ABSTRACT
All quotations documented in the following have already been calculated in this way by ISSAWI and RABINO.
Concerning the Middle Asian region, there are only a few exchange rate quotations from Persia, which Issawi has already compiled: “In the first half of the period, the source was usually a statement of expenses incurred in Iranian money, with the equivalent amount given in either sterling or sicca or Bombay rupees. In the latter half, the consular reports give either the average rate prevailing in their district during the year under review, or the range of such rates” (ISSAWI [ed.] [1971], p. 339). In that case we are dealing with quotations exclusively on London, which were noted down in several Persian trading places, although a constant, long series cannot be drawn up for any of the towns and for many years no quotation was available at all. For the years before 1870 the quotations come almost exclusively from Tabriz and Tehran, by far – and in this order – the two most important trading centres of Persia (NOBACK [1851], p. 885; NOBACK [1877], p. 869; RABINO [1892], pp. 33). For the following decades, rates are increasingly available from other places as well, especially from Rasht at the Caspian Sea, from Mashhad in Khorasan and Bushire at the Persian Gulf. However, since
on: in: per: London krâns 1 pound sterling
there was no market for bills of exchange on Persia in London, the relevant financial journals – e.g. the London Economist – did not publish any quotations from Persia, as was the case for other Asian markets. If any exchanges were drawn on Persia at all, this was done similarly to the cashless payment transactions from Europe, that is, from London on India: “The financial status and responsibility of the drawer and the drawee being usually the deciding factors as to which class of bill shall be negotiated” (SPALDING [1918], p. 105).
