Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 9USA - Schingoethe Obsolete Currency Collection Part 15
Lot: 826

UT. Salt Lake City. General Tithing Store House. 10¢. October 1, 1880. (Rust 224). Green. Beehive. On reverse, Salt Lake Temple in the center, value printed in words on both sides. Augustus Gast. F-VF. ($500-750) One of the doctrines of the Mormon Church is tithing -- members donate 1/10 of their annual increase to the Church. In the early days, some members also donated every tenth day as a labor tithe. As money was in short supply in the early years of the Church, much of the tithing was donated in kind - bushels of grain, cattle, eggs. The general tithing storehouse was established in 1850 in Great Salt Lake City to store and distribute the donated merchandise. The storehouse also served as retail store, except that the merchandise was exchanged rather than sold. A person who had excess chickens could exchange them for hay or butter for eggs. Members who worked on Church projects were given credit for their labor and could draw provisions from the storehouse. And those who were poor and needy could apply for provisions from the ward bishop. In 1888 US currency was still scarce to non-existent in the Utah Territory. To help ameliorate the situation, between 1889 and 1898 the Church issued this tithing scrip in various denominations. This tithing scrip was payable in kind and was a convenient method of distributing produce and meat from the storehouse. Estimate US$ 500-750

Estimate
$500 to $750