A flurry of activity marked our preparation for the International Paper Money Show in Memphis Tenn. this year (2014).  This was my first year as President of the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) going into Memphis. Several activities needed to be planned and I thank the board for their enthusiastic support and efforts. Additionally, a string of very successful shows in the spring precluded the Memphis show which forced me to spend quite a lot of time catching up working up all of the new purchases.

Central States Show – Fun and Profitable!

Joyce and I headed to the Chicago Illinois Central States Numismatic Society Convention in late April for the third time. Our debut was in 2012 where we were part of the 150^th anniversary Civil War forum. There I presented an introduction to Confederate paper money to a large crowd, had a lot of fun and had a great show.  So we’ve returned each year since and plan on an expanded presence at a corner table in 2015.

The final issue of fractional currency was the fifth one.  It was actually an unneeded issue as the U.S. Mint had been issuing more and more coins since the end of the Civil War. Almost $63,000,000 was printed between February 26, 1874 and February 15, 1876, with an estimated $15,276,443 outstanding as of 1884. The issue was comprised of only three denominations, 10ɇ, 25ɇ and 50ɇ.

I've always thought that the area of U.S. obsolete notes remains the wild west of paper money; there is much in the field that has yet to be discovered and mapped.  But there are a great many references that have been created over the last century that collectors of state notes can use to help build their collections.  Many works have been sponsored by the SPMC over the last 50 years.  Here is a partial list of titles -- I am sure there are others still missing in my library: