greenbacks!

[Whiptail Moses]

1878 two dollar bill

Unless your persona is chronically broke or a beggar, you need some money!
The big wallets you see for sale at places like www.riverjunction.com and elsewhere shouldn't surprise you.  They carried BIG money back then.
Our current, small bills date back to 1929.  Before that, as far back as 1863, they carried larger dimensioned bills.  These notes were 3.125 by 7.4218 inches.

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/federalreserve/annual/1995/history.html

President Abraham Lincoln, urged by the Secretary of the Treasury, convinced Congress to pass the National Banking Act in 1863 which established a national banking system and a uniform national currency to be issued by the new "national banks." The banks were required to purchase U.S. government securities as backing for their National Bank Notes. In 1865 a 10-percent tax was levied on State Bank notes eliminating the profit in issuing them and basically taxing them out of existence.

Although United States Notes were still widely accepted as a medium of exchange, most paper currency circulating between the Civil War and World War I consisted of National Bank Notes. They were issued from 1863 through 1932. From 1863 to 1877 National Bank Notes were printed by private bank note companies under contract to the Federal government. The Federal government took over printing them in 1877.

as for reproducing em, the treasury is fairly vague when it comes to the old "big" bills.  Modern "small" bills are highly regulated, and its even illegal to make a color copy of just a single side.  That doesnt stop people from putting them on neckties, cellphones, etc and selling them openly.
A former forgery detective says on another CAS board says there is no problem.  The bills are worth FAR more than their face value and the bigger issue is trying to pass them off in collector's circles. 
The bill posted as a picture above is from a currency collector trading site.
To be on the safe side, you could always print a bill with both sides the same.

Here's his take on the situation:

being a retired forgery detective, I can assure you it is not illegal to make copies of out or print and out of circulation currency for the purpose of using as a prop. Copying any current production currency is definately illegal, even if only copying one side.

As for making copies off the internet, unless it is copyright protected and stated as such, it is considered as public domain and can be copied for personal interest or use. Copying for resale would be questionable as it could become a civil matter between the copier and the owner of the web site, but it would not be considered a crime.

The only way it would be considered illegal would be trying to pass it off as an authentic collectible to unknowing person for personal or monetary gain. To avoid any confusion print only one side or else print the same thing on both sides. There has to be criminal intent to make it a crime. So, make all the copies you want.

[St. George]

In 'St. George's Notes XIII - The Impression 2.0 - I mention having a bit of money in your pocket.

This post is a perfect example of what you'd have in the way of 'paper' money.

Remember - 'hard' currency was the most trusted and it took some time for 'paper' to gain wide acceptance - but gain it it did - though you - as a working cowboy - would never have a whole lot of it.

You can print these on an Off-White or Ivory-colored paper that has a bit of 'substance to it and 'age them just a bit with a light wash of strongly-brewed Tea.
To add wear - walk on them.
It's what the OSS did in WWII to artificially age counterfeit foreign currencies.

Pair some of these bills up with some period coinage from both sides of the Border and you're set for the 'financial' part of your Impression.

Thanks for the post.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Silver Creek Slim]

Thanks Whiptail and St. George. This is good info.

Slim

[Whiptail Moses]

http://www.nevada-history.org/paper_money.html

here's a nice source.


Just to clarify this point, I reread it and it wasn't very clear:

The bills are worth FAR more than their face value and the bigger issue is trying to pass them off in collector's circles. 

What I was saying, is it is Illegal to copy bills that the state is obligated to endorse.  The rules are more lenient for these old large size bills (color copies are permitted, for example) because they aren't in circulation anymore.
Any federal bill from 1862 onward is still legal tender -- you can take it to a bank and the government has to honor it for the value printed on its face.
Since the old bills have far more value in private collector sales, no one in their right mind would ever try to copy an old bill and try to use it to rip off the government -- so it is not something they are concerned with and interested in spending resources to enforce.
The people who would be concerned would be private collectors.

As a point of interest, I gave one of my bills to my supervisor at work.  He took it with him to the bank (a large chain, no less)  when he was depositing some work money and jokingly tried to cash it (don't do that!)
They all got a big kick out of it, even the manager -- not even a warning about counterfeiting.  Most people probably don't even know the details.
Still good to know the facts.

So in all honesty, i can't see a situation where people printing these bills for props would even raise an eybrow -- just don't try to circulate the damn things.

State currency from the civil war era, etc, is totally legal to copy.
Gold and silver certificates may be too, i am not sure about that. 

[blue drifter]

moses
i'm into history, from 1825 to 1900. so it's always good to hear from you thax. I read it all. I have some post 1900
paper money ( the big ones ) and some pre 1900 silver coins. I am not A collector, I just like old "stuff "
and the history that goses along with it.

[blue drifter]

st george
I am very sorry I forgot to include you befor I sent it. I knew I forgot to ade your name and I was going back to add it, and I forgot and hit send. please forgive me

[Col. Riddles]

Over 30 years ago the wife got out of the car & saw a $1 bill laying in the gutter. It was a large bill in one of those clear platic enevelopes that colllectors use & was just like new. At first I thought it was play money. It said Pay To the bearer $1 in gold upon demand. Then I thought it must be real because it was in that plastic envelope. We watched the lost & found ads in the classifieds for two weeks & there was nothing in the paper about it. We sold it at a coin shop for $600.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

$600?

[Guns Garrett]

In the late 50's, my sister found a $1.00 bill laying in our backyard.  It was a Siver Certificate (blue seal and Serial Numbers).  The most unusual thing about it was that ther was no signature of the Secretary of the Treasury printed on the bill.  Instead, there was an actual signature done with a fountain pen.  My father supposedly got the signature verified as authentic.  My sister still has the bill, as far as I know.  What do you suppose it would be worth?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

It's worth more than a dollar, I'll bet!

[dangerranger]

Speekin of paper money, Did you know that there was once a three dollar bill in this country? And does any one know whos face is on it? DR.

[Col. Riddles]

Speekin of paper money, Did you know that there was once a three dollar bill in this country? And does any one know whos face is on it? DR.

I got some o those with Bill Clintons photo on it.