Large Paper Money

Hello all,

This is just a question of high curiosity. Between 1900 and 1950, there are many countries/banks which issued physically large paper money (more than 20cm in length).

1) Why did they issue paper money physically so large? What was the reason behind it?

2) How did people carry such large note back then? Isn't it very impractical?

Although these banknotes are beautiful as collectors seeing them today. Just wonder back then what was the practicality in creating such large note.

Thank you.

Best regards

 

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It had something to do with the size of the plates and what would work with the press.

 

Their wallets were bigger back then, and pockets, and top hats.

 

I think clawcoin's right. A gentleman carried his wallet inside his jacket. I'm not sure workingmen's pants even had back (pants) pockets, that fact would be key to the discussion.

 

The problem is, was the wallet size the "cause" or the "effect".

Someone with a history of paper money would have to chime on on the evolution of paper money, technology ( as mentioned above), etc.

Just because today's paper money is smaller than before, doesn't mean that future paper money isn't going to change it's size too .. maybe even smaller ... is there a "right" size (and do not take into consideration what *you* have to store paper money and what *you* are used to. I was looking at some old Canadian paper money I have from the 70s & 80s. It's different than US money. I also have some Italian Lire, much smaller than the much *larger* modern US paper currency.

 

During the American revolution, paper money was much smaller, about the size of playing cards. I am guessing that large bills began with the obsoletes of 1810-1820, and by the Civil War, were well-established in thousands of varieties (obsoletes). The first Federal issues (1861?) adopted this norm, which was widely followed.

The 1850s were chaotic, as there were over 25,000 kinds of paper money circulating in this country, many counterfeit, or far from their original point of issue.

The Southern state and municipality issues were all over the place, but most smaller than today's currency. My guess would be that was to save money for paper and especially ink. To this day, I'm sorry I didn't start on the wonderful U.S. bills from about 1880 to 1929. They were not cheap, however, comparatively speaking, even 50-60 years ago.

Remember that during the Civil War, paper money was highly suspect, and the first issue of Greenbacks was not popular; people much preferred gold and silver, which circulated regularly, just like in Europe. Paper money was "expedient," to help pay for the immediate needs of the Civil War.

I remember my dad telling me that the first time his weekly paycheck was over $10, about 1925, he stopped at the bank and got a $10 gold piece, just so he could show it to all the skeptical relatives.

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Happened to think, the lower denominations of MPCs were small. (Was that true for Korea and Vietnam, or just through the end of WW2?)

 

In my youth in France, a banknote's size was related to its face value. And I think that was common in a lot of countries, and just how it was done. So you had both notes that were smaller than current US notes, and then those that were quite a bit larger. I suppose with inflation, as they needed the next larger denomination, there was an assumption that it would also be physically larger. The large ones were always stored folded in your wallet.

 

Folding money.

 

The bigger they got, the better they looked and the more they were worth. In all my adventures around the world I have to believe the physically largest bills I handled were the 200FF and 500FF in the early 1990s.

The earlier 5000FF and 10000FF notes issued in the 1940s and 1950s were also very large. Similarly Belgian notes were also very large with higher denominations.

 

Some of the largest notes were worth a LOT at the time.

In 1912, a 500 Russian Ruble note was worth the equivalent of $25,000 US dollars today. For the Russians, this could have bought a small house.

So imagine carrying around a bill with which you could buy a small house (let's say that's $200,000 today). Wouldn't it make sense that the bill was huge?

 

By the time most of them were printed ca. 1917/18 they had lost a significant portion of that value. Which explains why so many of them are around - because at the end of the Tsarist era several entities were issuing them, usually with the Shipov signature but the presses were running overtime when the notes lost value because they were the highest note they had plates for until State Duma bills in the 1000 Ruble notes came out later in 1917 - which are fascinating because they have a large swastika in the centre of the note.

 

Oh yes, they quickly lost all of their value! Kind of sad, really. By 1918 they were printing 10 and 100,000 ruble notes which were used for daily necessities and stuff. Not as bad at German inflation (or, god forbid, Zimbabwean...).
But at the time, they were huge because they were worth a lot! Not sure why they didn't shrink up once they lost their value, though...

 

Folks:
I think of many of you took the time to carefully look you'll be surprised to note that many, if not most, modern wallets will still accommodate large-size U.S. banknotes. Yes... as Gomer Pyle would have said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!"
Sam_I_am.MiaFLUSA

 

heres some examples of the sizes of the MPC of the day

 

Those would be the large size denominations

 

The $5,s were a little shorter

 

and $1 were shorter then the $5, s