Family Counterfieters

Hey Snaz...

Thank you so much for the kind comments on the collection. I really appreciate that.

Regards,

RickieB

 

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Here is a RI note I have from 1780. I have 4 others but they are from 1786. All out of the time from her family.

Jeff





Here is another one from June 1775.

 

Theres something to be proud of. lol Good story none the less.

 

Thanks Jeff, those are great images, and will be helpful in further research.
Would it be okay with you if I pop them into my temporary research that I have been doing since I mentioned the hoodlums... er, my ancestors? Here I thought I was going to stir up something else and it winds up being a can of worms for me. Soon as I get all those squiggly critters back in their can I will keep doing research to see if I can find out anything else. Now, if you prefer I not use the images I will be happy to delete them entirely. Just say the word.

In 1737 the MA assembly declared each pound of new tenor bills to be worth 3 pound in old tenor bills. So it isn't a far reach to think that Robert had an epiphany about the profit that could be made.

This thread I indavertently started is turning into a real lesson about colonial monies.
We sure can get an education from many of the questions asked, researched and answered on this great forum.

Thank you everyone!
Rick, Jeff and all you others who helped me to think about how this may have come about.
jeankay

 

Hey oldbucks, cooool! Hey jeankay, grrrreat story, I love it!

 

jeankay, thank you for sharing your family history with us. That's a very interesting story. Your great grandfather must have been a very enterprising gentleman. Below is a link to a 1744 colonial note that I saw on the internet.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1547542/

Lou

 

Thank you Lou.
He was my sixth great grandfather and his accomplice was his wifes' brother.
I think these incidents uncovered in family history can help us relate better to the times.
Having others here post pictures of the 'bank' notes has caused me to check out other banknote information.
It is all a fun learning process... and at my age I need to learn as much more as I am able.
jeankay

 

My Great Great Grandfather was convicted of counterfeiting coins in 1917, I even have the newspaper clippings that discussed his trial and conviction and then the overturned sentence in 1919.

The story is that my great aunt got hold of some of the coins, he was making the new WL halves, and took them to the mercantile to spend them. The shopkeeper commented that the coins were sure shiney and new, and she responded that "Daddy made them last night". His big undoing in making the coins, was making ones, the new WL halves that were not commonly seen in circulation yet. She left the store and later on that evening my great great grandfather got visitors from the Secret Service.

Fortunately my Great Grandmother attended the trial in 1917 in Kansas City, and could recount some details of the trial and what happened even well into her 90's a few years ago.

His sentence was overturned on appeal in 1919. My Great Grandmother said the coins were all dumped in the Missouri River when they were seized. He lived until 1938, and stayed on the right side of the law thereafter that scare.

 

Interesting story indeed! Any idea where on the river they dumped them? Even though they probably have no silver in them, I bet they'd fetch a pretty price as collectables.

 

Wow! That is a great story to hand down to your next-in-line family historian.
Even if he produced silver... quite likely not... I wouldn't want to be the one to go diving in the Missouri River in search of them. From what I have learned that river is much too dangerous to dive in anywhere along the Missouri and Kansas borders.
So, I will save my money to buy coins and notes instead of investing in diving equipment and metal detectors.
jeankay

 

I have an idea of where they were dumped, but I am sure they have washed quite a distance from there since then. Remember they were dumped in 1917, and for all I know they are now in Mississippi or even out in the Gulf of Mexico by now.

The funny thing about it, was until I saw this post, I had never discussed this on boards before. It was a legend that came down in our family over the years, but I kind of had doubts. When I took a year off of work to pursue genealogy, I traveled back to Missouri and visited with my then 92 year old Great Grandmother who clarified and confirmed the story, and pointed me in the direction of a cousin of mine that researched our family history and had the newspaper clippings etc. from the time.