It is Black History Month in the United States so over the next couple weeks I will highlight numismatic items with connections to the history of African-Americans. This first installment concerns the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company.

On March 3, 1865, Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau to provide financial and other assistance to newly freed slaves and other African-Americans. The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (otherwise known as the Freedman’s Savings Bank) was chartered by Congress at the same time as a depository institution for African-Americans. The bank was intended to serve two purposes: (1) be a safe place for African-Americans to park their money, and (2) provide employment and training opportunities for African-Americans in the world of finance.

The Freedman’s Bureau promoted the Savings Bank heavily and within months of opening the Savings Bank had thousands of customers and millions of dollars on deposit. A total of thirty-five branches in seventeen states were opened. This initial success was short-lived, however.

The Panic of 1873 reduced yields on government bonds, the primary investment vehicle used for the Savings Bank’s assets. Because the bank was chartered directly by Congress, there was no oversight by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Inexperience, mismanagement, speculative investments and outright fraud by some of the Savings Bank’s directors further damaged the Savings Bank’s already precarious position.

Congress finally took action in late 1873 and brought in the OCC to examine the Savings Bank’s affairs. It was too little, too late. The board of directors gave control of the Savings Bank to Frederick Douglass in March 1874 but not even a person of his stature could turn it around. The Savings Bank and all its branches closed on June 29, 1874.

The liquidation of the bank did not proceed very quickly. Liquidating distributions to the depositors began in 1875 but the final dividends were not paid out until 1883. Depositors received no more than $.62 per $1.00. Many received nothing at all because they could not be found or could not adequately assert their claims.

The Freedman’s Savings Bank may not have succeeded as a financial institution, but its records are a treasure trove of genealogical information from a period when documentation of African-Americans is spotty at best.

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The Savings Bank records for Harry and Albert Fauntleroy of Richmond, VA shown above identify the genealogical information found in the records. The information includes the place of birth, place raised, current residence, occupation and family information. Harry’s entry only has Albert listed as a brother but Albert’s entry shows a sister named Mary and four brothers who had been sold prior to 1861.

The records of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company are held by the National Archives in Washington, DC. They can be found in Records Group 101 among the records of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A limited number of the Savings Bank’s records are available on ancestry,com.

It is Super Bowl Sunday. Unfortunately, aside from privately made medals there is no numismatic recognition of American football. Instead, I will do a survey of the numismatics of real football which will be addressed by its American name, soccer.

Despite the fact that it is the most popular sport in the world, soccer does not have a large numismatic footprint. Many countries, particularly the host nations, have issued commemoratives for the World Cup or the Olympics but there are few general circulation pieces that depict the game.

I have been a referee for many years and have traditionally used a soccer themed flipping coin. (The exception to this was 2018 when I used the medallion from a British WWI Merchant Marine Service Medal). I have given many of them away and have only two coins left.

One is this commemorative fifty cent piece for the 1994 World Cup held in the United States. I was unable to attend any of the matches that summer as I had just started a new job and work demands kept me home. Four year later and 6,500 miles away I attended my first full international when I saw Australia v. Saudi Arabia and Brazil v. Mexico in the King’s Cup in Riyadh. (This was an interesting experience on many fronts not the least of which was the absence of two things we take for granted at sporting events in the United States — alcohol and women.)

The other coin is this English fifty pence commemorative marking the 2012 London Olympics. It is my favorite soccer related numismatic item. While most sports related coins depict an action shot, the English chose a graphic depiction of the offside rule for the reverse of the coin. Illustrations of the offside rule take up more pages in the rule book than any other the laws of the game. The Royal Mint could have issued an entire series of coins depicting the many different permutations of the rule.

There are a few banknotes depicting soccer. The above two notes are from Congo and Kenya and depict the national stadiums in each of those countries.

The Ulster Bank depicted Irish footballer George Best on this 5 pound note from 2006. Best is regarded as one of the greatest to have ever played the game. He died in 2005 from complications from a liver transplant.

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The Bank of Russia issued a commemorative 100 ruble note marking the 2018 Men’s World Cup. While I despise its vertical format, it was one of the most striking notes issued that year. The face of the note depicts Soviet-era goalkeeper Lev Yashin. The note is one of the first banknotes to feature a QR code. Scanning the code leads to a website that explains the security features of the note.

