Shinplaster: Difference between revisions

'''Shinplaster''' was a common name for [[paper money]] of low denomination, typically less than one dollar, [[List of circulating currencies|circulating]] widely in the economies of the 19th century where there was a shortage of circulating coinage.{{clarify|date=March 2015}} The shortage of circulating coins was primarily due to the intrinsic value of metal rising above the value of the coin itself. People became incentivized to take coins out of circulation and melt them for the true intrinsic value. This left no [[medium of exchange]] for the purchase of [[Fast-moving consumer goods|basic consumer goods]] such as milk and newspapers. To fill this gap, banks issued low-denomination paper currency.

The term ''shinplaster'' came into use during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Shinplaster was a piece of paper soldiers put in front ofinside their boots to cushion their [[wikt:shin#Noun|shins]] against chafing and rash (see [[Adhesive bandage|plaster]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Word of the Day: shinplaster|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2014/05/15/|website=Merriam-Webster|accessdate=3 March 2015|date=May 15, 2014}}</ref> Common, low-demoninationdenomination notes, perceived as almost worthless compared to [[hard currency]] such as gold and silver, came to be known by this term.

Private issues from stores, bank issues and tokens as well circulated as a method of accomplishing commercial transactions from 1837 to 1861. Shinplasters circulated in many parts of the western frontier during the mid 1800s, including in the [[Republic of Texas]] during its early days.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.houstoncoins.com/blog/currency-of-the-republic-of-texas/|title=How the Republic of Texas began its Paper Money Career|date=September 6, 2016|work=Currency of the Republic of Texas|accessdate=2019-07-12}}</ref> The breadth of these private systems and the lack of integrity and security caused Francis SkinnerSpinner, Secretary of the Treasury to produce a new idea. He pasted a few postage stamps on a Treasury sheet and passed it as a note. The process started where people used private notes tokens and Postal currencies as legal tender to accomplish their household and business purchasing. It became so Popularpopular that Spinner proposed to President Lincoln and Lincoln passed a bill in Aprilof 1861 enacting the postal Currency Act. This made postal currency legal and prohibited private, non-Governmental entities from producing notes, coins or currency. Thus, what we know as [[Fractional Currenciescurrency|fractional currencies]] were born.

Shinplasters circulated in the United States from 1861 to 1869, during the Civil War and the years[[Reconstruction of reconstructionera]]. Since much of the coins were sold to Canada by brokers and melted or sent to England for melt, Canada was overloaded with American coinage that began to be preferred as a circulation currency. The Minister of Finance decided to buy the American currencies at a very favorable rate, as they struck their replacement coinage in England, and they shipped these coins to New York to solve their problems. At the same time, the government fixed the exchange rate from American to Canadian coinage at 80% to discourage the import of more coinage. It worked. To help with the shortages, the Canadian Government issued in 1870 notes in the value of $.25¢ as a single -note value. The initial notes were labeled as series A and an A was printed on the left side of the note toward the center. They printed 2,000,000 of these notes. In 1871, they Printedprinted another 3,000,000 $.25¢ notes of Series B to continue to fill this void and prevent American coins from coming back. From 1869 until the 1890s they printed 300,000 $.25¢ notes with no plate number on it. They used the old A and B plates and honed off the A and B letters. On some of these notes, you can still see the remnants of the A and B are visible.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}

The Governmentgovernment of the Dominion was able to fix the problem caused by the importation and commerce created by American coinage imported into Canada. theyThey printed additional $.25¢ notes with no plate number. This ended the importation and Canadians used Canadian notes to fuel their economy.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In Canada, the term ''shinplaster'' was widely used for 25-cent paper monetary notes which circulated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first design was printed on March 1, 1870, and the final design was first printed on July 2, 1923.<ref>[http://www.banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/AME/CAN/CAN-DOM.htm#DOMINION_OF_CANADA DOMINION OF CANADA 1870-1923 Fractional "Shinplaster" Issue] Banknote.ws</ref>

The term likely arose from the previously issued 5 -shilling note ({{1/4}} Poundpound) which also bore the frenchFrench term ''Cinq{{lang|fr|cinq Piastre''piastres}} on the face. (Bank of Montreal museum){{Citation needed|reason=apocryphal?|date=October 2019}}

Shinplasters, or "calabashes" (as they were known in southern Queensland), were a feature of the [[Squatting (pastoral)|Squatters]]' vast pastoral enterprises, and often circulated in the towns of the bush alongside and in place of legal tender. These private [[IOU (debt)|IOUs]] circulated widely, at times making up the bulk of cash in circulation, especially in the 1840s and 50s1850s.<ref name=D>Dansie, Robert, "Morass to Municipality", Darling Downs Institute Press, Toowoomba, 1985:63</ref>

In some places they formed the core of a company shop economy ([[Truck system]]), circulating as [[Private currency|private currencies]]. They were often of such low quality that they could not be hoarded, and shopkeepers off the property would not take them, as theysuch currency would deteriorate into illegibility before they could be redeemed.

:''{{blockquote|As commerce and trade grew in centres such as [[Toowoomba]], more and more calabashes were issued, and more and more merchants, squatters and others engaged in transactions were forced to give their 'paper' in change or as payment for goods and services.''<ref name=D/>}}<!--

{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}