Postal Notes
Postal Notes were a medium offered by the U.S. Postal service for the purpose of sending money through the mail. There were issued in amounts from 1c to $4.99. There were five main types of Postal Notes issued from 1883 to 1894.
Municipal Scrip
Municipal Scrip were notes issued by a city, county or state authority.
Spurious Note
Spurious Notes were notes of non-existent banks, intended to defraud sellers of goods or services.
College Currency
College Currency were notes used by business colleges in the training of their students in banking and accounting.
Round Cardboard Scrip
These were paper tokens issued by merchants, much for the same purpose as traditional paper scrip.
Panic of 1893 Scrip
There were several financial panics in the history of the U.S. The Panic of 1893 was an especially severe panic that resulted in economic contraction. Some larger companies issued scrip to accommodate the temporary shortage of currency.
Advertising Note
Advertising notes are a branch of obsolete notes. They were essentially coupons offering a discount on a purchase of some goods, and resembled contemporary bank notes. Because they look like money, they were often saved.
Endorsed Notes
Endorsed notes were a means by bankers to achieve a circulation by avoiding local laws prohibiting the issue of bank notes. Minnesota was one state where the issue of notes was prohibited before statehood. Yet there were several bankers in the St. Paul area who wanted to increase the local money supply. They purchased the notes of defunct of non-existent banks for about the cost of printing them. The local bankers added their endorsement -- often a pen notation on the face or back -- and issued the notes as money.
Depression Scrip
Depression Scrip is a branch of obsolete notes entailing the issue of emergency scrip during the Great Depression. It includes barter scrip -- payable for labor -- and stamp scrip, issued by local municipalities and paid off through a tax on the notes as they circulated.
Cut-out Cancellation
A cut-out cancellation was a way to indicate a note was redeemed, by cutting out the signatures on the note.
