shinplaster Público Deposited
Derogatory epithet for paper currency, especially depreciated or of low face value; from the common military practice of using such notes to stanch leg wounds or sores. The term dates back to the War of 1812 and possibly to the Revolution; it became obsolete only with the retirement of fractional currency in the late 1870s. Some copper tokens of the late 1830s ("Hard Times tokens") actually read SUBSTITUTE FOR SHIN PLASTERS, parallel to the Canadian motto PURE COPPER PREFERABLE TO PAPER.
- Breen Encyclopedia