BANK NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 193, 31 July 1940, Page 7

BANK NOTES

A REMARKABLE COLLECTION A unique collection of bank notes nade by an Englishman, Mr F. 15. Catling was stolen in September. [937, by a burglar, who broke open he sr-.fe in which it was kept. The fruit of a lifetime's hobby, the coleetion contained some 30,000 bank lotcs, filed in a hundred and ten volumes. Their face value, excluding notes of the German inflation') period, was welli over £6,000,000, and their curio value was assessed ai £50,000, though that was merely approximate, since it is very difYi-? suit to know what value to put onj such things. Among the odder items were bank notes dating back to the Ming dynasty, printed in gold leaf on mulberry paper. There were also notes printed on wood and written bj r hand on silk. Bank notes of all the wars in history, aimost, found a place in the collection, and naturally the German inflation period was prominent in this section. One of these had a face value of live tr.il lion marks. Another of the rarities in the collection was a complete set of ba'|: notes issued by General Gordon during the siege of Khartoum. Most of the ancient Chinese notes Avcre said to have been looted from Chinese tombs during the Boxer troubles. Mr Catling's collection w r as nol insur'ed, and though £100 rewarc was offered for its return, it is be< lieved that the thief still retains hi; unsaleable loot.