ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL MONEY.
We have already considered the subject of letters of credit and the
uses to be made of them. We will now look at the perplexities of the
English and Continental currencies. The English stand at the head of
the list in having one of the most troublesome monetary systems
imaginable; it is a never-failing source of inconvenience to the
stranger, especially if he has come from a land where the decimal
system in one form or another is in vogue. We all know it from the
school-books:--
4 farthings make one penny,
12 pence make one shilling,
20 shillings make one pound,
21 shillings make one guinea.
It is easy enough to commit the above to memory, but not at all easy
to put it into practice. The farthing is imaginary, like the American
mill, the smallest coin being two farthings, or half a penny, usually
called a ha'penny, with the accent on the first syllable. This coin is
about equal to the American cent, so that a penny is worth two cents,
or very nearly. The shilling is nearly the equivalent of twenty-five
cents. Four shillings may be reckoned as a dollar, and a pound as five
dollars. The actual value is less than five dollars, but it is near
enough for rough calculations. The guinea is obsolete, and does not
exist in circulation, but the coins can be bought as curiosities, and
may be seen occasionally dangling from the watch-chains of their
possessors. English tradesmen are fond of stating prices in guineas
when dealing with foreigners, as they can thereby add five per cent.
to their revenues; the English customer is on the look-out for this
trick and cannot be caught by it, but the American is very likely to
confound pounds with guineas and not think of the difference. Some
unscrupulous tailors and other tradesmen are in the habit of making
their bills in guineas when only pounds have been mentioned, and not
infrequently the bills are paid without the discovery of the swindle.
The smallest bank-notes in circulation in England are of five pounds
each, though the banks in Ireland and Scotland, and some of the
private banks in England, issue notes of one pound. The gold coins are
twenty shillings and ten shillings each, and known as sovereigns and
half-sovereigns. In common usage the larger is frequently called a
"sov.," and a ten-shilling piece a "half-sov." Silver coins are for
five shillings, two and a half shillings, two shillings, one shilling,
sixpence, fourpence, and threepence. The copper coins of a penny and a
halfpenny complete the list. The two-and-a-half-shilling piece is
called half a crown, the five-shilling piece sometimes a crown and
sometimes, in slang language, "five bob." A shilling is designated as
a "bob" by the lower classes, and a sixpence as a "tanner." "Two bobs
and a tanner," means "two shillings and sixpence."
The two-shilling piece is the newest of the English coins, and is
heartily detested by the cabman, the waiter, and all others whose
existence has any dependence on gratuities. Where half a crown was
formerly given, the two-shilling piece comes in use; the giver saves a
sixpence, and the receiver is "out" just that amount. If a vote of the
fee-taking classes could be had on the subject it would be unanimous
for the abolition of this hated coin. Travelers economically inclined
would do well to consider the advantages of this piece of money, and
govern themselves accordingly.
On the Continent the currency in nearly all countries is far simpler
than in England, for the reason that it is on a decimal basis. The
franc is the acknowledged unit of France, Belgium, Switzerland, and
Italy, and it is divided into a hundred parts, known as _centimes_ in
the three countries first named, and as _centissimi_ in the last of
the list. Reckonings are in francs and centimes; the approximate value
of the franc is twenty cents of American money--though in reality it
is a trifle over eighteen cents. The centime is consequently one-fifth
of a cent, but no coins of that value are stamped except in Italy;
five centimes make a sou in all the countries except Italy, where the
coin is known as a soldi, and it is the smallest of the coins in
general use. The sou is practically the equivalent of the American
cent, and is about as large as the old-fashioned "copper" of twenty
years ago. There is a two-sous piece of copper in all the countries
named, and quite recently some of them have adopted nickel coins of
the value of five, ten, and twenty centimes. There are silver coins of
twenty and fifty centimes (the last being a half-franc), and then come
the pieces of one franc, two francs, and five francs, the last being
about the size of the American dollar. The gold coins are of ten and
twenty francs, and occasionally we encounter pieces of forty francs,
and also some slender ones of five francs. Bank-notes are of 10, 20,
50, 100, 500, and 1000 francs, and rarely smaller except in Italy,
where there is a depreciated paper currency with forced circulation.
