Hello All, I've been collecting Banknotes for quite a while now. I've never ever been able to get a convincing answer to my question "Why are banknotes generally Rectangle in shape?". Would appreciate help from this group. Murali
Welcome to the Forum mthantry !! A fair question - not one I've ever wondered about - but then I'm not a currency collector. If I had to make a guess though I'd say it was a matter of convenience. If you think about how people carry currency - usually in a wallet - and what shape are they ? Usually they are rectangular. They have been this shape for almost forever - because that shape fits into a pocket easier than a square. And so notes are made the same shape. Now I do know enough to know that not all notes have always been rectangular. I have seen some older foriegn notes that were very close to if not square. But they didn't seem to stay that way very long - and I would assume that is because they are cumbersome to carry. About the best reason I can offer. Here's an interesting question for you though - do you know in what country the first notes were made ? And what they were made of ? Not the first form of money - I'm talking about a note. A flexible item of currency with a printed/written value on it.
Paper money was first used by the Chinese.They are already in rectangular form. I believe a rectangular shape will be easier to fold.
Hah, thought the day would come. This is my theory so feel free to attack what's going to come. Firstly, if you think it's from China, think of the early days of China. There weren't really any such thing as "paper money" but instead military warfare and plenty of bamboos. If you remember any miltary campaigns, why are the flags rectangular instead of a square? It's simply got to do with human eye misconception. Remember in your science class,there are two glasses, one is thinner and the other is fatter. Yet when the same amount of water is poured into both of them, the thinner one seems to have more water. This applies to the reason why banknotes are "thinner" on the side. However early day banknotes aren't what we see and instead, it's bamboo money if I'm not mistaken. Text in the early days were written from top to bottom, right to left instead of the present day left to right, top to bottom. Therefore, the early notes were written on the long side of the note, not on the short side as present days. There were also times when such notes were used as military campaigns if I am not mistaken, possibly to replicate their flags or some sort. Eventually over a long period of time, people found out that it must be easier to hand over a note on the longer side instead of the shorter side. However it is ugly to hand over a note on the long side and the person who receives it has to turn it around to confirm the denomination. You should try that one day, that is to try to give someone money like how a vending machine accepts money - it's relatively difficult compared to what you might be used to. For those who are bored to death, here is an offtopic related question since it reminded me of the misconception of volume and sizes. There are two different cans, both of 250ml. Using the above example of "thinner" and "fatter" can, which one actually costs more to produce?
Turn your question around. What other shape could it be? Any other shape would require complicated cuts and/or wasted paper. The only other shape you might consider would be a square and actually that is a rectangle.
Rectangular notes are the most efficient to produce. There is little to no wasted paper in the manufacturing process. The notes are also much easier to cut, stack, store, print, etc.
interesting...not the rectangular shape ...I actually revived a 2003 topic in this forum after almost four years of no activities.
I didn't realize that this was an old topic. It doesn't surprise me that an old topic can be revived. Most of the questions asked, have been asked again and again. 4 years is not a very long time in the coin collecting world. Revisions aside, many coin collecting books were written long before some people on this forum were born, including me.
Even more interesting - the original poster asked his question and then disappeared into the mists of time, without ever posting again.
That's a sad ending with only one posting under his belt. Nevertheless, he still post a good topic for discussion.
Interestingly enough, that isn't the case. If you have the time to do the maths, there is actually LESS metal used for metal cans that are made like a "cuboid", i.e. fat one, although I do admit that I didn't take into account of the cost of making them. That was something I calculated years ago when I had too much free time doing maths. Anyone with basic algebra can attempted to do it. Again, the only reason why so many other companies aren't doing it is simply because of the psychological factor of "BIG"
That's true. Do we use wallets in the early days. The Chinese uses their long sleeves which have a small pocket to hold their things. Most early banknotes are large in size. They are folded many times. Square banknotes did appear in some currencies. Early large Spanish Dollar square banknotes were used in Singapore in 1840. But for current usage, a small rectangular banknote fix well in our wallet. What about circular ones ? Is there any issued today or in the past ? Circular ones can still be folded into semi-circle and later into a quarter of a circle. Any comments and opinions ?
See323, the real challenge of those days is to make banknotes into circular. If I told you to make one without a proper scissors, how can you make one with just, let's say, kitchen knife?
gxseries - Sorry, I only know how to use a pair of scissors. As for your suggested kitchen knife, you may want to teach us how to cut a circular banknote.
see323, I was assuming that scissors weren't too efficient few hundred years ago. But I guess it's not economical to make a circular banknotes. If one needs a circle, you will still need a square or rectangle to start off with. Was there any reason to cut them off? I don't think so and I think it makes handling them more difficult.
