It is the 120th birthday of Athanasios Karvelas (better known as Tom Carvel) who was a constant presence on my tv in 1980s New Jersey. Although I prefer a Cookie Puss, I am celebrating with this whale of a bank note in honor of Fudgie (or Santa if you flip the mold). Stonington Bank, CT, $2, 18--.

Been reading through today's online discussion about how some younger people are amazed by traveling around with paper maps, but have they even considered getting directions via paper money map? This bank note doubled as a map of upstate New York. Jefferson County Bank, Watertown, NY, $10, 18--.

Today is the anniversary of Andrew Jackson's 1832 veto of the bill to recharter the second Bank of the United States. I am highlighting some of the many anti-Jackson satirical bank notes printed during the Bank War. These Glory Bank notes featured veto pigs and a promise to "pay my people in glory."

Following the reports that the Trump administration is abandoning the decade old plan to put a portrait of Harriet Tubman on the $20, a reminder that African American women did appear on 19th century bank notes, but always as enslaved laborers either picking or holding cotton, sugarcane, or tobacco:

I was thinking about the Egypt-Argentina match at the World Cup from yesterday and it reminded me of this unusual shinplaster from a general store in rural Indiana that for some unknown reason has a vignette of a camel with some pyramids in the background. D.W. Campbell, Coatsville, IN, $.05, 18--.

Born OTD in 1880, Otto Frederick Rohwedder created the first machine to slice bread -- the greatest invention since something before sliced bread. For him I have a War of 1812 shinplaster with a sheaf of wheat from a biscuit and loaf bread baker. S. Schnatz, Philadelphia, PA, $.12 1/2, Dec 7, 1814.

It is Alexander Wilson's birthday today. His nine-volume American Ornithology (published from 1808-1814) described 268 different birds. I was looking at bank notes with birds to celebrate and came across this fun mythological one with an odd denomination. Phenix Bank, New York, NY, $13, 18--.🗄️🦉

Here are some holiday bank notes for July 4th: a vignette of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence and an institution's name spelled out by its namesake's famous signature. Bunker Hill Bank, Charlestown, MA, $1, June 17, 1858 and John Hancock Bank, Springfield, MA, $2, Jan 1, 1857.

Today is John Singleton Copley's birthday. His portrait of Joseph Warren (upper left) appears on this note with fellow Revolutionary officers: Israel Putnam (lower left), Nathanael Greene (upper right), Anthony Wayne (right), and Henry Knox (lower right). Continental Bank, New York, NY, $5, 18--.

For comparison, I lived in DC in the late 1990s for grad school and remember dropping in on the Romanian booths at the summer 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival down on the mall. It was much busier (as seen in this image) and I remember getting the thrill of standing next to Gheorghe Mureșan.

I see that today's Bluesky conversation concerns how much shrimp can be eaten and while I don't have a shrimp-themed 19th century bank note, I am posting this Civil War era shinplaster with an overflowing basket of lobster, crab, and oysters. Allentown Bank, PA, $.03, December 1, 1863.

Well this is more convenient than yelling at my tv.

But would you trust this one from a bank where P.T. Barnum was the president and it had his image and an image of his home, Iranistan?

On my way to a World Cup watch party at a Norwegian friend’s house. What to wear?

Happy Father's Day. Today's post celebrates the fathers out there with a bank note from Minnesota that features a central vignette of a father with his child on his back and shoulders. Enjoy the day and rest that back. Bank of Northfield, MN, $5, 18--. #FathersDay

It would be interesting to see Mega Braintree or whatever super JQA is called team up with my favorite character from The Tick: Super Pilgrim.

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you.

It is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, so I am posting this bank note with an elaborate central vignette featuring a version of John Trumbull's famous The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775. Farmers & Mechanics Bank, Hartford, CT, 18--.

To see what goes wrong when scam currency outfits get banking privileges, please read anything that I have written on 19th century shinplasters such as this $5 note from The Dixon, "Chartered by the state of Illinois" and supposedly redeemable at their "banking house" that was actually a hotel.

For the Knicks victory this weekend, I am posting notes from a bank named after Washington Irving (w/ his home Sunnyside) who popularized "Knickerbocker" and one with that name and vignettes of the NYC City Hall and Middle Dutch Church. Knickerbocker Bank and Irving Bank, New York, NY, $10, 18--.

With the start of the World Cup last night and the usmnt playing today, I am posting this bank note and its lovely vignette of the mythological character Learning with a book and a lovely cup that she is holding up to the sky. Planters and Mechanics Bank of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, $50, 18--.

It is Samuel Slater's birthday. He introduced the Rhode Island System of family textile production utilizing water-powered machines in the Blackstone Valley. He appears on this note next to one of his mills and a woman with cloth from bank named for him. Slater Bank, North Providence, RI, $5, 18--.

What’s your sign?

As goes Maine, so goes the nation.

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone.

With the news that Anthony Head of Buffy, Merlin, and Ted Lasso fame has passed away, I am remembering him today with a five by five dollar Civil War era bank note from an institution that was planned but actually never opened. Bank of Giles, Pearisburg, VA, $5, 186-.

After learning of their reported inclusion, the Riverbottom Nightmare Band will not be performing at Donald Trump's Freedom 250 concert.

It is Patrick Henry's birthday. The first (and sixth) Virginia Governor and Continental Congress delegate, he was an enslaver who preferred death to a lack of liberty. A portrait of Henry with glasses on his head appeared on this Georgia bank note opposite Washington. Bank of Augusta, GA, $10, 18--.

We don't need Trump's face on a new $250 bill. We just need to bring back this antebellum note from a fraudulent bank which had a dramatic maritime vignette designed by Asher B. Durand called The Flurry as well as a small whaling scene at the bottom. Merchants Banking Co, New York, NY, $250, 18--.