X-Nico

3 unusual facts about money order


J R

J R tells the story of the eponymous J R Vansant, an 11-year-old schoolboy who obscures his identity through payphone calls and postal money orders in order to parlay penny stock holdings into a fortune on paper.

Money order

United States postal notes – a payment system developed out of fractional currency in the US

Telltale watermark when held up to the light should reveal images of Benjamin Franklin, repeated on the left side (top to bottom).


Pennsylvania v. New York

In this case, Western Union had issued money orders that were either never redeemed or erroneously underpaid (e.g. a money order for $500 paid as $300), and enough time had passed that the value of the money orders was considered unclaimed property.


see also