Re: monopoly money?

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 23:30:10 -0700, Evan Kirshenbaum
<kirshenbaum@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Peter Moylan <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:

As long as I'm looking at them, I see that the bills say "I promise
to pay the bearer on demand the sum of <X> pounds", signed by the
Chief Cashier. If the note isn't "the sum of <X> pounds", what do
you have the right to get? (And do you suppose the guy carries a
stash of coins around with him at all times, just in case someone
stops him on the street and makes a demand?)

[snip]

Paper money, on the other hand, has no intrinsic value, unless you
count its small value as a work of art. It's not money, it's a
promissory note. The issuing authority guarantees that you can
exchange that promissory note for real money on demand.

What surprised me about the wording was that the promise appeared to
be made by an individual, not someone speaking on behalf of the
government or a bank.

The wording on two current GBP10 and GBP5 notes that I have here is:

Bank of England
I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of
FIVE
Pounds
<signature>
Chief Cashier

Somewhere to the left of the signature is a hologram partly
overprinted with:

London
For the Gov^r and Comp^a
of the Bank of England

(^r and ^a represent superscript r and a.)

The wording can be rearranged as:

"I, in my capacity of [/as] Chief Cashier, acting on behalf of the
Governor and Company of the Bank of England, promise to pay the
bearer..."

This appeared recently in the Belfast Telegraph newspaper:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=682652

Old notes are set to raise a pretty penny

By Ashleigh Wallace
15 March 2006

Around 150 historical banknotes from Northern Ireland, some of
which date back to the turn of last century, are going under the
hammer at an auction in London later this week.

The full article is available for a fee, so I'll work from memory.

The interesting point to me was that some of the earlier banknotes
were individually hand signed by various officials of the issuing
bank.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.u.e)
.

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