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Money on Money:Paper Currency Depicting Coins.
Little (none?) coinage has ever shown a paper note as a design while a fair number of paper notes have shown coins. There were two phases of this phenomenon, both during times when the users of such notes had a high per centage of illiteracy: the first was during the very introduction of notes in China in the 1300s and extending to about 1425; the second was largely restricted to America , mostly during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Canada came in just once: on private notes of Lower Canada during the Rebellion of 1837 and restricted to the general area around Montreal .
The above note is the earliest example of paper money that a collector has any chance of acquiring, the other two denominations (a 20-cash and a 300-cash) of Hung Wu very rare. But these are just the earliest examples of surviving Chinese paper money from this time. None of the "flying money" recorded by Marco Polo of the earlier emperor he called Kublai Khan has survived - nor has any of recorded issues that appeared as late as 1425. A number of the above "1 Kwan"s survived simply because they became worthless; the others presumably were redeemed and destroyed as intended. China issued no more paper money until about 1853.
For the next three centuries, paper money slept - even though there were rudimentary "bills of exchange" handwritten by goldsmiths, moneychangers and the like. It reappeared in Sweden as paper notes of the "Stockholms Banco" in 1661 - and none showed coinage. Shortly, any paper notes represented fairly large sums, presumably used by the wealthy (at least comfortable) and also presumably literate. Conditions favourable to the appearance of "coins on notes" came to pass in the British North American colonies in the late 1700s: a more egalitarian society, it also experienced a constant shortage of coin. As a matter of necessity, coinage sometimes came to be represented by paper notes, often of modest values. Since such paper would be used by everyone, no matter their economic status, illiteracy would be a problem for some. To counteract this, images of the coin-values represented would be given. In the U.S. during the period of roughly 1837 to 1865, this depiction became something of a fad to the extent that three of the major bank note engraving firms, "Wellstood, Hanks, Hay & Whiting", "Durand, Perkins & Co." and (by far the largest of them all), "Rawdon, Wright & Hatch" - all of New York City, incidentally - developed standardized value-depictions, even to the extent that a $1 (showing a single dollar coin) would be supported by a single human figure, a $5 by five of each and so on. They also took pains to make the coin illustrations in actual size, helped along by the small gold dollar after 1849. Their vignettes became standardized as
Maryland . One Dollar (or 4s6d sterling), 1767.
to values and were used on the appropriate denominations of many banks from several states. In this way, even the illiterate came to recognize a denomination - even if he couldn't read the rest of the words. Eric Newman declared the above note to be the first governmental useage of the dollar denomination on a currency note, as well as the first on American soil. Issued on the authority of the Maryland assembly on 1 January 1767 , it was also the earliest to show a coin on it, even though the obverse of the Spanish milled dollar shown as a woodcut at the top face was very small. (A Two-Dollar was also issued at this time, showing two such small dollars). Oddly for such an early note, the back included one of the better anti-counterfeiting devices: the depiction of a natural sprig of leaves. This was an invention of Benjamin Franklin who devised a way to make a print-block from a cast of actual leaves. The complexity and subtle shadings of this "natural design" made counterfeiting difficult even for the most talented (although counterfeits did appear).
Tennessee . Private issue of Cox & Massengill, 1816 for 25-Cents.
The above private note gives evidence of several things, one being that on the frontier in 1816, 25-cents or a quarter-dollar was more likely to exist in the form of a Spanish-American 2-real coin than a U.S. quarter. Another is the attempt at anti-counterfeiting by Cox & Massengill: with everything else set-up type, an actual coin was inked and used to impress its design, thus giving its mirror-image. Like many issuers of "token currency", they also made sure that redemption was possible only in amounts larger than the ordinary person was likely to possess - in this case $5. This would tend to ensure continuing circulation and every banker knew that statistically there would be a "wastage" of their notes by loss or destruction to the extent of about 6% per year, such loss by others representing complete profit to the issuer. The next note is also a frontier issue, in this case another 25-cent issue by one E.S. Worthin of Cynthiana , Kentucky dated October 5, 1820 . While not specifying the amount needed for redemption, it was in "notes" on the Bank of Kentucky and presumably that institution would have none for less than $1 - and perhaps even higher than that. Most unusual of all is the coin shown as representing 25-cents - a woodcut of no less than a quarter-cut Spanish Milled dollar. Full dollars rarely had this operation performed on them since they were too thick; most often it was the 2-reals and less - fairly wide, thin coins - that had this done.
