# Money bag

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"4" redirects here. For Bag of money, see [Moneybags](/source/Moneybags). For Money purse, see [Shekel sack](/source/Shekel_sack). For the songs, see [Bag of Money](/source/Bag_of_Money). For and, see [Money Bag (song)](/source/Money_Bag_(song)). For the game show, see [*Moneybags* (game show)](/source/Moneybags_(game_show)). For monetary payments to naval crews, see [Prize money](/source/Prize_money). For the ancient coin, see [Shekel](/source/Shekel). For the rapper, see [Moneybagg Yo](/source/Moneybagg_Yo).

A **money bag** (or **money sack**) is a [bag](/source/Bag) normally used to hold and transport [coins](/source/Coin) and [banknotes](/source/Banknote), often closed with a [drawstring](/source/Drawstring).[1] When transported between banks and other institutions, money bags are usually moved in [armored cars](/source/Armored_car_(valuables)) or [money trains](/source/Money_train). It is a type of [currency packaging](/source/Currency_packaging). Money bags are often portrayed in cartoons and other light popular culture.

## History

According to the account given in the Bible's [Gospel of John](/source/Gospel_of_John), [Judas Iscariot](/source/Judas_Iscariot) carried the disciples' money bag.[2]

During the [Roman era](/source/Roman_era), the [Legio IV Scythica](/source/Legio_IV_Scythica) was camped in [Zeugma](/source/Zeugma,_Commagene), a city of [Commagene](/source/Kingdom_of_Commagene) (modern-day Turkey). Excavations carried out in the city have revealed 65,000 [seal imprints](/source/Bulla_(seal)) in clay, known as *bullae*, found in a place which is believed to have served as the archives for the [customs](/source/Customs) of Zeugma. The seal imprints used in sealing papyrus, parchment, moneybags, and customs bales are good indications of the volume of trade and the density of transportation and communication networks once established in the region.

[Charon's obols](/source/Charon's_obol#Western_Europe), a death custom originating in ancient Greece whereby a coin is placed with a corpse, from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD in Western Europe, were often found in pouches, making them *money pouches*.

From the Middle Ages to around 1900, [Rottweiler](/source/Rottweiler) dogs were used by travelling butchers at markets to guard money pouches tied around their necks.[3]

Beginning in the 14th century, purses of money (*panakizhi*) were awarded to scholars during the [Revathi Pattathanam](/source/Revathi_Pattathanam), an annual assembly of scholars held in [Kerala](/source/Kerala), India. In 16th century feudal Japan, samurai wore *[uchi-bukuro](/source/Uchi-bukuro)* ('money purses') around the waist or neck.

In 1620, [pediatric tracheotomy](/source/Tracheotomy#History) was unheard of until a boy tried to hide a bag of gold by swallowing it. It became lodged in his [esophagus](/source/Esophagus) and blocked his [trachea](/source/Trachea). The tracheotomy allowed the surgeon to manipulate the bag, and it passed through his system.[4]

In September 1864, [Rose O'Neal Greenhow](/source/Rose_O'Neal_Greenhow), a Confederate agent, drowned with a bag of gold around her neck after leaving the *Condor* (a British blockade runner ship) in a boat.

## Nickname

A wealthy person can have the [nickname](/source/Nickname) "moneybag" (or "moneybags").[5][6]

[Marcus Licinius Crassus](/source/Marcus_Licinius_Crassus) (c. 115–53 BC), a leading Roman politician in his day, was known in Rome as *[Dives](/source/Dives_(disambiguation))*, meaning "the Rich" or "Moneybags". [Ivan I of Moscow](/source/Ivan_I_of_Moscow) (r.) was a Russian grand prince who received the sobriquet *Kalita* ("Moneybag").[7] American cardinal [Francis Spellman](/source/Francis_Spellman) (1889–1967) was sometimes called "Cardinal Moneybags" in his later life, while Chicago mobster and racketeer [Murray Humphreys](/source/Murray_Humphreys) (1899–1965) was referred to as "Mr. Moneybags" by his friends. [James Edward "Baron of Edgerton" Hanson](/source/James_Hanson,_Baron_Hanson)'s (1922–2004) billion-dollar empire earned him the nickname "Lord Moneybags".

