Macerated Currency
U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C. Currency "Macerator"
c. 1920 Very Rare Real-Color Photo Picture Postcard with an Image of a Currency "MACERATOR" in the basement of the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C., Choice Very Fine.
This is a full color Postcard, measuring 5.5" x 3.5". The picture scene showing a group of men posing next to a Currency Macerator. They appear to be in the basement of the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C. preparing to macerate a large amount of United States Currency. The first such interesting and informative original Picture Postcard of this scene we have encountered and have never seen another in over four decades. Extremely rare and certainly of great importantance to serious specialized collectors of Macerated Currency!
Between the mid 1870s to 1928, worn and mutilated United States Currency Banknotes were returned to the Treasury Department where they were reduced to paper pulp and made into Souvenirs for sale to the public. By the 1890s, the pulp was sold to various contractors such as the National Currency Souvenir Co., where it was used to create souvenir busts of prominent Americans, historical images and replicas of various national monuments.