The contribution is divided into four parts. The first contextualizes the issue of alternative currencies from a methodological and chronological point of view. The second questions the real diffusion of metal money and highlights the problems deriving from the presence of accounting almost always in money of account. The third concerns how, in a world where alternative currencies were very relevant, value was attributed to goods used in trade or to pay for services. The fourth underlines the consequences of the presence of robust economic logics even in the pre-industrial age. In the final part, after underlining the critical issues of the approach adopted in the reconstruction of wages and living standards, alternative solutions are proposed that are more in line with the pre-industrial reality that we want to investigate.