Cynthiana , Kentucky . 25-Cents note of E.S. Worthin, October 5, 1820.
City of Paris , Kentucky . Municipal note for 12 ½ ¢, October, 1823.
Issued in roughly the same area and time is the above municipal note of 1823 which is denominated for the odd amount of 12 ½ ¢, or 1/8th of a dollar. It's value is also represented by a cut Spanish Milled dollar, this time a pie-shaped eighth part; again, it is doubtful if full dollars were cut, especially when a thin 2-real could be halved or an entire 1-real used in its place. But this denomination is also a "bit", the one above it actually "two bits" (a term used even today for a quarter-dollar). If nothing else, it indicates that the frontier was largely using a currency of "bits" at this time.
Bank of Maryland , Baltimore , Md. 6¼¢, September, 1816. A "half-bit" This was not unusual. We find that even in more heavily settled regions, fractions of the Spanish dollar that had no direct counterpart in contemporary U.S. coin were being used. For instance, we have this note issued by the Bank of Maryland in Baltimore (at the time a very civilized area of the U.S. ) in September, 1816, which is a "half-bit" - or just 6¼¢, being 1/16th of a Spanish milled dollar. Although an unissued "remainder", fully issued ones are apparently unknown. In this case, the coin represented full-size on the note is the little ½ -real. In much the same way at this time in the U.S. , a 50-cent note might be represented by the full-size illustration of a Spanish-American 4-real reverse. Before 1827 or so, actual U.S. coin was nearly secondary in circulation in comparison to the Spanish-American but large mintages after that date started the process of complete replacement and retirement.
A somewhat more unusual denomination is represented by the note immediately following, one for 37 ½ ¢ - or "three bits". In this case, the denomination is visually represented by the reverses of three Spanish-American 1-real coins. The year was at the very beginning of what was termed in the U.S. the "Hard Times" and which extended until well into the 1840s. During this period, a huge number of paper money issues were made by all and sundry, an attempt to keep the economy rolling within a dearth of hard cash. A great many of these private issues were for fractional sums.
New Jersey . "The Newark Whaling, Sealing & Manufg. Co. ", 37 ½ ¢, Oct. 11, 1837
Oddly, one coin that seems not to have appeared on notes was one that we know was used in huge amounts: the "pistareen". This was the Spanish (home country, not the American colonies) 2-real silver piece which, because of lesser weight and fineness, was valued at 1/5th dollar in the U.S. rather than the 1/4th of its American cousin. Tons of these came north in 1827-30 when the U.S. ejected them from circulation by declaring them 1/6th dollar, a value generally below their bullion value, while Canada continued to value them at the old price. For years, a full "pistareen" had been valued at 20¢ U.S. , its half at 10¢ and its quarter at 5¢, displacing the need for a whole lot of U.S. silver coin, particularly the dimes and half-dimes. Such Spanish coin might circulate as full 2-, 1- and ½ -reals or - as was frequently done - as halved and quartered pieces.
Holley Springs , Miss. "The Exchange Office", $3, undated (1830s+) proof.
The Spanish milled dollar continued to have great influence within the American economy, even to the extent of circulating at par with the American silver dollar as is illustrated above on this note where two Spanish-American dollars are conjoined with a single U.S. piece to make up the $3 denomination. This firm went under in the late 1830s and since only rare $1, $2 and $3 remainders and proofs remain to mark its passing, it may or may not have actually issued these notes. They were engraved by Rawdon, Wright & Hatch who used this same coin-vignette on numerous works during the period 1837-41.
RW&H, one of the main firms amalgamated into the later American Bank Note Company, had three vignette-series that they used right up until they were no longer a separate entity, the "stacked coins" being their first. The next two series were used nearly side-by-side: the "Cherub" series and the "Realistic" series, both of which were widely produced on the notes of various banks through the 1850s (and with penned-in dates on some notes as late as 1864).