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The final piece is a hand engraved medal depicting a footballer in action on one side. The other side contains the inscription “Tjimahi ’42”. Tjimahi was the site of a Japanese run internment camp in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during WWII. The significance of the medal is unknown.

My birthday (and that of my older brother Tim) was earlier this week. I have been collecting paper money for over thirty years and despite having encountered thousands of different notes, I have only found one series of notes dated on our birthday, January 22. They are German 10 and 20 reichsmark notes with an original issue date of January 22, 1929. We will look at the 10 RM note.

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There are two dates on the notes. August 30, 1924 is the date of the law that authorized the Reichsbank to issue notes. January 22, 1929 is the date the notes were first issued. The notes continued to be issued until the German Currency Reform of 1948.

The face of the note bears the portrait of Albrecht Daniel Thaer, a German physician and agriculturalist. He attended medical school at the University of Gottingen and returned to his native Celle in Hanover to carry on his profession. There his gardening hobby turned into a passion. He was one of the first in the western world to apply scientific principals to agriculture. He received an appointment to the court of Frederick William III of Prussia. He founded the first German agricultural academy in 1804.

The central figure on the back of the note is a medallion featuring a figure representing agriculture. A legend on the bottom of the back warns that counterfeiting is punishable by not less than two years in prison.

The note was printed by the Reichsdruckerei, the German state printer. It has fairly intricate anti-counterfeiting features for its time. A watermark portrait of Thaer appears in the white space at left. There is an embossed seal next to the counter in the lower, left corner. There is a complex series of undrerprints in differing tones of green and red.

A red serial number that includes a block letter appears in two places on the face and back. There is also a series letter in the lower center of the face.

World War II produced three varieties of the note. The first change was made in 1941 when the cross-iris underprint (Kreuz-Iris Druck) was removed from the face. The change is subtle and is not readily discernible. Thankfully, the printing records survived the war and this variety can be identified by series and block letter. This variety exists on the following series and block letters:

SERIES LETTER	BLOCK LETTER
E	A, B, C, D, E, F (serial number greater than 36970001 on all blocks)
E	G, H, J, K , L, M
K	G, H, J, K, L, M

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The second change was made in January 1945. War-time requirements necessitated making the printing process simpler. The watermark was changed to a tulip. The embossed seal and series letter were removed from the face. One of the face underprints was changed to consist of the word ZEHN (ten) instead of the numerals 10. The serial number was removed from the back and only printed on face.

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The final version of the note was printed during the last days of the war. Under an emergency order, the Reichsbank branches were authorized to locally print money if unable to get adequate supplies of the usual materials used. The Reichsbank offices in Graz, Linz and Salzburg (all now in Austria) printed emergency 10, 50 and 100 RM notes.

The emergency notes were photo-mechanical copies of genuine 1945 type notes. They do not have unique serial numbers instead they all bear the copied serial number of the original note that was imaged. The paper is not banknote paper but the paper that was used to print food ration cards and has a heart-shaped watermark. The counterfeiting legend that appears on the lower back of the note is repeated on the face on the white portion where the watermark previously had been.

When the Allied Military Government became aware of the emergency notes they believed them to be counterfeit. A brief investigation was conducted by AMG personnel prompted by two German sisters. The sisters were members of an anti-aircraft battery who were paid in the emergency notes. When the legitimacy of the notes was verified by bank officials in Linz, AMG prohibited them to circulate further and demanded their recall.

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One final version of the 10 RM note exists from WWII. On February 19, 1942, the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan Committee organized “If Day”, a mock invasion of the city by the German army. A copied 10 RM note was used to print “Occupation Reichsmarks” which was distributed as a propaganda piece.

The first food stamp program was introduced in 1939 by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (FSCC) established by the Department of Agriculture. Advances in agricultural production during the 1920s created a surplus of foodstuffs to the point that prices became dangerously depressed. The price collapse was worsened by the Great Depression of the 1930s. During that decade the federal government tried various methods to prop up the agricultural sectors of the economy including the destruction of crops and livestock.

The FSCC was charged with dealing with the agricultural surplus. The food stamp program was the last program initiated by the FSCC. Its purpose was to aid in relief by making surplus commodities available to those in need.

