“And now for something completely different” – a postage stamp encased in metal, complete with advertising on one side. This is not a commercial oddity. Rather, during the Civil War, it was a replacement for coins that became scarce during the civil war. And, with apologies to Monty Python, it’s today’s #stampoftheday because on August 12, 1862, John Gault received a patent for this completely different item.

Here’s the back story. By early 1862, less than a year after the start of the Civil War, many millions of dollars in gold and silver coins and even copper-nickel cents had disappeared from circulation. It’s not exactly clear why. People may have been wary of the new paper money the US began printing to finance the war. Known as greenbacks (because the back sides were printed in green), they were initially redeemable in coins, but as the war raged on (and the coin shortage increased), they became merely promises of the US government to pay. Consequently, some people wouldn’t accept them and some only accepted them at a discount to their stated value. And few people wanted to accept a greenback and give back change in coins, whose value was linked to the metal they contained.

Since much of what people needed cost less than a dollar, they found themselves faced with unusual problems. How could they for things without using their precious coins? How could they provide change when others tried to pay in greenbacks? So people began providing change in stamps (which they often purchased using the disliked and sometimes unwelcome greenbacks). The practice became so common, that in July 1862 a new federal law made it legal for people to use stamps to pay off up to $5 in federal obligations. However, the widespread use of stamps created many problems. If the stamps got wet they couldn’t be reused. And because the stamps showed signs of wear and tear, it was hard for postal clerks and merchants to tell if stamps had been cancelled and, therefore, were worthless.

Gault’s solution was to encase the stamps in a brass frame to protect them from wear. The front portion had a thin sheet of clear mica so the stamp could be seen. The back portion was solid and could be used for engraved advertisements that would provide revenue that would offset the cost of the new devices. At least 30 companies – including Ayer’s Pills, Burnett’s Cooking Extracts, and Lord & Taylor – used this new tool to advertise their wares. Although the government began producing more brass and copper-nickel coins in 1863, Gault’s invention was very popular. By the end of the war, Americans had spent about $50,000 to buy about 750,000 pieces. Only about 7,000 of these still exist, including this one, which was in the “stuff that was in a manila envelope” part of my late father’s the collection (albeit still on the mount from the dealer that sold it to him).

For the most part, this “enclosed stamp” seems like an anomaly. But it got me thinking. Is it possible to imagine a time when people again won’t trust paper currency because they don’t believe the U.S. government will honor its financial obligations? Might the post office specifically (or the government as a whole) start raising money by selling advertising space on stamps (or on currency)? Could stamp collectors or, more likely, by the children and grandchildren of deceased stamp collectors, start using their unused stamps instead of coins, which, I gather, are again in short supply (if only because fewer people are shopping in person and paying cash when they do)? Could things get so bad, that collectors and their heirs would try to return their unused stamps for needed cash?

These scenarios strike me as far-fetched, at best. However, this year has been so bizarre that I can’t say for sure that some or all of these strange scenarios won’t come to pass.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice, work for peace, and look in your drawers for all those stray unused stamps. You might just need them in the days and months ahead.