* The first banknotes were issued in China in the Middle Ages and were made of deerskin.

* Banknotes started as receipts. Merchants or people who had to travel and did not want to take gold or coins with them, left their wealth with Goldsmiths and/or bankers.

* Gradually, banknotes evolved from receipts/vouchers to something to be used for payments.

For example: A merchant based in XVI Florence travelling to Antwerp on business gets his/her bank to issue a note for a certain amount of gold and/or coins.

* Instead of paying with coins, the Florentine merchant can also use his/her banknote to pay the Antwerp merchant.

* That's how the banknote evolved from being a simple receipt for gold deposited for safekeeping, into a safe and convenient way to make payments.

* Banknotes in the Uk don't feature this message: 'This is a £5/£10/£20/£50 note'.
The message printed says...

*This proves that banknotes started as receipts for coins/gold kept by someone (goldsmiths first, banks later) for someone else.

* The first banknotes were hand-written and...

* In the UK, only the Bank of England and the banks authorised by the Bank of England can issue banknotes today.

* Imitations are called 'counterfeits' or 'forgeries' and they are not real money.

* Like coins, banknotes are used to celebrate the people, the events, the architecture and anything else a nation is proud of.

* But, according to the Bank of England, cash is here to stay - at least for a while.