SC - FW: Spices Used as a Form of Currency?

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/22/00 2:48:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
mermayde at juno.com writes:

<< Does anyone out there know how to find out if Arab
 merchants used spices as a form of currency as well as a tradable
 commodity? >>

I am unsure myself. I know that Master Adamantius' student, Puck, was 
researching the area of trade in the middle ages extensively a while back but 
have not heard any results of that research lately. He was trying to find 
shipping manifests and other documents. Although his focus was on non-Middle 
eastern traders, I am sure he covered all areas with equal interest. Puck, 
have you progressed in this area to a point where any basic conclusions can 
be drawn?

Personally, I would assume that middle eastern and Andalusian traders were 
far more interested in gold, silver and jewels rather than having people pay 
them back with the spices they provided in the first place. :-)

al-Sayiid A'aql ibn Rashid al-Zib