The Opelousas courier., 1890-04-05
MONEY IN MANY LANDS
IRREGULARITIES IN BANKNoTEs of!
FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Picturesque Currencies OF france
Russia, Austria and Italy-Chlnas
Gilt-Etched Bank Bills.

Russia, Austria aIlu AldiJ-S"1
Gilt-Etched Bank Bills.
It was a quaint little old man whom l
met some DAYS ago in a little foreign
looking money-changer's shop near
Bowling Green. / found him peculiarly
ant in the information l asked. He had
handled money in nearly every Capital IN
Europe.
"'This," he said, as he picked up a
Bank of England note, sis the plalnest
of currency to be found in any country IN
the world, and it is good for gold in any
land under the sun where white men or
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 Ii own bank notes.
at looks easy enough to counterfeit, I"
remarked my ancient guard, ''but, IN
fact, the Bank of England suffers as little
from counterfeiters as any similar lnstltu-
tion 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 purpose, and that Is
the greatest safeguard. In sending a
note by mail or express, the note is al
WAYS cut in two and the halves sent sep
arately.
1.-THE showiest currency to be found
| outside of China are the notes issued by
the Banoue de Franc" he continued, as
he picked out a piece of paper That resem-
bled a small show bill. The paper itself
is white water-lined, printed in blue and
black, with numerous NEUROLOGICAL and
allegorical pictures, and running in de-
nominations from the twenty-franc note
to the 1000 franc.
mot easy to counterfeit, but far from
artistic" was the remark of the 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 cur
rency, and printed on white paper in
pink, blue and carmine inks, and orna-
mented with a finely engraved vignette
of King Humbert. The larger notes are
about the size of u ''greenbacks," and
are ~elaGVfately engraved, but to my eye
they are neither beautiful nor artistic.
They are worth more away from home
than they were a few years ago, though,
owing to King Humbert's wise rule.
'tBut here is our elaborate bank note
continued the old man, as hs brought to
light a gorgeous piece of potter about tour
inches by ten. It was t~he@hurdred -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 centre, in bold relief,
stood a large, finely executed vignette of
the Empress Catherine I. This was in
black. The other engraving was not at
all intricate or elaborate, but was we'll
done in dark and light brown and black
inks.
"The Russians look upon that as the
height OF artistic work" said Shylock,
''and it has one merit. The paper Is
made bya secret process and the note has
never been counterfeited. It's also worth
its face value in every capital in Europe
and Asia. The smaller Russian notes,
the twenty-five and fifty ruble bills, are
about one-third smaller and not as gor-
geously colored. The smallest denomina.
ton in Russian currency is five rubles,
about So SO in United States currency.
Here is a peculiar bill, but a very
good idea, I Think" continued tEgnoney-
changer, as he showed me another bill.
"This is from Austria, and, like all his
Majesty Francis Joseph's currency, is in
two languages. On one side it is Austrian
and on the other Hungarian, for the
benefit of the Maygars."
The bill was printed on a light-colored
thick paper, which showed none of the
silk fibre narks or geometric lines used in
rown curNpcy, as a protection against
cs<& erfeitinA But, like the German
currsleeac4:(ill bears upon it a terri
sble warnfSis Sspunterfeiters, threaten
ing penitenf sfnementSto any one
who sha&F7nake, Sssfo r have in his pos
session any counterfeS or fac-simile of
this bill" The engraving is profuse
with angel heads aud artistic scroll work.
The lowest denomination in currency is
the one form, worth about forty cents
of our money. The highest bill is the
one-thousand form note.
The German currency is rather artistic.
The bills are printed in green and black
upon paper lighter than our own gold
certificates, and about an inch wider.
They run in denominations from five
| p1arlyc fo 100l n, or1ro ThaIr Ia%ou L.Ii,'
are being printed on the silk fiber paper.
The Norwegians have a. curious cur
rency, but it is rarely seen here, for the
reason that it circulates very little among
the common peophpaRd the class that
comes here as inn 1granSA These stick.
to their copper an6&@eoins and shun
the little cinnamon brown bills of their
Government, which are about the size of
u old "shin-plasters."
The Chinese paper currency is in red,
white and yellow paper, with gilt letter
tering and gorgeous little hand-drawn
devices. The bills, to the ordinary
financier, might pass for wash checks or
prayer papers in a joss House, but they
are worth good money in the Flowery
Kingdom. South American currency, in
most countries, is about the size and
general appearance of our own bills, ex-
cept that cinnamon brown and slate blue
are the prevailing %colors, and the Span
ish and Portuguese languages the preva-
lent languages engraved on the face
NeD York Star.
G~TraSshonnnr gforv