Play money was an important part of childhood. Play money came with many games, such as Monopoly. Play money also came in sets of bills, coins or both. Playing with play money helped children learn counting, addition, subtraction, sorting/pattern matching and making change. As society continues to move toward credit cards and other electronic funds transfers, money will become a thing of the past, and play money along with it. Until then, while browsing my local dollar store looking for Casper Halloween puzzles, I saw a play money set that came in its own cash drawer!

Play money can also be collectible. The most comprehensive website I have found on collecting play money belongs to Jack Phillips. Unfortunately, Jack is starting to sell off his collection, so I am not sure how long these links will work. Under Boxed Sets (button toward top of page), number 14 is the Pangburn treasure chest. Under Carded Sets (other button toward top of page), numbers 56 and 57 are the Richie Rich Big Spender and Rich Kid Set, both by JA-RU. Jack has also posted a picture of the Big Spender and Rich Kid Set here. I will be featuring all of these items as exhibits, starting with the Rich Kid Set:

View the exhibit:

Richie Rich Rich Kid Set

Read an analysis of the JA-RU rack toy collection here:

“Big Data”: Analyzing the JA-RU rack toys

or download it in Portable Document Format here:

Analysis of the Rack Toys JA-RU Made for Harvey Publications, Inc.