Talk:Yap

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I believe this statement in the text is inaccurate: "There are five major types: Mmbul, Gaw, Ray, Yar, and Reng, this last being only 0.3 m (1 ft) in diameter." My understanding is all stone money are Ray. Yar are an entirely different type of traditional Yapese currency. Rather than stone disks, they are large, flattish shells with woven handles attached. Reng, I believe, is turmeric powder. Another form of traditional Yapese currency is a necklace of strung boar's tusks and thick, disk-shaped shells. I don't know the name, but perhaps this might be the Mmbul or Gaw mentioned.

-James Peace Corps Volunteer, Yap, 1986-88

If you can find any textual source to confirm your recollection, just make the change (it isn't that I don't believe you, but it can't hurt to be sure. Also, you never know but it is possible that the currencies take different forms on different islands or that they have changed over the past 50 or 100 years) Slrubenstein

1 Misleading description of "Stone Money"
2 Plate Tectonics
3 Fixed money supply ??
4 Name this island?

[edit] Misleading description of "Stone Money"

I'm not positive (I have visited Yap, but that is my limit of knowledge) but this statement seems somewhat misleading:

"As no more disks are being produced, the money supply is fixed. In recent years, however, the United States dollar has seen increasing use as the currency of Yap."

U.S. Currency has been the medium of exchange from at least the 40's, and Japanese (and German) money was probably in that role in prior decades. The stone money is used, in recent centuries at least, more in a ceremonial sense, although this does not mean the stones do not change hands. But no one is expected to spend stone money to buy trivial things, or exchange dollars for stones to have purchasing power in Yap. The supply is fixed only in the sense that the stones have cultural provenance. One could easily produce more and bring them in, but that would not get past the knowledge the local people have about the stones. These "fakes" would not be accepted as having any value, except perhaps to sell to tourists for "real" money. - Marshman 20:47, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Your descripion corresponds to my understanding as well. Surely the disks have attracted enough attention to have generated a scholarly article/book or two? Those would be good to cite, since the stone money is the Ripley's Believe It or Not-esque thing that interests random readers more than anything else about the island, we should be detailed and precise about it. Stan 21:54, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

From what I understand about the giant stone money, they're not the medium of exchange, they're the backing of the medium of exchange. America uses (well, used) the gold standard, trading part-ownership of bricks of gold which were kept in Fort Knox; similarly, Yap uses (or used) the Giant Stone Wheel standard. An introductory economics book I read a few years ago described a situation where a disgruntled Yap saved up until he was sole owner of one particular "coin", at which point he loaded it into a canoe and took off for a new island. His canoe sank before he got very far, and the Yap economy was facing severe damage due to this sudden loss of money; to compensate, the Yap elders went to the approximate site of where the canoe had sunk, and sent down divers to locate the coin. Once they knew where it was, they were able to claim ownership of it, and the money went back into circulation.

Did this actually happen? Or was it something that the author invented to illustrate a fundamental similarity-in-principle between two systems of money? I have no idea, and I'm not sure it matters. DS 14:45, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Probably BS. But it is in the discussion (talk page) and not the article, so it does not matter at all - Marshman 04:48, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

As I understand it, stone money as it is used today is not backing another medium of exchange. It has a seperate purpose from the US currency also used in Yap. Stone money is used in traditional matters such as marriages or payment of a fine by an individual, family, or village for a wrong doing. US currency is used for the exchange of goods and services and is not related to stone money. -- 70.230.113.137 01:29, 1 February 2006 (UTC)Chelle Gillespie, Peace Corps Volunteer, Yap 2003-2004

I think that is exactly right - Marshman 05:06, 1 February 2006 (UTC)There is a yap coin if you can call it that we read about it in school

[edit] Plate Tectonics

Isn't the Yap islands on the Pacific plate not the Eurasian plate?

The picture in the lower part is empty. Can someone check the picture, or shall we remove it? Adacus12

[edit] Fixed money supply ??

with regards to "Approximately 6,800 of them are scattered around the island. As no more disks are being produced, this ceremonial money supply is fixed"

I found this ...

"The Yapese valued them because large stones were quite difficult to steal and were in relatively short supply. However, in 1874, an enterprising Irishman named David O'Keefe hit upon the idea of employing the Yapese to import more "money" in the form of shiploads of large stones, also from Palau. O'Keefe then traded these stones with the Yapese for other commodities such as sea cucumbers and copra. Over time, the Yapese brought thousands of new stones to the island, debasing the value of the old ones. Today they are almost worthless, except as a tourist curiosity."

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation

PJ61.69.160.35 07:36, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks PJ, I have incorporated the additional information into the article and re-arraged it into a more logical order. Although 19:50, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Yapese Stone Money are not and will never be WORTHLESS...please get your facts straight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.30.171.218 (talk) 00:43, 20 September 2007 (UTC)