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Replica - 50 Cents Harmon Sheldon's Store shinplaster
| Issuer | Harmon Sheldon's Store, Middlebury, Vermont |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 115 x 55 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | No. 18/ DUE THE BEARER FIFTY CENTS in Goods at my Store, on demand. FACSIMILE Harmon Sheldon MIDDLEBURY, November 4 1862. |
| Reverse description | Unprinted reverse on plain cream paper stock, with only faint bleed-through impressions of the obverse letterpress text visible. No design, lettering, or device of any kind was applied to this face. |
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| Comments |
Harmon Sheldon's Store was a general merchant operation in Middlebury, Vermont, and this 50-cent note is a classic example of the private scrip that flooded small-town commerce during the Civil War's coin famine of 1862. When the federal government suspended specie payments and hoarding stripped copper and silver from everyday trade, merchants across the North began issuing their own fractional obligations — redeemable at the counter, accepted by neighbors, and worthless anywhere else.
This is a replica. Genuine examples from Sheldon's issue are genuinely scarce; Middlebury was a small market town, and most original notes were either redeemed and destroyed or simply wore out.