Commodity money cans or foil pouches of mackerel fish fillets, which have a fairly standard cost and are easy to store. These may be exchanged for many services in prisons where personal possession of currency is prohibited. In situations where the commodity is metal, typically gold or silver, a government mint will often coin money by placing a mark on the metal that serves as a guarantee of the weight and purity of the metal. In doing so, the government will often impose a fee which is known as seigniorage. The role of a mint and of coin differs between commodity money
Commodity value Commodity value In the field of economics, the commodity value of a good is its free market intrinsic value under optimal use conditions. In a free market, the commodity value of a good will be reflected by its price. For example, if an acre of land can yield a net of 100 dollars loss by lying fallow, 50 dollars gain by being planted with corn, and 100 dollars gain by being planted with wheat, then that acre's commodity value is 100 dollars; the farmer is assumed to put his land to best use. The price of a commodity fluctuates around