Ironically, the fire itself was caused by the disposal of another ancient tool of reckoning: tallies. These are short lengths of wood carved with notches to represent money owed. These staves are then split down their length into two pieces, foil and stock, which are given to the debtor and creditor respectively. The unique shape of the wood’s split ensures this record cannot be forged (and is also where the term ‘stockholder’ originates). The British government had been using tally sticks in its accounting since the medieval era, but had finally decided to get rid of these old records. Two
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