No bills made since I returned from summer camp on July 23rd. Is this the final Mint stoppage? I put the Mint equipment away when I had to clean my room in early July. I have not taken it out since.
The Mint is founded. The idea for 2 1/8" by 5 1/2" Alanbucks bills is not new, some sheets with bills that size were made in November. But the new idea here is to make the bills with ultrasimple (and thus easy-to-reproduce) designs. Who knew that my little idea would turn into this?
On that day, I made only a few sheets. I run off a test sheet, containing the planned design for each denomination. The $1 (black marker) and $100 (light blue marker) were first produced, as well as a couple of the other 'basic' denominations. Their serial numbers are A00000001X-A00000008X. 'A' stands for first, 'X' stands for the 24th day of the month, the numbers stand for the 8 bills in a sheet.
For paper, I use a bunch of white printer paper that we had left over from an old spindle printer- so the paper has little strips of holes on either side...
December 25th, 2003
Christmas 2003! I draw up sheets for a couple more basic denominations, and now I have all 6. ($1,$5,$10,$20,$50,$100). The production of ultrasmall cent bills (1"x2.75") begins. Only about 50 of each (1c,5c,10c,25c) are made. I come up with the idea of packaging my fininshed bills in bundles of 50.
December 29th, 2003
My family goes on a short trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. (We live in Rochester, NY- so Niagara Falls isn't much of a drive at all.) Since I am still hooked on my new idea, I take my Alanbucks stuff with me. There, I use the mintletter 'B'. I make a total of 254 bills there during our 3-day stay (29th-31st), including 60 $1s- the highest serial number yet. But the biggest innovation revolves around cent bills. I introduce a cent bill that's nearly twice as large (18 bills to a sheet) as opposed to the original 32 bills to a sheet.
December 31st, 2003
Back from Niagara Falls. We get home around midday, and I spend much of the rest of the day making more Alanbucks. Total A-Mint bills for the year: 502. These include the $1 A00000064EE, my highest serial number yet. I leave the Alanbucks stuff on the floor of my room, ready for the next morning.
January 1st, 2004
When I get upstairs shortly after midnight, I immediately make the first $1 sheet of the New Year, then go to bed. (This is something I did on January 1st, 2003 as well) Since I want to be able to differentiate my bills come February 1st, I add a month marker (the word 'January') in the lower righthand corner. This is the first of many changes to my basic denominations...
I invent a couple more denominations today: the $1,000, with blue pen, and the $10,000, with green pen.
More Bank of Alan history coming soon
While sitting at home during exam week (I didn't have any exams that afternoon), I make the following $1: A00001000N. This is the first time a '1000' serial number has ever been reached.
Mint production greatly slows over the summer.
April 25th, 2005
I have made Alanbucks every month since the December 2003 beginning (16 months), and I gadn't made any bills yet for April 2005. I wasn't about to let that 16-month tradition fade away, so I draw some $1 bills at school that day. With April's $1s, I double $1 production for the entire year.
May 20th, 2005
At school on May 20th, during my 2:00 class, I draw Alanbucks $1 Shhet A00000993T thru A00001000T. The 1000th bill is a major milestone. It is the result of feverish $1 production at SWW in late April and throughout May, and is a major step towards my 10,000 goal. I also reached 1,000 for the A Mint $1s last year, but I didn't reach 1,000 until June 13th.
May 26th, 2005
Copied Line Sheets Innovation. I drew 1 blank sheet for dollar-sized bills and 1 blank sheet for cent-sized bills. Then I ran off several copies of each. This will save me a lot of time on the line-drawing stage.
10,000th overall bill made. (all months, all years) The bill is a $100 star note, I believe.
May 27th, 2005
Major website update, including the page you are reading right now.
Early 2006- Minting kit brought out again for the first sheet of 2006. Put away (for good?) a few months later.