Commodity market in Sumer between 4500 BC and 4000 BC. Sumerians first used clay tokens sealed in a clay vessel, then clay writing tablets to represent the amount—for example, the number of goats, to be delivered. These promises of time and date of delivery resemble futures contract. Early civilizations variously used pigs, rare seashells, or other items as commodity money. Since that time traders have sought ways to simplify and standardize trade contracts. Gold and silver markets evolved in classical civilizations. At first the precious metals were valued for their beauty and intrinsic worth and were associated with royalty. In time, they
Ordo Aurum Solis Ordo Aurum Solis. As Sumerian and Egyptian magic also found their place in the clear system of the ancient Greek Mysteries, the Western initiatic tradition was born. Just before the dawn of the 20th century, there were a number of "antiquarian" and "folklore" societies in England that chronicled curiosities and pursued their own chosen researches. One such society was known as the "Societas Rotae Fulgentis" (i.e., “Society of the Blazing Wheel”) and had been slowly amassing a wealth of knowledge and research from its various antecedents in the Ogdoadic Tradition. To this society belonged two dedicated occultists, Charles Kingold and