Lot 2109
DRAKE'S PLANTATION BITTERS. EP-13, 1¢. Some hairlines and cracks in the mica. Fine. In 1862, day-to-day commerce became strained by a shortage of coins during the American Civil War. At the time, paper money was not backed by gold or silver. Coins were worth more than their paper equivalent and were subsequently hoarded. With small change in hiding, the populace introduced several different unofficial methods to alleviate the coin shortage such as having individual state issuers cut their small denomination bills into pieces to make portions of a dollar, private promissory notes for change making, one-cent and two-cent sized "Civil War Tokens", and the use of postage stamps. On July 17, 1862, Congress stepped into the fray and passed a law authorizing that postage stamps could pay debts of less than $5 to the government.
It was in this environment of coin and stamp shortages that an entrepreneur name John Gaul came forth to implement his plan to sell stamps in his patented "postage stamp case" or as stated in Gault’s newspaper ads, "New Metallic Currency." The rest is history, with this attractive Drake’s piece one of the more noteworthy examples. Estimated Value $200 - 250
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| Realized $529 |
