Shoreline – February 2015
Bank Notes: The world’s oldest (surviving) bank note ?
“In 1923, Dr. Richard Ehrenfeld of Vienna wrote to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to announce that he had in his possession the oldest bank note in existence, a one kwan (or guan) issue of the Ming dynasty from about the year 1375, discovered in 1888 during the demolition of an old house in Beijing and acquired by his father….” Read on in this interesting article on the American Numismatic Society’s blog http://www.anspocketchange.org/the-worlds-oldest-surviving-paper-money/ “The Chinese not only invented paper, they invented paper money, during the reign of emperor Chen Tsung (998-1022 AD). Examples predating the Ming notes are rarely encountered and…