Promissory note

During the 16th century the goldsmith-bankers began to accept deposits, make loans, and transfer funds. They also gave receipts for cash (gold coin), deposited with them.

These receipts, also known as “promissory notes”, could be made out to the “bearer”, and were a promise to repay the gold in exchange for the note. In this way they formed very early banknotes which could be exchanged and circulated in a similar way.

A similar phrase “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of…” still appears on British banknotes today.

Text set within a decorative garland border. Amsterdam Wisselbank Obligatiën. The signatures in a column are accompanied by the bank’s embossed seal.