Gary G. writes: Hi, I am a Banknote collector and found some of your articles fascinating. I have recently acquired an old 1920 ENGLISH check made out for the amount of 154,730 pounds. Can you give me a rough guide how much that would be worth today ? Is there a site on the web you know of where this kind of relative information is available ? Many thanks in anticipation.
Guttag’s Foreign Currency and Exchange Guide published in 1921 lists a British pound at about US$4.87. In U.S. funds your check would have represented US$753,535. That would have been a considerable fortune in 1920. At today’s exchange rate of 1 pound= US$1.63 your check would equal US$ 252,209 – still nothing to sneeze at, even with the loss in purchasing power.
