whatareobsoletes

Obsolete notes are paper money that is no longer legal tender. In general, they were issued between
the late 1700s and the 1870s. They were issued by may different entities including banks, rail roads,
towns, cities, counties, states, manuracturing companies, mining companies, plantations, and anyone
who thought they could get their notes to circulate! Notes issued by chartered banks are called
"Bank Notes". Notes issued by states are state issues. All other notes are called "Scrip". Many of
the notes became worthless at the time they were in circulation when the issuer went out of business.
If it was a bank that failed, the notes issued by that bank were called "broken bank notes". Some of
the notes were worthless when they were initially issued! Unscrupulous individuals would establish a
bank that had no assests to back up their notes. They would then issue as many notes as quickly as
they could before the scam became known. Broken bank notes and other worthless scrip was a
significant problem. During the Civil War, the Union government passed laws creating a 10% tax on
all privately issued paper money. This effectively put an end to its issue, although there were a fair
number of rail road notes issued after the Civil War in the form of "fare tickets". These were notes
that looked like currency, but they were supposedly good for rail road passage only.

There are a large number of collectors of obsolete notes, although only a small fraction of the number
of coin collectors. Obsolete notes can be found at paper money shows, large coin shows, on the
internet, and auctions including venues such as eBay. There is also a moderate amount of literature on
obsolete paper money. Catalogs have been written for most states.

The vast majority of notes that are available to collectors were issued between the late 1830s and
early 1860s. The notes issued in the 1850s and early 1860s tend to be the most beautiful due to the
amazing art work and the use of multiple colors on many notes.