This is damn interesting.

On March 7, 1775, a handsome young apothecary named Robert Perrault entered a London bank with a simple, if somewhat extravagant

request. He wanted to take out a 5,000-pound loan, equivalent to just under $1 million today,

from the bank's owners, the Drummond Brothers. As collateral for the loan, Perot offered a bond

for 7,500 pounds signed by the wealthy and respectable William Adair.

In other words, if Perot didn't pay back the 5,000 pounds on schedule, Mr. Adair would cover the bank's loss, plus a 50% profit.

Though the effective interest rate Perot offered was unusually high, withdrawing cash,

using someone else's cash as collateral, was an otherwise common way of securing credit in the

18th century. Similar to co-signing agreements today, it was a system based on personal reputation

and a relatively safe bet for lenders, if not for the rich

guarantors whose friends might abuse their trust. The only way it could go wrong for the bank

was if the bond itself, that is, the wealthy person's promise to cover the loan, was forged.

In this case, Robert Perrault was a successful businessman with plenty of assets, and Adair was known to

have signed bonds for the Perot family in the past. The Drummond's themselves had made previous loans

to Perot for other forms of collateral. By all appearances, it should have been a straightforward and

safe investment for the Drummond's, especially considering the

temptingly high payout. But on this day, Henry Drummond had a gut feeling that something was

wrong. He asked whether Perrault had personally seen Adair signed the bond. Perrault admitted that he

hadn't, but insisted there could be no question of its authenticity. Adair's lawyer and his personal servant

had both witnessed the bond, he pointed out, placing their own unique signatures just under Adair's.

But the other Drummond brother, coincidentally also named Robert, was equally insistent.

He knew Adair personally, and this was not his handwriting.

...