“Yes, I would like to see it as well,” Liana said.
“Of course,” the shopkeeper said. “Is anything wrong?” He went back to his cash box and dug out several bills.
He brought them back and said, “There is one more bill, but I have none. The susans are for large transactions and the value is set when they are issued.” He handed Duchess Sophia a stack of bills and Sophia went through them quickly, noting the color and denomination of each bill. The green thaler note had a picture of Judy Wendell, the sister of Sarah Wendell. And then there was the purple note. It had the face of Hayley Fortney on it, looking like a younger version of Dana Fortney, and it said “One Mark.” She held it up to the shopkeeper. “What is this worth?”
The shopkeeper blinked. “One mark, a Cologne mark. Not silver but it’s worth the same, except it earns interest too. They all do.”
“Interest?” she asked. Sophia hadn’t read the back of the bill.
“It’s on the back. One fiftieth of the value of the bill every year, from the date on the bill.” He reached over and pointed to the date.
Sophia nodded. There was Hayley Fortney’s face and One Cologne Mark. Further, this was the largest of all the bills. To Sophia the obvious conclusion was that Hayley Fortney was the most important of the Barbies.
Katharina spoke up. “We would like to buy all these bills.” She looked over at one of the servants. “Pay him.”
The shopkeeper, clearly very nervous but sticking to his guns, would not take one pfennig less than the marked amount on the bills.
* * *
“No,” Sophia said to Katharina. “You can take the others to show Maximilian and the emperor. I will be taking the hayli.” They were on the pontoon boat, heading back to Vienna.
Katharina looked at her. “All right, but you owe me a Cologne mark.” She laughed. “Though if your son’s suit should prosper, that will be nothing to you.”
“I note that Sarah Wendell is not on a bill, and that Judy is only a thaler.”
“And I note that Sarah and Karl are engaged and your son hasn’t even walked out with Hayley,” said Liana.
The Hofburg Palace, Vienna
“It’s not actually illegal,” von Trauttmansdorff said. “Not, at least, unless you say it is. I think we could make a case for outlawing them by claiming that they intend its use as money. But I have read the paragraph on the back describing it, and it is preferred participating stock. It doesn’t promise that it will ever be exchangeable for reich money.”
“The shopkeeper—” Peter von Eisenberg started, and von Trauttmansdorff interrupted.
“I know, but that was the action of the shopkeeper. No different than insisting that he be paid for any other thing he was selling. If he had insisted on a Cologne mark for a bottle of wine, that wouldn’t make the wine money.”
“We can’t have them printing money, whatever they call it,” Maximilian von Liechtenstein said.
“Why not?” asked Moses Abrabanel.
“Because they aren’t paying for the privilege,” Gundaker insisted. “The minting of money is a prerogative of the crown that the crown delegates to the minters of money in exchange for silver.”
“We are under no obligation at all to accept their stock in payment of taxes, nor for anything else. But we’ve known for over a year now that we needed to introduce more money into the economy. Let them issue their stock. If it fails, it won’t reflect on us.”
Emperor Ferdinand snorted. “That’s a weak argument, Moses.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, we are in a weak position. With the USE sucking the silver out of Europe, our economy is on the edge of disaster.”
“And what happens when others copy them?” Gundaker asked. “When some imperial knight from the back of nowhere starts trying to pay his debts in stock certificates?”
“Who’s going to take it?” Moses asked back. “Certainly not me.”
“Are you going to take this BarbieCo stock?”
Moses stopped, clearly considering the question. “I honestly don’t know. But even if I don’t, the shopkeepers in Race Track City are. And not just the ones that are partly owned by the Sanderlin-Fortney Investment Company.”
“My Hofbefreiten are taking it?” Ferdinand III asked. He had been busy in the capital for the last week while all this was happening. He hadn’t known a thing about it till this meeting.
“Most of them,” Moses said. “Why not? At most they need to walk across the street to exchange it. And, besides, it earns interest.”
“You honestly think I should endorse this, Moses?”