At the very end of the 18th century, Mayer handed over the business to his five sons and entreated them to give an international dimension to the firm. And so subsidiaries were set up in London, Vienna, Naples and Paris even though Europe was in the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars. The subsidiaries set up a private mail system -the only one of its kind- that allowed them to correspond at all times. It also enabled large amounts of gold to be sent from one country to another. |