New York . Frankfort Bank, Herkimer Co. $3. Proof, nd (1850s)
RW&H must have produced the "Cherub" series first since all note denominations consist of the appropriate number of U.S. silver dollars. They would appear to have issued four denominations: $1 (single winged cherub rolling an 1853 silver dollar); $2 (armed cherubs, one standing on a dollar attacking another who uses a dollar as a shield); $3 (three "Arts" cherubs shown above) and $5 (five "Commerce" cherubs standing on or in front of five silver dollars).
The note immediately below is of this same engraving firm's "Realistic" series - even though cherubs appeared on the higher denominations as well. It is a proof of a $5 note issued by the Chittenango Bank of the same town in New York on April 1, 1853 . Their "Realistic" series all used the small gold dollar rather than the large silver one so the denominations were able to go on to Ten Dollars. In all they were: $1 ( Woodsman resting on log, gold dollar leaned against stump); $2 ( Farmer and milkmaid resting on rock, two gold dollars leaning against it); $3 (sailor flanked by industrial worker and farmer, three gold dollars in front); $5 (frontiersman and Indian woman with three cherubs, five gold dollars in front); $10 ("Plenty" with cornucopia reclining right, attended by nine cherubs, ten gold dollars in front).
The following illustration, although scanned in two sections, is actually of one uncut sheet six notes long. This set of notes is of one of the scarcer issues put out by private individuals after the suspension of specie payment by banks in Lower Canada in late May, 1837. Silver and gold coin almost immediately disappeared from circulation and, if available at all, only at a stiff premium in bank notes. To meet the need of intermediate denominations between the copper tokens and bank notes, a number of individuals issued their own "token" paper currency during the trying times of 1837, most often in the area around Montreal and with Louis Perrault of that city the usual printer.
For the most part, the notes were printed with normal type and the usual printers' ornamental designs on hand. Perrault went one better, depicting on each denomination the equivalent coin as a woodcut - and he used the same woodcut for the same denomination in all his contracts. The below is what amounts to a full set. They are (highest denomination to lowest): 1. 60 sous /1 Ecu / 2s6d " Halifax ": reverse of a U.S. "Capped Bust" 50¢; 2. 30 sous/ 1s3d " Halifax ": Reverse Spanish-American (in this case Lima Mint , Peru ) 2-reales; 3. 15 sous / 7 ½ d " Halifax ": Reverse Spanish-American (N.R.= Bogota Mint , Colombia ) 1-real. 4. 20 sous / 10d " Halifax ": Reverse of a Spanish 2-real ("pistareen"), 1770; 5. 12 sous / 6d " Halifax ": Reverse of a British sixpence, 1834; 6. 6 sous / 3d " Halifax ": Reverse of a U.S. Half-dime. Also in Perrault's repetoire was a 10 sous / 5d " Halifax " where he used the woodcut displaying the reverse of a Spanish real dated 1738.
Uncut sheet, private issue of Eustache Brunet dit Letang, Pointe Claire , Lower Canada 25 August, 1837 . Printer: Louis Perrault, Montreal .
Besides Perrault, a few other printers produced "bons" of the same time and order. "Henry's Bank" (LaPrairie, L.C.) used the obverse of a Spanish-American 4-real of 1802 to illustrate its Half-Dollar / 1 Ecu denomination while one "Bourne" printed the same denomination for W&J Bell of Perth, U.C. using the reverse of a current U.S. 50¢. Unknown printers used woodcuts of either the obverse or reverse of U.S. 50¢ for the same denomination. Starke & Co., Montreal , printed 30 sous / 15d " Halifax " using a woodcut of the reverse of a Guatemala 2-reales. Others used U.S. dime woodcuts for "chelin" / shilling " Halifax ", the half-dime for 12 sous / 6d " Halifax ".
Those aside, the illustration of coins on Canadian notes was not much used. An exception might be the very small engraving of a trio of Bank of England dollars lying in a pile on the lower face of a Bank of Upper Canada $3 of 1820. And, in general, the rest of the world has scarcely used them at all.
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July 2008Money on Money: Paper Currency Depicting Coins Klondike Days Dawson Transportation Tokens Last Canadian Indian Chiefs Medal Coin Cabinet of Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha
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