Note 47 — Chapter X · FINANCE

The tally, the precursor of the counterfoil, was a wooden stick on the edge of which the sum paid was indicated by a series of cuts or notches, the various sizes of which indicated definite sums. The stick being split parallel to its face, each party to the payment retained one portion, with its edge thus significantly notched, and the genuineness of either portion could at once be proved by putting the two together, when the notches would be found to tally.