An early example of debt monetization. The article fails to mention that taxes were payable in these tally sticks, thereby creating a market for these pieces of

An early example of debt monetization. The article fails to mention that taxes were payable in these tally sticks, thereby creating a market for these pieces of wood. Here's a more in-depth article https://glintpay.com/money-en_us/how-equating-wood-with-gold-left-englands-citizens-short-changed/ https://glintpay.com/money-en_us/how-equating-wood-with-gold... "However, the reality was that the vaults soon contained more wooden sticks than gold and the King soon began to issue tally sticks as he pleased." Anti-counterfeiting is a somewhat laughable turn of phrase in this context. "Overnight the Kings’ tally sticks reverted back to their real worth: firewood. The Kings’ creditors, the goldsmiths and their customers had “drawn the short end of the stick” (the origin of a still used expression)."