bavarikon4UEarly 14th to 18th century paper money experiments
The first paper money issues are often in the context of wars, economic crises and inflation.
The first known paper money worldwide was handed down from China. Several paper money issues are documented in the 14th century but the excessive quantities issued repeatedly led to inflation. The issue of paper money was therefore discontinued in China in the 16th century.
The first European paper money was issued in 1661 in Sweden, the banker Johan Palmstruch had initiated the issue of paper money. The first issue from 1661 is not preserved, the second issue from 1666 can be seen here. The issuing bank failed due to giving out too large loans but is the origin of the Sveriges Riksbank (Swedish central bank), which is still active today.
The issues of paper money led to inflation and devaluation in France, Austria and Norway. A bank was set up in France to restructure the ailing state budget at the suggestion of the Scotsman John Law. It issued large amounts of paper money from 1718. The subsequent inflation led to the population's lasting distrust in paper money.
In 1772, the Electorate of Saxony wanted to reorganise its financial budget by issuing state paper money. The Electorate had accumulated over 40 million talers of debt as a result of the Seven Years' War.
In North America, the colonies issued their own paper money called "Colonial Bills". The first issues for South America were handed down from Brazil: diamond bills of exchange were issued in the city of Tejuco, Diamantina today.
The early paper money issues all have something in common: the format and design of the notes are still based on the classical structure of a certificate. The formal details, on the other hand, correspond to the information still in use today: the issuer, amount, currency, date, control number and signatures.
The other part collections of "Rare banknotes from all over the world" available in bavarikon
>> The collection is part of the holdings of "Rare banknotes from all over the world" of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung (Giesecke+Devrient foundation:collections of bank notes).