Paper money is very convenient now, but the problem we often encounter is that we are afraid of receiving counterfeit money. You think, a crook gives you a counterfeit bill of one hundred dollars, buys you something worth fifty dollars, and you find him another fifty dollars. Then your losses are fifty dollars and fifty dollars worth of goods. This is not a small loss. Fortunately, the money detector is now widely used, which can accurately and quickly distinguish the authenticity of banknotes. So how did ancient times, without a money detector, distinguish silver bills similar to modern banknotes? Doesn't anyone "make counterfeit money"?
In fact, in ancient times, few people "made counterfeit banknotes", analyzed below, for three reasons.
First, the ancient silver tickets were mainly used by high-ranking officials, nobles, merchants and other upper-class figures in society.
Silver tickets first appeared in the Sichuan region during the Northern Song Dynasty, mainly among merchants. Merchants often traveled back and forth with a lot of cash, but the hard currency of gold and silver was too bulky and very inconvenient to carry on their bodies. Over time, they came up with a way, that is, some powerful companies issued silver tickets. These merchants first deposited the silver in the local area to the merchants, and when they arrived at the destination, they took out the silver with the help of "stubs" (silver tickets) and then took it and bought it. In this way, the merchant did not need to carry a large amount of silver, but only a thin "silver ticket". Later, dignitaries also joined the ranks of using silver tickets.
One or two pieces of silver and 1 or 2 pieces of silver can be exchanged for 700 to 1,000 copper coins, which is enough for ordinary people to live for a long time. Therefore, for ordinary people, the silver ticket is too far away from them. A few pieces of silver, no one bored to exchange into silver tickets, only in the tens of two, hundreds of two, a few thousand two, can be exchanged for silver tickets, therefore, the face value of silver tickets is relatively large. In ancient times, ordinary people could not see so much silver in their lifetime, so they did not deal with silver tickets.
It can be said that silver tickets are special silver tickets for dignitaries and merchants. These dignitaries and nobles have a more professional way of identifying silver tickets, and can be said to be experts in identifying these silver tickets. If there are fake silver tickets, they can see it at a glance. Fake silver bills don't have much room to live, and not many people make counterfeit money. Due to the manufacture of silver tickets by private businesses, many problems occurred, and later the imperial court took on the heavy responsibility of manufacturing silver tickets.
Second, in ancient times, the criminals who made counterfeit banknotes were severely punished.
At present, the punishment for the criminals who make counterfeit money is very severe, but in ancient times, it was even more severe, which is unimaginable to modern people. For example, the Northern Song Dynasty stipulates that counterfeiting counterfeit currency for personal gain will be punished by four years of exile; the "Pseudo-Huizi Law" of the 32nd year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty clearly stipulates that the production of counterfeit money will be decided; the Ming Dynasty will not only be punished for forging paper money, but also report counterfeiters with heavy rewards; the Qing Dynasty will not only be punished for beheading counterfeiters, but also his family members will be seated consecutively, and all will be exiled to the army.
Such a heavy punishment, the person who makes counterfeit money, will weigh one or two in his heart, if he is unlucky, he has not even earned the capital, and he has lost his own life. Under the severe punishment law, there are naturally fewer and fewer people who make counterfeit money. Over time, the industry of making counterfeit banknotes has also been lost.
Third, ancient silver tickets are not so easy to imitate, there are also certain anti-counterfeiting technology, the most important of which is the line on the silver ticket.
First, the material of the silver ticket is not ordinary paper.
The ancient imperial court made silver tickets, all of which were used exclusively by the royal family, and ordinary people had no chance to get them, such as sichuan paper used by the dynasty, mulberry paper used by the Ming Dynasty, and Goryeo paper used by the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty used imports from the vassal state of Goryeo, and people in China did not even know where Goryeo was, nor had they been to Goryeo, so it was naturally difficult to get such special paper.
Second, it is too difficult to falsify this line on the silver ticket.
Ancient silver bills had particularly intricate patterns on them, which were usually printed with dyes of multiple colors, so complex that no one knew what to do except the printers. What's more, each silver ticket has a line of small letters on it, which are so small and dense that they can't be seen clearly unless they're placed under a modern microscope. However, in ancient times, there was no microscope, and such words were naturally unrecognizable. These small characters, also called "micro-carvings", are carved by the master carvers and printed on silver tickets.
In ancient times, those who were prepared to forge, after getting the silver ticket, wanted to forge, first find the royal special paper, and then find the carving master, carving these dense small characters, too difficult. This line is the counterfeiter's nightmare.
epilogue
In ancient times, the punishment for those who made counterfeit money was very severe. Although there is no money detector, people do not have to worry about receiving counterfeit money. Although the ancient silver ticket was a thin piece of paper, it was not an ordinary piece of paper, it was all customized by the royal family. The small line of words on the silver ticket is the most difficult. Counterfeiters, it is difficult to distinguish these small words, as for wanting to imitate it, it is a fool's dream, they will be discouraged, abandon the plan to make counterfeit money.