Paper Money - Vol. LI, No. 1 - Whole No. 277 - January - February 2012

PAPER MONEY OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF PAPER MONEY COLLECTORS VOL. LI, NO. 1, WHOLE NO. 277 WWW.SPMC.ORG JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 Happy Birthday Uncle Abe U.S.-Porto Rico 1919 Public Improvement $1000 gold bond “Honestly, Folks, . . . Your ad here would raise your business profile & profits.” A. Lincoln OUR MEMBERS SPECIALIZE IN NATIONAL CURRENCY They also specialize in Large Size Type Notes, Small Size Currency, Obsolete Currency, Colonial and Continental Currency, Fractionals, Error Notes, MPC’s, Confederate Currency, Encased Postage, Stocks and Bonds, Autographs and Documents, World Paper Money . . . and numerous other areas. THE PROFESSIONAL CURRENCY DEALERS ASSOCIATION is the leading organization of OVER 100 DEALERS in Currency, Stocks and Bonds, Fiscal Documents and related paper items. PCDA To be assured of knowledgeable, professional, and ethical dealings when buying or selling currency, look for dealers who proudly display the PCDA emblem. For a FREE copy of the PCDA Membership Directory listing names, addresses and specialties of all members, send your request to: The Professional Currency Dealers Association PCDA • Hosts the annual National and World Paper Money Convention each fall in St. Louis, Missouri. Please visit our Web Site pcdaonline.com for dates and location. • Encourages public awareness and education regarding the hobby of Paper Money Collecting. • Sponsors the John Hickman National Currency Exhibit Award each June at the Memphis Paper Money Convention, as well as Paper Money classes at the A.N.A.’s Summer Seminar series. • Publishes several “How to Collect” booklets regarding currency and related paper items. Availability of these booklets can be found in the Membership Directory or on our Web Site. • Is a proud supporter of the Society of Paper Money Collectors. Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcdaonline.com James A. Simek – Secretary P.O. Box 7157 • Westchester, IL 60154 (630) 889-8207 JANUARY 4-7, 2012 | ORLANDO | LIVE & ONLINE Free catalog and The Collector's Handbook ($65 value) for new clients. Please submit auction invoices of $1,000+ in this category, from any source. Include your contact information and mail to Heritage, fax 214-409-1425, email catalogorders@HA.com, or call 866-835-3243. For more details, go to HA.com/FCO. CURRENCY SIGNATURE® AUCTIONS Highlights from The Roger H. Durand Santa Claus Collection being oered at FUN Annual Sales Exceed $750 Million | 600,000+ Online Bidder-Members 3500 Maple Avenue | Dallas, Texas 75219 | 800-872-6467 | HA.com DALLAS | NEW YORK | BEVERLY HILLS | SAN FRANCISCO | PARIS | GENEVA Santa Type I Boston, MA- Howard Banking Company $5 Aug. 23, 1858 C8a Counterfeit, PCGS Apparent Extremely Fine 45 HA.com/3516-135005 Santa Type V New York, NY- Saint Nicholas Bank $5 Haxby UNL Proof PCGS Choice About New 58 HA.com/3516-135017 FL licenses: Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc.: AB665; Currency Auctions of America: AB2218; FL Auctioneer licenses: Samuel Foose AU3244; Robert Korver AU2916; Mike Sadler AU3795; Andrea Voss AU4034 Auctions are subject to a 15% buyer’s premium. 22786 Santa Type IV Milwaukee, WI- Bank of Milwaukee $5 Jan. 2, 1855 G6d Proof Krause G6d, PCGS Apparent Choice About New 58 HA.com/3516-135032 Santa Type VI New York, NY- Knickerbocker Bank of the City of New York $2 G4a Proof, PCGS Very Choice New 64PPQ HA.com/3516-135014 Santa Type II New York, NY- Saint Nicholas Bank $1 G2 Proof PCGS Very Choice New 64 HA.com/3516-135015 Santa Type III Conway, MA- Conway Bank $20 Sep. 12, 1854 G12a Proof PCGS Apparent New 62 HA.com/3516-135009 Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 1 TERMS AND CONDITIONS PAPER MONEY (USPS 00-3162) is published every other month beginning in January by the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC), 5510 Bolin Rd., Allen, TX 75002. Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Post master send address changes to Secretary Benny Bolin, 5510 Bolin Rd., Allen, TX 75002. © Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc., 2011. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, in whole or part, without written permission, is prohibited. Individual copies of this issue of PAPER MONEY are available from the Secretary for $6 postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries concerning non-delivery, and requests for additional copies of this issue to the Secretary. MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere and publications for review should be sent to the Editor. Accepted manuscripts will be published as soon as possible; however, publication in a specific issue can- not be guaranteed. Include an SASE for acknowledg- ment, if desired. Opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect those of the SPMC. Manuscripts should be typed (one side of paper only), double-spaced with at least 1-inch margins. 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SPMC assumes no financial responsibility for typo- graphical errors in ads, but agrees to reprint that por- tion of an ad in which a typographical error occurs upon prompt notification. Paper Money Official Bimonthly Publication of The Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. Vol. LI, No. 1 Whole No. 277 January/February 2012 ISSN 0031-1162 FRED L. REED III, Editor, P.O. Box 118162, Carrollton, TX 75011 Visit the SPMC web site: www.spmc.org FEATURES Levancia H. Plumb, National Bank President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 By Karl Sanford Kabelac The Paper Column: New Deal Changes to Legal Tender Status . . .7 By Peter Huntoon & Jamie Yakes Georgia’s Risqué Vignettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 By W. Mack Martin The History of Collecting CSA Paper Money, Chapter 5 . . . . . . . 30 By Pierre Fricke & Fred Reed May M. Green (later Watson) National Bank President . . . . . . . . 43 By Karl Sanford Kabelac Ending Poverty in California and the “Sincliar Dollar” . . . . . . . . . . . 46 By Loren Gatch Branch Bank of the State of Arkansas at Fayetteville . . . . . . . . . . . 51 By Quintin Trammell Interesting from Florida: Note Exhibits Four Distinct Plate Printings . . 55 By David C. Myers Interesting from Oklahoma: Another Report of a 1-Note Sheet . . . . . . 56 By Robert Gill The Buck Starts Here: Notes That Might Have Been . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 By Gene Hessler Small Notes: Series 1928 $1 U.S. Notes Face Plate #12 . . . . . . . 61 By Jamie Yakes Notes from Up North: New Canadian $100 Polymer Changeover . . . 66 By Harold Don Allen Florida Prisoner of War Scrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 By Ronald J. Benice SOCIETY & HOBBY NEWS Information and Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Your Subscription to Paper Money Has Expired If . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 First Wall Street Collectors Bourse Deemed a Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 President’s Column by Mark Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Two Bills from Same Wheresgeorger Show Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SPMC Needs a Few Good Men or Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 SPMC Board Clarifies Society’s Awards Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Don’t Get Me Started by Paul Herbert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Spurious Issues by John Davenport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 2772 Society of Paper Money Collectors OFFICERS ELECTED OFFICERS: PRESIDENT Mark Anderson, 115 Congress St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 vICE-PRESIDENT Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 SECRETARY Benny Bolin, 5510 Bolin Rd., Allen, TX 75002 TREASURER Bob Moon, 104 Chipping Court, Greenwood, SC 29649 BOARD OF gOvERNORS: Mark Anderson, 115 Congress St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 Shawn Hewitt, P.O. Box 580731, Minneapolis, MN 55458-0731 Matt Janzen, 3601 Page Drive Apt. 1, Plover, WI 54467 Robert J. Kravitz, P.O. Box 6099, Chesterfield, MO 63006 Fred L. Reed III, P.O. Box 118162, Carrollton, TX 75011-8162 Michael B. Scacci, 216-10th Ave., Fort Dodge, IA 50501-2425 Lawrence Schuffman, P.O. Box 19, Mount Freedom, NJ 07970 VACANT Robert Vandevender, P.O. Box 1505, Jupiter, FL 33468-1505 Wendell A. Wolka, P.O. Box 1211, Greenwood, IN 46142 VACANT APPOINTEES: PUBLISHER-EDITOR Fred L. Reed III, P.O. Box 118162, Carrollton, TX 75011-8162 CONTRIBUTINg EDITOR Gene Hessler, P.O. Box 31144, Cincinnati, OH 45231 ADvERTISINg MANAgER Wendell A. Wolka, P.O. Box 1211, Greenwood, IN 46142 LEgAL COUNSEL Robert J. Galiette, 3 Teal Ln., Essex, CT 06426 LIBRARIAN Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mountain Rd. # 197, Chattanooga, TN 37405 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Frank Clark, P.O. Box 117060, Carrollton, TX 75011-7060 PAST PRESIDENT Benny Bolin, 5510 Bolin Rd., Allen, TX 75002 WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 REgIONAL MEETINg COORDINATOR Judith Murphy, P.O. Box 24056, Winston-Salem, NC 27114 BUYING AND SELLING HUGH SHULL P.O. Box 2522, Lexington, SC 29071 PH: (803) 996-3660 FAX: (803) 996-4885 CSA and Obsolete Notes CSA Bonds, Stocks & Financial Items Auction Representation 60-Page Catalog for $5.00 Refundable with Order ANA-LM SCNA PCDA CHARTER MBR The Society of Paper Money Collectors was organized in 1961 and incorporated in 1964 as a non-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. It is affiliated with the ANA. The annual SPMC meeting is held in June at the Memphis International Paper Money Show. Up-to-date information about the SPMC, including its bylaws and activities can be found on its web site www.spmc.org. SPMC does not endorse any company, dealer, or auction house. MEMBERSHIP—REGULAR and LIFE. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character. Members of the ANA or other recognized numismatic societies are eligible for membership; other applicants should be sponsored by an SPMC member or provide suitable references. MEMBERSHIP—JUNIOR. Applicants for Junior membership must be from 12 to 18 years of age and of good moral character. Their application must be signed by a parent or guardian. Junior membership numbers will be preced- ed by the letter “j,” which will be removed upon notification to the Secretary that the member has reached 18 years of age. Junior members are not eligi- ble to hold office or vote. DUES—Annual dues are $30. Members in Canada and Mexico should add $5 to cover postage; members throughout the rest of the world add $10. Life membership — payable in installments within one year is $600, $700 for Canada and Mexico, and $800 elsewhere. The Society has dispensed with issuing annual membership cards, but paid up members may obtain one from the Secretary for an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope). Members who join the Society prior to October 1 receive the magazines already issued in the year in which they join as available. Members who join after October 1 will have their dues paid through December of the following year; they also receive, as a bonus, a copy of the magazine issued in November of the year in which they joined. Dues renewals appear in a fall issue of Paper Money. Checks should be sent to the Society Secretary. SPMC LM 6 BRNA FUN Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 3 SPMC CONGRATULATES Our 50th anniversary first time author winners: Robert Gill for “Partial Printing of Obsolete Sheets from Several Banks” Quintin Trammell for “In Search of Moore’s Mill” R. Logan Talks for “Serial Number Rarities in the Red Seal $1 Series 1928 U.S. Note Issue” Dave Undis for “How Rare are Fancy Serial Numbers” Carroll Hilliard for “Who Really Signed Your Notes?” SPMC THANKS Our anonymous donor whose generosity made these $100 awards possible to the winners. This talent search was a real success. We published manuscripts (often more than one) from 13 new authors in our 50th anniversary year. To all these newly published authors: Congratulations! Don’t rest on your laurels; keep writing for your SPMC journal. We appreciate your contributions to our hobby edification! Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 2774 Levancia and SamueL PLumb were earLy SettLerS inStreator, illinois, a city some 90 miles southwest of chicago that has a cur-rent population of about 14,000 residents. the community was named forworthy L. Streator, a cleveland physician and investor, who began to devel- op the coal resources in the area in the mid-1860s. His local agent was ralph Plumb, the younger brother of Samuel Plumb. when the couple arrived in 1870, the community had a population of 1,500, which was to grow nearly ten-fold by the turn of the century. by then, in addition to coal mining, two new industries, glass making and brick and tile making had also developed, prompted by the natural resources in the area. Levancia Holcomb had been born in upstate new york on June 23, 1841. when a child her family had moved from new york to Ohio and then on to illinois before returning to Ohio. She attended Oberlin college, in Oberlin, Ohio, one of the first coeducational colleges in the united States, entering in 1857 and graduating in 1861. in Oberlin, she met Samuel Plumb, a widower almost thirty years older than she. He was the founding president of the Oberlin national bank in 1863. they married in 1868. upon moving to Streator, Samuel Plumb had founded the bank of Streator, which in 1874 became the union national bank of Streator (charter #2176). He was its president and continued in that office until his death in 1882. Levancia then became a vice president of the bank, and in 1899 its president. at that time, her only son, S. walter Plumb, then 24 years old, succeeded her as the vice president of the bank. She served as president for 24 years, until her death at the family home in Streator on april 10, 1923. in ill health for a number of years, an obituary noted that “although unable for some years to work actively in this capacity [as president], she retained a keen interest in the affairs of the union national bank, talking over matters of finance almost daily with her son, S. w. Plumb, vice presi- dent, upon whom the duties of president developed.” One of her great personal interests was that of temperance. She was a close friend of Frances willard, the founder of the women's christian temperance union, and took an active role in various related organizations. and even as an invalid, she Levancia H. Plumb, National Bank President By Karl Sanford Kabelac Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 5 not only kept up with the bank’s affairs, but also national affairs. at the very end of her life, she had a new invention, a radio, in her room. Her family was also one of her great interests. She had four children and eleven grandchildren. One of her grandchildren, captain Harold Harris, a military pilot, had flown to Streator on the occasion of her 80th birthday in 1921 to be with her at the family celebration. another grandchild, edward Holcomb Plumb (1907- 1958), became an important film composer with the walt disney Studios. in succeeding decades, the bank continued to grow in that area of illinois, with 15 offices by 2006. that year it merged with centrue bank another regional bank. the combined bank, keeping the name centrue bank, now has 28 offices in illinois and missouri. it proudly traces its history back to the founding of the union national bank of Streator. Sources and Acknowledgements an obituary for Samuel Plumb is found in the Chicago Daily Tribune for June 26, 1882. Lengthy obituaries of Levancia H. Plumb appeared in both Streator newspapers (The Daily Free Press and The Daily Independent-Times) on the day of her death, april 10, 1923. two books helpful in giving an overview of the history of Streator are J. e. williams, The Story of Streator (1912), and Paula angle Franklin, Biography in Black, a History of Streator, Illinois (1962). the Oberlin college archives also provided helpful information. Levancia H. Plumb’s entry in A Woman of the Century, Fourteen Hundred- Seventy Biographical Sketches ... of Leading American Women..., 1893. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 2776 if you joined SPmc before 2010 and are not a Life member and you have not renewed, your SUBSCRIPTION to Paper Money has expired. Please renew your membership/subscription to SPMC NOW. you can use the renewal envelope enclosed in your Sept/Oct issue or your own enve- lope to renew, but YOU MUST RENEW NOW. if you became a member of SPmc since January 2010, something other than “dec” will appear on your label. you must renew beFOre that date or your membership will expire, so please renew nOw so you won’t forget. your membership will be extended for one year past the due date so you will get full value for your dues dollars, and you will save SPmc the time and expense of billing you later. if it reads Jan or Feb this is your LAST ISSUE. Your subscription expired if . . . Jan Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 7 it iS tHe ObJective OF tHiS articLe tO draw Out tHedistinctions between the concepts of legal tender and redeemability, and toobserve how treasury officials altered the entire regime during the Greatdepression. Small size notes in 1928 contained either a legal tender clause or redemption clause. the comparable clause on Silver certificates was a permissible use statement. the treasury seal is superimposed over these clauses, or, in the case of Federal reserve notes, the clauses are to the left of the portrait. their purpose is to assure the holder that the note somehow represents value. Legal tender clauses reveal that congress has decreed that creditors must accept the value if tendered to settle a debt. redemption clauses are a bit more con- voluted because they tell the holder where he can redeem the note for something of value, such as gold or silver, or where he can exchange the note for legal tender. most united States paper money had not been accorded legal tender status by congress when small size notes were introduced in 1928. non-legal tender cur- rency included Silver certificates, national bank notes and Federal reserve notes. national bank and Federal reserve notes were convertible into legal tender notes at the bank of issue or the u. S. treasury, but Silver certificates were not. even gold certificates had not been endowed with legal tender status until passage of an act passed december 24, 1919 that gave legal tender status to "gold certificates of the united States payable to bearer on demand." Redemption Properties of Small Size Notes the concept of money is a peculiar thing, especially paper money. everyone needs it, everyone uses it, but few people seriously think about it other than to devise means to acquire more of it. you offer a $5 note for goods or services, and the recipi- ent readily accepts it because he has confidence based on the special arrangement of ink on its surface that he can in turn pay it to someone else for some good or service. However, if you attempt to redeem the $5 note today, at best, the issuing agency is going to give you some coins for it that are virtually worthless as a metal commodity. more likely, they will try to foist some other notes on you. the thing that gives those objects value is that they are either legal tender or, in the past, they were redeemable for something of value, two entirely different con- cepts. New Deal Changes to the Legal Tender Status of Currency The Paper Column By Peter Huntoon & Jamie Yakes Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 2778 Legal Tender Legal tender is an offered payment that, by law, a creditor cannot refuse for the settlement of a debt. currency and coin are the most common forms of legal ten- der. Only congress can endow currency and coin with legal tender status in the united States. Some businesses or governmental agencies only will accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others only will accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. both practices appear illegal to someone who ten- ders say a $100 bill for goods or services offered and finds his note refused. However, there is no Federal statute mandating that a private business, per- son or organization must accept cash for the payment for goods or services. they are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash (u. S. treasury, current). notice, however, that the checks, money orders and credit cards that they will accept are vehicles for trafficking in legal tender. there were several different classes of coins and currency in circulation in the united States in the 1890s. Let charles G. dawes, the comptroller of the currency, explain the exact status of them (dawes, 1899, p. 55): Gold coin, standard silver dollars, subsidiary silver, minor coins, united States notes, and treasury notes of 1890 have the legal-tender quality as follows: Gold coin is legal tender for its nominal value when not below the limit of tolerance in weight; when below that limit it is legal tender in proportion to its weight; standard silver dollars and treasury notes of 1890 are legal tender for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract; subsidiary silver is legal tender to the extent of $10, minor coins to the extent of 25 cents, and united States notes for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt. Gold certificates, silver certifi- cates, and national-bank notes are nonlegal-tender money. both kinds of certificates, however, are receivable for all public dues, and national-bank notes are receivable for all public dues except duties on imports, and may be paid out for all public dues, except interest on the public debt. the term “lawful money” is understood to apply to every form of money which is endowed by law with the legal-tender quality. Redeemability notice that Gold certificates, Silver certificates and national bank notes had not been accorded legal tender status by congress. what good were they? the answer was that all were readily convertible into coin, which was legal tender. in the case of Gold and Silver certificates, the actual coin represented by the notes was on deposit in the u. S. treasury waiting to be exchanged for the note if requested. national bank notes were convertible into legal tender notes, which in turn were convertible into gold at the treasury as well. all these non-legal tender currencies therefore were as good as gold. Knowing this, why would one go to the bother of converting the notes to coin when he could more conveniently handle the paper? the fact that congress never specifically designated these currencies as legal tender did not hinder the willingness of the public to accept them. they circulated without resistance because they were redeemable for something people considered to have value. Figure 1. Republican banker Charles G. Dawes, 1865-1951, was Comptroller of the Currency from 1898 to 1901, when he authored the statement on the legal tender status of money reproduced here. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1924 for his work with the League of Nations on German WW I reparations, among a litany of public and private accomplish- ments. He served as Vice President under Calvin Coolidge from 1925 to 1929, but his outspoken- ness with Coolidge and the Congress over which he presided did not endear him to many high ranking politicians. Even so President Herbert Hoover appointed him Ambassador to Great Britain in 1928 and next to the presidency of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 9 N O B O D Y does paper money better than PAPER MONEY • best reproduction • best audience • best rates . . . IN FULL LIVING COLOR, too! If you REALLY want to sell your killer notes . . . not just admire them in your inventory, this is . . . THE PLACE Discover . . . YOUR pot of gold HERE! Advertise in PAPER MONEY Legal Tender Notes the idea of legal tender currency is a thin-ice proposition. does paper have value simply because congress dictates that it does? this proposition was sorely tested during the civil war. the u. S. treasury did not possess sufficient gold to fund a protracted war. an expedient to which congress resorted was to pass the Legal tender act of February 25, 1862, which provided for the issuance of $150,000,000 worth of united States notes, $60 million of which were to be replacements for the earlier- issued demand notes. congress declared that these united States notes were both lawful money and legal tender. the use that could be made of these notes was explicitly spelled out on their backs. this note is a legal tender for all debts public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt, and is exchangeable for u. S. six percent twenty years bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the u. States after five years. the united States notes were called legal tender notes or, in the vernacular, greenbacks. these three terms are synonymous, so are used interchangeably. what congress authorized was the printing of pieces of paper that were a promise to pay the value printed on their faces at some unspecified future data in some unspecified form of money. their sole redemption value when issued was that they could be exchanged for 20-year government bonds, also denominated in united States notes that when they matured were payable in some unspecified form of money. congress attempted to force people to accept the greenbacks by declaring that this money was legal tender. it was paid to government employees, troops and any vendors who would accept it in an attempt to push it out into general circula- tion. Greenbacks were nothing more than circulating public debt; little bonds that earned no interest! to accept them was a vote of confidence on one’s part that the government would still be around someday to redeem them, and that they would be redeemed in some form of money that the holder would consider to have value as he understood value to be defined when he accepted them! congress specifically imposed the prohibition against the use of united States notes for the payment of customs taxes and interest on the public debt. at the time, customs taxes were the primary source of revenue for the treasury and congress had decreed that those taxes were payable in gold. no way was the government going to allow substitution of greenbacks in lieu of gold for the payment of those taxes. it desperately required the gold to pay interest on gold bonds that had been sold to raise additional gold to fund the war and to pay arms Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27710 Figure 2. United States Notes, first authorized in 1862, were circulating Civil War debt that was monetized and given legal tender status by Congress. However, they were pro- hibited from use for the payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt, both of which were payable in gold. These prohibitions are spelled out in the center of their backs. These notes were called greenbacks by the press and public, and were heavily discounted against gold until resump- tion of species payments in 1879. (Photo courtesy of Heritage Auction Archives) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 11 manufacturers who wouldn’t accept united States notes in payment for their wares. the prohibition against using united States notes to pay interest on the public debt assured bond holders that the treasury would meet its obligations in gold coin instead of sticking them with fiat money. thus this prohibition preserved the credit of the treasury. there were subsequent legal tender acts that greatly increased the volume of greenbacks. the prohibition against their use for duties on imports and interest on the public debt was incorporated into the language of each of those acts as well. People had little choice but to tolerate the greenbacks, because the banks and treasury had suspended payments in coin. Of course greenbacks