These were popular in the past. The BEP used to package and distribute paper currency with end labels pasted to thin wooden boards. The trick was to buy the end labels with the first and last note included with the end label.
I have boxes of them somewhere. My X worked there back in 1977. They came to the bank tied together with white cotton string. The workers made a ball of string that got so big that they could no longer roll it. She brought home a lot of junk stuff. I learned a lot about the workings of the bank.
I had too had a similar experience, but with a friend, not my spouse who worked elsewhere. But those labels are long gone now...
Yes I have seen them about a year ago at the Whitman Baltimore show . And it surprised me as as a kid I had boxes of them! If I recall they sold for a nice premium 10 to 25 dollars each. My father was a Federal Reserve Agent , he spent over 47 years with the fed. As a YN he would bring these end blocks home for me to play with as well as make crafts in scouts like bird houses. The notes would come into the Federal Reserve branch banks in blocks. Banned together with steel or plastic strips. The bricks were I believe 4000 note runs. The one end as you can see had the denomination and serial numbers of the run. As well as the branch number and Letter. Package number, and series. I may still have a few around here somewhere , but talk about hinde site being 20/20....... with these plywood end blocks bring some nice money . I will admit they made some nice crafts....and bird houses. Cut almost to a perfect size to construct a bird house.
As a kid I liked the ones where the ink from the notes transferred to the block. I had some that where you could see the entire note including the serial numbers on the block. As a child my father would take me to the bank. I wish I had a photo of me as a 5/6 y/o sitting on a SKID of 100,000.00 notes! The vault of course was timed to open and close. The door so huge that the floor in front of door had to be lowered to open and close the vault. You also had to wear a mask as the ink from the bills would burn your nose. Money bags were another fun item I had a mess of....as the armor trucks would pull into the rear of the bank onto a turn table. The entire truck would be spun on the turn table so the rear doors were facing the loading dock of the bank. This was done for security reasons as the truck didn't have to turn around in the back alley. A perfect target for a robbery . Bags of coins unloaded on heavy duty carts rolled into cages. Where they would roll the coin to be fed out to member branch banks. The smaller money bags my mom would use to replace worn out pockets in dad's trousers . Yeah we weren't poor but my parents were of the depression era. So nothing was wasted ,if the pants had some wear left and pockets wore out a small money bag made perfect replacement pockets....and will also out lasted the trousers .
This brings back lots of memories to me as well. I don't know where to start. Can't do it in one post. I had planed to build a giant building block set with them but that was 40 years ago. Your right on the banding Paddy54, I can see the marks in the images. Now I'm not sure what all the string was for. Maybe to hold the bills together after the bands were cut? Used to have a trash bag full of the string. All of these, I have ever seen were dated 1977 but I don't get out much looking for them. A dealer at Fun had a few he was just showing because he thought they were cool. Wonder if the use of these blocks was short lived. More to come. My wife has plans for me.
It's only the cover to show the first and the last serial of the bills in the stuck. Will be worth if you have the first and last bill with those serial numbers I guess
"Label sets", strictly meaning the front and back block labels and the first and last notes of the block, were a niche collecting field in the 1970's and 1980's. They appealed to me, so I have a half dozen or so, all $1 FRN's, Series 1969B to Series 1981A. I've picked up a couple on eBay in the last few years, never paying more than $50, and never buying a set that didn't include all four elements. They're pretty cool. The ones from the early 1970's have the date the block was processed hand written, along with the initials of the shift chief.
