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Today we’re talking about an everyday essential carried by both women and men: the wallet. We choose it almost as carefully as shoes or a handbag—because it’s always close at hand, ends up in our fingers dozens of times a day, and says a surprising amount about its owner’s taste. Minimalist or vintage, smooth leather or pebbled grain, strict black or a bold colour—the wallet sits right on the boundary between style and practicality.
What’s most interesting, though, is that it didn’t appear “just because”: its shape and purpose are directly tied to the history of money. So let’s start at the very beginning—with the moment the world moved from coins to paper banknotes.

1. Why do we even need a wallet?

A wallet isn’t merely an accessory—it’s a practical solution to a timeless task: carrying value with you, even as the form of value has changed over the centuries. When money was heavy coin, people got by with small pouches, purses, and belt bags. But as soon as paper money entered circulation, a new need emerged: how to keep those flat, easily creased notes so they wouldn’t tear, get dirty, or slip away.

Money itself, of course, isn’t a “magical object”—it’s a social agreement. Society decides what counts as a means of payment, and that shared agreement is what gives money its purchasing power.

The takeaway is simple: as money changes, so do the ways we carry it.

2. First came paper: the technological foundation of banknotes

The rise of paper money is closely linked to two technologies: papermaking and printing.

The Chinese were the first to develop early forms of paper, including “silk paper” made from silkworm cocoons.

A key milestone is 105 CE, when the Chinese court official Cai Lun reported to the emperor on improvements to papermaking—a date often cited as the official birth of paper in China.

Paper became a mass medium for text, and later for value.

And that, in turn, laid the groundwork for printed currency.

3. China. The first paper money: when coins became too heavy

One of the main reasons paper money emerged was the inconvenience of transporting metal. Early Chinese paper money was called “fei-qian” (“flying money”)—a name that makes sense, because it was incomparably lighter than coin. A string of metal coins could weigh around 3 kg, while trade was becoming interregional and demanded mobility.

In form, these early “notes” were closer to cheques: a merchant in the capital would exchange coins for a written receipt, then receive coins in the provinces—convenient, safer, and far lighter.

1 — paper money of the Tang dynasty, 618–649
2 — private “jiaozi” notes issued under the Song dynasty, 950–1127

Under the Song dynasty, paper issuance became part of state policy. In 1023 the authorities introduced a state monopoly on paper money: an Exchange Office opened in Sichuan and issued “jiaozi”.

Interesting detail: the first issuance had partial metallic backing—around 28%.

In other words, paper money evolved from a convenient receipt into an instrument of the state—and that meant it became more widespread and familiar. Mass use and standardisation inevitably reshape the “support system” around money: habitual ways of storing it, carrying it, and protecting it from wear begin to form.

In Chinese tradition, the “wallet before the wallet” long looked less like a folded case and more like a small pouch worn at the waist—practical, and decorative at the same time. It was worn in a way that kept it “on display”: much like we choose a bag or a belt today, people then chose embroidery, shape, tassels, and hanging charms. And the most fashionable part of this story is that the accessory wasn’t born from whim, but from daily life: keeping money, letters, documents, and small essentials close without tying up your hands.

The most common type was the hebao (荷包): a small embroidered drawstring pouch for coins and other important little items—because clothing often simply didn’t have pockets.

Detail from the scroll “北齐校书图” (a scene of collating books): in the reproduction, a small object/pouch can be seen at the figure’s waist. (Researchers associate the scroll with the tradition of Yang Zihua; a museum article notes that the work is held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.)
On the right — a reconstruction of what such a money pouch might have looked like in real life.

A women’s version of a “purse”. Qing dynasty, 19th century — Chinese colour woodblock print “A Lady and Her Maid” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art):
fashionable pendants and accessories are visible at the waist — an aesthetic close to the idea of the “pouch as jewellery”.
On the right — the reconstructed pouch.

For greater convenience, people also used the dalian (褡裢)—a long, soft wallet with two pockets at the ends (essentially a “two-pocket bag”), worn on the belt or over the shoulder.

Illustration of a street vendor (everyday scenes of Beijing life):
the dalian reads clearly as an item carried on the body (belt/pendant).

These forms readily accommodated paper money, too: sheets could be folded and tucked away much like coins—only with a bit more care. The approximate size of the earliest paper notes was about a small palm or a small postcard—around 16 × 9 cm. People would roll the notes or fold them in half and carry them in a pouch.

4. Europe: how “paper” became money—and why it had to be folded

The Chinese guarded the technology fiercely: exporting the secret of papermaking was forbidden. Europe therefore relied for a long time on expensive parchment made from animal skin.

Only via the Arab world did paper “seep” westward: by the 10th century it reached Spain through North Africa, and Europe’s first paper mill opened in Spain in 1151. Even then, paper wasn’t immediately accepted—religious prejudice played its part, and papal clergy hindered its spread in medieval society, viewing it as something “from the pagan world”.

The first prototype of paper money appears in Europe much later. At first it isn’t even a “banknote” but a document. In Genoa, the Banco di San Giorgio (1407) issued paper instruments that were essentially bank obligations: payable on demand, with the amount written in by the depositor, issued to a named person, and usable only with legal formalities.

The format of this “money” matched any other document or letter. It was folded or rolled and stored alongside other papers.

The size of “money” begins to shrink in the 17th century, with the rise of bonds and credit notes in various denominations.

Paper is no longer merely a carrier of text—it becomes a carrier of rights and value.