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There were two types of food stamps — orange and blue — both of which came in a single $.25 denomination. Participants paid face value for orange stamps and received one-half of that amount in blue stamps. Orange stamps could be used to pay for any food. Blue stamps could only be used to pay for surplus foods. The Department of Agriculture regularly published lists of what food could be purchased with blue stamps.

The stamps were initially sold in booklets in values of $2.00, $4.00 and $10.00 in orange stamps. Booklets with orange stamp values of $1.00, $3.00, $5.00, $6.00, $8.00 and $12.00 were added.

In 1940 the Department of Agriculture was re-organized and the issuing agency name on the food stamps was changed from FSCC to the USDA.

Merchants were prohibited from providing money as change for food stamp purchases. Instead, they produced their own tokens, scrip, due bills and other similar items as change. This permitted small purchases with food stamps but then required the customer to return to the same store to spend the food stamp change. The change returned by the merchant was specific to the type of stamp used so the tokens and other instruments used are identified as either orange or blue.

While merchants produced their own change, some grocery trade organizations made uniform scrip that could be used by individual stores by writing or stamping the name of the store on the scrip.

Because they were locally produced, there are hundreds of different types of food stamp change. Paper scrip is the more common type but metal and pressboard tokens were also produced. Most types are fairly scarce although hoards of some varieties have made their way into the marketplace.

World War II brought an end to this phase of the federal food stamp program in 1943.

In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed financier Andrew Mellon to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. One of Mellon’s most immediate goals was to reduce the large national debt that was incurred during World War I. His plan was to reduce tax rates to stimulate spending and to encourage tax payments.

When the federal income tax was created in 1913, the top rate was 7%. By the time World War I was over in 1918, the top rate was 77%. Under Mellon’s plan, the marginal rates were reduced throughout the 1920s so that by 1929 the top rate was 24%.

The Revenue Act of 1924 lowered the top marginal rate to 40%, included a 25% earned income credit and retroactively gave a 25% rebate of income taxes paid in 1924 for income earned in 1923. The lowest bracket – for income less than $4,000.00 – was reduced from 4% to 2%.

In 1923, Mildred A. Demling of Buffalo was 18 years old and worked for the NY Telephone Company. She apparently had taxable income in 1923 of $1.00 and paid $.04 in income taxes. As a result of the Revenue Act of 1924, she received the 25% rebate on her 1923 taxes in the form of the check that appears above for $.01.

For reasons known only to her, she failed to cash the check and so it remains as a numismatic relic from an earlier time.

Elmer Heindl was born in Rochester, NY on June 14, 1910. Despite being in a line of work that would have made him exempt from military service, he enlisted in the US Army in March 1942 and was assigned to the 37th Infantry Division. The 37th Division was an Ohio National Guard Unit that served in the Pacific.

He was a most unlikely hero yet was awarded three of the four medals for bravery during the war.

Captain Heindl was awarded the Bronze Star Medal w/ V device for his actions in the Solomon Islands in 1943 and 1944. In July 1943 he was assisting a graves detail in completing their task of burying the dead when they came under attack by Japanese snipers. Their only refuge was the open graves they had dug. Although not a combat arms officer, Captain Heindl maintained control of the situation and was able to calmly and diligently lead the men to safety.

He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the campaign for Baguio in the Philippines. Upon receiving word that the regimental commander was overdue, Captain Heindl volunteered to accompany the men who went to look for him. They were rounding a hairpin turn in the mountains when they unexpectedly came upon two Japanese tanks traveling toward them. In the chaos of the ensuing firefight, Captain Heindl fell down the side of the mountain and improbably came to rest near the overturned jeep of the regimental commander. He rendered first aid to the unconscious man and was able to get him to safety.

Captain Heindl received the Distinguished Service Cross for action in February 1945 in the Philippines. During the liberation of Bilibid Prison in Manila, he and a medic came to the aid of two men who became trapped in a guard tower. The men had climbed into the tower to use it as an observation post to direct the American effort. Upon discovering the men in the tower, the Japanese concentrated their weapons on it. Despite the withering enemy fire, Captain Heindl and the medic twice entered the tower to retrieve both men although one of them would eventually succumb to his wounds.

