Opened on August 29, 2006, a new limited-time exhibit is at the Gaston County Museum  —  From Barter to Banks:  The American Economy.  This free exhibit will focus on the evolution and economy of the banking industry. Particular emphasis will be on the Carolinas, but national trends and movements will also be explored so as to place this region’s history in a national context. The exhibit runs until March 4, 2007.

The exhibit will cover: the transition from a barter system to currency, transition from coin to paper currency, script and coins used in the context of the textile industry, sharecroppers, and Great Depression, the evolution of banking locally and nationally, local and national mints and explanation of the economy during critical periods of history including colonial, Federal, Civil War, and Great Depression.

The exhibit features a large collection of obsolete currency from a local collector. Counterfeit notes and other materials relating to the investigation of counterfeiting loaned to us from the United States Secret Service. Gold mining paraphernalia from Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site. Other items include Depression era materials, and a stocked 1930s Mill store vignette. Other objects include – rare paper currency and coins, barter beads, shells, stones and mill script, fully stocked general store, civil war related objects, minting and printing equipment, cash registers, calculators, accounting books and ledgers, and checkbooks from various time periods, c. 1890 banker’s desk, advertisements, and pertinent articles from local papers.

Exhibit sponsored in part by

 Above, U.S. fractional currency (ten cents) during the Civil War, or the War Between the States.

At middle left are shown officers of the First National Bank shortly after the Civil War.

Below left are some of the coin tokens used to pay mill hands at the Mount Holly Mills and redeemable at the Mill Store.