The Mint + Dead Presidents

[Mr.Moonlight]

At what point did the U.S. have enough dead presidents in stock to start putting their likeness on currency?
Other than Liberty and Eagles and maybe the occasional building, what were some of the other images used in the early days of the Treasury?

[Munch]

There was the Indian head penny.

[Zagadka]

The US didn’t have a system of national currency at first.

Early on, there was a lot of trade supplies more frequently than money, and often the money of other nations.

Later, banks and companies distributed their own notes with whatever the hell they wanted on them. There were more bills of credit or certification of goods than “money,” though.

The continentals wanted paper money, the Brits didn’t want them to have independent currency. This was one of the factors leading to the shootin’ fest… when we did, we caused inflation by just printing more money without wealth to back it, but it saw us through the war.

Then you enter a stage of anarchy in banking, with a few attempts at national banks ending in failure, but mostly independent banks distributing their own notes. Imagine how confusing THAT could be.

We didn’t run into a real form of universal paper currency until the middle of the 19th century, specifically, 1862.

That out of the way…

Independence

http://www.saharacoins.com/products/inventory.asp

http://minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/00-12/dollars.cfm

etc etc

Frequent things were people, legendary and otherwise, the banks themselves, regional critters (pfft, Canada), ships, terrain, etc, but:

After 1929, currency no longer depicted images of historic events or national symbols; only monuments could be featured on the reverse side of U.S. currency

Them Treasury folk are no fun.

[friedo]

This page from the BEP documents how it came to be that only dead people were used:

Other designs were selected at random; and when it came to issuing the 5-cent note, Spinner was asked whose portrait was to be selected. Mr. Clark remarked, “How would the likeness of Clark do?” Excellent," said Spinner, thinking that reference was made to Freeman Clark, the Comptroller of the Currency. The matter escaped further notice until the notes had been printed in enormous quantities. This caused so much uncomplimentary criticism that it resulted in an Act of Congress being passed (April 7, 1866) which prohibited the use of portraits of any living persons. In the interim, the 15-cent Grant and Sherman note had been prepared, but the act prohibited its issue. To get the Clark 5-cent notes out of the way, an issue of 5-cent nickels was provided for by the May 16, 1866 Act of Congress. This act also prohibited the manufacture of paper currency in denominations less than 10-cents.

As for the history of our current bills, according to this page, the current set of portraits were chosen in 1929.

[Zagadka]

Oh, and the always important trade symbols… fish, trees, tobacco leaves, etc.

Independence

Westward Expansion

Also popular at first was having no images, but this makes them considerably easier to duplicate and fell out of fashion.

Then there are the always popular images-that-make-absolutely-no-sense or have random historical contexts. Like

Westward Expansion

Westward Expansion

By the way, I’m actually enjoying this reasearch a good deal.

[Nametag]

Pennies aren’t currency, I believe. But if we’re counting coins, then the buffalo nickel and the wheat on the back of the early Lincoln penny are two. Salmon P. Chase, a treasury official and Supreme Court justice appeared on a high-denomination bill of some sort. There’s Columbia (looks just like Liberty, though). Early Continental dollars had some abstract looking stuff, circles with the colonies’ names in, sundials, etc.

[Munch]

Don’t forget Benjamin Franklin.

[Labdad]

There were also Mercury Dimes.

[BobT]

There is a new book out called “Greenback”, which will tell you more than you need to know about the history of paper money in the U.S…