African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 316 Rhine Shield

  Speaking of the financial bonds traded between East Africa and Abyssinia, this is a special bond issued by the Bank of Hechingen under the supervision of the East African government to perform currency functions in East Africa.

  At present, the East African government is considering issuing its own currency, and Ernst is busy with this matter.

   March 14, 1871.

  The East African Kingdom delegation headed by Ernst officially started the investigation of the Swedish Mint after obtaining the consent of the Swedish royal family. Most of the members were employees of Hechingen Bank.

Weins, the president of the Bank of Sweden, was in charge of the reception: "The earliest banknotes in Europe were issued by our bank in 1661, which opened the era of banknotes in Europe. However, the issuance of banknotes at that time was only a supplement to the insufficient amount of metal currency. Not as a real currency. Our mint not only has a long history and rich experience, but also has been at the forefront of Europe in the application of new technologies."

  Wins first introduced the experience of the Bank of Sweden in this area. In Sweden in the 17th century, currency transactions mainly relied on coins. In 1661, King Carl XI Gustav of Sweden decided to introduce banknotes as a legal form of currency. These notes are issued by the government and backed by gold, ensuring their value and credibility. Swedish banknotes became the first officially issued banknotes in European history. They were called "official bank notes" at the time, similar to the current East African financial notes, but East Africa itself does not produce metal currency.

   Wayans: "The Swedish krona in front of you is mainly made of cotton fibers, a small amount of hemp fibers and a large amount of wooden paddles."

  Crown comes from Latin, meaning "crown",

   Ernst: "Our East African banknotes are generally cotton, high-quality sisal and a small amount of wood oar."

   Wayans: "Oh! Is that so? I don't know much about sisal. The most important thing in Sweden is wood. Even cotton we need to import in large quantities."

Ernst took advantage of the opportunity to promote a wave of sisal produced in East Africa: "Sisal is a long fiber with high strength, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, and fast moisture absorption and moisture release. The advantages of the paper produced are obvious. Not only is it strong, but it is also easy to store and bend, and has a strong sense of comfort. It is one of the main raw materials for our bank to make financial bonds.”

   Wayans: "What about its price and output?"

Ernst: "The characteristic of sisal is its high yield. Generally, the annual yield is about three tons per mu, but it is only suitable for growing in tropical and subtropical regions. However, the whole of East Africa is in tropical regions, which has surpassed the origin of sisal. Mexico is currently the world's largest producer of sisal."

   Wayans: "Oh! But we can use wooden paddles. For sisal, if the price is cheap, we can purchase some to increase the quality of the banknotes."

Ernst immediately said: "There is no problem in this regard. We have a sisal processing plant in Hamburg, which is used to produce raw materials for ship cables. If you need it, you can go directly to Hamburg to purchase it. We can give you a 50% discount." Discount."

   It’s not that Ernst is stingy, but that sisal in East Africa is indeed very popular, but if there are more buyers, East Africa will not refuse. Can we continue to expand the planting area according to market demand!

   Wayans: "Hahaha, if this is the case, we will send technicians and procurement personnel to investigate."

  Next, Wayans took Ernst and his party to continue to observe the mechanical equipment in the Swedish Mint.

Waynes: "This printing machine is specially ordered from the UK. Of course, because of the level of manufacturing, we in Sweden are still a little short in this area, but the design is completely done by us, so it is also our own brand. This kind of precision can be processed in France and Prussia, but the British offered the lowest price at the beginning, so we used the design drawings to complete the manufacture of this printing equipment in London, and then shipped it back to Sweden for debugging.”

   Ernst: "Then what level is it equivalent to?"

Wayans: "There is almost nothing more advanced than it, but if you want a set, you must modify some internal structures, such as molds, which must be redesigned. After all, each set of banknotes is Different, there is also anti-counterfeiting technology, and the needs of each customer are different, of course, there are very few such customers now, and many countries are still making and using coins.”

   Waynes' last sentence hit the point, which is why Ernst traveled thousands of miles across the sea to Sweden.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire has mature technology, Ernst will definitely give priority to cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire is still using coins as currency, and has no experience in this area, plus the excellent relationship between the Hexingen royal family and the Swedish royal family , so select Sweden.

As for why Germany is not chosen, it is because Germany’s banknote technology is almost the same as that of Hechingen Bank. Unified currency, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, metal coins are popular. Although paper money exists in many states, metal money is still in circulation throughout the empire. This time, Hechingen Bank mainly came to learn Sweden’s paper money anti-counterfeiting technology. After all Swedish banknotes have been in use for a long time and have accumulated sufficient experience in this regard.

  The so-called Tao is one foot high, and the magic is one foot high, and the anti-counterfeiting technology is rolled out. Sweden has been rolling out for hundreds of years, and some problems encountered are not encountered by other countries.

   In terms of anti-counterfeiting technology in East Africa, there is actually no need to worry too much. There are no such capable people in East Africa. After all, most people can’t even count five, let alone the difficult work of counterfeiting currency.

  However, East Africa’s own currency is different from the financial bonds that only existed in East Africa before. It will enter the international community, mainly Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the anti-counterfeiting technology cannot be sloppy.

Hechingen Bank has also accumulated experience in making banknotes through the issuance of financial bonds, and has its own unique skills, but it has only been two or three years, and it must not be compared with Sweden, a country that has developed banknote technology for two to three hundred years. The first time I came to Sweden to study is to make up for the last shortcoming-experience.

   Most of the members of the inspection team are technicians from Hechingen Bank. This time they came here to introduce Sweden’s advanced technology and experience, and then combine it with their own banknote technology. Under the strong alliance, they launched the East African Kingdom’s own currency.

  East African currency has been established, the name is "Rhine Guilder", but it is very different from the current Rhine Guilder in Germany.

   First of all, the "Rhine Guilder" in East Africa is a banknote, while the Rhine Guilder in Europe is a gold and silver coin.

   Followed by the face value of the "Rhine Guilder" in East Africa, followed by one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred (guilders).

  The guilder is the same unit as the kroner, but the guilder means "gold coin" and the rhine is the name of the currency.

Finally, the "Rhine Shield" in East Africa will use Constantine's "beauty portrait" as the front character pattern, because Constantine's real hairstyle is a bit difficult to describe, so Ernst personally decided to use the bust of Constantine as a template, so that You can wear a pointed hat unique to the German armies to cover your hair.

At the same time, the Hohenzollernburg is uniformly used as the pattern on the back of the currency, and the Hohenzollern family logo such as the national emblem is added. "Shield" is equal to 0.22 grams of gold. There is no need to worry about gold reserves. There are gold mines in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, and in the hinterland, the development is very safe. At the same time, the Hechingen Bank has also built many vaults in Europe.

The currency in East Africa is called "Rhine Guilder". There is no other name, but in order to distinguish it from the Rhine Guilder circulating in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and other regions internationally, merchants and financial institutions will add the word East Africa as a qualifier in front. This situation lasted until the end of the 19th century when the Austro-Hungarian Empire stopped producing the Rhine Guilder, and the Rhine Guilder became the unique currency name of the East African Kingdom.

  (end of this chapter)