At least until the start of the current millennium, these financial assets were traded using “scrips”: pieces of paper certificates acknowledging the bearer’s ownership of these assets. Each bond scrip would contain information such as the principal amount, the “coupon”, the due date, the banks involved and, of course, the country or company issuing those scrips. In the case of stocks, each share scrip would indicate information such as the owner of these shares and the quantum of shares represented by each piece of paper.
Chew with his prized collection. On his right, a 1904 issue by Jardin Zoological D Acclinacao of Portugal; on his left, an 1890 issue by The Malay Peninsular Exploration Syndicate. The spread in front of him includes bonds belonging to the same series issued by the Qing government of Imperial China to finance railway construction. As a reflection of the different origins of these scrips, they were issued in the various major currencies of the major powers at that time: In pounds, marks, roubles, francs and the US dollar.
Each day, billions or possibly trillions of dollars’ worth of assets in the form of stocks, bonds and currencies change hands across the world. These days, the transactions are all done electronically. The assets appear only as digits on the screens of buyers, sellers and brokers in between.
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