General Chat

Who started the idea of paper money ? - what is it REALLY worth ??

Sitting here thinking, I can understand how coins came about, maybe they were of a precious metal, but paper money, were they promises of wealth (like an IOU ) ?

Is all (UK ) money made from the same paper but dyed differently to make the differance in value ? If so, their value must be the same when it all boils down to the core.

Talking to someone in Florida, in one of the ride ques, they told us that dollars have fabric woven through them to stop them tearing. Its funny the things you find out whilst waiting to ride the Tower of Terror PMSL !

What are your thoughts on the matter, I may pop off, you know to make dinner, or answer the phone, but only if the thread heats up LOLOL !

:o)))))))

i supose its lighter than carrying lots of coins lol

i no the kids prefer paper money :)):))

With all the printing of extra notes over the past few months to try and float the economy it 's worth less and less !!!

Know what you're saying though.....it IS kind of like an IOU really xx

Funny you mentioning the Florida money, only I'm sure that I read somewhere that English notes are made from some kind of paper that's like cloth. Which must be why they're not that easy to tear - I notice £5 always seem to look ragged first!

I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of fifty pounds it says on this piece of paper.

Fifty pound of what ? Rather ambiguous

All notes used to be made of cloth at Portals mill at Laverstoke, Hampshire.
My ex's grandfather used to be the 'checker' of cloth £5 notes - they were large and white!.
Money has been made by the Portal family - from 1727 until 1995.
The mill still makes the paper for banknotes, but was taken over by De la Rue in 1995.

I always understood the " I promise to pay"....etc to mean in gold.....seems the meaning has changed over the years .

What is the Bank’s “Promise to Pay”?
The words "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of five [ten/twenty/fifty] pounds" date from long ago when our notes represented deposits of gold. At that time, a member of the public could exchange one of our banknotes for gold to the same value. For example, a £5 note could be exchanged for five gold coins, called sovereigns. But the value of the pound has not been linked to gold for many years, so the meaning of the promise to pay has changed. Exchange into gold is no longer possible and Bank of England notes can only be exchanged for other Bank of England notes of the same face value. Public trust in the pound is now maintained by the operation of monetary policy, the objective of which is price stability.

An interesting thread Mildred : )