The California Clam Shell Scrip Currency of 1933: Crescent City and Pismo Beach’s anomaly in an era of Banknote Scrip

0.86 MB·English

by  Joshua Smith

The California Clam Shell Scrip Currency of 1933:
Crescent City and Pismo Beach’s anomaly in an era of
Banknote Scrip

Author:
Joshua Smith
January 5, 2020

NNP
Acknowledgments

The research for this project was financial supported by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic
Education Society and I gratefully thank them for their continued support of numismatic
research, education and scholarship, without them this project would not have been possible.

I sincerely thank the historians, authors, staff and residents of Crescent City and Pismo Beach
who provided invaluable support in the success of this project. A special thank you to Crescent
City/Del Notre Chamber of Commerce, The Del Norte County Historical Society, the staff of the
Del Norte County History Museum, David Middlecamp of The Tribune, the San Luis Obispo
Museum of Art, Joel Anderson World Coins, Games Exchange, the History Center of San Luis
Obispo, and the staff of the Pismo Beach City Hall for sharing the history of Crescent City and
Pismo Beach. Through these individuals and organizations, I was provided access to the
preserved history from which this research draws its conclusions. Their knowledge and openness
to share the history of Crescent City and Pismo Beach is what has guaranteed the continued
survival of the Clam Shell Scrip.
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..1

2 History………………………………………………………………………………………...3
Pre-Colonial Clam Shell Currency………………………………………...……………...3
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Banking Holiday of 1933………………………6

3 Origin and Adoption of the Clam Shell Scrip……………………………………………...9
The Crescent City Narrative………………………………………………...…………….9
The Pismo Beach Narrative………………………………………………………...……12
The Clam Shell Scrip in the News…………………………………………………….…15
The Creators and Their Clam Shell Scrip………………………………………………..16
The Authors of the Modern Historical Narrative…………………...……………….…...17

4 Fieldwork and Date Differentiation of the Clam Shell Scrip…………………………….19
Fieldwork in Crescent City and Pismo Beach…………………………………………...19
Date Differentiation and Signs of Backdating…………………………………………...22

5 The 80th Anniversary Series of 2013…………………………………………………….…27
A Return to Public Use……………………………………………………………….….27
Design and Production of the Series……………………………………………………..27
A Modern Perspective on the Clam Shell Scrip…………………………………………31

6 Conclusion………………………..…………………………………………………………36
Conclusion for the Clam Shell Scrip… …………………………………………………36

Bibliography
1

1 Introduction

The California Clam Shell Scrip of 1933 is one of the most unique forms of scrip currency – a
substitute for legal tender, often issued as credit in the form of paper currency or tokens – to arise
during the Great Depression.1 Originating in Crescent City and Pismo Beach simultaneously
during the Bank Holiday of 1933, this scrip currency was produced by local merchants to combat
the lack of cash available during the U.S. financial intuitions’ hiatus. Today it is uncertain how
many merchants issued Clam Shell Scrip or how the impromptu currency came into existence.
Several pieces of this currency have been cataloged in various museums, yet no research has
considered the origins of the Clam Shell Scrip, nor the process by which the residents of
Crescent City and Pismo Beach produced and distributed this scrip currency. To this end,
fieldwork and archival searches were conducted in both Crescent City and Pismo Beach,
California. The two objectives of this research were first, to aid in understanding the historical
narrative that led to the currency’s creation and adoption and second, to document and digitally
record the Clam Shell Scrip currently remaining before it is lost to time.

Fieldwork conducted in Crescent City revealed that the city no longer retains collections, written
records nor oral history of the Clam Shell Scrip, despite its mass use. The scrip currency’s
historical narrative has been preserved only in the writings of modern authorities. These
narratives recount how L. G. Westfall, Sectary of the Chamber of Commerce, brought forth the
idea to adopt the practice once common among early setters, of using the Clam Shell as a form of

1 The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “scrip (n.),” accessed January 3, 2020,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrip.
2

currency. The scope of the research for Crescent City was to review the two remaining historical
narratives and to identify any remaining physical evidence of the city’s 1933 Clam Shell Scrip. A
single piece of Clam Shell Scrip has survived and was sold at auction through Holabird-Kagin
Americana in 2012, which provides evidence that the merchants of Crescent City adopted L. G.
Westfall’s idea. Together, the merchants and the Chamber of Commerce produced a Clam Shell
Scrip that successfully supported local commerce until the Bank Holiday of 1933 ended.