encountered resistance, and were sharply discounted against commodities. consequently the money was highly inflationary. initially, the discount reflected skepticism on the part of the public that the government would survive. However, reed (2011) has correctly pointed out that as the war dragged on and people became increasingly confident that the union would prevail, the discount more accurately reflected the economic reality that too many united States notes had been and were being pressed into circulation with the result that their value had seriously depreciated through rampant inflation. One barometer for the public trust of this money was its value as measured against gold. it took about $5 worth of legal tender notes to purchase $2 in gold coin at the low point in summer 1864. National Bank Notes in 1862, the government esperienced stiff resistance against the circulation of its legal tender notes and also against the purchase of its bonds denominated in legal tender dollars. acceptance of both was required if the government was to exe- cute the civil war. congress passed on February 25, 1863, the first of what would become known as the national bank acts to provide a uniform currency that would circulate across the land. this act would create demand for both the legal tender notes and government bonds denominated in them. the concept behind national bank notes was an ingenious and sound type of bond-secured currency employed previously in a few sections of the country, most successfully in Ohio. the idea was simple. bankers would purchase bonds from the united States treasury with lawful money. the treasury would receive that money and issue bonds to the bankers, but the bankers would have to deposit the bonds with the u. S. treasurer as security against national bank notes that the treasury would provide to them. early on, the bankers got $90 in national bank notes for every $100 worth of bonds that they deposited with the treasurer. the bankers had a strong incentive to play in this game. they could earn interest twice on the same investment. First, they received interest on the bonds that they deposited with the treasurer. Second, they could loan the national bank notes that they received and earn interest on that money as well. the benefit to the person who ended up holding a national bank note was that if the bank failed, the treasurer would sell the bonds and put the proceeds into a redemption fund that would redeem the outstanding notes. this protected the note holders from loss should the bank fail. there was an overriding incentive for the congress to pass this legislation at the time. notice that the bankers had to purchase treasury bonds, and they had to use lawful money to do so! united States notes happened to be the cheapest, and most available lawful money so the bankers gathered it up and used it to purchase the bonds. in addition, the law required that bankers hold lawful money reserves against their outstanding circulation and deposits, so they tied up large volumes of united States notes in their cash reserves. consequently the national banking system suddenly created a strong market Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27712 13Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 for two types of debt instruments that the Federal government was having difficulty peddling; its greenbacks and its bonds (Hepburn, p. 201)! the result was that the national banking system played a significant role in funding the civil war begin- ning in 1864. congress did not accord legal tender status to national bank notes, but did require that national currency be redeemable in lawful money. therefore, the basis for national currency was lawful money; that is, green- backs. the bonds purchased to secure the notes were denominated in greenback dollars, not gold dollars, and greenbacks were required as reserves within the banks in case a note holder wished to redeem his note for lawful money. thus, national bank notes were convertible into greenbacks so they had equal standing with greenbacks in circulation. they enjoyed the same level of accep- tance and experienced the same discount against gold. very important for this discussion is the fact that the equivalence between national bank notes and greenbacks meant that congress did not want national bank notes to be used for the payment of duties on imports. Furthermore, gold bond holders did not want the treasury to pay their interest with them either. accordingly, congress specified in the national bank acts that national currency could not be used for either purpose, in effect acknowledging that they were equiva- lent to united States notes. the following statement appears on the backs of all large size national bank notes. notice how this language parallels that found on the greenbacks. this note is receivable at par in all parts of the united States in payment of all taxes and excises and all others dues to the united States except duties on imports and also for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the united States to individuals corporations and associations within the united States except interest on public debt. National Gold Banks the prohibition against the use of united States and national bank notes for the payment of duties on imports led to a peculiar technicality when national Gold banks were authorized in an amendment to the national bank act passed July 12, 1870. the 1870 act allowed for the establishment of a special class of national Gold banks that operated on a specie rather than legal tender basis. Gold bonds purchased with gold were deposited with the treasurer to secure these circulations, and the bankers issued national Gold bank notes redeemable in gold coin at the bank of issue or the u. S. treasury. therefore the notes that they issued were fully convertible into gold even though at the time of the act the country itself was still experiencing a general suspension of specie payments. Figure 3. National Bank Notes were not given legal tender status by Congress until 1933, but they were convertible into United States Notes. Consequently, the prohibi- tions against the payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt imposed on United States Notes are also spelled out on the backs of all large size nationals. The use clause on this back is in the border above the cen- tral vignette. (Photo cour- tesy of the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution [border] and Bruce Hagen [central vignette]) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27714 However, like regular national bank notes, national Gold bank notes were not accorded legal tender status by congress and their notes could not to be used for the payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt. in fact, the language to this affect found on the backs of national Gold bank notes was identical to that on the backs of national bank notes. Of course, this restriction was absurd because national Gold bank notes were convertible into gold coin, and consequently were as good a gold. the fact that all of this was not sorted out at the time the legislation was passed is attribut- able to the fact that the 1870 act inadvertently incorporated by reference the prohi- bitions in the 1863 and 1864 acts. Resumption of Species Payments as the economy recovered from the civil war, currency in circulation was contracted, and receipts to the treasury strengthened. it became appropriate for the treasury to resume specie payments; that is, pay out gold coin to meet the obligations of the government and redeem currency in gold when so requested. resumption occurred by congressional mandate on January 1, 1879. resumption had significant implications for the currency of the country. the value of all the money converged on the value of gold. Legal tender notes could now be redeemed at the treasury for gold, and national bank notes, which where were fully convertible into legal tender notes, could also be converted into gold. technically, the prohibition against the use of greenbacks and national bank notes for the payment of customs taxes and for payment of interest on the public debt were rendered mute. However legislation wasn’t passed at the time to alter these prohibitions and legislate legal tender status to national bank notes. there was, of course, a remote possibility that some financial crisis would descend on the country that would again cause suspension of species payments. if that happened, both the greenbacks and national bank notes could once again find themselves discounted against gold. congress did not want to tinker with the old equation so it remained silent on the issue. Small Size Redemption Clauses the legal tender clause on the Series of 1928 united States notes states: “this note is a legal tender at its face value for all debts public and private except duties on imports and interest on the public debt.” this language is an artifact inherited from the original enabling legislation for the united States notes in 1862. technically the prohibition against the use of united States notes for customs taxes and interest on the public debt was still law. However, as a practical matter, this prohibition had no meaning. at the time the Series of 1928 was introduced, united States notes could be converted into gold because the country was still on the gold standard the redemption clause on Series of 1929 national bank notes was: Figure 4. The use clause on the backs of National Gold Bank Notes, with a prohibition against their use for duties on imports and interest on the public debt, was identical to that on regular National Bank Notes. The prohibitions were ridiculous because the notes were redeemable for gold coin at the bank of issue or the Treasury, so they were as good as gold. (Photo courtesy of Heritage Auction Archives) 15Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 “redeemable in lawful money of the united States at united States treasury or at the bank of issue.” the term lawful money harkening back to the definition used in the 1862 legal tender act, specifically meaning united States notes. the prohibition against the use of nationals for customs taxes and interest on the public debt had been dropped as obsolete from the redemption clause on the Series of 1929 notes, unlike on the small size united States notes. technically, because lawful money still implied united States notes, there was some hand-wring- ing among the effete that use of nationals to pay customs taxes or interest on the public debt could be challenged. this concern was specifically addressed by congress in Section 648 of the tariff act of June 17, 1930, which provided for acceptance of both united States and national bank notes for payment of duties on imports. this act, also known as the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, was the most far-reaching piece of protec- tionist legislation ever passed, and consequently was reviled by free traders and credited by economists with deepening the Great depression. ironically it was sponsored by united States Senators reed Smoot (r-utah) , chairman of the Senate Finance committee, and willis c. Hawley (r-Oregon), chair- man of the House ways and means committee. How party philosophies morph over time! Legal Tender Status for All Money the currency reforms instituted by the roosevelt new deal treasury revolutionized our cur- rency system, most notably taking the united States off the gold standard. the new dealers greatly increased the money supply and at the same time attempted to obliterate the distinc- tions between the various classes of currency, which they apparently perceived as being unnecessary historical baggage. an important step in this process was a section in title iii of the agricultural adjustment act of may 12, 1933, that stated: Such notes and all other coins and currencies heretofore or hereafter coined or issued by or under the authority of the united States shall be legal tender for all debts public and private. this far-reaching statement accorded legal tender status to all u. S. curren- cy and coins. Silver certificates and Federal reserve notes were swept up in the net, and so were national bank notes even though their days already were numbered. New Clauses on United States Notes, Silver Certificates and Federal Reserve Notes treasury officials paid serious attention to the old clauses on all classes of Figure 5. The 4-line legal tender clause on the early Series of 1928 United States Notes carried a prohibition against their use for the payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt. Those archaic pro- hibitions were, in fact, rendered moot by resump- tion of specie payments in 1879, because United States Notes were con- vertible into gold from then on to 1933. (Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution) Figure 6. United States Senators Reed Smoot on the left (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Willis C. Hawley on the right (R- Oregon), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, won passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which con- tained a provision that allowed United States and National Bank Notes to be used for the payment of customs taxes. