the government fixed the exchange rate from American to Canadian coinage at 80% to discourage the import of more coinage. It worked. To help with the shortages, the Canadian Government issued in 1870 notes in the value of 25¢ as a single-note value. The initial notes were labeled as series A and an A was printed on the left side of the note toward the center. They printed 2,000,000 of these notes. In 1871, they printed another 3,000,000 25¢ notes of Series B to continue to fill this void and prevent American coins from coming back. From 1869 until the 1890s they printed 300,000 25¢ notes with no plate number on it. They used the old A and B plates and honed off the A and B letters. On some of these notes, remnants of the A and B are visible. The government of the Dominion was able to fix the problem caused by the importation and commerce created by American coinage imported into Canada. They printed additional 25¢ notes with no plate number. This ended the importation and Canadians used Canadian notes to fuel their economy. Canada In Canada, the term shinplaster was widely used for 25-cent paper monetary notes which circulated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first design was printed on March 1, 1870, and the final design was first printed on July 2, 1923. The term likely arose from the previously issued 5-shilling note ( pound) which also bore the French term on the face. (Bank of Montreal museum) Australia Shinplasters, or "calabashes" (as they were known in southern Queensland), were a feature of the Squatters' vast pastoral enterprises, and often circulated in the towns of the bush alongside and in place of legal tender. These private IOUs circulated widely, at times making up the bulk of cash in circulation, especially in the 1840s and 1850s. In some places they formed the core of a company shop economy (Truck system), circulating as private currencies. They were often of such low quality that they could not be hoarded, and shopkeepers off the property would not take them, as such currency would deteriorate into illegibility before they could be redeemed. There are tales of unscrupulous shopkeepers and others baking or otherwise artificially aging their calabashes given as change to travelers so that they crumbled to uselessness before they could be redeemed. References Rolnick, Arthur J.