San Jose's Marcian Rossi was an interesting local character as I've mentioned in other posts.. He was the overseer of the family's collection of Marco Polo maps. He wrote a science fiction novel on a trip to mars. He invented weapons for splicing enemy ships and shells to cut through barbed wire. It's unclear if any of these pursuits ever earned Marcian any money......perhaps momentary fame.
Apparently M. F. Rossi was also a holder of a Florentine promissory note back dating back to 1480. At 6% interest, the note would have been worth $41 billion. Unfortunately, the institution did not exist and pay back the note.
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