| National Museum of American History

This “memorandum for change” was Mt. Pleasant Apothecary’s solution to the coin shortage. By making customers redeem the value of these notes in sums of a one-dollar or more, the business could expect returning clientele.Currently not on view

Description: This “memorandum for change” was Mt. Pleasant Apothecary’s solution to the coin shortage. By making customers redeem the value of these notes in sums of a one-dollar or more, the business could expect returning clientele.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1863-01-01

maker: L. Prang & Company

ID Number: NU.NU46192.0003
accession number: 170666
serial number: 240
catalog number: NU46192.0003

Probably produced by the Massachusetts & California Company's mint in Northampton, Massachusetts. Obverse: Shield with vaquero (cowboy) throwing lasso, bear and stag supporters. Reverse: Denomination within wreath, date below.

Description: Probably produced by the Massachusetts & California Company's mint in Northampton, Massachusetts. Obverse: Shield with vaquero (cowboy) throwing lasso, bear and stag supporters. Reverse: Denomination within wreath, date below. The Massachusetts & California Company shipped coining equipment to California in the spring of 1849. The shipment was lost, but it appears that a few coins such as this one were produced as samples in Massachusetts, reminders of a project that never came to fruition.
Location: Currently not on view

Date made: 1849

maker: Massachusetts and California Co.

ID Number: 1985.0441.2203
catalog number: 1985.0441.2203
accession number: 1985.0441

The Merchants and Mechanics Bank of Monroe, Michigan, issued this five dollar note on April 1, 183 7. The note is decorated with a scene of men loading barrels on a wagon at a wharf.

Description: The Merchants and Mechanics Bank of Monroe, Michigan, issued this five dollar note on April 1, 183 7. The note is decorated with a scene of men loading barrels on a wagon at a wharf. A medallion at the lower left bears the image of a spread-winged eagle; a medallion on the lower right contains an image of a blacksmith at his anvil pointing to the left. The bottom of the note has an image of a Native American rowing a canoe. The note is signed by the bank’s president but is not made out to a bearer.; After the Second Bank of the United States closed in 1836, national funds were shifted into state banks, and states began a “free banking” period. Prior to this period, banks were explicitly chartered by an act of state legislature. In March 1836 Michigan passed its act to create a state safety fund for banks, and in March 1837 passed an act to organize and regulate banks. The safety fund required each bank to pay one half of one percent of its capital stock to the bank to create a fund in times of crisis. The banking act allowed any twelve landowners to form a bank with capital more than 50,000 dollars but less than 300,000 dollars, with at least 30% of the capital held in specie at the bank. The relaxed regulations gave rise to “wildcat” banks, which would transfer specie among different banks ahead of the regulator arriving, allowing for the approval of around forty new banks in Michigan. This fraud made the safety fund relatively worthless, and the crisis of 1837 caused many of these banks to fail catastrophically, and the “free banking” act in Michigan was promptly amended.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1837

maker: New England Bank Note Co.

ID Number: NU.NU60991
catalog number: NU60991
accession number: 227803
collector/donor number: 153

Plastic pin with metal back. This gold-colored pin shows both a shield in the colors of the U.S. flag and a chest full of gold coins. It reads, "I Helped War Chest." Attached is a plastic red, white, and blue ribbon.Currently not on view

Description (Brief): Plastic pin with metal back. This gold-colored pin shows both a shield in the colors of the U.S. flag and a chest full of gold coins. It reads, "I Helped War Chest." Attached is a plastic red, white, and blue ribbon.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1918

maker: Whitehead & Hoag Company

ID Number: 2006.0098.0263
accession number: 2006.0098
catalog number: 2006.0098.0263

Called upon by the British government to help fight the French in Canada in 1689, Massachusetts authorities were hard-put to comply, because official money was unavailable.

