The Viennese Waltz(126)

Now, according to rumor, Sarah Wendell, in a deposition, had said there wasn’t enough silver in the Royal Bank of Austria-Hungary. Sarah Wendell was both engaged to marry Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein and a recognized up-time expert on money. In the course of a couple of days, the rumor had turned the deposition into a “secret” deposition.

* * *

BarbieCo Preferred traded on the Grantville exchange, the Magdeburg exchange, the Amsterdam exchange and the Venice exchange. In all those exchanges, it traded as a stock, not a currency. The price quoted for a full share of BarbieCo Preferred—also known as a judi—was, according to the last September issue of The Street, thirty-one American dollars. The price of a reichsthaler was twenty-two American dollars. It wasn’t an obvious thing, since the prices were listed in different sections of the paper.

The difference in price wasn’t any big secret. Moses Abrabanel had discussed it with his father, with Gundaker von Liechtenstein, and Susan Logsden. However, the new issue of the financial paper had an article about the difference in prices and what they meant in terms of money versus stock and bonds. The article was a “thought piece” and encouraged readers to invest in the market, and in most of Europe that was how it was taken. However, in Vienna, its main effect was to make Grantville’s view of the relative value of a judi versus a reichsthaler obvious to anyone.

Beauty Parlor, Race Track City

“What do you mean, it costs more if I pay in reich money?” Liana asked. Maximiliana Constanzia von Liechtenstein was so obviously put out by the sign that Frau Lechner pulled out her copy of The Street and handed it to Liana. But she didn’t wait for the noblewoman to read it. She pointed out the specific passage and the line that followed it, about the writer’s belief that the difference in price was simply going to increase.

As it happened, Liana had both reich money and BarbieCo stock in her purse. She did quite a bit of shopping here and often got barbies in change. She glanced over the article, but didn’t really follow it all that well. She was literate and reasonably bright, but not particularly well-versed in business. However, she got the point and paid in reich money. After all, the barbies were going to get more valuable. It said so, right there in The Street.

Barbies were disappearing at a remarkable rate all that day, and the next. By Thursday, it was hard to find one even in Race Track City and essentially impossible in Vienna.

Frau Winkler’s Boarding House, Vienna

“Herr Maier, you get paid tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yes, Frau Winkler?” Herr Maier wasn’t behind on his rent, not since his third week working at the Liechtenstein Tower construction project. It was hard, dangerous work, but Karl Johann Maier didn’t mind that. They paid well and on time, every week.

“Well, I want my rent in BarbieCo, so just you make sure you get barbies.”

“There’s nothing in our agreement that says I have to pay in barbies.” Karl Johann wasn’t all that happy with the landlady. She had been a constant pain while he was behind on his rent and not much nicer since he had gotten the good job. Besides, there were rumors that a barbie was worth more than the reich money.

Frau Winkler’s blotchy face got even blotchier, but he had her and she clearly knew it. “I will give you a discount for barbies,” she said grudgingly.

And they were off. The bargaining took fifteen minutes and he would save two trudies on a week’s rent. Karl Johann left the apartment building with a spring in his step and a song in his heart.

Frau Winkler was worried. Not all her tenants worked for the Liechtensteins or the Barbies. She had no idea why reich money wasn’t worth as much as barbies. She just knew that it wasn’t.

Royal Bank of Austria-Hungary, Vienna

“We need to open the second vault,” whispered Franz Traugott to Karl Lang.

“This is crazy,” Lang whispered back. “Why are they all here?”

“Didn’t you hear? Sarah Wendell reported to the emperor that there wasn’t enough silver to support reich money. No one trusts paper money anymore.”

“Don’t be silly,” Lang said, starting to get a really bad feeling about this. “How could she know?”

“Her up-time computer worked it out, the one she brought with her from the Ring of Fire. You know that they can calculate anything.”

Karl Lang didn’t know a thing about what computers could or couldn’t calculate. But he did know that the vaults weren’t as full of silver as they were supposed to be.

Another customer came up to the window with a stack of reich money. “I will have silver, if you please,” the man said. He didn’t look like a silversmith.