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27716 currency. changes were made on all with the introduction of plates bearing the sig- natures of roosevelt appointees Henry morgenthau, Jr. and w. a. Julian; respective- ly, Secretary of the treasury and treasurer. united States notes were the first impacted. the language pertaining to the prohibition against the use of united States notes for duties on imports and interest on the public debt certainly appeared archaic to the new dealers. accordingly, treasury officials authorized the beP to eliminate the exceptions from the clause in november 1933. beP director Hall submitted two sets of proofs from new $2 and $5 dies to various treasury officials for approval on december 11, 1933, and February 9, 1934. the new clause on them was streamlined to read: “this note is a legal tender at its face value for all debts public and private.” they were approved march 22, 1934, by Secretary morgenthau (broughton, 1933-4). the permissible use clause on Silver certificates was updated from “this certificate is receivable for all public dues and when so received may be reissued” to a legal tender clause stating “this certificate is legal tender for all debts public and pri- vate.” the change first appeared on the Series of 1928e $1s, because the Series of 1928 was still current, and next on the new Series of 1934. the Series of 1934 Silver certificates resulted from the Pittman amendment in the Gold reserve act of January 30, 1934, which called for the president to “issue silver certificates in such denominations as he may prescribe against any silver bul- lion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the treasury not then held for redemption of any outstanding silver certificates.” this was followed by the Silver Purchase act of July 19, which directed the Secretary of the treasury to purchase silver at a price-supported $1.2929 per ounce. this subsidy to silver producers drew large quantities of silver bullion into the treasury. this bullion, of course, was monetized by the new deal treasury to increase the money supply in the form of additional Series of 1934 Silver certificates. in contrast, the existing Series of 1928 Silver certificates were obligations against specifically earmarked silver dollars deposited in the treasury to secure Silver certificates authorized by silver legislation passed in 1878, 1887 and 1900. the Series of 1928 and new Series of 1934 were in simultaneous production Figure 7. The first New Deal legal tender clause appeared on Julian- Morgenthau United States Notes. Notice that the obsolete prohibitions against their use for the payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt were deleted. Those prohibi- tions had been moot since 1879, but were now mean- ingless because the nation no longer was on the gold standard. The superfluous words “at its face value” were dropped from the clause when the Series of 1963 came along. Figure 8. The use clause on the Series of 1928 Silver Certificates became a simple legal tender clause with introduction of the New Deal Julian and Morgenthau 1928E notes in compliance with Title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933, which made all U.S. coins and paper money legal tender. The new clause also appeared on the Series of 1934 and subsequent Silver Certificates. The Series of 1934 notes were in part secured by silver bullion, consequently the obliga- tion on them does not mention silver dollars. 17Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 at the beP. Series of 1934 faces began to be printed on June 6, 1934. the last of the 1928 face plates left the presses august 10, 1934, and the last of the sheets were num- bered may 28, 1935, and delivered to the treasury may 31st. the treasury already was segregating Series of 1928 and 1933 Silver certificates as they were coming in for redemption in order to maintain the separate accounts for each based on the legislation that authorized them. the idea, at least initially, was to separate the Series of 1934 notes as well. the seal was moved from the left to the right and a large numeral 1 was added on the 1934 notes in order to facilitate sorting (broughton, Jun 19, 1934). the Series of 1928 notes were issued as replacements for worn Series of 1928 and earlier Silver certificates until stocks of them were depleted in order to avoid waste. Once those stocks were depleted, they were replaced by Series of 1934 notes. Simultaneously, stocks of silver dollars in the treasury specifically earmarked for redemption of the Series of 1928 and older series were moved to generally custody for redemption of any Silver certificates (broughton, Jun 7, 1934). the Federal reserve clause lost it gold redemption cachet but gained legal tender status. it went from “redeemable in gold on demand at the united States treasury or in gold or lawful money at any Federal reserve bank” to “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the united States treasury or at any Federal reserve bank.” models with the new language on the Federal reserve notes were approved by morgenthau on may 23 (broughton, 1933-4). the Federal reserve board desired to simplify the clause on the Series of 1934 Federal reserve notes even further by eliminating “and is redeemable in lawful money at the united States treasury or at any Federal reserve bank.” However treasury officials argued for retention in order to keep the clause in compliance with the Federal reserve act of 1913. the lawful money that one could receive for Federal reserve notes was, of course, united States notes. now that united States notes no longer were redeemable in gold, they once again represented nothing more than debt dating from the civil war, which was a promise to pay at some unspecified date in the future an unspecified form of money! united States and Federal reserve notes finally were fitted with virtually the identical legal tender clause as appeared on Silver certificates beginning with the Series of 1963. the modern clause is: “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” New Clause on National Bank Notes Series of 1929 notes were validated by the printed signatures of the register of the treasury and treasurer of the united States; respectively, e. e. Jones and w. O. woods. they were succeeded by roosevelt appointees w. w. durbin and w. a. Julian on June 1, 1933. Figure 9. The gold redemption clause on the Series of 1928 Federal Reserve Notes on the left yielded to the New Deal legal tender clause on the Series of 1934 on the right. If you wished to redeem a Federal Reserve note after 1934, the Treasury would give you United States Notes, which were monetized cir- culating debt since the Civil War. (Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution.) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27718 the beP began making durbin-Julian Series of 1929a $5 and $10 plates on december 11, 1933. Five $5 and four $10 plates were made with plate serial numbers 1 to 5 and 1 to 4 respectively. the two number 1 plates served as masters. $5 production plates 2 through 5 were finished between February 28 and april 10, 1934. Similarly, $10 production plates 3 and 4 were respectively finished on February 1 and 12, 1934. none were sent to press. the new legal tender status of nationals interfered with moving the 1929a plates into production. treasury officials felt it appropriate to acknowledge on the notes the elevated legal tender status of nationals, so the plates were withheld from service. the treasury called upon the beP to change the language in the redemp- tion clause to: “this bank note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money of the united States at united States treasury or at the bank of issue.” notice that the old redemption clause was being changed into a combination legal tender/redemption clause. the new clause was approved march 23, 1934, by Secretary of the treasury morgenthau, and models for the five denominations with the new clause were requested from the beP (broughton, 1933-4). a beP letter engraver prepared a die with the new language, and that die was completed and logged into the plate vault on april 6, 1934, followed by new $5 and $10 durbin-Julian dies with the new clause on april 17th (beP, 1875-1935). new models, with paste-ups of the new sig- natures and redemption clause had been submitted to treasury for approval previ- ously, and were duly approved on may 23, 1934, the same day as the Series of 1934 Federal reserve note models were approved. this rendered obsolete the existing Series of 1929a production plates that had been made with the old clause, so they never were used. Oddly, no new Series of 1929a face plates with the new clause were made before the class of currency was terminated a year later. it is probable that the change in the redemption clause robbed durbin and Julian of their chance to see their signatures on issued national bank notes. Federal Reserve Bank Notes the Series of 1929 Federal reserve bank notes authorized by the emergency banking relief act of march 9, 1933, were current when treasury offi- cials were deliberating about the language in the new deal legal tender clauses. the Federal reserve bank information was being overprinted on national bank note stock, so the new clause adopted for national bank notes necessarily would end up on new Federal reserve bank notes, too. those involved were satisfied that the newly approved legal tender/redemption clause on the Series of 1929a national bank note models also was valid for the Federal reserve bank notes (Oliphant, mar 1, 1934). it is an interesting historic footnote that the Federal reserve board had authorized the bureau of engraving and Printing to engrave new Federal reserve Figure 10. $5 Series of 1929A proof with Durbin- Morgenthau signatures from production plate 2 certified February 12, 1934, before the decision was made to incorporate the fact that National Bank Notes had been granted legal tender status by Congress in the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. The clause on this is a 3-line statement advising how the holder could redeem it and is the same as found on issued Series of 1929 notes. This type of Series 1929A plate was canceled unused because the clause was deemed to be obsolete. (Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 19 bank note faces in order to get away from the provisional look of the emergency Series of 1929 Federal reserve bank notes (Oliphant, mar 1, 1934). the legal ten- der /redemption clause on them would have been the same as that approved for the Series of 1929a nationals. that work was not carried out because the last printings of Federal reserve bank notes occurred in January 1934 (Huntoon, 2010). Perspective new deal treasury officials and a largely compliant congress totally over- hauled the currency system of the united States during the Great depression. their greatest impact was to take the united States off the gold standard, cheapen the value of the dollar, greatly increase the volume of the money supply, and also monetize vast quantities of silver to increase the volume of money. as they did this, they oblit- erated the distinctions between the different classes of money in circulation by declaring that all of it was legal tender, giving all of it equal standing in the eyes of the law. these changes were reflected on the currency by the introduction of a legal tender clause on Series of 1928e Silver certificates and the new Series of 1934 Silver certificates and Federal reserve notes. the class of currency least affected was united States notes because it already was legal tender before the new deal shakeup. the only material change on the Series of 1928 united States notes was to alter the legal tender clause by dropping archaic language prohibiting their use for payment of duties on imports and interest on the public debt. the fact that they already were legal tender convinced thinkers in the treasury department that it was inappropriate to establish a new series, so the Series of 1928 persisted. the archaic use prohibitions on the united States notes, which dated from 1862, had been rendered moot by the resumption of species payments on January 1, 1879. resumption established parity between the united States notes and gold coin. those prohibitions had been instituted to prevent civil war era debtors from paying customs taxes with the notes, which at the time were fiat money and which circulated at a discount relative to gold. the treasury needed gold to prosecute the civil war, hence the prohibition. Similarly, the civil war bond holders wouldn’t tolerate being paid interest in fiat money, thus that prohibition. ironically, late 19th century populists greatly favored fiat money so they embraced the united States notes. their philosophy was that any money that aug- mented the total money supply was good because the money supply was otherwise unnecessarily constrained by the limited gold supply. the extra money would aid farmers and laborers and provide needed money for development in the otherwise Figure 11. Series of 1929A $100 model with revised 4- line legal tender/redemp- tion clause that was approved May 23, 1934, by Treasury officials. The upper initials are Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau’s. No notes of this type were printed before National Bank Notes were phased out in 1935. (Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27720 cash-starved west and south. Populist support of fiat money made it politically unfeasible for the treasury to redeem all of the united States notes after the civil war, so this class of currency, a relict of the civil war, persisted into the 20th centu- ry. now as then, it was nothing more than circulating Federal debt. ironically, because it was designated legal tender by congress in 1862 in order to help force its acceptance, it became the primary currency upon which the national bank currency system rested. it was the currency into which note holders could convert their national and Federal reserve bank notes if they wished to redeem them. the treasury held a small stock of gold that was allocated for the redemption of the legal tender notes if someone brought one in for redemption, thus giving people the confidence that united States notes and the currencies that were convertible into them were as good as gold. However, as soon as the redemption took place, the redeemed legal tender note was paid back into circulation by the treasury so the total outstanding stock of the united States notes remained constant as was specified by law. no u. S. currency was convertible into gold once the new deal was over. However, all of it was legal tender. the currency system in essence devolved to the level of united States notes. People accept u. S. paper money because they have confidence that it has value because the government says so. they can pass it on to someone else who holds the same view. Of course, there is no other choice because it is the only money available or lawfully permitted! References Cited and Sources of Data black, e. r., Federal reserve Governor. memorandum to Herman Oliphant, General counsel to the Secretary of the treasury concerning the legal tender clause on Federal reserve notes, dated mar 7, 1934. bureau of the Public debt, Series K currency, box 12, file 723 Federal reserve currency (53/450/54/01-05), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. broughton, william S., commissioner of the Public debt. memoranda to alvin w. Hall, director of the bureau of Printing and engraving and various treasury officials per- taining to legal tender clauses on small size notes, nov. 20, 1933, Feb. 9, mar. 26, may 22 & 24, 1934. bureau of the Public debt, Series K currency, box 12, file 721 (53/450/54/01-05), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. broughton, william S., commissioner of the Public debt. memorandum to Herman Oliphant, General counsel to the Secretary of the treasury, describing the statutory distinctions between the different series of Silver certificates, Jun 7, 1934. bureau of the Public debt, Series K currency, box 12, file 721 (53/450/54/01-05), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. broughton, william S., commissioner of the Public debt. memorandum to Herman Oliphant, General counsel to the Secretary of the treasury, recommending how the bureau of engraving and Printing and treasury should handle the transition from Series of 1928 to 1934 Silver certificates, June 19, 1934. bureau of the Public debt, Series K currency, box 12, file 721 (53/450/54/01-05), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. bureau of engraving and Printing. record of dies received for national currency #17, list 2, 1875-1935. bureau of engraving and Printing (318/450/79/11/03), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. dawes, charles G. Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency to the First Session of the Fifty-Sixth Congress of the United States, v. 1. washington, d.c.: Government Printing Office, , 1899, 864 p. Hepburn, a. barton. A History of Currency in the United States. new york: macmillan company, 1924, 573 p. Huntoon, Peter. “Series of 1929 Federal reserve bank notes,” Paper Money, v. 49 (may- June, 2009), p. 163-172. Oliphant, Herman, General counsel to the Secretary of the treasury. Letter to J. F. t. O’connor, comptroller of the currency, regarding legal tender clauses on national currency, mar. 1, 1934. bureau of the Public debt, Series K currency, box 12, file 721 (53/450/54/01-05), u. S. national archives, college Park, md. reed, Fred. “civil war notes corrections,” IBNS Journal, 50:3 (2011), p. 8. united States Statutes. washington, dc.: Government Printing Office, various dates u. S. treasury, current, http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal tender.shtml#q Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 21 SPMC needs a few good men or women Your Society needs six good members to serve on the SPMC Board of Governors. Two spaces are already vacant on the Board and Board Members Mark B. Anderson, Shawn Hewitt, Michael B. Scacci and Wendell Wolka’s terms are expiring. Of course the expiring Board members may run again, but it is clear that SPMC needs an infusion of new leaders to guide the Society through its next decades. If you love your hobby and want to help -- Step up! Board Members typically meet at our annual meeting at the Memphis International Paper Money Show and in some years at a second meeting at another show. The Board elects the Society’s officers, and is responsible for the financial health, educational programs, and other important aspects of SPMC. If you are willing and have the time, please consider contributing back to the hobby in this important way. Contact SPMC President Mark B. Anderson immediately at mbamba@aol.com to find out how you can qualify to run for one of these seats. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27722 ‘riSqué viGnetteS” were uSed On GeOrGia nOteS andcurrency. these vignettes were largely created from images of Greekgods and goddesses. a long time ago in athens, Greece people repeatedstories to explain the tribulations of life. these stories were populated by gods, heroes, and warriors. years later the Greeks were conquered by the romans. the new rulers were pleased with these stories so the romans adopted many of them. they took the myths back to italy, where the myths were well-liked, except for one Georgia’s Risqué Vignettes By W. Mack Martin Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 23 thing. the names were all Greek sounding. So the romans changed all the names in the myths to better fit their lifestyle. that is the reason one may see the same god- dess with a different name. Georgia began chartering its own banks in 1810, when the Planters bank of the State of Georgia in Savannah and the bank of augusta were chartered. the main purpose of these early banks was to act as a source of credit for a rapidly expanding agricultural-based economy by making loans rather than taking in deposits. bank cashiers were supposed to keep a record of denominations, plate let- ters and serial numbers of notes paid out, but in practice few did that have survived. amounts issued from most of these banks are unknown. the banks designed their own currency and wanted to convey honesty, strength, prosperity and beauty to the bank customers. evidence in our collections today suggests a high demand for risqué engravings. throughout the nineteenth century a woman’s station seemed to be to stay at home, take care of children, mind their husband and not show their ankles much less any other part of their anatomy. yet engravers would do a wonderful job with the beauty of allegorical and other females depicted in risqué manners or attire. during the state banking era, engraving was at a peak and true works of art were created and printed on bank notes. many of this type of vignette began to fade away with abraham Lincoln’s banking acts of the 1860s. the banking act of march 3, 1865, imposed a tax of 10% on the notes of State banks to take effect on July 1, City Council of Americus $.50 Haxby - UNL Pele CBN Mechanics Bank of Augusta $500 Haxby GA60-42 Commerce, Ceres, Industry BGE Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27724 1866, effectively forcing all non-federal currency from circulation and increasing the number of national banks. even this did not stop this style of vignette completely since allegorical females continued to appear on currency. the 1902 large series national currency circulated well into the 1930s. although some of the vignettes lack names, they were used on notes ranging from five cents up to five hundred dollars. many titles for vignettes were given by the engravers, bank note engraving companies, the person responsible for its cre- Bank of Hawkinsville $3 Haxby GA180-20 Hebe DP Bank of Columbus $100 Haxby GA105-64 Venus, Hebe, Athena RWHE Mechanics Bank of Augusta $100 Haxby GA60-36 Plenty UBS Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 25 ation or the client that ordered it. there were thousands of different vignettes or combinations of vignettes, but only a few hundred actually had official names or titles. the main source of identifying these titles are the vignettes that bank note company salesmen carried with them to show their prospective customers, or the officers of banks. Some of the vignettes will have the engraver's or company name, or title printed somewhere adjacent to the vignette thereby identifying it. not all these proof vignettes are named, in fact most are not. the records The Bank of St Mary’s $20 Haxby GA265-40a Ceres RWH The Farmers Bank $5 Haxby FL40-Design 5A Ceres RWH Johnson & Co private scrip $1 Haxby-UNL Justice MJO Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27726 and archives of bank note engraving companies also supply some of the names of these vignettes. most of the engravings found on these notes were the original cre- ations of the engravers. bank officers, who chose the ultimate designs for their notes, in many cases, suggested an idea which the engraver transferred to steel or copper to produce printing plates. many of these vignettes rival the artisty of the original work of the most famous artists of the times. most engravers received little fame, just the salaries they were paid by the engraving companies. Georgia used most of the known risqué vignettes that were recorded in the South. Justice, Liberty, ceres, Hebe, Plenty and venus are a few of the most popu- lar vignettes used. three very popular vignettes used by the State of Georgia are Venus Rising from the Sea (on the left side of the bank of columbus $100 note). it was taken from artist James barry’s masterpiece which he painted in 1772. a micro- scopic signature of engraver Freeman rawdon can be found below the feet of venus, also known as aphrodite, the embodiment of beauty. Hebe is usually shown giving a drink for an eagle (as on the bank of Hawkinsville $3 note). She is the goddess of youth and the eagle personifies the young country of america. minerva or athena is Manufactures’ Bank $20 Haxby GA200-32a Liberty RWHE Pigeon Roost Mining Co. $20 Haxby - UNL Liberty RWHE Engraving/Printing Companies identified above: CBN Continental Bank Note Co., New York BGE Burton, Gurley & Edmonds, N. York. DP Durand, Perkins & Co., New York RWHE Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York UBS Underwood, Bald & Spencer RWH Rawdom, Wright, & Hatch MJO Mason’s Job Office Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 27 the goddess of wisdom and war. as the goddess of war, her field of expertise was not violence. She was the goddess of the more disciplined aspects of war, such as strategy. ceres, the Goddess of agriculture, is depicted as a woman holding a full sheaf of wheat and most of the time a sickle. She was used facing both left and right. care has to be taken not to mistake her for her daughter, Proserpine, as she holds a few strands of wheat rather than a full sheaf. Justice holding her scales and sword is a popular vignette (shown on the Johnson & co. note and several southern bank notes) but was used mostly on private scrip in Georgia. Freedom from oppression, tyranny or the domination of a government not freely chosen was Liberty. an allegorical representation of Liberty is personified by a female holding a staff topped with a lib- erty cap. tHe FirSt waLL Street cOLLectOrS bOurSe,held at the museum of american Finance, 48 wall Street, on October 21-22 was deemed a success by organizers. twenty- three dealers participated, showing and trading their stock and bond certificates and bank notes including u.S. and worldwide rarities in a wide variety of subjects. there were also autographs, coins and other ephemera related to finance. the museum entry was free both days, with very high visitorship. the event opened with a ribbon-cutting by the urban assembly School of business for young women, a local high school whose students launched the bourse and went on to tour both the money show and the museum galleries. Special events included an SPmc meeting held in the museum library, an international bond and Share Society breakfast meeting at Financier Patisserie with speaker bob Kluge describing a share of an early Harlem real estate com- pany, and exhibits of unusual certificates and samples of ores mined in colorado and nevada. a financial history slide show ran continuously in the entrance area. the bourse commemorative dinner was held at bayard’s in india House, with remarks by david cowen (president of the museum of american Finance), John and diana Herzog (formerly of r. m. Smythe & co.), cliff mishler (former president of the american numismatic association), and Luigi rosabianca (president of the Financial district association). at the dinner, tiffany jew- elry pieces were auctioned, with proceeds donated to the museum and the urban assembly School; a public auction sale was conducted by archives international auctions fol- lowing the dinner in the Presidents room of india House, with a hammer total of $120,710 includ- ing premium, for an aver- age price of $212 per lot. the bourse, produced by Herzog & co., inc., took place in the museum of american Finance in the heart of the financial dis- trict. the address, 48 wall Street, was the headquar- ters of the bank of new york for 200 years, and the museum is located on the splendid banking floor. the building and the museum are extraordinarily interesting places where one can see wonderful exhibits of financial stories past and present. exhibits include silver coins from the Spanish treasure ship el cazador, the alexander Hamilton room, the “Scandal!” exhibit, with reminders of headlines and bernie madoff's Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and a unique gold monopoly set! “everyone agreed it was a marvelous and fitting venue for the show. the wall Street business community was most sup- portive and looks forward to future events,” a spokesman said. First Wall Street Collectors Bourse deemed a success A highlight of the Archives International Auction was this 1919 U.S.-Porto Rico Public Improvement gold bond that realized $3,400+. The item, believed unique, found a good home with a prominent Lincoln collector. Yes, the vignette is the same Charles Burt engraving that appeared on U.S. paper money beginning in 1869. This use is BEP die #MISC-8866, prepared by G.F.C. “Fred” Smillie, Marcus W. Baldwin and Edward M. Hall in 1915. