Has anyone ever seen or own any postal currency by chance? This one is not mine but I can remember my Grandfather having quite a few of these. To this day no one seems to know what happened to them? Anyway I'm contemplating starting a collection of these but I may have too much on my plate as it is so who knows! lol edited grammer
i have never seen or heard of them, looks like we will be needing the help of philactica yet again, i am sure he loves the chanlenge though
Here is a write up about Postage Currency in the Scott Specialized Catalog. I have never heard about or seen one. Small coins disappered from circulation in 1861-62 as cash was hoarded. To ease business transactions, merchants issued notes of credit promises to pay, tokens, store cards, etc. U.S. Treasurer Francis Spinner made a substiute for small currency by affixing postage stamps, singly and in multiples, to Treasury paper. He arranged with the Post Office to replace worn stamps with new when necessary. The next step was to print the stamps on Treasury paper. On June 17, 1862, Congress authorized the issue of such "Postage Currency." It remained in use until May 27, 1863. It was not money, but a means of making stamps negotiable. On Oct. 10, 1863 a second issue was released. These, and the later three issues, did not show stamps and are calle Fractional Currency. In 1876, Congress authorized the minting of silver coins to redeem the outstanding fractional currency.
I have some British Tokens in my collection but not come across this before LOL still trying to get my 1st Fractional Banknote as well
I have never seen it and do not own any postal currency stamp. Nice to learn the history of that stamp through this thread.
