Were there ever socities that used non government issued gold and silver coins as money?
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/private-coinage-in-america/
Also, in England. Many of them were copper, though.
One can believe that coins pre-date governments, but I think the problem is we do not have much documentation pre-dating governments.
"in 1737 and 1739. Higley let the market determine the value of his coins, on which he imprinted "I am good copper/Value me as you please." "
ha....I like that. He had a sense of humor too.
The USA between 1837 when the the Congress did not renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States to 1863 the USA had no central bank. Individual banks would take deposits in gold or silver and then print paper claims on the gold or silver that people used as currency.
Granted this was not the glory days of banking as states heavily regulated banking and had regulations on branches and interstate banking, but it was still better than under a central bank.