PA Merchants issued paper card cents 1 1

[RWB]

1864 was a tough year for small businesses. It was made more difficult by a shortage of small change - mostly cents. Some merchants resorted to stamping small cards in 1-cent and 2-cent values. Local bankers almost begged the Philadelphia Mint for coins. Here's an example.

Banking and Exchange Office of Walter G. Sterling

Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne Co., Pa

 October 25, 1864

 Treasurer,

U.S. Mint

Philadelphia

Dear Sir:

            Yours of 21^st inst., in reply to mine of 19^th enclosing draft for $160 for cents you state my name has been entered for $100 to be forwarded when my turn arises and $60 will be sent in about two weeks.

            This order is not for myself , but for 8 merchants of this place who need the cents very much; many of the shops and some not so responsible, issue cards stamped 1 and 2 cents which is about the only currency used in stores; the persons for whom I ordered these desire to drive the cards out of use and if you can by any means give the penny orders at an early day it will confer a favour [sic].

            Yours very truly,

            W. G. Sterling

Edited December 9, 2020 by RWB
Fix formatting - as usual

[RWB]

FYI- As much as 50% of the extant US Mint correspondence for 1864 consists of requests for cents (and a few 2-cent pieces), and letters regarding the supply of bronze cent planchets from Holmes, Booth & Hayden, a Waterbury, CT metal supply company.

[RonnieR131]

22 hours ago, RWB said:

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Sounded desperate. I would imagine the mint jumped right on it, Fed Exed it (pony express), fresh horse and rider, hopefully they didn't stop and vote a few times on the way, etc... I'm sure the rider was tipped with a 1864 $3 gold piece. 

[RWB]

The Philadelphia Mint was at least 3-weeks behind on filling orders. (This was back when minor coins were ordered direct from the Mint, not sub-Treasuries.)

[Conder101]

During the Civil War many businesses issued their own fractional notes in the 1 to 50 cent range.  These private notes seems to be an area not widely collected or studied.  It was probably short lived once the government fractional currency came out, but a demand for notes of 1 or two cents probably remained for awhile.or was satisfied with Civil War tokens.

[RWB]

2 hours ago, Conder101 said:

During the Civil War many businesses issued their own fractional notes in the 1 to 50 cent range.  These private notes seems to be an area not widely collected or studied.  It was probably short lived once the government fractional currency came out, but a demand for notes of 1 or two cents probably remained for awhile.or was satisfied with Civil War tokens.

It's an area with little study, and likely few extant examples: local issues, small businesses, fragile media, limited utility, early obsolescence, etc.

Edited December 14, 2020 by RWB

[Henri Charriere]

[Would it be fair to say that the production of similar such scarcity of supply vs. unpredictable demand scenarios lay at the genesis of the advent of tokens circulating in rural communities much like those posted regularly on Just Bob's Tokens Tuesdays thread?]

[RWB]

Closer to the paperboard "chits" he shows for a few merchants, but possibly more fragile. Mint letters imply there might have been more of this west of the Ohio River and in the South. Most store owners maintained credit accounts for local customers. These were settled at various times during the year such as fall harvest, livestock deliveries, or seasonal mining settlements.

Edited December 14, 2020 by RWB

[Hoghead515]

I was recently looking at the Smithsonian's collection and noticed they got a couple sea shells wrote on, "Good for....", however many cents. That is very interesting. I never knew it got that bad back in those days. Im learning more everyday. 

[RWB]

Shortages of small change were severe during the Civil War, but that was not the only time when merchants issued their own coin substitutes. The field of metal tokens is populated with thousands of these, and many were made in response to financial panics/depressions. But many others, made in less substantial materials, were put into service because the US coin distribution system was ineffective. Small change had to be ordered from the Philadelphia Mint. No other mint was permitted to strike minor coins so that created a production/distribution bottleneck. By the mid-1880s merchants and banks supposed to order coins from the nearest sub-Treasury, but these facilities often did not have enough coins, and the whole system fell back on the Philadelphia Mint. It was only with passage of the Federal Reserve System Act that a nationwide coin and currency distribution system was organized - but that took almost 10 years to become effective.

There's a lot more but I won't bore folks....

[Hoghead515]

It dont bore me at all. I find it all very fascinating and enjoy learning about it. 

[Conder101]

The shell money was a form of depression scrip during the bank holiday in 1933, issued by Leiter Pharmacy  Pismo Beach California.

[Hoghead515]

That is very interesting. One day im going to read more about it. Thanks for the info Condor. That will help me in my search when I go to look it up. Seems like we were taught something in history class about the bank holiday in 1933 back in high school. Thats been so long ago I can't remember what it was they were teaching us about it but I remember hearing it. I wish I'd payed more attention back in those days.