Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-03-11
MONEY In MANY LANDS.
PECGLlARlTIES IN THE PAPER CUR
RENciES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

Plain Bank OF England Note In Its Simple
Black and white-Picturesque Curren-
cies of France, Russia and Italy-China's
Bank Bills-A Money Changers Views.
1t was quaint little old man whom met
some days ago in little, foreign looking
money changers shop near Bowling Green.
He might have played Shylock without
making up, with his patriarchal white beard
and hair, his keen black eyes ord curved
nose, but a very amicabie and good natured
Shylock | found him, with not suggestion
in his manner of any desire to exact even an
ounce of flesh for the time took in asking
1ssbous Qs> s>=;r,-- ascs>' <.ss currencies of all
seSc3A ar,amc the -ssn peculiarly apt
in the Information l asked. He had handled
money in nearly every capital in Europe.
GOOD AS GOLD EVERYWHERE.
This he said, as he picked up a Bank of
England note lis the plainest piece of cur
rency to be found in any country in the
world, and it is good for gold in any land
under the sun where white men yellow
live"
The Bank of England note is about five
| inches by eight in dimensions, and is printed
in black ink on Irish linen water-lined paper,
plain white and with ragged edges, which
lacks the oily smoothness of our own bank
notes.
''It looks easy enough to counterfeit" re-
marked my ancient guard, but, in fact, the
Bank of England suffers as little from coun-
terfeiters as any similar institution in the
world. The notes are never reissued, but
| are burned as soon as they come back to the
bank, and the paper is made for that sole pur-
and that iS tha crrpa SafatruarA In
sending a note by mail or express, the note
| is always cut in two and the halves sent sep
aratsly.
The showiest currency to be found out
side of China are the notes issued by the
| Banque de France" he continued, as he
| picked out piece of paper that resembled a
| small show bill The paper itself is white
| water lined, printed in blue and black with
| numerous NEUROLOGICAL and alleG1rical pic
| lures, and running in denominations from
ihe twenty franc note to the 900 franc.
Not easy to counterfeit, but far from ar
| listic," was the remark of the old man, as he
| pulled out a variety of Italian notes of all
| shapes, sizes and colors. The smaller bills
| five and ten lire notes-are about the size and
shape of our own old twenty-five cent ''shin-
! plaster fractional currency, and printed on
| white paper in pink, blue and carmine inks
and ornamented with a finely engraved
vignette of King Humbert. The larger
notes are about the size of our ''greenbacks, u
and are elahorately engraved, but to my eye
| they are neither beautiful nor artistic. They
are worth more away from home than they
were few years ago, though, owing 10 King
| Humbert's wise rule.
But here is your elaborate bank note -
| continued the old man, as he brought to light
| a gorgeous piece of paper about inches by
| 10. 1t was the hundred ruble note of Russia
| The note was barred from top to bottom with
| all the colors of the rainbow, blended as when
thrown through a prism. In the center in
bold relief stood a large, finely executed
vignette of the Empress Catherine l. This
| was IN black The other engraving was not
at all intricate or elaborate, but was well
done in dark and light brown and black inks.
| The Russians look upon that as the height
of artistic work, = said Shylock, land it has
one merit. The paper is made by a secret
process, and the note has never been counter
] feited 1t is also worth its face value in ev-
| ery capital iii Europe and Asia. The smaller
| Russian notes, the twenty-five and fifty ruble
| bills are about one-third smaller and not as
| gorgeously colored. The smallest denomina
| ton in Russian currency is five rubles, about
S.. 80 in United States currency"
IN TWO LANGUAGES.
| Here is "a peculiar bill, but very good
| idea | think" continued the money changer
as he showed me another bill. This is from
| Austria and, like all his majesty Franci.
Joseph's currency, is in two languages. On
one side it is Austrian and on the other Hun
garian, for the benefit of the Magyars"
The bill was printed a light coloret
| thick paper, which showed none of the sill
fiber marks or geometric lines used in oui
| currency, as a protection against counterfeit
| ing But, like the German currency eacf
| bill bears upon it terrible warning to coun
terfeiters, threatening the penitentiary con
finement ''to any one who shall make sell ol
| have in his possession any counterfeit or fac
| simile of this bill" The engraving is profus,
with angel heads and artistic scroll work
The lowest denomination in currency is tn,
| one forin, worth about forty cents of oul
money. The highest bill is the 900 fiorir
| note.
| The German currency is rather artistic
The bills are printed in green and black upor
| paper lighter than our own gold certificates
and about inch wider. They run in de
| nominations from five marks to 900 marks
| Their later bills are being printed on the sill
fiber paper
The Norwegians have a curious currency
but it is rarely seen here for the reason tina
it circulates very little among the common
people and the class that comes here as immi
grants. These stick to their copper and sill
yer coins and shun the little cinnamon brown
bills of their government, which are abou
the size of our old ''shinplasters."
The Chinese paper currency is in red. whit
and yellow paper, with gilt lettering an,
gorgeous little hand drawn devices. Th
bills, to the ordinary tinancier, might pass fo
wash checks or prayer papers in a JOSS bouse
but they are worth good money in the Flower,
Kingdom. South American currency, in mos
countries is about the size and general ap
pearance of our own bills, except that CHINA
mon brown and slate blue are the prevailin,
colors and the Spanish and Portuguese Ian
guages the prevalent language engraved ci
the fsre-Nev York Star.