![]() ![]() Fulk Basset was a Bishop of London in the 13th Century. The stick would contain a record of the debt, for example: "£9 4s 4d from Fulk Basset for the farm of Wycombe". Tallies were a way of recording debts with a system that was sublimely simple and effective. The willow was harvested along the banks of the Thames, not far from the Palace of Westminster in central London. The artefacts in question were humble sticks of willow, about eight inches (20cm) long, called Exchequer tallies. In this case, the outdated money takes the form of "tally sticks." As Harford explains: Do you know the true story of how a careless clerk, while burning up some outdated money, caused the Great Fire of 1834 which destroyed both Houses of the British Parliament, along with large portions of the Palace of Westminster? Tim Harford tells the tale in "What tally sticks tell us about how money works" (BBC News, July 10, 2017). ![]()
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