Two days later, he left the protection of his foxhole to pull a wounded officer to safety while mortar shells and rockets rained down upon them. Three days after that, he dragged several wounded men to safety during a firefight that killed nine others.

What makes Elmer Heindl’s exploits so remarkable was that he carried them out without firing a single shot. In fact, Elmer Heindl did not carry a weapon. Elmer Heindl was a Roman Catholic Priest.

After the war, Fr. Heindl continued service in the Army Reserve. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1990. He died in 2006. The Armed Forces Reserve Center at Ft. Benning, GA was named for him in 2012.

The United States began issuing small denomination savings bonds in 1936 with the introduction of the Series A Savings Bond. On May 1, 1941, Series E Savings Bonds were first issued as Defense Savings Bonds. After the US entered World War II in December 1941, the title of the bonds was changed from Defense Savings Bonds to War Savings Bonds.

Savings bonds served two important economic purposes during the war. The primary purpose was to provide money for the government to prosecute the war. The secondary purpose was to slow inflation by removing excess money from the economy. Full employment coupled with rationing and price controls for necessities would result in excess cash overhanging the economy.

As the war progressed, war bond sales also served as propaganda tools that rallied American sentiment at home for the war. The issuing agent’s stamp on a savings bond contains the full date the bond was purchased. This allowed for the creation of commemorative bonds for significant days throughout the war.

The United States Navy used the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor to promote war bond sales by placing commemorative overprints on bonds sold at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1942. Sales of the commemorative bonds were advertised throughout the country. Individuals on the mainland who wanted to purchase one of the special bonds sent payment to the Navy War Bond Office at Pearl Harbor.

In subsequent years, the Navy held Pearl Harbor Day commemorations around the country at which special bonds were sold.

The Treasury Department allowed other events such as the Normandy Invasion and the end of the war to be commemorated on savings bonds. Examples of those will be shown in a future installment.

Operation Crossroads was the code name given to a series of nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in July 1946. The tests carried out by Joint Task Force 1, a combined Army and Navy operation. The stated purpose of the tests was to observe the effects of nuclear weapons on naval vessels.

Unlike the Trinity tests in the desert of New Mexico, Operation Crossroads was a very public affair. Invited guests included a large media presence, scientists and foreign military observers.

Three tests were planned. Test Able was was an air burst of a 23 kiloton “fat boy”. Test Baker involved an underwater detonation of a similar device. Test Charlie was to have a deep water detonation. Problems with decontaminating the test ships after Test Baker prevented Rest Charlie from occurring.

A fleet of seventy-one vessels was assembled in the Bikini lagoon as the target array. The ships were mostly American vessels including the carriers Independence and Saratoga and the battleships Arkansas, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania. A few captured German and Japanese ships were also included.

Test Able was conducted on July 1, 1946. The bomb was dropped from a B-29 of the 509th Bomb Group. The bomb missed the target vessel, USS Nevada, by 750 yards. Five ships were sunk immediately and fourteen others badly damaged. The media was underwhelmed by the damage. The scientific evidence showed that the crew on most of the vessels would have perished from the effect of the radiation.

Test Baker took place on July 25, 1946. The device was detonated ninety feet below the surface suspended from LSM-60. While the plume from Test Able took most of the radioactive material into the stratosphere, the underwater detonation of Test Baker caused a radioactive soup to inundate the target vessels. The contamination was so bad that decontamination of most of the ships was abandoned and the vessels sunk.

The operation required the displacement of 167 natives from Bikini. Poor fishing conditions in their new home required their removal once more. Seventy-three years later Bikini Atoll remains uninhabited.

A number of numismatic items exist from Operation Crossroads. At least three different souvenir notes were printed for use as short snorters and there are chits from the recreation facilities on Kwajalein.

The first short snorter was made by the 58th Bomb Squadron of the 509th Bomb Group. The B-29 that dropped the bomb for Test Able was from the 58th Bomb Squadron.

The second type was printed by the Navy for JTF-1.

The third short snorter was printed for use on the USS Sumner. The Sumner was a survey vessel that conducted the preparatory work in the Bikini lagoon before the tests.

The Coral Reef Tavern was the name of the Navy run recreation facility on Kwajalein. Five and ten cent chits for use in the Coral Reef Tavern have survived.

