Tag Archives: money

Paper money

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The history of paper money is far more involved and less linear than any of us might expect. We use it without really thinking about all the thought, and all the changes that have gone into the bills we use now.

Because coins are heavy and difficult to transport, the search for an easier form of currency began early, especially in far-flung trading networks where carrying large amounts of cash was impractical.

Leather, parchment and other durable substances were used. They were not paper money, as we think of it. These bills acted as bills of credit or promissory notes for the transaction of business. Paper money is thought to have begun in China using the inner bark of mulberry trees. (I guess in this case money really did grow on trees.)

Letters of credit and promissory notes were widely used in Europe during the Middle Ages. They were backed up usually by specie. The shift toward using these banknotes in Europe occurred in the mid-17th century. But the issuing of such notes was not centralized. Banks and other groups (such as the Knights Templar) issued their own.

. In the United States, notes were issued by different banks, even the different states. There were more than 7000 different varieties.. In 1861, the Treasury Department began printing ‘Treasury notes’, partially to help fund the Civil War. But the other banks and institutions continued printing there own notes; US government decreed these notes were subject to government authorization. The law was not suspended until 1932.

Although paper money is lighter to carry, it is also less durable. Counterfeiting has been and continues to be an ongoing problem. To combat the problem, various changes were instituted. The Secret Service was established in the 1860s. In 1929, the design for the bills was standardized. Paper and ink have been changed a few times to make them harder to copy and, most recently, the pictures have been moved off center.

The history of paper money is far more involved and interesting than we realize.money

Let’s talk about money

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As I mentioned before in the previous post, at least my character Will Rees was used to money. Of course, in the early U.S., the people used French sous, Spanish pieces of eight, and British pence as well as the new coinage: the American dollar.

In the new series, in Bronze Age Crete, I am not sure how common money was.

No longer nomadic, the civilizations of the Middle East had settled homes where they grew food. Financial interchanges probably began with barter – but that must have taken some dickering. “I’ll give you a bracelet for so many bags of wheat” for example.

By the period of my new series, the civilizations did have metal – hence the name Bronze Age. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper. I suspect, since they had metal, they had some form of coinage – or at least metal that was used as money. Was it per weight? Who knows.

Many many clay tablets have been found on Crete and of course where the great civilizations of Mesopotamia were located. Most of them are lists: lists of products or a name of a person who will pay so many pieces of silver. One theory suggests that writing began so as to keep track of money.

But we would probably not recognize the money. In some cases the money was based on measures of barley that is the shekel. As we might expect, gold was rare and valuable – but also heavy – so silver and electrum (a combination of gold and silver) were also used. Egypt used copper as money.

And with the trade that took place at this time, I expect Egyptian copper money, shekels and other coins were used as well.

True coins, by the way, were not created until around 600 BCE. A great leap forward because, if you have consistent coinage, the money offered does not have to be weighed every time a financial transaction too place. Of course gold and silver would have been good for valuable items such as a slave or a bull but what about food?Thousands of less valuable coins made of copper or bronze have been found at places like Athens where there were markets and shops.

There is a lot more history about money – the role of kings, banking, lending and interest and so forth – features we take for granted to day. Hard to believe it all had to be invented and is actually quite complicated.