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27728 many LOnGtime readerS OF tHiS PubLicatiOn KnOw tHat tHeundersigned is veryinterested in currency circulation because for many years he has been trying to get a handle on how manyimpressions an average $5 bill makes during its circulating lifetime. He likewise has had an active interestin the www.wheresgeorge.com website that gives members of the public a chance to help track movements and velocity of paper money in circulation. Successive entries of bills in the vast database provide some information on these circulation patterns. recently, i had an interesting bill pop up. it is from the same wheresgeorger as another bill reported by another SPmc member and writer for this magazine. On november 14, 2009, Paper Money writer and university professor dr. Loren Gatch submitted the Series 2006 $1 Federal reserve note with the serial number F39870137e. it’s not unusual, despite its four wheresgeorge markings on its face. However, when the other bill shown here, also a Series 2006 $1 Frn with serial number a79518630e showed up i took a second take after i noticed the identical overstamping pattern. this, despite the improved comics- inspired voice bubble marking to the left of the washington por- trait. these two notes showed up in Oklahoma and texas respec- tively. upon researching both bills in the website database, i confirmed that both notes were launched by the same wheresgeorger, a fella residing in Oklahoma city, OK, about 30 miles up the road from norman, OK where dr. Gatch lives. OKc is also a place not coincidentally where the undersigned has ties and family interests, too. both cities are on the i-35 corridor, as is Gainesville, texas where the second bill surfaced. Loren Gatch nabbed the F-e bill on Saturday november 14, 2009. “i got a ‘where's george’ note in change today at the Sacred Heart school, at 27th & S. Shartel,” Gatch emailed me. “my daughter was playing a b-ball tournament there. it's a one dollar note, series 2006, serial number F39870137e. i already registered it at the website. Just thought i'd let you know!” Less than a week later on november 20th, Gatch reported another wheresgeorge bill. “this one (a $10) came from a liquor store in edmond (yes, it's Friday). it originated in wasilla, alaska-- Sarah Palin's home base, hah!” he wrote. it should be noted that rel- atively few tenspots are registered in the database. edmond is also om i-35. when the a-e note showed up much later at a mcdonalds on route i-35 while i was commuting between carrollton, tX and Oklahoma city, i stuck it in the back of my wallet. i wish i could say that i have so much money in my billfold that i forgot it over these many months, but that is not the case. it has been sitting on my desk for heaven knows how long, until thanksgiving day today, as i write this. it’s not the first time i’ve received more than one bill from an individual wheresgeorger (earlier i reported on sever- al bills received from a particularly prolific wheresgeorger in tulsa, OK, but it is the first time the additional report has come from a friend and colleague in a different city along the i-35 corridor. the other thing that i find interesting is that Loren’s bill had been launched in July 2009 four months before he found it; while mine had been first spent in april 2010 and probably found by me initially in summer 2010. -- Fred Reed Two bills from the same wheresgeorger show up Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 29 United States Paper Money special selections for discriminating collectors Buying and Selling the finest in U.S. paper money Individual Rarities: Large, Small National Serial Number One Notes Large Size Type Error Notes Small Size Type National Currency Star or Replacement Notes Specimens, Proofs, Experimentals Frederick J. Bart Bart, Inc. website: www.executivecurrency.com (586) 979-3400 PO Box 2 • Roseville, MI 48066 e-mail: Bart@executivecurrency.com BUYING AND SELLING PAPER MONEY U.S., All types Thousands of Nationals, Large and Small, Silver Certificates, U.S. Notes, Gold Certificates, Treasury Notes, Federal Reserve Notes, Fractional, Continental, Colonial, Obsoletes, Depression Scrip, Checks, Stocks, etc. Foreign Notes from over 250 Countries Paper Money Books and Supplies Send us your Want List . . . or . . . Ship your material for a fair offer LOWELL C. HORWEDEL P.O. BOX 2395 WEST LAFAYETTE, IN 47996 SPMC #2907 (765) 583-2748 ANA LM #1503 Fax: (765) 583-4584 e-mail: lhorwedel@comcast.net website: horwedelscurrency.com WANTED TO BUY Obsolete notes relating to coal and other types of mining. Top prices paid for anything I can use. I’m also seeking notes and information for a forthcoming catalog of coal mine obsolete notes and scrip. David E. Schenkman, PO Box 366, Bryantown, MD 20617 phone: 301-274-3441 email:dave@turtlehillbanjo.com Advertise in Paper Money Sell duplicates or unwanted notes in Paper Money. Advertise for items you desire here. FACT: The people who buy and sell notes read Paper Money. We’re in the RESULTS business, not just the impressions business. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27730 arguably one of the greatest confederate currency collectors of all time is John coats (coates) browne (b. February 18, 1838; d. June 20, 1918). the son of a wealthy Philadelphia family, he is listed in 1860s Philadelphia directories as "gentleman." He is also sometimes called “esquire,” a term generally associated with men of the bar, but there is no direct evidence that browne ever practiced a profession or trade. instead from an early age he became an adept amateur pho- tographer, hobbyist and collector, all avocations befitting a “gentleman” of the civil war era. browne was fascinated by history. He was particularly interested in abraham Lincoln and built an enviable collection of Lincolniana, although he also collected coins, Fractional currency, colonial and continental paper money, as well as a wealth of civil war ephemera, including an enormous cSa collection. On February 9, 1863, the 25-year-old browne was elected a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He was affiliated with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for more than a half century. another numismatically prominent member of the historical society was dealer capt. John w. Haseltine. in 1877 browne became a councilor of that learned society, and for a short period interim President of the Society’s board. during the 1890s he spearheaded mod- ernization of the Society’s hall and introduction of electric lighting. He con- tributed to its publication, including an article titled “iconography of Philadelphia.” He made many contributions to the group’s collections including colonial journals relative to the settlement of Pennsylvania. He became vice President of the Society’s council on may 25, 1914, and council President on October 25, 1915. On november 8, 1920, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania dedicated a memorial commemorating browne’s accomplishments in the Historical Society’s library. the group adjourned to the adjoining reading room of the Society, where a bronze tablet in his memory was unveiled by brown’s daughter, mrs. Henry Potts. the plaque termed browne “a munificent (financially generous) benefactor” of the Society. afterward, the group’s vice president delivered an address in browne’s honor. browne was also active in the Library company of Philadelphia and a member of the numismatic and antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. it will be remembered from the preceding narrative in chapter 1 that this group became interested in confederate currency at an early date, and thereafter very active in its collection and study. contemporary photographs of browne reveal him to have been a dandy of medium height, balding in middle age, with a thick black beard, cravat, black vest, gold pocket watch, bowler hat and walking stick. An exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming book The History of Collecting Confederate States of America Paper Money, Chapter 5 John C. Browne By Pierre Fricke & Fred Reed Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 31 although browne was an “amateur photographer,” he was an excellent one. Since he did not need to earn his livelihood by that profession, he was free to experiment. He became “an ardent booster” of the calling and one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, became the orga- nization’s historian, and participated in the group's salons (art shows). in summer 1869, browne accompanied a government expedition to photograph a total eclipse of the sun. during the u.S. centennial celebration in his home city, browne displayed his photographic talents. He frequently contributed pho- tographs to the Philadelphia Photographer magazine. during the 1880s and 1890s, browne’s photographs documented the unique architecture of the Philadelphia area. when browne wasn’t sticking his camera lens at something that interest- ed him, he was acquiring splendid collections in his many areas of interest. Fortunately for him, his wife also shared his collecting passions. Her collection of John C. Browne, numis- matist of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and arguably one of the greatest Confederate currency collectors of all time. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27732 more than 200 lottery tickets 1753-1866 is housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania today. browne probably began collecting cSa currency shortly after the war, although evidence suggests that he may have been interested in it as early as February 1862, when the Philadelphia Enquirer published a facsimile September 2, 1861, cSa $5 bill on its first page. His numismatic pursuits were well advanced by the next decade. in 1874 he donated documents relating to the Philadelphia mint to the american numismatic and archaeological Society. On november 16, 1875, the anaS elected him a corresponding member. browne’s cSa note collection was already far advanced too. Shortly thereafter he collaborated with captain Haseltine on the latter’s confederate currency catalog. much later, in 1915, browne also assisted william west bradbeer in the preparation of his confederate note catalog, according to dr. douglas ball. interestingly, envelopes containing browne-provenance notes show multi-cataloging transi- tioning from Haseltine to massamore to bradbeer numbers. browne died June 20, 1918, in his eightieth year. His cSa currency holdings were said to be immense, more than 7,000 pieces. in his zest to acquire new varieties, however, he appears to have been duped by contemporaries with manufactured rarities, according to dr. douglas ball. browne’s numismatic pen- chant was a manifestation of his enthusiasm for history in general. His generosity Part of the Estate of John C. Browne including his Confederate paper money type set, counterfeit set, and large lots of 1862-63 Confederate notes and Southern States notes. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 33 SPMC NEW MEMBERS - 10/05/2011 13651 James Houser, PO box 48, Hardin, Ky 42048 (c & d), world, mark anderson 13652 Kelly edwards (c), Pete Fulkerson 13653 michael b. Fogarty (c), website REINSTATEMENTS none LIFE MEMBERSHIP Lm402 Seth wilson Lm403 albert Kamisky iii SPMC NEW MEMBERS - 11/05/2011 13654 Lois Slovik (c & d), website 13655 bob Schwartz, 200 central Park South Suite 212, new york, ny 10019 (d), Fred reed 13656 Paul m. abrahams, 8982 Pebble beach circle, westminster, ca 92683 (c & d), website 13657 John r. miles (c), website 13658 Jeff Sullivan, PO box 902, manchester, mO 63011 (c, Fractionals, nationals, colonial), Frank clark 13659 matthew crupi, 205 Palamar dr, Fairfield, ct 06825 (c, uS Large & Small, connecticut nationals), website 13650 bohdan bobjak, c/o colonial valley coins, 4343 S. broad St, Hamilton, nJ 08620-2111 (c, uS Large, Pennsylvania & arizona nationals), website REINSTATEMENTS none LIFE MEMBERSHIP Lm404 mark Solem (c), formerly 13587 HIGGINS MUSEUM 1507 Sanborn Ave. • Box 258 Okoboji, IA 51355 (712) 332-5859 www.TheHigginsMuseum.org email: ladams@opencominc.com Open: Tuesday-Sunday 11 to 5:30 Open from mid-May thru mid-September History of National Banking & Bank Notes Turn of the Century Iowa Postcards To the Editor: in the July-august 2011 walter allan-donald O'brien arti- cle on “the young Students” vignette the authors state that “‘mutual improvement’ and other attractive vignettes plus the elaborate lathe work on the notes was probably completed by nbn's alfred Jones (1819-1900) or James Smillie (1807-1885), two of the best vignette engravers who ever lived.” Fred Smillie's engraving albums attribute “the young Students” to Joseph Ourdan. and alfred Jones could not have done the work because he was working for american bank note (not national bank note) in 1863, the date on the bank of Pontiac note. James Smillie was an etcher, not a cutter, and therefore did not do human figures, making it unlikely he had anything to do with the vignettes on either the merchants bank or the bank of Pontiac notes except possibly for the duck vignette on the latter. and picture engravers would not be working on lathe work in any case. the September-October 2011 Harold don allen "Five notes with interesting Stories" article has a significant error in the only fact offered on the nicaraguan 1 cordoba note done by american bank note co. the portrait on the notes pictured was engraved by edwin Gunn in 1923 from artwork by a. e. Foringer and is most definitely not the “daughter of the former president of the republic.” the author's story relates to the 1 cordoba note of 1941-45 (Pick 90), not the 1 cordoba note of 1927-39 (Pick 62, 63, & 71). the portrait on Pick 90 is that of Lillian Somoza, the daughter of the dictator anastasio Somoza Garcia, depicted as an indian girl. Lillian Somoza's name is in the title on the die proof of the portrait used on Pick 90. this information is also listed under “nicaragua” in Gene Hessler's The Engraver's Line, where the the indian girl portrait (“L. Somoza”) is illustrated under william Ford. -- Mark Tomasko Author Don Allen responds mr. tomasko's correction and clarification concerning the nicaraguan 1 cordoba issues is much appreciated. my source at the thomas cook's Peel Street, montreal, location of 50-plus years ago was an in-house guide to redeemable and irredeemable