Clams, Rocks, Slabs, Bills and Sand Dollars are the most popular and recurring forms of money in Bedrock and the rest of the modern stone age as depicted in the Flintstones franchise.
Background[]
Depiction of Currency[]
The trade value of stone age money is pretty much the same as in the USA during the 1960s. Rocks were the first forms of currency used in the franchise alongside cloth and slab dollar bills, and occasionally clams, with rocks being the equivalent of coins, although they would occasionally be called cents, quarters, dimes, etc rather than rocks, and clams occasionally serving as a substitute for both change and dollar slabs. However by the later half of the original series and much of The Flintstones media after that, rocks and dollar bills became rarer while clams became the more common and de facto currency of Bedrock and the Stone Age. However in the 1994 film, clams and rocks were completely replaced with sand dollars. However the film's follow-up prequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas went back to using clams as the standard money of Bedrock, making sand dollars the most short-lived currency used in the franchise.
Currency[]
Clams[]
Clams (also called Shells) were the most frequently used form of currency in the franchise, with clams being hollowed out clamasaurus shells of varying colors. Their colors seem to denote their value while other times some are depicted with symbols or numbers printed on them to mark their value. They could function in the same role as dollars or coins when necessary.
Rocks[]
Rocks (also called Stones or Coins) were the main form of coins in the modern stone age, with rock quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies being frequently used and given as change for clams or dollars. Some were featureless little circular rocks while others had more details to them like modern coins.
Dollar Bills[]
Dollar Bills, Dollar Slabs or Clam Slabs were the most convenient and easy to carry form of currency and the one used most often early on in the original series and franchise. They were flat green currencies usually printed onto regular paper, poorly cut animal cloth or stone slabs, all of which were tinted green in color to show their common relation. They were basically the US dollars of the stone age, however their portrayal was constantly inconsistent in terms of what material they were made of or what symbols they had printed on them, although usually they had numbers on one side with one or two $ symbols (or none) and two $ symbols on the other side with the symbol of the all-seeing Eye of Providence in between them.
Sand Dollars[]
Sand Dollars were the currency used for the 1994 film and a few very rare instances in older comics and books. They are aquatic sand dollar shells with flowery-shapes that come in a wide range of colors to differentiate their value. They came in two sizes, with one big enough to fit in the palm of one's hand and the other being slightly smaller, with the bigger one likely being the equivalent of a dollar and the smaller one being the equivalent of a coin.
Gallery[]
