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Collectors Eye California IOUs

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 25, 2009 6:57 AM CDT

(Newser) – California's recently issued IOUs are only the latest in a long history of dollar substitutes in America, the Wall Street Journal reports, and they're already being eyed by collectors of temporary currency on everything from leather to plywood to old tires to clamshells. Schwarzenegger's scrip is plain in comparison to Depression relics like Minneapolis' "sauerkraut note," but the IOUs are unusual in that they're made out to individual creditors for specific amounts.

Since California plans to destroy them after redemption, they may be in short supply. "The people who got them probably aren't sitting around thinking, 'I'm going to save this for posterity,'" one political scientist says. "They're more likely thinking, 'How the hell am I going to cash this?'"

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

One of the first registered warrants, or IOUs, is seen after printing at the Controller's office in Sacramento, Calif. earlier this month. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli )

Some California communities printed scrip notes on clamshells during the Great Depression. (©quinn.anya)

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Every piece tells a story. It represents a piece of social history.
- Neil Shafer, author of the Standard Catalog of Depression Scrip of the United States

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