world issues, fairly regularly updated. the guide also included such information such as that west african currency board, Lagos, notes of the world war ii period bore serial numbers of the form b/7 630983 (a Pick 10-shilling: illustration). the leading digit of the six-digit number (here 6) would be one less than the prefix denominator . . . an anticounterfeiting protec- tion. -- Don Allen ’ engravers’ identifications givenNEW MEMBERS Membership Director Frank Clark P.O. Box 117060 Carrollton, TX 75011 Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27734 included the establishment of John c. browne Fund. but his patronage wasn’t only finan- cial. after his death the disposition of browne’s enormous confederate currency holdings went in several directions. according to a reliable source much of browne’s numismatic material ended up in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, from which it was subsequently deaccessioned. a portion of browne’s estate, including confederate currency, was auctioned by Stan. v. Henkels and his son, Stan. Jr., 1304 walnut Street, Philadelphia, in two sessions July 28th, 1922. included in this sale was a high grade type set. the sale also included browne’s colonial and continental paper money, fractional currency, and coin collections, as well as many of his historical photographs, large selections of union and confederate patriotic covers, medals, tokens, some of browne’s Lincolniana, minerals and gem stones. included were several thousand cSa, Southern States notes, broken bank bills, fractional scrip, upham counterfeits, insure “a remarkable collection, mr. browne was over 60 years collecting,” according to the cataloger. many of these notes were mounted in leather bound scrapbooks and sold by the book. Fortunately for historians and collectors today at least six of brown’s bound volumes, 1860-1865, were purchased either at the sale or eventually by massachusetts magistrate raymond Sanger wilkins. wilkins donated them to Lincoln memorial university’s abraham Lincoln Library and museum circa 1940, where they are still preserved today. a The portion of John C. Browne's Confederate paper money collection in the 1922 Henkel's sale. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 35 Dr. Douglas C. Ball's notes on John Browne's collection as he considered purchases. Criswell Types 1 through Type 10. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27736 recent survey of browne’s confederate currency at the university revealed a par- tial type set spread across two volumes, including two montgomery notes, and several contemporary counterfeits. the browne materials also include many thousands of individual items from both the north and the South, including broadsides, patriotic covers, numerous confederate postage stamps, confederate bonds, confederate currency and other ephemera, according to an official of the institution. wilkins (may 24, 1891-may 12, 1971), was a graduate of Harvard Law School and long time chief Justice of the massachusetts Supreme court. the jurist had many interests including music. He once conducted the world famous boston Pops Orchestra in a performance of his own composition. He also had an abiding interest in our nation's history, especially abraham Lincoln and the civil war. His large civil war library was presented to the boston athenaeum, of which he was also trustee. the bulk of browne’s collection traded down the numismatic main- stream, including most of his varieties, many of which were acquired in the mid- to-late 1960s by George ball and dr. douglas ball. dr. ball went through browne's collection (both type and varieties) and recorded what the top line set included (this top line set, remaining beyond browne's bechtel album set, pre- sumably in high grade). at the time, John Ford owned a lot of this material and Ford documented a view into dr. ball's early collecting days in the “Foreword” to ball's Comprehensive Catalog of Confederate Bonds published in 1998. the Figure preceding shows the first page of nine pages of notes that dr. ball recorded for this main set. He also made notes of a second and third type set. dr. ball also Some of Ball’s notes on the Browne collection with regards to his needs for certain of the notes available therein. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 37 (most likely) collaborated with Ford and dr. Philip chase on a census of rare plen sets (t-14 PF-5, t-16 PF-6, t-18 PF-19, and t-27 PF-2) owned browne, mccoy, Ford, and chase. [Some of the details of browne's collection may be found on the dvd included with this book.] Studying the ball listing of the browne collection reveals several interest- ing points. dr. ball likely recorded the grades that browne used on his envelopes as some of these notes later showed up in dr. ball's 1987 collection auction at much lower grades (e.g., t-7 PF-5 #16641 c called XF-au here, Fine by ball in 1987, and choice F-vF in Fricke's 2005 book when he was the latest owner). dr. ball would have been using criswell's 1964 Confederate and Southern States Currency book, the latest available and quite current at the time. His valuations Norman Stack’s 1969 Appraisal of the large remaining portion of the John Browne collection of Confederate and Southern States paper money. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27738 tended to be lower than browne's grades, leaning heavily upon criswell's very Good price more than the "unc" price. Finally, it is apparent how browne's collec- tion would have been instrumental in helping bradbeer build his great 1915 book. while browne was missing a number of rarieties (such as many of the wookey Hole mill watermarks, inverted back errors, some plen and printer name errors, etc...), it was remarkably complete for a collection formed in the late 19th century. in 1969 a remaining portion of browne’s collection was appraised by Stack’s at $80,880.25. the inventory included 6,843 regular items, 100 unlisted items, and 81 counterfeits and bogus issues. according to co-author Pierre Fricke, Florida Paper Money Ron Benice “I collect all kinds of Florida paper money” 4452 Deer Trail Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34238 941 927 8765 Benice@Prodigy.net Books available mcfarlandpub.com, amazon.com, floridamint.com, barnesandnoble.com, hugh shull Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 39 MYLAR D® CURRENCY HOLDERS PRICED AS FOLLOWS BANK NOTE AND CHECK HOLDERS SIZE INCHES 50 100 500 1000 Fractional 4-3/4" x 2-1/4" $21.60 $38.70 $171.00 $302.00 Colonial 5-1/2" x 3-1/16" $22.60 $41.00 $190.00 $342.00 Small Currency 6-5/8" x 2-7/8" $22.75 $42.50 $190.00 $360.00 Large Currency 7-7/8" x 3-1/2" $26.75 $48.00 $226.00 $410.00 Auction 9 x 3-3/4" $26.75 $48.00 $226.00 $410.00 Foreign Currency 8 x 5 $32.00 $58.00 $265.00 $465.00 Checks 9-5/8 x 4-1/4" $32.00 $58.00 $265.00 $465.00 SHEET HOLDERS SIZE INCHES 10 50 100 250 Obsolete Sheet End Open 8-3/4" x 14-1/2" $20.00 $88.00 $154.00 $358.00 National Sheet Side Open 8-1/2" x 17-1/2" $21.00 $93.00 $165.00 $380.00 Stock Certificate End Open 9-1/2" x 12-1/2" $19.00 $83.00 $150.00 $345.00 Map & Bond Size End Open 18" x 24" $82.00 $365.00 $665.00 $1530.00 You may assort note holders for best price (min. 50 pcs. one size). You may assort sheet holders for best price (min. 10 pcs. one size). SHIPPING IN THE U.S. (PARCEL POST) FREE OF CHARGE Mylar D® is a Registered Trademark of the Dupont Corporation. This also applies to uncoated archival quality Mylar® Type D by the Dupont Corp. or the equivalent material by ICI Industries Corp. Melinex Type 516. DENLY’S OF BOSTON P.O. Box 51010, Boston, MA 02205 • 617-482-8477 ORDERS ONLY: 800-HI-DENLY • FAX 617-357-8163 See Paper Money for Collectors www.denlys.com Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. “The Art & Science of Numismatics” 31 N. Clark Street Chicago, IL 60602 312/609-0016 • Fax 312/609-1305 www.harlanjberk.com e-mail: info@harlanjberk.com A Full-Service Numismatic Firm Your Headquarters for All Your Collecting Needs PNG • IAPN • ANA • ANS • NLG • SPMC • PCDA ADVERTISERS It’s a fact: advertising plays an important role in funding this high quality magazine Dues only cover part of costs Our advertisers do more than sell you notes; They bring you our magazine -- So pay them back with gratitude: your business! KANSAS PAPER MONEY, 1854-1935 Nearly 400 Illustrations! by Steve Whitfield The Banks, Bankers and Merchants City Notes, Bank Notes and Scrip www.mcfarlandpub.com info@mcfarlandpub.com stevewhitfield@bellsouth.net Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27740 “it appears this appraisal was used for tax purposes related to several donations to duke [university] and boston among other places. From an examination of this inventory, it is readily apparent that while browne had a vast collection including many rare varieties, he was missing a number of these rare varieties, too. the pre- ceding Figures illustrate the cover of the appraisal and one of the hundreds of pages found within. another portion of the browne collection was acquired by charles affleck, possibly passed over by dr. ball, who had retained many of the most outstanding notes from the browne collection. charles affleck died Sept. 21, 1974. His library was auctioned by Frank Katen a year later, September 26-27, 1975. His immense paper money collection was sold in a series of four sales 1977 to 1983. the last of these was in conjunction with John c. browne’s confederate currency variety col- lection by naSca January 10-12, 1983. Some of the browne cSa currency vari- ety collection was folded into the sale without fanfare at the head of the auction’s second session between the affleck’s colonial currency and an Ohio sutler note followed by a nice selection of Patriotic civil war covers, before the obsoletes. the tuesday evening session commenced at 7 p.m. sharp on the mezza- nine of new york’s barbizon Plaza Hotel, where naSca sales were traditionally held. dr. ball's very strict grading was used (today, the collector-oriented equiva- lent would be about 1/2 grade looser; the market grader would be at least 1 grade looser). it got off with a roar of distant cannon and the smell of smoke--a run of eight (8) montgomery notes, a thousand, a pair of $500s, a quartet of c-notes and a single $50. criswell type 1, vF, cOc, cc, no. 453 (est. at $1,500-up) brought $1,300. the first type 2, about extremely Fine, uncancelled, no. 169, smashed the $4,000-up estimate closing at $5,250. the second $100, Fine, POc, cc, no. 7, hammered home at a thousand bucks against a pre-sale estimate of $1,200-up. all of the four criswell type 4 $100 notes exceeded estimates: Lot #659 in au (no. 1140) $1,100 against est. of $1,000-up; Lot #660 in about vF (no. 864) $850 vs. est. $750-up; Lot #661 also about vF (no. 1382) $775 on an est. of $700-up; and Lot #662 in vG-Fine (no. 1461) $675 vs. $600. the lone type 4 $50 in the sale, vG-Fine (no. 1399), estimated at $450 sold for $625. Such prices would make today’s collectors swoon. Four manouvrier type 12 $5s, two each G and H plens brought $525, $600, $240 and $190. the first one offered was graded au. a quartet of eagle and Shield type-27s (all PF-1) fetched $500, $525, $300 and $95. none graded above about vG, and the last note was a rugged survivor of the great hostilities, graded only Fair with assorted tears, holes, but still four t-27s! there were also four indian Princess, type-35 notes offered. the first was graded G-vG and topped estimate of $500 by fifty bucks. the other three sold for $190, $95, and $135. any of these well-circulated beauties would be prized showpieces today. major and minor rare variety notes also were sold. Lot #703 t-17 PF-3 in about Fine sold for $180, one of four known at the time. this note later found its way into the Gene mintz and Pierre Fricke collections. Lot #707 t-18 PF-19 in abt vF and aged went for $45 (a very high price for a t-18 in those days). Lot #727 was a very rare t-23 PF-3 in vG-F that also found its way into the mintz and Fricke collections sold for $210. a t-41 PF-22 with a rare Shelbyville, tennessee postal stamp in lot #775 went for $170. many other choice type and variety notes exchanged hands that evening, but much of the remainder of the variety collection was offered in group lots by type, the vast majority of these varieties being common or just scarce. Some lots were several pieces; others scores and even hundreds of notes. the largest single lot offered 755 type-68s, the ubiquitous 1864 sawbuck which reportedly brought $1,800, a measly $2.38+ per note. in all, the 188 lots of browne confederates in the sale totaled (by author reed’s calculations) 7,026 notes (including counter- feits), and brought in $50,304 hammer plus a five percent surcharge then being charged by the auctioneer. