Historic 1700 Letter from Ben Waller Discussing Paper Money & Financial Affairs #2284706 (License: Personal Use)

This aged parchment document features elegant copperplate script from Ben Waller, dated February 21, 1700, in Edinburgh. It discusses the recipient’s “infirmities,” expresses hope for recovery, and details a substantial £10,000 loan-partly in gold and silver, partly in “abominable Paper Trash”-reflecting the turbulent transition to fiduciary currency in early modern Britain. The letter also references a mutual acquaintance whose youth was “annihilated” and offers generous terms for bond acquisition.

Used on historical archive sites, museum digital collections, or academic pages about 18th-century economics, Scottish history, or epistolary culture; targets researchers, historians, and collectors seeking primary sources on early paper money and personal finance in the pre-Bank of England era.