · toiletpaper full
Island Barter
Suva and across Fiji · since April 2020
A no-cash barter group that grew as jobs vanished in 2020.
G065 · Noun #17 · pumpkin
Tītī for Kūmara
Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa NZ · pre-European to 19th c.
Southern muttonbirds exchanged for kūmara grown in the north.
G066 · Noun #59 · island
Strait Visit
Torres Strait, Australia–PNG · treaty 1978; in force 1985
Customary barter protected across an international border.
G067 · Noun #68 · saturn
Gimwali Market
Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay, PNG · pre-colonial; ongoing
Everyday haggling barter that runs beside the ceremonial kula.
The Americas.
Markets, mingas and trueque.
Trueque markets, communal work days, trade-post units of account and the barter clubs that carried neighbors through hard years.
G068 · Noun #91 · film strip
Barter Ticket
Abingdon, Virginia, USA · since 1933
Depression audiences paid for theatre seats with farm produce.
G069 · Noun #7 · mirror
Ayni Terrace
Andean highlands, Peru and Bolivia · pre-Inca roots; ongoing
Help with planting today, the same help in kind tomorrow.
G070 · Noun #72 · garlic
Trafkintu Seeds
Araucanía, Chile · pre-Hispanic; revived in recent decades
Families exchange seeds, potatoes and foods to renew their stock.
G071 · Noun #43 · jupiter
Club de Trueque
Bernal, Buenos Aires, Argentina · 1995–2002
Neighbourhood barter clubs that spread through a national crisis.
G072 · Noun #95 · house
Minga de Tiradura
Chiloé Archipelago, Chile · long-standing; still practised
Neighbours and oxen haul a wooden house to its new home.
G073 · Noun #67 · baseball gameball
Havana Permuta
Havana, Cuba · since the 1960s
Families swapped homes when they could not buy or sell them.
G074 · Noun #60 · wizardhat
Made Beaver
Hudson and James Bay, Canada · late 17th–19th c.
Every kettle and blanket priced against one prime beaver pelt.
G075 · Noun #6 · rock
Knife River Flint
Knife River, North Dakota, USA · c. 16th c.–1840s
Village corn and squash traded for bison goods and horses.
G076 · Noun #39 · mug
Manka Fiesta
La Quiaca, Jujuy, Argentina · long-standing; each October
Highland pots, wool and salt bartered for valley maize and fruit.
G077 · Noun #66 · fir
Barn Raising
Lancaster County, PA, USA · 18th c.–present
Neighbours frame and raise a barn in a day, help repaid later.
G078 · Noun #20 · ketchup
Grease Trail
Nuxalk–Dakelh trail, BC, Canada · pre-contact–19th c.
Eulachon grease carried inland on foot for furs and hides.
G079 · Noun #2 · pineapple
Mutirão Build
Rural and urban Brazil · Tupi roots; ongoing
Neighbours harvest, clear land or build homes together.
G080 · Noun #87 · mixer
Konbit Day
Rural Haiti · 19th c.–present
Neighbours work a field together to drums and song.
G081 · Noun #36 · orca
Self-Help Local
Seattle, Washington, USA · 1931–1933
Jobless workers cut wood, fished and gleaned, then shared the take.
G082 · Noun #75 · coffeebean
Cacao Bean
Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico · c. 14th–16th c.
Cacao beans as small change in a market built on barter.
G083 · Noun #84 · hotdog
Tallcan Trade
Toronto, Ontario, Canada · since 2013
A no-cash swap scene where tallcans and transit tokens set prices.
G084 · Noun #8 · taco classic
Sunday Trueque
Zacualpan de Amilpas, Mexico · pre-Hispanic roots; ongoing
A Sunday market where produce and crafts trade without money.
Global networks.
Swap anything, anywhere.
Practices that crossed borders: time banks, home and seed swaps, repair cafés and other networks where people trade help and things directly.
G085 · Noun #14 · camcorder
Fixers' Table
Amsterdam, Netherlands · since 2009
Volunteer fixers mend broken things alongside their owners.
G086 · Noun #5 · chainsaw
Tool Lending
Berkeley, California, USA · since 1979
Hand and power tools lent out with a library card.
G087 · Noun #30 · laptop
Talent Exchange
Cape Town, South Africa · since 2003
An online mutual-credit ledger linking local exchanges worldwide.
G088 · Noun #9 · bat
Sitter Scrip
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. · documented in the 1970s
Paper coupons for babysitting, and a famous lesson in scarcity.
G089 · Noun #80 · earth
Green Ledger
Comox Valley, BC, Canada · since 1983
The first LETS: accounts start at zero, and nobody pays interest.
G090 · Noun #51 · film 35mm
Heirloom Seed
Decorah, Iowa, USA · since 1975
Members mail each other heirloom seeds listed in a yearbook.
G091 · Noun #94 · weed
Weekend Farmhand
England, UK, and worldwide · since 1971
Garden help swapped for a bed, meals and learning.
G092 · Noun #11 · cash register
Trade Exchange
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia · since 1991
Spare capacity swapped and booked in trade credits.
G093 · Noun #98 · whale alive
Released Book
Kansas City, Missouri, USA · since 2001
Books labelled with an ID and released into the world.
G094 · Noun #44 · volleyball
Toy Loan
Los Angeles, California, USA · since 1935
Toys borrowed and brought back, like library books.
G095 · Noun #26 · chart bars
Camp Parcel
POW camps in Italy and Germany · 1942–1945
Parcel goods traded in camp, priced by an agreed unit.
G096 · Noun #50 · dictionary
Esperanto Stay
TEJO network, worldwide · since 1966
Free beds and conversation for travellers who speak Esperanto.
G097 · Noun #22 · undead
Curbside Gift
Tucson, Arizona, USA · since 2003
Usable things given to neighbours instead of the landfill.
G098 · Noun #46 · pop
Cola for Vodka
United States and Soviet Union · 1972–1990
Cola concentrate swapped for vodka when the ruble couldn't convert.
G099 · Noun #42 · dog
Time Bank Hour
Washington, D.C., and worldwide · since the early 1980s
One hour of help earns one hour, whatever the task.
G100 · Noun #25 · taxi
Home Swap Club
Western Europe, and worldwide · since 1953
Families trade homes for the holidays, with no rent either way.
How a Global Barter note works
Take a ticket
The note remembers the trade when the other half can't happen today, which is what barter has always needed.
Trade across time
Spend it next week, next season or at another member's table. Like for like, whenever both sides are ready.
Settle in goods, never cash
In these designs no note is sold or redeemed for money. Any group that runs one should still check how local law treats barter and community credit.
Real traditions, cited.
Each note is inspired by a documented practice, from caravan trades to barter fairs, work parties, mutual-credit circuits and swap networks. Every reverse names the tradition and its era and cites a source; the detail pages link to it.
These are design studies. The traditions belong to the people who keep them, and nothing here speaks for them.
Built for currencybuilder.xyz.
- Machine editionbarter.json
- Print faces200 SVGs · front and back
- Trim150 × 75 mm · 2:1
- Nouns#0–#99, each used once
- StatusDesign concepts · no physical edition yet