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The Money of History

Mazar e Sharif: a 1910 one hundred rouble bank note
 

Stepped out of a series of ad-hoc interviews with hawala agents, to find this gent punting this 1910 hundred rouble banknote to the currency dealers in the local bazaar. There’s something about negotiating a deal in front of all and sundry – will the foreigner pay over the odds? What are the odds? (Pretty sure I paid over the odds, heh).

It’s an apt momento for a study into emerging money practices – the Badakhshani farmer says it was in his family for four generations.