Dutch East India Company bond, 1622–1623

Europe’s first paper money: Stockholm Banco credit dalers, 1666

The first “credit dalers” (kreditivsedlar) appear in Sweden in 1656. These were interest-free promissory notes backed by metal deposited in a bank, and in 1661 they began circulating as Europe’s first paper money.

Early European banknotes were almost hand-sized sheets. A surviving issue from 1666 measures 190 × 150 mm. Such “notes” were naturally folded and kept in sacks, chests, or travel cases.

In the 17th century, people typically used:
– Bundles and pouches: papers were folded, tied, and put into cloth or leather bags. Contemporary descriptions explicitly mention bundles and pouches as a common way lawyers, officials, and families handled papers.

Document bag, 1572

– “Deed boxes” / document chests: wooden boxes (often leather-covered) for debt papers, contracts, mortgages, and similar documents, as well as cabinet drawers and built-in storage systems.

Document box

Document box, 1542

– Travel document cases (when papers had to be carried): leather cases with multiple sections, tied closed with a silk cord—exactly the sort of object you could fold or roll papers into for a journey.

Italian three-section case, 17th century, closed with a silk cord

– Writing and travel boxes: among the wealthy and in business circles, documents often lived alongside writing tools—in portable writing caskets.

Example (second half of the 17th century): a travel writing box with a writing surface and internal compartments.

Writing box, France, 1783

5. The first prototype of the modern wallet

In 1789, France issued its first assignats—large denominations of 200, 300, and 1,000 livres. In shape they were still almost documents: for example, a 1,000-livre assignat measured 20.3 × 14.3 cm. But it was already easier to fold and carry in a case (a pocket book—a foldable case carried in the pocket).

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the pocket book wasn’t merely a “case”; it was a popular accessory for men and women alike: thin, flat, “like an envelope”, with flaps—an ideal home for paper. It was made in both fabric and leather.

Inside, people kept everything that made a day feel organised: money, letters, shopping lists.

And it was carried as the era dictated: men in pockets; women within the private architecture of dress, including tied-on pockets worn under skirts.

English pink-and-cream satin pocket book, 1789, with internal flap pockets, 17.5 × 38 cm.

Rijksmuseum — a European “portefeuille / brieventas”. (c. 1790–1820): a flat “portefeuille” of cardboard covered in white silk and painted, with an edge finished in twisted silver cord/wire.

A “leather / formal” version: Briefcase (portefeuille / document case), third quarter of the 18th century


Leather Pocket Book, 1790–1800

In essence, this is the bridge to the modern wallet: while money still looks like a paper promise and creases easily, fashion answers with something simple—giving it a beautiful, flat, foldable “home” close to the body.

Sizes “compress” in parallel: banknotes gradually become more compact—and their cases become more compact along with them.

In the early 19th century, the pocket book remained a pocket “book-case” for an entire paper life: letters, notes, money. But by Britain’s Regency era (1811–1820, when the Prince of Wales ruled as Prince Regent), the pocket format had become noticeably more wallet-like: a typical pocket book was about 8 × 13 cm, with a flap and internal compartments for letters, calling cards, recipes, or banknotes.

Then habits split: letters and notes lived their own life, and paper money lived another. A new object appeared, designed specifically for notes: the flat, folding billfold. The term enters English in the 1850s (an early attestation is 1858) meaning “a folding pocket case for paper money”.

Photograph: “The man with the wallet”, c. 1845


Abraham Lincoln’s trifold wallet (1865)


Bifold, France, 1860–1869


Patent drawing: Paper Wallet, 1884 (US 295,949). A very clear folding scheme—an obvious visual ancestor of the compact modern wallet.

Folding remained necessary for a long time: many 19th-century banknotes were still large—for example, the famous English “white fiver” was so big it fit in a pocket only when folded.

6. 1914: war breaks gold—and makes paper the main carrier of money

After the collapse of empires and the First World War, money finally “moves in” to paper. The abandonment of gold in circulation and wartime inflation make banknotes widespread and everyday: they need to be carried often, in volume, and safely—not stored “ceremonially” as a treasure.

Postwar mark, Germany, 1920


Postwar Soviet 3 roubles, 1925 (NEP period)

In the 1920s a new monetary order takes shape: overthrown monarchs (sovereigns) no longer mint “their” coin, and a central bank—or a central banking system modelled on the Federal Reserve—becomes the norm. The issuance of interest-bearing notes as debt is controlled and standardised by private companies. That means a single issuer, unified rules, and an increasingly uniform “format” for cash.

It’s in this 1914–1930s corridor that the pre-modern wallet crystallises: the flat, folding billfold designed for the pockets of the city suit. When banknotes themselves start being produced to stable standards (in the U.S., a dramatic reduction and standardisation of size in 1929), the idea of a “pocket home for paper” becomes obvious— and truly mass-market.

Travel wallet, 1930


AMITY DIRECTOR wallet advertisement, 1937

Later, it’s not the principle that changes but the interior: the postwar 1950s will add the “card” architecture, yet the basic silhouette of the modern wallet is born right here—in the era of standardised banknotes and central issuance.

And still, the wallet didn’t remain a purely utilitarian thing. Once the form settled, it became, again, what it had been in the age of pocket books and cases: a signal of taste. Today designers turn it into a fully-fledged fashion object—playing with scale and proportions, making it almost jewellery, adding chains, charms, unusual closures, bold monograms, and touchable textures.

In the end, a wallet doesn’t simply carry money and documents—it tells its owner’s story: about status, personality, a love of craftsmanship, or a big-name brand. And that may be the best ending to the whole history: payment systems and technologies have changed, but the desire to make a “home for what matters” beautiful has never disappeared.

Author: Eugenia M.