How Does a Touchstone Work?

Before the use of coins and currency was established, how did Merchants and Traders determine the quality and validity of precious metals being offered to them in trade for goods and services? Lloyd from the Lindybeige Channel explains how this worked. Modern methods to examine the molecular structure of things can be done non-destructively by a method called X-Ray Fluorescence. Before that, Nitric Acid was used to determine the quality of precious metal such as gold. Long ago, the use of a stone called a Touchstone was used to tell the difference between an item the user knew was authentic with a precious metal being offered to them. Today, the term touchstone has endured to mean something a person can rely on as a gauge of quality. Check out Lloyd's Channel: https://youtube.com/lindybeige Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram/htmeverything. Animations by Cole Funck https://ift.tt/2QbjFMK || SUBSCRIBE || YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/1OmesgS || SUPPORT || Patreon - https://ift.tt/1RzRaSL Spreadshirt - https://ift.tt/1OX2KHI Special Thanks to our Patrons at $15 per month or higher: Sandy Riis, Stian Andreassen, Uwe Schmidt, Daniel Laux, Winfield Jones, Liz Roth, Antonio Rios-Ochoa, Jenny Wolf-Matte, Stephan Schmidt, Quintin, Tim Reiche, Mats Nydesjö, Dylan Rich, Jason Lewis, Susan M. George, Liam pinkney, Stephan Becker, Lana Sinapayen, Stephen C Strausbaugh, Meinhard Absalon, Coby Tang, Jason Kaczmarsky, Avinash Rajaraman, Andrew Nichols, Patrick Davis, Santiago Ochoa, Kim Kozlovsky, Tyler Greeson, Remi_Scarlet, Skylar MacDonald, Steven Ingles, Brett Moran || SOCIAL || Facebook: http://ow.ly/X4rJC Twitter: http://ow.ly/X4rS3 (@HTMeverything) Instagram: http://ow.ly/X4rXs || SERIES || Sandwich - http://bit.ly/1ZVGNRn Suit - http://bit.ly/1NsQri8 Bottle - http://bit.ly/1QlTU6C Thanksgiving Dinner - http://bit.ly/1UjLa1R Root Beer Float - http://bit.ly/1OGfphU Book - http://bit.ly/1SF23Gx Chocolate Bar - http://bit.ly/2085HIs Coffee - http://bit.ly/2jllv0I Eyeglasses - http://bit.ly/2jlispn Microscope and Telescope: http://bit.ly/2nQCRn7 How To Brew Everything: http://bit.ly/2kJb47E Meet The Makers - http://bit.ly/23ldFlS || ABOUT || Today, getting what you need is as easy as a trip to the store. From food to clothing, energy, medicine, and so much more, Andy George will discover what it takes to make everything from scratch. His mission is to understand the complex processes of manufacturing that is often taken for granted and do it all himself. Each week he’s traveling the world to bypass the modern supply chain in order to harvest raw materials straight from the source. Along the way, he’s answering the questions you never thought to ask. Music by the talented Taylor Lewin http://taylorlewin.com