In fiction, Miss Moneybags (played by [Edna Purviance](/source/Edna_Purviance)) is a character in the 1915 Charlie Chaplin silent comedy film *[The Count](/source/The_Count_(film))*. [Victor Newman](/source/Victor_Newman) (Eric Braeden) of *The Young and the Restless* soap opera, has also been called "Moneybags".

## In popular culture

Money bags have been represented in art and culture throughout human history, including paintings, literature, film, television, games, and even food.

- A leno, a [stock character in the theatre of ancient Rome](/source/Theatre_of_ancient_Rome#Stock_characters_in_Roman_comedy) (1st century BC to 5th century AD), is often depicted carrying a money bag.[citation needed]
- [Jainism](/source/Jainism) sculpture (c.10th-11th centuries AD) shows various Jain gods ([Yaksa Sarvanubhuti](/source/Yaksha#Yaksha_and_Yakshini_in_Jainism)) and/or their attendants/servants, holding money bags (*chowrie*, *noli*),[8] purses (*nakulika*),[9] or "purse-like objects"[10] Buddhist ([Pañcika](/source/Pa%C3%B1cika) and [Vaiśravaṇa](/source/Vai%C5%9Brava%E1%B9%87a)/Jambhala) and Hindu ([Kubera](/source/Kubera)) deities/gods/goddesses have money bags (or purses or their equivalent--"bag/sheath of jewels", etc.) as part of their [iconography](/source/Iconography).
- Around 1130, [Hugh of St. Victor](/source/Hugh_of_St._Victor)'s *Chronica'*s [preface](/source/Preface) refers to a money bag (*[sacculus](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sacculus)* or *sacculum* in Latin), with its compartments, as a memory training analogy.[11]
- *[The Conjurer](/source/The_Conjurer_(painting))*, a c. 1502 painting by Hieronymus Bosch, features a child stealing a money purse from a bespectacled character.

- Around 1791, [James Gillray](/source/James_Gillray) published a cartoon about reaction to the [Boydell Shakespeare Gallery](/source/Boydell_Shakespeare_Gallery#Reaction) labelled "Boydell sacrificing the Works of Shakespeare to the Devil of Money-Bags".
- *[The Apotheosis of Washington](/source/The_Apotheosis_of_Washington#Symbolism)* (1865), a fresco in the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building that contains a commerce scene with the Roman god Mercury holding a bag of gold.
- The obverse 1896 US [Educational Series](/source/Educational_Series) [$2 bill](/source/United_States_two-dollar_bill) shows an [allegorical](/source/Allegorical) figure of Commerce who has a bag of money next to her, making it a picture of a bag of money on real money.
- *A Bag of Gold* (1915), film starring [Sidney Ainsworth](/source/Sidney_Ainsworth)
- In 1974, [Herb Block](/source/Herb_Block) produced *Herblock Special Report*, a book of political cartoons and text about Richard Nixon with some cartoons featuring money bags.[12]
- [*Money for Nothing*](/source/Money_for_Nothing_(1993_film)) (1993), comedy/crime film about Joey Coyle (John Cusack) who finds $1.2 million dollars in a bag in the middle of the street after it falls out of the back of an armored car
- *[The Black Book](/source/The_Black_Book_(1993_novel))* (1993), crime novel by Ian Rankin about "Operation Moneybags", a police investigation aimed at putting a money-lender out of business
- [*29 Palms*](/source/29_Palms_(film)) (2002), direct-to-video film about a bag of money that affects the characters who possess it
- [Thai money bag](/source/Thai_money_bag) (tung tong, or toong tong, ถุงทอง), a small, crispy, deep-fried pastry purse [shaped like a money bag] with various filling (circa unknown)
- In the *[South Park](/source/South_Park)* in episode "[Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow](/source/Two_Days_Before_the_Day_After_Tomorrow)" (2005), a typically-[antisemitic](/source/Antisemitism) Cartman tries to stop Kyle at gunpoint, demanding the latter give up his bag of "Jew gold". It turns out that Kyle not only has a bag of gold (which he wears round his neck at all times), but a decoy bag as well.
- Dean Accessories makes a [handbag](/source/Handbag) from [recycled](/source/Recycle) decommissioned US mint money bags.[13]

### In games

The 1976 television game show *[Break the Bank](/source/Break_the_Bank_(1976_game_show))* had a money bag as a space and *[The Price Is Right](/source/The_Price_Is_Right)* has a pricing game called ["Balance Game"](/source/List_of_The_Price_Is_Right_pricing_games#B).

