The check as a financial instrument has a rich history. Centuries of progress can be traced to the use of checks as a means by which trade and migration were facilitated by the use of this simple, yet indispensable, concept. From the first handwritten scribed promise, to the modern personalized check, the world has changed because of the check.

There is much discussion regarding the origins of the check. It is thought that it was the Romans, in about 352 B.C., who first used an organized method of payment by note that constituted the first check. Historically, some 200 years later a similar method was used by the Persian Empire where a “chak” was used as an instrument of payment. The concept was slow to reveal itself throughout other cultures, yet the concept of holding money to be paid out at a later date, held by a written note, was used by the Knights Templar to help facilitate the pilgrimage of Christians to Europe and the land of Israel during the 12th-14th centuries.

Holland was inspired in the late 1500s to create the first standardized system when the check was first employed on a widespread basis. People began depositing their monies with Dutch “cashiers” as a safe alternative to hiding money in their home. The concept of checks as a method of payment eventually spread to England and the new world. In 1681, the first check was recorded in the United States after a Boston businessman is said to have used his property as collateral to create a fund against which checks were written.

The first notion of a “personal check” was first produced in the 1800s when the Commercial Bank of Scotland began printing the names of the people for whom money was held by their institution on a paper form. A numbering system had already been established in England in the 1700s with the use of sequenced serial numbers on printed forms to be used as checks and enable proper tracking, or “checking“.

The modern personal check has experienced many changes over centuries of use, but remains a principal form of payment throughout the world. With respect to the rich history of the check, Bradford Exchange Checks is dedicated to creating an exceptional product through the use of fine artistry, and has been a consistent leader in offering the most secure and highest of quality designer check options to consumers at low prices, with savings up to 70% off bank checks pricing.