Funny Money

This is an assignat from the French Revolution. It was printed on 23 May 1793, four months before the infamous Reign of Terror. Once the monarchy and Ancien Régime ended, the newly established government issued these as currency. Since there was no gold or silver backing them, and because the government simply kept printing them, inflation reached staggering rates.

I purchased this at an auction about a year ago while I was performing research on the French Revolution. If you look along the left edge, you will see that it reads, as well as I can translate, "The law punishes by death the counterfeiter."