Newman Portal Adds Research Paper on California Clam Shell Money

Recently added to Newman Paper is a paper by Joshua Smith, “The California Clam Shell Scrip Currency of 1933: Crescent City and Pismo Beach’s anomaly in an era of Banknote Scrip.” Supported by a Newman Grant from the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society, Smith conducted primary research on this curious scrip that arose in California during the Great Depression. Smith explores the origins of the use of clam shells as money and describes modern reproductions in order to aid authentication of genuine examples. Certain questions in numismatics are eternal – how was an object made, who made it, how was it used – and Smith provides an end-to-end treatment of the subject. Link to “The California Clam Shell Scrip Currency of 1933” on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/573710