In third grade, my friends and I started an economy around pencil lead. We traded with each other, exchanging lead for pencils, pens, and other stationery.
You see, at my elementary school, we flexed on each other with our school supplies. Oxygel pencils, Taiwanese pens, and giant erasers – those were the top items. Most parents, including mine, refused to buy $15 pencils, so many of us had no option but to trade with our classmates.
There were three types of lead in our economy: .5 mm, .7 mm, and .9 mm. The .5 and .7 lead were roughly equal in value, but the .9 was worth twice as much. This is because .9 was rarer, as most of us did not use .9 pencils.
In hindsight, it was no accident that lead became our default currency. Pencil lead actually has several qualities that make it a good choice:
The lead exchange caught on surprisingly quickly, and soon enough, every third grader was getting involved. It lasted until the end of the school year, before naturally dying down as summer vacation started.
I’m sure most of us have some version of this story from our childhood, whether we traded Monopoly money or bottle caps or something else. But I’m still impressed by my third-grade self. My friends and I were able to build our own economy around an unconventional currency, and we even got our classmates to join in.