The Guernsey Way…

I saw this Wealth, Want and War for sale on Amazon. It’s a 1937 book on Monetary Reform and it has an appendix on Guernsey States’ Note  Issue. In the early 19th century we needed money to build a covered market and a Parish Church for Torteval plus a few other things. We had no money so it was decided that we’d print £1 notes. You couldn’t call them bank notes because the banks weren’t involved. The States of Guernsey  just printed them. 
It wasn’t quite that simple. There was a schedule to buy back the notes at certain times using the profit from renting market stalls etc.These notes were then destroyed. As simple as that. But nobody had thought to do it before. It is still referred to in worldwide financial circles…

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