The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 25, June 20, 2004, Article 12

LIVING PERSONS ON COINS AND PAPER MONEY

  An article by Richard Giedroyc on the PCGS web site
  discusses some living personalities who have appeared on
  U.S. money:

  "During the 1860s paper money began to be printed in
  earnest by the U.S. government considering the financial
  problems of the Civil War period. Emergency money has
  been covered in a recent article I wrote on the subject for
  this web site.

  Such individuals as President Abraham Lincoln, Treasury
  Secretary Salmon P. Chase and Secretary of War Edwin
  M. Stanton appear on some of this paper money, all during
  their own lifetimes.

  Such little-known historical figures as Superintendent of the
  National Currency Bureau Spencer Clark appears in a
  vignette on the Third Issue fractional 5-cent note issued
  between Dec.1864 and Aug. 1869. Bet your friends a
  drink today to see if they have any idea who this guy was.

  Some of the other lost-to-history "dignitaries" whom appeared
  as big as life, and breathing well, on fractional notes of the
  period include Treasury Secretary William P. Fessenden
  (25-cent note) and U.S. Treasurer Frances E. Spinner
  (50-cent note).

  All of this nonsense finally led to an April 7, 1866 law
  which states: "No portrait or likeness or any living person,
  hereafter engraved, shall be placed upon any of the bonds,
  securities, notes, fractional or postal currency of the United
  States."

  To ensure Congress got its point across, the same basic
  information was regurgitated in the Revised Statues of 1874.
  Too bad Congress left that great big loophole regarding
  depicting living people on our coins!"
Complete Article

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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