Shinplaster was paper money of low denomination, typically less than one dollar, circulating widely in the economies of the 19th century where there was a shortage of circulating coinage. The shortage of circulating coins was primarily due to the intrinsic value of metal rising above the value of the coin itself. People became incentivized to take coins out of circulation and melt them for the true intrinsic value. This left no medium of exchange for the purchase of basic consumer goods such as milk and newspapers. To fill this gap, banks issued low-denomination paper currency. Etymology The term shinplaster came into use during the American Revolutionary War. Shinplaster was a piece of paper soldiers put inside their boots to cushion their shins against chafing and rash (see plaster). Common, low-denomination notes, perceived as almost worthless compared to hard currency such as gold and silver, came to be known by this term. United States Private issues from stores, bank issues and tokens as well circulated as a method of accomplishing commercial transactions from 1837 to 1861. Shinplasters circulated in many parts of the western frontier during the mid 1800s, including in the Republic of Texas during its early days. The breadth of these private systems and the lack of integrity and security caused Francis Spinner, Secretary of the Treasury to produce a new idea. He pasted a few postage stamps on a Treasury sheet and passed it as a note. The process started where people used private notes tokens and Postal currencies as legal tender to accomplish their household and business purchasing. It became so popular that Spinner proposed to President Lincoln and Lincoln passed a bill in April 1861 enacting the postal Currency Act. This made postal currency legal and prohibited private, non-Governmental entities from producing notes, coins or currency. Thus, what we know as fractional currencies were born. Shinplasters circulated in the United States from 1861 to 1869, during the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. Since much of the coins were sold to Canada by brokers and melted or sent to England for melt, Canada was overloaded with American coinage that began to be preferred as a circulation currency. The Minister of Finance decided to buy the American currencies at a very favorable rate, as they struck their replacement coinage in England, and they shipped these coins to New York to solve their problems. At the same time,