In various games, money bags (or *bags of gold*) tend to be used to represent [treasure](/source/Treasure) or [points](/source/Score_(game)). In [board games](/source/Board_game) like *[Dungeon!](/source/Dungeon!)* (1975) a money bag is a treasure card, in *[Talisman](/source/Talisman_(board_game))* (1983) as a card, and in *[Monopoly](/source/Monopoly_(game))* as a pawn/piece introduced in 1999.[14]

[Video games](/source/Video_game) such as *[Lock 'n' Chase](/source/Lock_'n'_Chase)* (1981), *[Bagman](/source/Bagman_(video_game))* (1982), *[Pitfall!](/source/Pitfall!)* (1982), [Digger](/source/Digger_(video_game)) (1983), *[Bank Panic](/source/Bank_Panic)* (1984), *[Circus Charlie](/source/Circus_Charlie)* (1984), *[Gunfright](/source/Gunfright)* (1985), *[Roller Coaster](/source/Roller_Coaster_(video_game))* (1985), *[Arm Wrestling](/source/Arm_Wrestling_(video_game))* (1985), the *[Castlevania](/source/Castlevania)* series (1986-2010+),[15] and *[Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood](/source/Robin_Hood:_The_Legend_of_Sherwood)* (2002) have money bags (or bags of gold) in them. As video game characters, Moneybags is a character in the *Spyro the Dragon* series and a boss named Moneybags in *[Dual Hearts](/source/Dual_Hearts)*.

## See also

- [Currency packaging](/source/Currency_packaging)
- [Handbag](/source/Handbag)
- [Money belt](/source/Money_belt)
- [Coin purse](/source/Coin_purse)
- [Digital currency](/source/Digital_currency)
- [Wallet](/source/Wallet)
- [Money](/source/Money)
- [World currency](/source/World_currency)

## References

1. [Fallen money bag sparks Ohio cash grab](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8588339.stm), [BBC News](/source/BBC_News), 25 March 2010 (retrieved 10 January 2012)

1. [Rottweiler](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/510712/Rottweiler), [Encyclopædia Britannica Online](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Online), retrieved 30 April 2010

1. Rajesh, Orl. "Historical Review Of Tracheostomy." *Internet Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science* 4,22006 1-5. 17 Oct 2007

1. [money bag](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/money%20bag), [Dictionary.com](/source/Dictionary.com), retrieved April 04, 2010

1. [moneybags](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moneybags), *[Merriam-Webster](/source/Merriam-Webster) Online Dictionary*. retrieved April 4, 2010

1. Favereau, Marie (2021). [*The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jKMbEAAAQBAJ). Harvard University Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-674-24421-4.

1. [*Jaina-Rup̄a-Manḍạna, Volume 1*](https://books.google.com/books?id=m_y_P4duSXsC), Umakant Premanand Shah, Abhinav Publications, 1987, pp. 48,73,116,121-2,124,156,219,220,233,326 ISBN 978-81-7017-208-6 at [Google Books](/source/Google_Books)

1. Shah, pages 125,130,178,181

1. Shah, p.161

1. [Art of memory#Principles](/source/Art_of_memory#Principles)

1. ["I am not a crook" (Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium)](https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/crook.html) at the [United States Library of Congress](/source/United_States_Library_of_Congress), 15 Jan 2002

1. [Recycled Bank Bag, Handbag of the Day](http://www.luxist.com/2009/12/04/recycled-bank-bag-handbag-of-the-day/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130413013856/http://www.luxist.com/2009/12/04/recycled-bank-bag-handbag-of-the-day/) 2013-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Deidre Woollard, [Luxist.com](/source/Luxist.com), 4 December 2009, retrieved 12 April 2010

1. ["A New Bag For Monopoly Game"](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-new-bag-for-monopoly-game/), [CBS News](/source/CBS_News), 17 March 1999, retrieved 14 March 2010

1. [*Castlevania*](http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/NewCV/game-cv1.htm), Mr. P's Castlevania Realm (hosted at [The Video Game Museum](/source/The_Video_Game_Museum), retrieved 12 August 2010)

## External links

- [moneybag](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/moneybag) at [The Free Dictionary](/source/TheFreeDictionary.com)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Money bag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_bag) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_bag?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.