Stories of people throughout history who spent their money in an unusual way
When one is asked what rich people do with their money, possible examples come to mind are Kylie Jenner’s 17-minute private jet flight, celebrities buying private islands, and gold toilets. For those who are losing hope in humanity during the hyperindividualistic present, here are real life stories from the past, near and far, of how people chose to spend their fortunes.
Let us jump back to the fifth-century Dardania, a region of the Roman Empire.In the year 405CE, Justin the Thracian was born to a peasant family. Due to the rigid hierarchical structure of Roman society, his only opportunity to rise in status was through enlisting to the military.
Little is known about Justins’ life before 518. Evidence suggests he moved to Constantinople at some point in his life, arriving illiterate and with minimal possessions. He occupied various roles as part of the excubitors, who were the imperial guards, and eventually became the commander of the palace guard.
After Anastasius the First, the Roman emperor at the time, died childless in 518, Justin saw the potential of the empty throne. It was rumored Amantius, the emperor’s chamberlain, gave Justin a large amount of money to buy his support, who instead used the funds for self-promotion as the next emperor and was later elected to be one. Justin I ruled the Roman Empire from 518-527, being the first emperor of the Justinian dynasty.
Moving south to the 14th century. Mansa Musa was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, located in West Africa, from 1312 to 1337. Time described Musa as “richer than anyone could describe,” in the article: “The 10 Richest People of All Time.” By the time Musa came to power after the previous Mansa, Abu Bakr the Second, disappeared in the Atlantic sea, Mali was already a wealthy kingdom. The Empire of Mali continued to flourish under Musa’s rule with riches from the land, such as salt, elephant ivory, and most importantly gold.
Between 1324 and 1325, Musa travelled to Cairo following his pilgrimage to Mecca.According toNational Geographic,Musa, “gave away so much gold that the overall value of gold decreased in Egypt for the next 12 years.” The news about the Mansa reached Europe, where in 1375, a Spanish cartographer depicted Musa “sitting on a throne, holding a nugget of gold in one hand and a golden staff in the other,” continues National Geographic.
Now that we travelled to Europe and Africa, let us return to a place and some time closer to Sackville of 2025. Welcome to Malden, Massachusetts, 1747. Much like Justin I, Timothy Dexter was born to a family on the margins of society, which forced him to leave school and start working by the age of eight years old. After years of labor in various jobs to lift himself out of poverty, Dexter moved to Boston where he married Elizabeth Frothingham, a wealthy widow. Using Elizabeth’s estate to run his leather selling business, he saved up a large fortune of his own. With the money, he dedicated his life to unique business ventures.
He invested his money in the Continental currency on the advice of other Boston-based businessmen who doubted his chances of success. To their surprise, the currency’s value grew tremendously, further enriching Dexter.
Aiming to earn more money, Dexter once again sought advice from businessmen, who suggested he ships bed warmers and wool mittens to the West Indies. Even though the bed warmers were sold as ladles and wool mittens ended up in Siberia, Dexter made a profit nonetheless. His later ventures were successfully shipping and selling stray cats to the Caribbean islands, with the purpose of solving the stray cat abundance in his town. He also sold coal to Newcastle, a coal mining centre of England, when miners happened to go on strike.
His first funeral was as eventful as his life. To test his friends for loyalty, he staged a fake funeral for himself, bribing his wife and family to be the actors of his show. The pageant of a funeral was revealed when he was caught hitting his wife with a cane for not acting believable to his standards.