Description: Called upon by the British government to help fight the French in Canada in 1689, Massachusetts authorities were hard-put to comply, because official money was unavailable. The Hull/Sanderson mint, which had created Pine Tree Shillings and other coins, had been closed on Crown orders years before, and all coinage was now in extremely short supply.; Then someone had an idea: Why not issue paper certificates to pay for the supplies and troops that Massachusetts was expected to contribute? The Crown had promised to reimburse the colony, in coinage, at war's end. The experiment was tried, and it worked. The first government-issued paper money in the entire Western world had made its appearance unexpectedly in Massachusetts.; Since these notes could eventually be redeemed for coinage - were in fact as good as gold or silver - another unknown functionary had an epochal idea: why not leave them in circulation? After all, everyone accepted their status as "real" money, and the need for them was great. So it was done. Colonial authorities elsewhere watched, and when the Crown did not stop the experiment in the Bay Colony, other colonies decided to begin issuing paper currency of their own.; Paper's popularity spread, and colonial America became dependent upon it. But paper was vulnerable to counterfeiting, or, in this case, to tampering. No twenty-shilling notes were actually issued by Massachusetts in 1690. Yet someone skilled with a pen thought there ought to be one, and proceeded to create it, altering the original denomination of two shillings sixpence.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1690-02-03

issuing authority: Massachusetts Bay Colony

ID Number: NU.71.133.1
serial number: 419
accession number: 297196
catalog number: 71.133.1

One (1) 5 dollar noteThe Lafayette Bank, Boston, Massachusetts, 1837Obverse Image: Small portrait of George Washington in a decorative oval border, a factory building and a portrait of Lafayette.Obverse Text: 5 / NO 614D / THE PRESIDENT, DIRECTORS AND COMPANY OF MASS.

Description (Brief): One (1) 5 dollar note; The Lafayette Bank, Boston, Massachusetts, 1837; Obverse Image: Small portrait of George Washington in a decorative oval border, a factory building and a portrait of Lafayette.; Obverse Text: 5 / NO 614D / THE PRESIDENT, DIRECTORS AND COMPANY OF MASS. / THE LAFAYETTE BANK PROMISES TO PAY FIVE DOLLARS TO BEARER ON DEMAND / BOSTON / JOSHUA CHILD / ISAAC BERMES; Reverse Image: N/A; Reverse Text: N/A
Description: The Lafayette Bank of Boston, Massachusetts issued this five dollar note in January 1837 to Josiah Dunham Jr. The note—numbered 614D—is decorated by a scene of Alger’s Iron Foundry in South Boston, with oval inset portraits of George Washington on the left and the Marquis de Lafayette on the right. The note is signed by the bank’s cashier, Joshua Child, and its president, Isaac Barnes. Lafayette Bank was established on April 16, 1836, with a capital stock of 150,000 dollars.; The Lafayette Bank and the signatories on this note are notable for the spectacular failing of the bank that ended with the presidents of the board all indicted of perjury, with Josiah Dunham Jr. being convicted on that count. The perjury charge was related to falsifying the records of the bank, necessitated by the dissemination of out-of-circulation bank notes for their own use. The bank failed in July 1837.; From 1790 to 1863, states and private banks issued their own currency to supply capital in a young nation without a national currency. This currency was backed by the hard money the banks had on deposit, and was only used locally where the bank and its operators were trusted in the community. However, banks often oversupplied notes, and this overextension caused bankruptcy among private and state banks when financial panic struck, particularly in 1837. Currencies from these failed banks are known as “obsolete bank notes” or “broken bank notes,” and several are held in the National Numismatics Collection.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1837

maker: New England Bank Note Co.

ID Number: NU.73.6.18
accession number: 304868
serial number: 614
catalog number: 73.6.18

This is a counterfeit note modeled on one issued by the Union Bank of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1807. The note was counterfeited by Stephen Burroughs.

