Bank of England promise to pay

[pmbug]

Once upon a time, dollar bills in the USA were bearer certificates that could be redeemed for gold and silver. That all ended circa 1933 and the Federal Reserve changed the bills so that they no longer contained the "pay the bearer on demand" language.

I learned today that in the UK, GBP notes still contain a bearer certificate language:

...
What does the 'promise to pay' on bank notes mean?

The words ‘I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of five/ten/twenty/fifty pounds’ appear on all of our notes. This phrase dates from long ago when our notes represented deposits of gold. At that time, a member of the public could exchange one of our banknotes for gold of the same value. For example, a £5 note could be exchanged for five gold coins, called sovereigns.

However, the value of the pound has not been linked to gold for many years, so the meaning of the promise to pay has changed. You can no longer exchange banknotes for gold. You can only exchange them for other Bank of England banknotes of the same face value.
...

Banknote FAQs

Frequently questions about our banknotes

www.bankofengland.co.uk

Not my work, but I thought it was funny:

 

[Voodoo]

Per my recollection Bearer bonds is in how they pay the interest. Since its a physical thing that can pass from person to person the ownership is in basically whoever holds the thing. I believe some of these used to pay interest at some point. Some older US currency did pay interest but I'm certainly no historian.

 

[pmbug]

Bearer bonds <> bearer certificate

The USA used to issue "dollars" that were gold or silver certificates - redeemable for gold or silver.

 

[pmbug]

Here is a pic of the GBP note:

 

[Voodoo]

Yeah but the Bearer Certificate was basically an I owe you the Bearer Bond, no?

 

[pmbug]

I don't know what you mean by that. Peeps used to be able to redeem the certificates for physical gold/silver (coin). There was no bond involved AFAIK.

 

[chieftain]

The way the reply was worded, the implication is that the 10 pound not ISN'T legal tender currency but can be redeemed for something that is legal tender currency.

So what do they consider legal tender currency?

 

[nickndfl]

Bearer bonds <> bearer certificate

The USA used to issue "dollars" that were gold or silver certificates - redeemable for gold or silver.

 

[Goldhedge]

Once upon a time, dollar bills in the USA were bearer certificates that could be redeemed for gold and silver. That all ended circa 1933 and the Federal Reserve changed the bills so that they no longer contained the "pay the bearer on demand" language.

I learned today that in the UK, GBP notes still contain a bearer certificate language:

Banknote FAQs

Frequently questions about our banknotes

www.bankofengland.co.uk

Not my work, but I thought it was funny:

That last answer is quite the word salad.