From Sall’s Stone Money post, here’s a very insightful analysis of the relative benefits of checks and cash in an economy where we can be paid in either.

The median of exchange is very similar to what is presently used. If we a cut a check for someone, the ink on that paper makes it valuable. The check can be ripped but the money will remain in the owner’s bank account, which is very similar to the “Fei underwater.” Nobody may have seen the actual money, but there is a written statement that convince us of its presence. But this is different for an actual dollar bill. A dollar bill is made with paper and ink, just like a check, but if totally ripped or burned, the value is reduced to zero.

From Albert’s Stone Money post, this fascinating observation that whoever owned the first fei, however small or low-grade it was, owned all the wealth of Yap.

Whoever discovered the limestone first from the Yaps might not even have had the biggest fei or the most valuable one; at some point a fei might not even have had a hole in the center. Nevertheless, as more Yaps had the facility to go 400 miles overseas and come back with fei, the value of the fie decreased and, therefore, the difficulty of getting the best limestone was increased. For example, coming home with the biggest fei, or making the hole in the center as proof of the quality of the limestone, gave the rock more value and as a result, more power to the owner.

Again, from Albert’s Stone Money post, here’s another smart observation, that the very uselessness of the fei for anything other than as symbols of wealth, made physically owning them irrelevant.

The uselessness of a fei made the idea of not having to physically possess the fei acceptable. The acknowledgement of being the owner of a fei that was more difficult to make than others, or more difficult to bring home, or with a hole that proved its superior quality was enough to have more power than other Yap islanders. Therefore, when “a violent storm arose, and the party, to save their lives, were obligated to cut the raft adrift, and the stone sank out of sight,” there wasn’t any problem accepting the owner’s power of the unseen fei because “it was all chipped out in proper form.”

Please don’t be upset if your own brilliant observations are not noted here. I’ve been impressed by much of what I’ve read from you so far. It just so happens these appealed to me as I was writing feedback today. I hope you find them instructive.