Knickknackery

Curiosities from the Museum's Vaults

By Robert Hancock

Knickknackery: (Noun) Miscellaneous curios

People save items for a variety of reasons: they may want to own something that is unique or peculiar, significant in their own life, or associated with a famous person or event. When the owner no longer knows what to do with these “knickknacks” or wishes to offer them to the public at large, they donate them to a museum.

The Museum’s collection is rich with objects that are visually interesting, have unique stories associated with them, or are just plain quirky. Ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, all of these items are rare or one-of-a-kind and have seldom been seen by Museum visitors.

With the ever more ubiquitous use of credit cards and crypto-currency, the term greenback will soon be relegated—if it hasn’t been already—to the dark recesses of the cabinet of archaic words alongside zozzled (inebriated) and groovy (cool in a hip way).

Government-issued paper currency, popularly known as “Greenbacks,” didn’t exist before the Civil War. Before that, it was….um, complicated. Hundreds of different banks printed the money that was in general circulation, some backed by gold, some not. Instead of borrowing from the banks in order to pay for the war, the government printed their own money. This led to heated debates around inflation, public trust, and government overreach.

U.S. “greenback” The reverse side of the paper money was green because of the use of chromium oxide. Its green color was intended to prevent counterfeiting via photography.

ACWM

Eventually, the government realized that old bills taken out of circulation needed to be destroyed. First, they tried burning them. Then they decided to put them through a shredding machine with water creating a pulp which was then discarded. Someone came up with the idea of turning this pulp into souvenirs and selling them to tourists at the nation’s capital. All manner of macerated sculptures were created: busts of famous presidents, the Washington Monument, the Capitol building, cats, and this five-inch bulldog’s head complete with glass eyes. The label on the bottom states: “Made of U.S. greenbacks, redeemed and macerated by the U.S. Government at Washington D.C. estimated at $100,000.” END

Robert Hancock is the ACWM Senior Curator and Director of Collections.