Operation Crossroads also has a large philatelic footprint. Commemorative covers were made for most, if not all, of the target vessels as well as many of the support ships. The 58th Bomb Wing also made a commemorative cover that was carried on the plane that dropped the bomb for Test Able carrying a July 1, 1946 postmark.

One of the oddest actions of the US Army in WWII took place not on the battlefield but in an office building in the city of Chicago. Pictured above is a photograph of Sewell Avery, chairman of Montgomery Ward, being carried out of his office by two soldiers. The soldiers were apparently prepared for the worst as they are wearing steel pot helmets and carry bayonets and gas masks. It was one chapter in a very bitter and public feud between the President of the United States and the head of the largest American retail operation of the day.

On more than one occasion during the war labor unrest threatened or potentially threatened industry that was necessary for the war effort. When this occurred the President exercised emergency war powers to take control of the business. Such was the case with Montgomery Ward.

Sewell Avery, the retailer’s chairman, did not care much for Roosevelt and the New Deal. He cared even less for labor unions. When Montgomery Ward employees began to organize, Avery threatened to close the facilities. Avery then refused to accept a union contract and the employees threatened to strike. FDR literally sent in the Army.

Claiming that the labor disruption would have an effect on the war effort, FDR had the War Department take over the operation of the facilities in December 1944.

The numismatic connection? Catalog retailers used pre-printed bearer checks for refunds. These checks could be used for future purchases or cashed at a bank. The War Department administrators at Montgomery Ward had special checks printed for refunds related to the facilities they operated.

The War Department ran the facilities until October 1945. Four different Special Representatives of the Secretary of War were in charge during these eleven months. Each of them had checks printed with their signature.

This War Department check from June 1945 is a remarkable piece. The face and back show multiple endorsements. Apparently, Mrs. Glen Knudson of Fairmount, MN kept the check until July 1971 when she used it at the Montgomery Ward store there. It was accepted and entered the banking channels.

It was first deposited into the retailers account at the First National Bank of Minneapolis. Since the check was drawn on the Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, it next went to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank who forwarded it to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank who sent it to Continental. Continental refused the check because the check was stale and the account was closed. The remaining myriad of stamps on the back cancel the endorsements made by each bank after it was refused by Continental. It seems like an awful lot of trouble for a penny!

In response to the Great Depression, the German government of Kurt von Schleicher instituted severe economic policies including currency reform in 1932. One of the more drastic measures imposed was making the reichsmark (RM) inconvertible and prohibiting the export of RM currency. In other words, RM could not be exchanged for foreign currency and RM notes could not be taken out of Germany. Importing foreign currency was also prohibited. These steps were intended to keep foreign exchange out of the German economy.

These policies created problems for German cruise ships which used RM but could not take it out of the country. They also presented difficulties for foreigners wishing to travel in Germany because they could not obtain RM notes for use in Germany.

The currency limitations required the creation of special monetary instruments for use on cruise ships known as ship’s money orders (Bordanweisungen) and special traveler’s cheques for tourists.

The ship’s money orders were denominated in RM and could only be purchased and used on board the cruise ship on that particular voyage. The ship’s name and voyage number were printed on the money orders. At the end of the voyage the money orders were exchanged back into RM notes.

Foreigners who were traveling to Germany on cruise ships had to purchase special traveler’s cheques that were denominated in Registermarks. One Registermark was equal to one RM but the Registermark cheques could not be used for direct purchases. On ship the cheques were used to acquire ship’s money orders which were then used for purchases. Once in Germany the Registermark cheques were converted to RM notes only at approved financial institutions in Germany.

Travelers going into Germany on land or on foreign cruise ships could not exchange their currency for RM notes directly. These travelers were required to purchase RM denominated traveler’s cheques from approved institutions outside Germany. Like the Registermark cheques, these traveler’s could not be used for direct purchases but had to be converted to RM notes once in Germany.

Upon departing Germany, travelers had to deposit their remaining RM notes with a financial institution in return for a receipt. (Travelers could bring up to 30 RM in coin into or out of Germany). The receipt was then presented to the institution outside Germany from whom the traveler’s cheques were purchased for redemption in the home currency.

These policies remained until the beginning of WWII. The Allied Military Government imposed similar restrictions on the RM after WWII but that will be a topic for another day.