Description: This is a counterfeit note modeled on one issued by the Union Bank of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1807. The note was counterfeited by Stephen Burroughs. The original notes reads “The President and Directors of the Union Bank promise to pay [illegible] or bearer ONE DOLLAR on demand. Boston, 16 Feb, 1807.” The note is signed by Burroughs as the cashier, with another name listed as president. The note has been stamped twice with the label “COUNTERFEIT. L. G. Cash’r Union Bank, Boston.” Burroughs was a notorious scoundrel, well known among many New Englanders in the early 20th century. He was a man of such notoriety that upon his death in 1840, his phrenology profile was published in the American Phrenological Journal and his lack of brain development in the regions of “Veneration” and “Conscientiousness” was held up as proof of phrenology’s scientific basis.; Stephen Burroughs capitalized on the lack of a standard U.S. currency by counterfeiting paper money, which at the time was issued by local banks and had many different designs. He began his career as a counterfeiter by passing debased silver dollars in 1785. He was imprisoned in Massachusetts and escaped (and was recaptured) three times before he was finally released. Writing in his 1798 memoir, he painted his exploits as pranks rather than crimes. As the “real” banks continually failed, his crimes seemed all the more benign and in many places he was viewed as a folk hero. After his release from prison, he went to Canada in 1804, and began counterfeiting paper notes in Shipton and Stanstead. Burroughs was a man of exceptional wit and facility, which allowed him to repeatedly evade capture and eventually garner a pardon from Canadian Governor-General James Craig in 1811. After his pardon, Burroughs converted to Roman Catholicism and lived the rest of his days peacefully in Trois-Rivières, Canada.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1807

ID Number: NU.NU81995
accession number: 254711
catalog number: NU81995

One (1) 5 dollar noteUnited States, 1861Obverse Image: Statue of Freedom at left. Bust of Alexander Hamilton at lower right.Obverse Text: FIVE / AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. NEW YORK / NO. 59787 / SERIES 12.

Description (Brief): One (1) 5 dollar note; United States, 1861; Obverse Image: Statue of Freedom at left. Bust of Alexander Hamilton at lower right.; Obverse Text: FIVE / AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. NEW YORK / NO. 59787 / SERIES 12. / 5 / THE UNITED STATES PROMISE TO PAY TO THE BEARER FIVE DOLLARS ON DEMAND / WASHINGTON / AUG. 10TH, 1861 / PAYABLE BY THE ASSISTANT TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES AT BOSTON / C / ACT OF JULY 17, 1861. / RECEIVABLE IN PAYMENT OF ALL PUBLIC DUES.; Reverse Image: A repeating pattern of the number "5" in green ink.; Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FIVE / FIVE DOLLARS / 5
Description: A Demand Note is a type of United States paper money that was issued between August 1861 and April 1862 during the American Civil War in denominations of 5, 10, and 20 United States Dollars. Demand notes were nicknamed "greenbacks" because of the back side of the note was printed in green ink.
Location: Currently not on view

date on object: 1861-08-10
date made: 1861

depicted: Hamilton, Alexander
issuing authority: Department of the Treasury

ID Number: NU.78.5.086
accession number: 1978.0941
catalog number: 78.5.086
serial number: 59787

One (1) New England shilling coinMassachusetts, 1652Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: NEReverse Image: N/AReverse Text: XIIBoston was founded in 1630.

Description (Brief): One (1) New England shilling coin; Massachusetts, 1652; Obverse Image: N/A; Obverse Text: NE; Reverse Image: N/A; Reverse Text: XII
Description: Boston was founded in 1630. Within two decades, it had become a prosperous, thriving community, engaging in legal trade with the mother country and clandestine trade with Spanish America.; Perpetually short of coinage, the proper Bostonians came up with an unorthodox idea: they would take a portion of the silver coming in from the south, melt it down, and make coins from it. Their first efforts were modest. They recast the silver, beat it into thin sheets, then cut more-or-less round blanks from it. The blanks were struck with simple designs, once on each side.; The resulting coins were fairly easy to counterfeit. They were very easy to clip off some of the metal (and a portion of their value would be thereby removed). Embarrassed bureaucrats soon legislated more sophisticated designs that took up all of each side of the coin.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1652

maker: Massachusetts Bay Colony

ID Number: 1982.0798.0001
accession number: 1982.0798
catalog number: 82.48.01