Question

Which of these scenarios involves commodity money?

A girl writes a check to her friend for a stack of valuable comic books.
A boy starts a lemonade stand and sells each drink for twenty-five cents.
A woman offers her neighbor a US silver dollar in exchange for a bicycle.
A man buys some T-shirts and pays with a US fifty-dollar bill.

Answer 1

The woman offering her neighbor a US silver dollar for a bicycle.

Reason: commodity money has intrinsic value (the medium itself is a useful commodity). A silver dollar contains valuable metal, whereas checks, modern cents, and modern $50 bills are fiat/representative or token money without significant intrinsic commodity value.