Gold and silver are as scarce in Italy as they were in the United
States in the decade following our civil war; the rate of discount for
paper varies according to the condition of the national treasury, and
for other countries, and can always be ascertained at any banker's, or
in the hotels. Where it is not expressly stipulated to the contrary,
all hotel and other bills in Italy are payable in paper at par
whatever may be the rate of discount; if a hotel-keeper attempts to
compel the payment of his bill in gold, without previous notification,
he can be brought to terms by referring him to the police. The franc
is commonly called a _lira_ in Italy, especially among the lower
classes, who have a tendency to stick to their national terms.
The unit of Austria is the florin (about fifty American cents), which
is divided into a hundred kreutzers. The currency is in paper, at a
varying discount, with coins of one, five, ten, and twenty kreutzers,
based on the paper values. There is a ten-florin piece of gold which
is intended to be equal to the twenty-franc piece, but is just a
trifle short of it, and is consequently refused by bankers and others,
except at a discount. The unit of Russia is the rouble (about
seventy-five cents American), and it is divided into one hundred
kopecks; the circulation is in paper, and it fluctuates in value with
the varying conditions of the public treasury, and the alternating
events of war or peace.
The German States had until within a few a years a bewildering array
of currencies that would require whole pages of this book for their
enumeration. Since the unification of the Empire the old currencies
have mostly disappeared, and a uniform system has been adopted. The
unit is the mark (twenty-five cents American, or one shilling
English), and the mark is divided into one hundred pfennings. The
silver coins are five marks, two marks, and one mark, and fifty and
twenty pfennings, the nickel of ten and five pfennings, the copper of
two pfennings and one pfenning; the gold coins are twenty, ten, and
five marks, and the largest of the three is intended to be equal to
the English sovereign.
English sovereigns can be exchanged in any country of Europe for the
local currency, and so can the French, Italian, or other pieces of
twenty francs. The latter are generally called napoleons, but since
the establishment of the French Republic there has been a revival of
the old name _louis_, or _louis d'or_. Some intense Republicans
denominate the coin in question "_une piece de vingt francs_," and do
not seem to mind the loss of time requisite for pronouncing four words
instead of one. The traveler who has a stock of sovereigns or
napoleons, either or both, can always settle his bill at the hotels
with those coins, but he must be careful to have a supply of the money
of the country for paying railway fares. In most countries of Europe
the railways are more or less under government control, and the
ticket-sellers are forbidden to accept foreign money. Sometimes a
ticket-seller will change the traveler's money for him, but he
naturally expects to be paid for his trouble.
At the frontier railway stations there are money-changers who do a
very good business on small capital. Travelers can exchange the money
of the country they are leaving for that of the one they are entering,
and the changer can turn his capital as many times as there are trains
each way daily, and make a small percentage on each operation. He has
a fine profit and no risk, except that he may take an occasional
counterfeit, but in the latter case he will have little difficulty in
passing it on the first verdant customer. Counterfeit coins abound in
Spain, Switzerland, England, and some other countries, but not in
great number. The traveler is sure to be caught by them once in a
while, and also by coins which have been called in and are declared
uncurrent. The latter can be disposed of as gratuities to waiters and
guides, and the former may be kept as curiosities, or dropped into the
hats of importunate beggars.
For a rough calculation you can turn your dollars into pounds by
dividing their amount by five, and into francs by using the same
number as a multiplier. Multiply your dollars by four for German
marks, and by two for Austrian florins; and if you get as far as
Turkey and wish to reckon in piastres, you must multiply by twenty. To
reach the amount in dollars of any values in the above currencies, you
have only to reverse the operation, and after a little practice you
will do it very rapidly.