Unusual Vignettes on Paper Money

ggsalexan - that's a hemp brake.
Quote from this linked page: (see photo too)
http://www.cointalk.com/threads/unusual-vignettes-on-paper-money.180182/page-3
"The hemp brake works much the same way a flax break works. Hemp had to first be cut and then shocked into bundles to dry. When the hemp was sufficiently seasoned it was taken by the armload and laid across the break while the operator moved the brake handle up and down repeatedly. I imagine this was back breaking work that would built up some serious deltoid and triceps muscles. As the brake was moved up and down it crashed into the stalks and the woody outer shell would fall away leaving the long stands of fiber. The stands then would be gathered and ran through a set of "hackles" (a set of spikes) to comb the fibers into usable product. For rope production the fibers were then twisted, and for cloth production they were of course woven. I have seen this process completed for flax at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia, and it is just tiring to watch it let alone perform it for hours and hours a day."

 

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Fascinating! Many thanks for uncovering this bit of history for me. So the laborer in the photo that you linked to looks like he's wearing some kind of overall outfit. Do you think that's kind of the same thing they are wearing in the engraving? Or do those look more like military uniforms? It would make sense if they were making roped for the Army, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions.

Btw, here's an image of a hemp hackle:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c31dGDQy_zo/S-2iUe5PJZI/AAAAAAAAFFM/I0o4AG8GYpY/s1600/hackles (Small).JPG

And workers pulling the hemp fibers through the hackle to "comb" them out:
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/Moments06RS/47_hemp.jpg

This has to be where the term "got your hackles up" originated!

 

In my opinion, the photo you posted is of a type of uniform, but not one I am familiar with. It may have been a type of work uniform though.

http://voices.yahoo.com/get-ones-hackles-origin-meanings-expression-3716728.html

 

Okay, here's a dust-off bump for a thread I really enjoy. And I'll add something to it.

This vignette is entitled "Battle of the Frogs" -- when I first saw it on a note I thought "what on earth?" But there's a story attached to it that goes back to the colonial era, when Indian attacks were an actual threat. You can read more here and see why Windham Bank used it on a number of their banknotes.

 

lol great story

 

Battle of the Frogs is awesome!

 

Don't mean to "hijack" this but had to comment about milking technique. I always used two hands and held the bucket between my knees; kept her from sticking her hoof in the bucket; believe me they will do it if you put the bucket on the ground. You can't quit milking fast enough to move the bucket. Always just used my forearms to push her back if necessary, which was seldom.

 

Back to the subject at hand; I don't suppose this one is unusual as such but it is such a different venue and such design work and I have no clue what the creatures depicted are. Oh it is a replacement (star) note too.
Anyway, Uzbekistan 1994 5 Sum P-75

 

Found a couple that are somewhat unusual:

Switzerland 1000 Francs


Ceylon 50 Rupees

 

Love the ant note! What would possess the Swiss to put those on their currency?

 

Pictured is the large red ant ( formica rufa ) common in Switzerland,blue-winged ant ( stronglylognatus huberi ) common in the Swiss Valais region; New Guinea red ant ( polyrhachis caulomma ) .

 

Okay, here's another weird stock I recently rediscovered -- Corn Products Refining Co. The vignette features an Indian princess (in war paint, it appears) with the body of an ear of corn! Captions, anyone?

 

Captions, huh?
'Ear she comes just a walking down the street, singing doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo.

"Corn ya' ear me now?"

I won't say that corn dress makes her look fat... Let's just call it 'husky'

 

Dave L you're a funny guy!

A kernel of humor goes a long way.

 

I can't believe it's been almost two years since anyone has posted on this thread. Well, I've picked up some unusual vignettes (mostly on stocks and bonds) in the intervening months so it's time to blow the dust off and get some more oddball pictures out there. Like ...

A pelican and an oil well gusher




A subway tunnel




An American doubledecker bus




A horse fair




And Pocahontas saving John Smith




Anyone else have something to post?

 

Most excellent vignettes Greg, thanks for sharing.

 

Almost forgot this one. This is an 1848 promissory note from Boston. At first glance it seemed like nothing particularly special. Then I looked closely at the ornamental bar on the left. The eagle in the oval looked familiar. Then I realized it was actually a coin! It's the back side of a 2-1/2 dollar gold piece, but somehow in the process of creating an engraved image, it got stretched and reversed. Using Photoshop I've flipped it and squashed it to show the coin's original orientation.

 

Time to put some more unusual discoveries out there. Like...

Daniel Boone saved by Simon Kenton during the Northwest Indian War

Loading cotton bales

Barnyard pigs and peacocks

And a coal stoker keeping the locomotive boiler hot.

 

Another year has past and no one has added to this thread. So I'll post some of the interesting vignette proofs I picked up in 2019. I have yet to find these on currency or stocks/bonds, but I'm always looking!

 

Does anybody remember the name of the Stock Certificate, Ephemera Show held in Virginia during January? I went several years ago. I want to attend this January if it hasn't already happened.