Shinplaster

Shinplaster was a common name for paper money of low denomination circulating widely in the frontier economies of the 19th century. These notes were in various places issued by banks, merchants, wealthy individuals and associations, either as banknotes, or circulating IOUs. They were often a variety of token intended to alleviate a shortage of small change in growing frontier regions. They were sometimes used in company shop economies or peonages in place of legal tender. An example of this type of operation was the Reynolds Bros. Mill and Logging operation in Reynoldston, New York which issued its own shinplasters or scrip money in the 1880s to its mill workers and loggers. Original shinplasters from the Reynolds Bros. still exist and can be seen at the Reynoldston, New York website. The shinplaster could only be used in the Reynolds Bros. Company Store. By 1890, the United States Government made them stop this practice. The employees of the Reynolds Bros. strongly resented this practice and a song about this hardship has survived today.