Currency from Opinion: Imitation Banknotes and the Materiality of Paper Currency in Britain, 1782-1847.

Paper money, graphic satire, and imitation banknotes comprised a vibrant part of visual culture in Britain over the long nineteenth century, collectively shaping belief in paper credit. Artists, entrepreneurs, and politicians competed with each other to assign value to the unfixed sign of paper money and stabilize the social relationships it represented. Satirists seized on the unstable form of paper money as an ideal medium for social criticism and whimsical jokes, while others used the form for advertisement. Based on surviving examples, this essay gives the first history of this virtually unknown genre of prints, imitation banknotes, and demonstrates their complex relationships to the acceptance of paper as a medium fit to carry value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]