The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-07-20

AT almost any nour OF the 0aN eager anu
hungry eyed men and BOYS may be seen
feasting Their eyes on the glittering heaps
Of coin and the thin bundles of bank notes
spread in tempting array behind the plate
glass windows of the yloney changers IN
Wall street and vicinity. 1T is surpris-
ing said a 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 Here
Is Bank of England note IL is printed
on Irish linen water lined paper, plain
white, with rough edges. You will notice
in a short time how the paper lacks the
smooth oily feeling of our own bank
notes Then again. there is All ab
sence Of any coloring except black aud
white The smallest notes issued by
the Bank Of England are OF the value Of
s. or S2J The old fashion Of sending
these notes from one country to another
was to cut the 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 a. the
Dahh Only StuuS tul new tIthh lbtt0.
have heard it said that the average life of
q Bank of England note was about three
weeks 4 Bank Of Ireland note. as yCu
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 a BanQue de France note II
is made OF plain white paper, and could
Dc easily initiated. | should think The
smallest note issued by the bauque is a
20f note, while the largest is The O00fr
which is equivalent 10 about $3.50 In our
money.
Now, the German bills are printed il
green upon paper q 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 $l.2J. 10 10 900 marks. Or
about 500 of our money. Nery few 10
tce at first Glance hat tho. Austrian bills
are printed in German on one side and IN
Hungarian on the other This Is done. as
| understand. 10 accommodate the ten
classes of Francis Jo.ephs subjects
The paper of an Austrian bill is Vory
light colored but quite thick and tough
Ii 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 on form. nearly
10 cents here The largest note issued i
of the value Of 900 ilorins or $3.50 Ii
our money The engraver mutt have
been OF a religions turn OF mind. If all the
angel heads on these notes are OF any III
dication.
Some European countries get up Their
notes regardless of colored ink. Thus thc
Italian 900 lire note IS an elaborate al
fair The paper is plain white hut the
printing is done III pink blue ana car
mine Here is one which has a very
finely engraved vignettc Of King Hum
bert. and the scroll work will compar,
favorably with the best of any currency
The smaller Italian bills are about the
same size as our old fractional currency
They vary in denomination from one lire.
or 20 cents, to 10 lire OF about s. IN 4uI
money.
Here perhaps. is the most eorgeously
colOred bank note of any European coun.
try. 1t is Russian 100 ruble> bill 1t
has almost every color OF the rainbow
barred from top TO bottom. ~ though il
had been thrown througha prism In,
100 ruble bill is quite large, being.
think, four by ten inches IN size Here
in the center. is a portrait OF Catherine !
The paper is not ii an especially fine
quality. while tdc~lettering is done with
dark and ligl IF brown ink. The % and ~
ruble NOES are much smaller aud almost
free ,xfom any elaborate display of colors
j.. lt.. :, nj liz al
about s. % in our money
After looking al various other speci
mems of foreign paper money we inquired
whether outside OF the business eA
changes, there was much used
Yes; there is quite call for foreign
bills. especially at this season OF the year
when 80 many thousands me gong l" ana
coming from Europe Curiously enough
some people will not take paper money
The French and Germans almost always
ask for coin, and say that they do mol
want the paper bills The Austrians ana
Hungarians are just the opposite. They
generally prefer the paper money of their
own 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 | want bills. Inc
Italians who 80 back to sunny Italy,
found are not very particular They
would just as soon take lire notes as lire
coins"
Taking engraving and paper into con
sideraton, what country do You think
turns out the best notesY
We'll, 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
hon 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 government
then used only plain, commercial bank
note paper, which gave the countcrieiters
u good chance to flood the country with
notes like the old greenback issue. But,
about twenty years ago. the treasury de
partment adopted special paper, the dis
tinctive feature of which was narrow
localized line of short blue fiber running
the entire length of the sheet OF paper
III such u manner as not 10 lessen its