The ancient silver ticket was just a piece of paper, why did no one dare to fake it?

Mondo History Updated on 2024-03-01

Jiaozi is the earliest paper money in China and the earliest paper money used in the world, which bid farewell to the era of 90 catties to hundreds of catties of cumbersome iron money to buy 1 piece of silk, and greatly improved the lives of the ancient people.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the monetary system was already quite perfect, but even silver tickets were not forged casually.

In order to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the monetary system, there was also a strict legal system in ancient times. For example, since the Song Dynasty, it has been stipulated that those who forge silver tickets must go to the frontier to serve labor, and the paper money of the Yuan Dynasty is printed with the words "the forger shall be executed" and "the first informant will be rewarded with five silver ingots", and the Ming Dynasty even stipulated that no matter whether the main offender or the accomplice, as well as those who hide and do not report the information, they will be punished with beheading, confiscation of property, and the nine clans.

Such harsh penalties make people afraid of counterfeiting silver tickets, and no one is willing to risk their lives to touch the red line of the law. Even if there is a life to make counterfeit money, but there is no life to spend the real money, such a risk and cost is unbearable.

Special raw materials - the production of silver tickets is not an easy task, it requires the use of special paper as a raw material. In the early days, the banknotes were made with the bark of the tree tree, which was recorded in the "History of the Song Dynasty and the Three Chronicles of Food and Goods", which was well-made, rigorous in craftsmanship, and not easy to counterfeit.

However, with the self-manufacture of paper, the number of people has increased sharply, and the difficulty of folk forgery has decreased. In order to prevent counterfeiting, the issuance cycle of silver bills is relatively short, and each cycle has a new printing template, and the government has mastered advanced printing technology and currency impressions, which constitutes a technical barrier and has obvious advantages.

At the same time, the style of the silver ticket is also constantly changing, increasing the difficulty of anti-counterfeiting. Another difficult way to prevent counterfeiting is micro-carving. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the miniature carving chapter invented by the Jin merchants contained a "Orchid Pavilion Preface", and the whole article was densely engraved in a seal, and the carver deliberately carved a few wrong words, which further increased the difficulty of reproduction.

The difference between silver notes and renminbi is that although they both play a role in circulation, only dignitaries can use silver tickets. Not everyone can have a silver ticket, and even ordinary people may not have seen a silver ticket.

This is because the users of silver tickets are mostly wealthy people, who often have a lot of wealth and need to exchange some of their wealth for silver tickets. On the other hand, there are special people to check the authenticity of silver tickets, and people who often use silver tickets can also recognize the authenticity of silver tickets at a glance.

Therefore, the forgery of silver tickets is not so easy.

Related Pages