GEORGE WASHINGTON MACERATED CURRENCY PORTRAIT BUST WITH PARTIAL LABEL

$165.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1202-183

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A portrait bust of George Washingon made from macerated currency for sale to tourists of the nation’s capital. This has a paper label on the bottom on its origin and noting that  currency of about $5,000 in value had been destroyed in the batch of pulp from which it was created. The label is very good, just a little rubbed on the first words, likely “Made from.” Items molded from macerated U.S. currency were popular tourist souvenirs in Washington, D.C., from about 1875 into the 1920s. Instead of burning old currency taken out of circulation, which still left some fragments floating around that might be found and redeemed, the government switched to maceration in 1874, which ground it while wet into pulp. The prospect of seeing many  thousands of dollars destroyed was a must-see for tourists and the resulting pulp itself, containing small bits of paper and traces of ink, became the medium for molded souvenirs of at trip to Washington, with several producers creating portrait busts of notables, patriotic Lincoln or Uncle Sam top hats, miniature buildings like the Washington Monument, but also a wide variety of knickknacks in more sentimental form, like small animals, shoes, etc. They remained for sale in souvenir shops well into the 1920s, but lost a lot of appeal after 1908 when the government added chemicals to the pulp, destroying the bits of color, with the result that a few entrepreneurs, not be deterred, simply added their own bits of colored paper.    [sr][ph:m]

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