Wichita eagle., 1888-08-17
PAPER MONEY.
THE DIFFERENT KINDS ISSUED BY
VARIOUS FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

At almost any hour of the day eager and
hungry eyed men and boys may be seen
feasting their eyes on the ghttering heaps
! OF coin and the thin bundles OF bank notes
spreadSn tempting array behind thesplate
glass windows of the money changers in
| wall street and vicinity. 1T is surpris-
ing, said Nassau street broker, ''how
many different kinds Of paper we use for
! currency in the various foreign countries.
! Each nation seems to have its own
! particular kind or brand of paper. Hero
Is Bank of England note. 1t is printed
Oh Irish linen water lined paper, plain
white, with rough edges. You VIII notice
III short time how the paper lacks the
smooth, oily feeling Of our own bank
notes Then, again, there is an alb
sence Of any col0ring except black and
| white. The smallest notes issued by
the Bank of England ere of the value Of
60 or S25. The old fashion Of sending
these notes from one country to another
was to cut tho note into two parts and
send the pieces in separate envelopes, but
that is largely done away with. All such
notes finally find their way back to the
Bank of England, where they are retired
for good. They are never reissued, as the
bank only sends out new, clean notes. I
have heard it said that the average life of
a Bank OF England note was about three
weeks. A Bank of Ireland note, as you
will see, does not differ much from Bank
OF England note, except that it has more
elaborate scroll work.
This note with blue and black letter
ing, together with numerous symbolical
pictures, is Il Banquc de France note. 1t
is made Of plain white paper, and could
be easily initiated, should think The
smallest note issued by the banque is
20f. note, while the largest is the 1,00Of.,
which is equivalent tc about $3.50 in our
money.
Now, the German bills are printed in
green upon paper good deal lighter than
our gold certificates. The Austrian paper
currency is printed much the same. The
German bills range in denomination from
five marks, or $1.25, to 10000 marks, or
about s;240 Of our money. Very few no.
tice at first glance that the Austrian bills
are printed in German on one side and in
Hungarian on the other. This is done, as
| understand, to. accommodate the ten
classes of Francis Joseph's subjects.
Tho paper of an Austrian bill is very
light colored, but quite thick and tough.
1t has none of the fine lines nor the silk
fiber marks which are the characteristics
of our national or United States treasury
notes. The smallest Austrian note is of
the value Of one guilder or form, nearly
40 cents here. The largest note issued is
Of the value of 1000 fiorins, or 1885, in
our money. The engraver must have
been Of religious turn of mind, if all the
angel heads on these notes are of any in
dication.
Some European countries get up their
notes regardless of colored ink. Thus the
Italian 900 lire note is an elaborate af-
fair The paper is plain white, but the
printing is done in pink, blue and car
mine. Here is one which has a very
finely engraved vignette of King Hum
bert, and the scroll work will compare
favorably with the best Of any currency.
The smaller Italian bills are about the
same size as cur old fractional currency.
They vary in denomination from one lire,
or 20 cents, to 10 lire, or about So in our
money.
Here, perhaps, is the most gorgeously
colored bank note Of any European coun-
try. It is Russian 100 ruble bill 1t
has almost every color of the rainbow,
barred from top to bottom, as though it
had been thrown through prism. The
100 ruble bill is quite large. being.
think, four by ten inches in size. Here,
in the center, is portrait of Catherine l.
The paper is not of an especially fine
quality, while the lettering is done with
dark and light brown ink. The % and 10
ruble notes are much smaller and almost
free from any elaborate display of colors.
The note mostly used is the ruble, or
about $2.25 in our money"
After looking at various other speca-
mems of foreign paper money, we inquired
whether outside Of the business ex-
changes. there was much used
Yes; there is quito call for foreign
bills, especially at this season of the year.
when so many thousands are going to and
some people will not take paper money.
ask for coin, and say that they do not
want the paper bills. The Austrians and
Hungarians are Just the opposite. They
3wn country to coin. The Americans
Usually want coin. AS one traveller said
to me not long ago, Gold is good for its
face value all over the world, and can
get it exchanged if l want bills The |
-
found, are not very particular. They |
would lust as soon take lire notes as lire |
coins"
Taking engraving and paper into cen
what country do you think /
turns out the best notesl''
well, with due regard for our English
cousins, think that the United States
notes beat the world Take the item of !
paper alone, OF course, during the rebel /
lion the government was obliged to issue |
within very short time enormous !
amounts Of paper money in place OF gold /
and silver which seemed to have been |
suddenly swallowed up. The governments |
then used only plain. commercial bank |
note paper, which gave the counterfeiters |
a good chance to food the country with |
notes like the old greenback issue But. |
about twenty years ago. the treasury ce-
partIent adopted special paper, the dis
tinctive feature Of which was narrow
localized line of short blue iiber running /
the entire length of the sheet of paper
in such manner as not TO lessen its
strength or interfere with the printing.
did You ever examine the paper OF
United States note under glass!
No: well. if Won would you would see
that these fbers have the appearance Of
coarse black hairs, of all lengths and /
shapes, scattered promiscuousiy all over
the surface Of tie note This kind OF
paper is known as the Wilcox patent
few years ago the government adopted /
another feature CT the fiber paper with /
two silk threads running Iengthwise
the glazed surface There
is now law against person usiHg or
adopting this kind of paper for any obi
Ca.ion or security, except under the au-