Presented by our very own Paul Chapman
Although the Chinese are credited with having banknotes as far back as the 7th century AD, Europe waited until 1666 when the Bank of Sweden issued its first note. By the 18th century, a proliferation of notes was issued from every state and indeed from every town.
This talk follows the development of the notes to the modern day and the acts of counterfeiters that resulted in over 600 victims being publicly hung from the gallows and many thousands being transported to Australia. The progress of wars and revolutions is fully represented by emergency issues including one from the besieged city of Mafeking signed by Baden-Powell! The talk concludes with a forecast of the role of the banknote in a future society.
As for the speaker, one could say that it is someone who has taken an interest in money all his life and as an engineer was involved in the development of security features in banknotes to foil the counterfeiter.