Although
paper money, printed on strong mulberry bark, was in use in China when
Marco Polo visited the country in the 13th century, it was not until
1661 that the first bank note was issued in the West. Even so, until the
outbreak of World War 1, merchants, financiers and the rich were the
principal users of paper money, rather than ordinary people, for whom
coins were the common currency. As a result, 17th and 18th century notes
are fairly rare. However, a considerable amount of paper money was
produced in the 19th century. In August 1914, the Bank of England called
in gold coins, fearing that they would be hoarded during the coming war,
and replaced them with emergency £1 and 10 shilling notes. These first
issue notes, known as "Bradburys" after the Secretary to the
Treasury who signed them, were printed on flimsy postage stamp paper,
and because of this very few have survived in good condition. Notes of
better quality and design soon replaced these, and many notes from the
1920s to the 1940s can be found for relatively little cost. Another rich
field for collectors is bank notes issued from the late 18th century to
the 1920s by privately owned British provincial banks, many of which
went bankrupt, or later merged with bigger banks.
Many old bank notes are associated with past economic disasters or
political crises. The most notorious are German notes issued in the
1920s, when rampant inflation made a packet of cigarettes cost a million
marks. Thousands of the high-denomination notes issued then can still be
found, but are virtually worthless. Of greater interest are 19th century
foreign bank notes, particularly US Confederate notes and
pre-Revolutionary Russian notes, which are much sought after by
collectors.
In the first two
decades of the 20th century, paper money largely supplanted coins for
everyday transactions in most European countries. Bank notes were
designed to be as forgery-proof as possible. Papers and inks were
carefully chosen, and engraving was extremely complex, demanding the
highest levels of skill. Designs varied from country to country. Early
British notes were fairly austere and, except for the third issue
Treasury notes of 1917, did not carry the monarch's portrait until 1960.
Italian and French notes often carried portraits of national heroes,
while Spanish notes were sometimes decorated with vignettes based on
paintings in Madrid's Prado Museum.
A lot of paper
money has survived from late Victorian and Edwardian times – few
people could bring themselves to throw it away – and is easy to find
at auctions and from specialist dealers. Because there are so many old
bank notes around, most collectors tend to specialize, usually in notes
from a particular country or period of history. For the beginner,
however, a good way of starting is to buy a job lot of miscellaneous
notes, usually for a very reasonable price, and then to study them to
see what interests you most.
Condition is an important factor in deciding the value of notes. A very
rare item will obviously be desirable even if it is battered, but
generally you should try to buy printed material in the best condition
you can afford. Most catalogues and price guides follow a type of
classification also used for coins and postage stamps. Completely
pristine notes without any kind of crease of blemish are described as
UNC (uncirculated). The grading then goes: EF (extremely fine); VF (very
fine); F (fine); VG (very good); G (good) and P (poor). The wording is
somewhat misleading, as VG implies that a note has small folds, stains,
pinholes and tears, although no serious blemises. Most collectors aim at
F or better. Forgeries of bank notes do exist but it usually takes an
expert to detect them. Some forgeries can be valuable in their own
right.
Image Copyright,
Marshall Cavendish