The fieldwork conducted in Pismo Beach revealed that the city retains an historical collection at
Pismo Beach City Hall and its story has been retold in local newspapers and museums for almost
a century. From these stories, there exists a prevalent narrative of how three local merchants by
the names of William H. Bogue, K. L. Phillips and Harry H. Leiter came together and created the
Clam Shell Scrip of Pismo Beach. The scope of the research for Pismo Beach was to review the
written, oral and physical evidence surrounding the scrip currency’s adoption in order to
authenticate the current origin story, first found in the California State Numismatic Association’s
periodical Calcoin News from May of 1959. Nineteen pieces of the 1933 Clam Shell Scrip have
survived and are on display, which provides support to the prevailing origin story, as well as,
suggests an interconnected design and production process between merchants. In 2013, to mark
the 80th anniversary of the scrip currency, local merchants reissued a replica of the 1933 Clam
Shell Scrip to commemorate the ingenuity of the city’s former merchants. These replicas have
found popularity with locals and tourists, thus preserving the scrip currency.
3

2 History of the Clam Shell Scrip

Pre-Colonial Clam Shell Currency

Crescent City’s pre-colonial history is found among the Native American Tolowa (Taa-laa-wa
Dee-ni’), whose ancestral land or Taa-laa-waa dvn lies within modern day Curry, Josephine and
Del Norte Counties surrounding the Smith River basin.2 The Tolowa did not use the clam shell
as a medium of exchange, but rather adopted Dentalium shells, known as tr’vt, that served as a
medium of exchange for the region.3 Dentalium are a tusk like seashell that encases scaphoid
mollusks that are native to the North Pacific Coast.4 Dentalium shells provided a quantifiable
statement of wealth, due to the existence of different methods to measure its value. The Tolowa’s
neighbors to the north used a method whereby ten Dentalium shells where strung together and
the total length determined their value.5 The Yurok, who lived to the south along the Klamath
River, used a set length of string where the number of Dentalium shells upon it determined its
value.6 This ascertained value in trade was payment for services or in the settlement of disputes.7
However, Dentalium shells diverge from modern currencies in that its primary purpose was for
use as a statement of wealth. The possession of Dentalium shells were closely associated with a

2 Loren Me’-lash-ne Bommelyn, “Who We Are – Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation,” published March, 2011,
https://www.tolowa-nsn.gov/who-we-are/.
3 Loren Me’-lash-ne Bommelyn, “Who We Are – Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation,” published March, 2011,
https://www.tolowa-nsn.gov/who-we-are/.
4 “Alutiiq Word of the Week Archive – Clothing – Dentalium Shell,” Alutiiq Museum, Accessed January 4, 2020,
https://alutiiqmuseum.org/word-of-the-week-archive/750-dentalium-shell-1.
5 Philip Drucker, “The Tolowa and Their Southwest Oregon Kin,” University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology 36, no. 4 (1937): 240, accessed January 4, 2020,
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp036-005.pdf.
6 Philip Drucker, “The Tolowa and Their Southwest Oregon Kin,” University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology 36, no. 4 (1937): 240, accessed January 4, 2020,
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp036-005.pdf.
7 Philip Drucker, “The Tolowa and Their Southwest Oregon Kin,” University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology 36, no. 4 (1937): 240, accessed January 4, 2020,
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp036-005.pdf.
4

family’s status and was passed from generation to generation.8 The Tolowa never turned to clam
shells as a medium of exchange, nonetheless they took part in a vibrant regional trading network
that included a recognizable symbol of wealth and status.

Pismo Beach holds a long history both ethnographically and economically. The pre-colonial
California seaboard was home to a collective of several interrelated Native American tribes
commonly known as the Chumash. Their territory was within the boundaries of the San Joaquin
Valley, Paso Roubles and Malibu, inclusive of the California Channel Islands.9 The names Pismo
Beach and Pismo Clam originate from the Chumash word pismu, a term for tar found in Prince
Canyon just north of Pismo Beach.10 This tar was used as caulking for the Chumash’s Tomol,
their deep-water canoes, which were used to access the California Channel Islands, a geological
location for Chert used in drills and a natural habitat of the Pismo Clam.11

The Chumash were one of the most advanced Native American peoples in terms of both
commerce and a working monetary system. The Chumash had a history of using the Pismo Clam
to create an early, bead shaped, currency known as Achum. While scholars still debate whether
Achum can be defined as a true form of currency, it meets many of the characteristics necessary.
As a medium of exchange, Achum was a durable, portable and quantifiable piece of clam shell,

8 Philip Drucker, “The Tolowa and Their Southwest Oregon Kin,” University of California Publications in
Americna Archaeology and Ethnology 36, no. 4 (1937): 240, accessed January 4, 2020,
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp036-005.pdf.
9 Santa Yeiz Band of Chumash Indians, “Hisotry of the Chumash People,” accessed January 3, 2020,
https://www.santaynezchumash.org/history.html
10 Sandy Nestor, Indian Placenames in America, Volume 1 (North Carolina: McFarland, 2015), 33.
11 California Coastal Commission, Beaches and Parks from Monterey to Venture (California: University of
California Press, 2007), 234.
5

that was rounded and polished with a hole drilled in the center.12 Achum was utilized in trade,
payments for labor and services, and as a quantifiable statement of wealth.13 This quantifiability
is what elevates Achum away from a medium of exchange and allowed it to be used as an
accepted currency by other tribes. Its use in inter-tribal trade was noted by researcher Arthur
Woodward during his fieldwork in California:

