Light is shed on different aspects of the monetary economy, such as the history of precious metals and their relevance to money. The pursuit of silver and gold in America changed history. The history of money is often the tale of how man seeks to balance the strange and remarkable systems of coins and weights. The display exhibits the Greek tetradrachmas, which served as trade coins during the 5th c. BC in the eastern Mediterranean area, and how Roman silver and gold coins helped shape an empire. There are trade coins from Florence and Venice, dating back to the late Middle Ages.