“The Indians of Tulare country generally came over once a year in bands… They brought over
Panoche, or a thick sugar, made from what we now call honey dew, and the sweet carisa cane,
and put it into small onlong sacks made of grass and swamp flags: also pine nuts and wild
tobacco pounded and mixed with lime… These articles were exchanged for a species of money
from the Indian mint of the Santa Barbara rancherias, called by them panga. This description of
money consisted of pieces of rounded shells… which were brought by the Barbarians from the
Island of Santa Rosa. The worth of a rial [real] was put on a string which was passed twice and
a half around the hand, i.e. from the end of the middle finger to the wrist. Eight of these strings
passed for the value of a silver dollar, and the Indians always preferred them to silver.”14

As noted in his account, there was a distinctive method for assessing the value, or amount, of
Achum, as well as, a preference by other Native American groups for the clam shell currency.
However, there is another aspect, mentioned in Woodward’s account, that sets Achum apart as a
currency. Specifically, that the Chumash had a mint located on the California Channel Islands.

12 Marjorie H. Akin, James C, Bard and Kevin Akin, Numismatic Archaeology of North America: A Field Guide
(Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2016), 36.
13 Marjorie H. Akin, James C, Bard and Kevin Akin, Numismatic Archaeology of North America: A Field Guide
(Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2016), 36.
14 Arthur Woodward, “An Early Account of the Chumash,” The Masterkey, VIII, (July 1934): 119.
6

This allowed the Chumash, who were the only people with Tomols, a method of controlled
production. Therefore, the Channel Islands acted as a natural deterrent of counterfeiting and
reduced the possibility of inflation as only an elite group of craftsmen had access to the island
mint. The Chumash’s achievements included the creation of minting, inflation control and anti-
counterfeiting methods that are comparable to contemporary practices. Their economic success
was no secret as many others, such as Spanish envoy Jose Longinos Matinez, would record the
Chumash’s prowess in commerce and their established monetary system.15 Through its role as
the foundational material for Achum and its continued use as a local food source, the Pismo
Clam developed a symbolic nature with Pismo Beach’s inhabitants, local businesses, tourists and
even communal government; a status that provides the tongue in cheek idiom for the Pismo
Beach Clam Shell Scrip of 1933.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Banking Holiday of 1933

The event that triggered the creation of the Clam Shell Scrip can be traced back to the Spring of
1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office on March 4th of that year.
President Roosevelt brought with him promises to restore the national economy and rebuild the
nation’s confidence in their banking system, but most importantly he promised action.16 True to
his word on March 6th, 1933 President Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2039, announcing the
suspension of all banking institutions from March 6th to March 9th inclusive. The following

15 Marjorie H. Akin, James C, Bard and Kevin Akin, Numismatic Archaeology of North America: A Field Guide,
(Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2016), 38.
16 William L. Silber, “Why Did FDR’s Bank Holiday Succeed?,” Economic Policy Review 15, no. 1 (July 2009): 2,
accessed January 3, 2020, https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/epr/09v15n1/0907silb.html
7

excerpt from Proclamation 2039 details the services, which banking institutions were no longer
allowed to provide during the holiday.

“Now, Therefore I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, in view of
such national emergency and by virtue of the authority vested in me by said Act and in order to
prevent the export, hoarding, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, do
hereby proclaim, order, direct and declare that from Monday, the Sixth day of March, to
Thursday, the Ninth day of March, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-three, both dates inclusive,
there shall be maintained and observed by all banking institutions and all branches thereof
located in the United States of America, including the territories and insular possessions, a bank
holiday, and that during said period all banking transactions shall be suspended. During such
holiday, excepting as hereinafter provided, no such banking institution or branch shall pay out,
export, earmark, or permit the withdrawal or transfer in any manner or by any device
whatsoever, of any gold or silver coin or bullion or currency or take any other action which
might facilitate the hoarding thereof; nor shall any such banking institution or branch pay out
deposits, make loans or discounts, deal in foreign exchange, transfer credits from the United
States to any place abroad, or transact any other banking business whatsoever.” – Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Proclamation 203917

The suspension of all banking transactions would continue for longer than the allotted 3 days,
and it would not be until Marth 13th that American citizens were able to access banking services

17 Gerhard Peters and John T. Wooley, “Proclamation 2039-Declaring Bank Holiday,” The American Presidency
Project, Accessed January 3, 2020, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-2039-declaring-bank-
holiday