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 41 INTRODUCING A NEW DESTINATION FOR PASSIONATE COLLECTORS PMG NOTES R E G I S T R Y Bringing the World’s Greatest Notes Together PMG announces the launch of our new Notes Registry, exclusively for collectors of PMG-graded notes. The PMG Registry combines the world’s greatest notes with the world’s greatest collectors, and is a proud part of our continued commitment to expert, impartial grading, state-of-the-art encapsulation, collecting resources, and the highest standards of integrity. With the PMG Registry, you can track inventory, build sets and compete with others who share your passion for notes. You can also arrange unique Signature Sets based on your own creative criteria. Begin with one note and watch your set grow, or add an entire new collection. Visit www.PMGnotes.com today and click on “Registry” to include your collection among the world’s greatest notes. AUTHENTICATION EXPERT GRADING ENCAPSULATION IMAGING INTEGRITY IMPARTIALITY P.O. Box 4755 | Sarasota, FL 34230 | 877-PMG-5570 (764-5570) | www.PMGnotes.com An Independent Member of the Certified Collectibles Group www.collectors-society.com Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27742 Ball had his pick and retained many outstanding notes from the Browne collection so these were his leavings, but it is apparent Browne’s variety collection’s chief significance to Ball was as a research vehicle. Ball followed on the heels of the efforts of Browne, so it is safe to say that although Browne was one of the greatest collectors, he was not the greatest. Ball’s CSA collection was more comprehensive and organized. He was able to bring his intense scrutiny, vast retention for details and erudition sharpened by his exposure to the Browne collection and years of additional labor to bear in his many catalog entries he prepared for various NASCA and subsequently for R.M. Smythe sales. Ball shared some of these insights with the hobby when his personal CSA collection was sold in the NASCA “Richmond 1987 Confederate Sale.” In addition to Criswell type and variety numbers, Dr. Ball used his forthcoming Ball variety numbers as well (PF numbers are included in brackets). The catalog of Ball’s col- lection is replete with such annotations as “Lot 422 $100 (Cr. 12, B-63) [PF-5] No. 16641, Fine . . . The note comes with Browne’s envelope.” Commenting on rari- ties, i.e. “Lot 467 $50 (Cr. 89, B-364) [PF-9] AW to AZ. 4 pcs. . . .It took the Chase, McCoy and Browne collections to complete this set!” Similar notations appear on Lots #490 and #520. On “Lot 559 $10 T-26 (Cr. 203, B-242) [PF-31] Y. No. 1071,” Ball commented “Unique Item. ex-Browne collection and the only one we’ve seen.” The cataloger’s commentary accompanying Lot #682 is intrigu- ing. Describing a “rare $20 T-51 variety set and other oddities,” Ball speculates that a half dozen [PF-12s] (A, B, C, D, F, G) with period after the first letter: “are of questionable character . . . their presence only in the Browne Collection . . . casts doubt on their authenticity.” Regarding Lots #834- #834 $500 T-64 Havana counterfeits, he noted: “Until a specimen was procured by Tom Denley (sic) only three pieces were known to be part of the John Browne Collection. The Series A note has disappeared, the two others were disposed of together with the collection to Dr. Ball in 1968,” apparently placing a date on the acquisition of the Browne variety collection by the Balls, i.e. in 1968 BEFORE the Stack’s appraisal in 1969. On Lot #836 14 pieces comprising “a collection of notes altered to deceive collectors,” Ball paints a rather unflattering picture: “Most of these items depend- ed for their success upon the gullibility of the purchaser and [on] the absence of the Thian Register. Since many of these appeared in the collection of John C. Browne (which led to their erroneous listing by Bradbeer) we may assume that they may well have been made with Browne in mind.” Finally, the description of the follow- ing lot (Lot #837) offering eight Type 52 PF-1s A-H falsely surcharged is of similar tone: “The note[s] came in the Department of Agriculture (sic) holders of John Browne, the CSA collector who got taken,” in Ball’s opinion. Notes with the “ex-Browne” provenance continue to be avidly sought after by advanced collectors today, nearly a century and a half since the CSA note bug inflicted itself on a Philadelphia “gentleman.”
Editor’s note: History of Collecting Confederate States of America Paper Money will be published in the 2nd quarter of 2012, probably by May 1st. The book will be about 350 pages, full color, easy to carry and read a 6 x 9 inch format, and will include a DVD with more research material, articles, and the condi- tion census for rare Confederate paper money (updated from Collecting Confederate Paper Money published in 2005). The book will be priced at $50 and available at http://www.csaquotes.com/csabooks.html. ’ Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 43 B OTH MAY MATHIS’ FATHER AND FIRST HUSBAND WERE involved in cattle ranching in southeastern Texas. And she was to spend her entire life in that area of Texas. May was born in Rockport, Texas, which is 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, on May 16, 1879. She was one of eight children of Thomas Henry and Mary Jane Mathis. Her father was a founder of Rockport, helped devel- op the community, and at one time owned 24,000 acres of ranch land in the area. On October 15, 1907, she married Joseph French Green, who was about 20 years her senior. He was the manag- er of the large Taft Ranch, just north of Corpus Christi. It was controlled by Charles P. Taft, the older half brother of William Howard Taft. One of the communities in the Taft Ranch lands was Gregory, Texas developed in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Their beautiful home was La Quinta, completed in 1907, several miles southeast of Gregory on the north shore of the Corpus Christi Bay. The Greens were noted for their hospitality. With its twelve bedrooms and two dining rooms able to seat 200 people, La Quinta served as a guesthouse for those visiting the Ranch. It also served as the White House during the visit of President Taft to the area for several days in October 1909. And local residents also long-remembered the New Year’s Day open house, with the noon barbeque and afternoon entertainment, that the Greens held every year. The First National Bank of Gregory (charter #10241) was founded in 1912, an outgrowth of the Taft Ranch Bank. Joseph F. Green was the founding president. That same year a two story brick building was built in downtown Gregory to house the post office, bank, and a general store all on the first floor and the Masonic Hall, company offices, and an auditorium used for all sorts of public entertainment on the second floor. Joseph F. Green died unexpectedly following relatively minor surgery on November 20, 1926. May succeed him as president of the bank. She continued as president for more than a decade, until the bank was absorbed by the First National Bank of Taft on April 20, 1938. In 1928 she sold La Quinta (which sadly burned down in January 1938) and moved to a smaller home nearby. That year she also married Henry H. Watson, a May M. Green (later Watson), National Bank President By Karl Sanford Kabelac May Mathis Green Watson, 1936. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27744 Above: A Series 1902 note signed by May M. Green early in her bank presidency. (Courtesy Heritage Currency Auctions) Below: The bank issued Series 1929 notes in type 1 format only - 2,790 $5 notes and 1,458 $10 notes. All would have had May M. Green Watson’s facsimile signature as president. (Courtesy Heritage Currency Auctions) SPMC is seeking nominations for the following awards: Nathan Gold Memorial Award Founders Award Forrest Daniel Award for Literary Excellence Wismer Award See page 62 for details Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 45 retired engineer. A decade later the couple built a home, which they called Watsonia, in Corpus Christi and moved to it. It was there that Mr. Watson died in 1947. Mrs. Watson survived him by nearly two decades dying in Corpus Christi on June 21, 1966 at the age of 87. Sources This short article just touches upon the fascinating history of the Taft Ranch. More can be learned by reading May Mathis Green Watson and Alex Lillico, Taft Ranch, a Histo ry o f the Fifty Years o f Development Sponsored by Co leman-Fulton Pasture Company with Sketches of Gregory and Taft, the Two Towns it Created , 1936; A. Ray Stephens, The Taft Ranch, a Texas Principality, 1964; Keith Guthrie, The History of San Patricio County, 1986; and the many relevant entries in the Handbook of Texas Online. An obituary for Mr. Watson appeared in The Corpus Christi Times for December 22, 1947 and one for Mrs. Watson in the same newspaper for June 21, 1966.
Above: La Quinta, the beautiful home of the Greens, was completed in 1907, the year of their mar- riage. Opposite: An ad for The First National Bank of Gregory, 1936. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27746 MUCH AS THE NEW DEAL ERA CHANGED THE RELATIONSHIPbetween government and business, far more radical fixes for economichardship were proposed but never implemented. Fads like Technocracyor Stamp Scrip came briefly into vogue, only to sink back into the shad- ows of speculation. One panacea that came nearer to reality than any other was Utpon Sinclair’s plan to End Poverty in California (EPIC). The basis of his bid for the California governorship in 1934, Sinclair’s EPIC campaign not only upended California politics, but altered the direction of the Democratic Party nationally. Best known for his early expose of conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry in The Jungle (1906), Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was a prolific author of both fiction and nonfiction works that broadly painted a left-wing critique of American politi- cal and economic conditions. Moving west to Pasadena in 1916, “Uppie” dabbled in politics, running unsuccessfully for state and national offices as a Socialist in the 1920s. As the Depression deep- ened after 1929, Californians grew receptive to radical solutions to mass unemployment. The Los Angeles area was a center of the Technocracy movement, which sought to replace the price system with planned production, administered by technical experts. Southern California was also a hotbed of barter groups and self- help cooperatives that sprung up to swap urban labor for the pro- duce of the rich agricultural hinterlands. Ending Poverty in California and the “Sincliar” Dollar By Loren Gatch Upton Sinclair Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 47 The signal fact of the Great Depression was the perplexing coincidence of idle factories, crops rotting in the fields, and unemployed, underfed workers. Could not factory and farm again be brought to life through some coordinated effort? In his 1933 pamphlet grandiosely titled I, Governor of California And How I Ended Poverty, Sinclair sketched out his EPIC plan for doing just that. Upon his election as Governor, Sinclair described how he would seek the creation of a California Authority for Land (CAL) that would take over idle and foreclosed acreage and resettle the unemployed in land colonies that would then produce their own food. Similarly, a California Authority for Production (CAP) would acquire factories where the unemployed would be put to work manufacturing products for themselves and for the inhabitants of the land colonies. Finally, a California Authority for Money (CAM) would issue a new form of currency to pay employees of the CAL and CAP, and facilitate exchanges between the two entities. In addition to this Sinclair advocated a scheme for public pensions, but the core of his plan aimed to reinvigorate economic activity by operating government- owned agricultural and industrial entities that put to work idle men and resources. The pamphlet that Started Sinclair’s Campaign Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27748 Whether these entities functioned alongside private enterprise or ultimately sup- planted it was an important question, but one for the long term. As substantial a departure as EPIC was from the status quo, Sinclair’s plan was just a variant of what in the jargon of the time was called “production-for-use.” Similar ideas were pro- moted by academics like the Princeton economist Frank D. Graham, and the engi- neer and TVA chairman Arthur E. Morgan. Pilot programs for producers’ coopera- tives and subsistence homesteads had even been established by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. EPIC would have remained just one more dilettante’s plan to save the world had Sinclair not switched his affiliation from Socialist to Democrat and triumphed in that party’s gubernatorial primary on August 28, 1934. To general shock, Sinclair emerged as the Democrat candidate, roiling both California and national politics. Traditionally Republican, California had gone for Roosevelt in 1932 and Democrats were positioned to take statewide offices. The incumbent Republican governor James Rolf died suddenly in office, leaving Lieutenant Governor Frank Merriam as his suc- cessor and the party’s standard bearer. A color- less hack, Merriam represented the conservative, standpat wing of the Republican Party and a fig- ure unlikely to generate the enthusiasm neces- sary to defeat Sinclair. California business interests were aghast at the possibility of Sinclair as governor. Not only did EPIC challenge private enterprise, but the funding for it would come from, among other things, a progressive income tax and a stiff inheritance tax. This struck directly at the rich, and the rich struck back. Numerous groups sprang up to channel financial contri- butions to the anti-Sinclair movement, notably the United for California League (UCL) in the south and California League Against Sinclairism (CLAS) in the north, the latter run by Clem Whitaker, a new breed of freelance political consultant. Conservative Democrats stumped for Merriam rather than support a socialist. Practically the entire newspaper establishment (with the single exception of the Oakland Tribune) refused to give Sinclair any positive publicity, leading his cam- paign to create its own alternative media outlets centered upon the movement’s own newspaper, EPIC News. Republicans sought to suppress the Democratic turnout by mass legal challenges to their voter registrations. Hollywood moguls like Louis B. Mayer and Joseph Schenck threatened to relocate their studios to Florida if Sinclair won. The studios even imposed a one-day “Merriam Tax” on their employees’ salaries (paid by most, but resisted by some stars like Jean Harlow and James Cagney) to fund the fight against Sinclair. Irving Thalberg, Mayer’s production chief at MGM, oversaw the filming of a notorious series of propaganda newsreels that depicted the armies of hobos and vagrants that were alleged to be gravitating towards California in anticipation of the EPIC Nirvana. Shortly after his primary victory, Sinclair traveled east to meet with President Roosevelt and secure his blessings. For FDR, Sinclair’s candidacy posed a quandary. Supporting Sinclair would drag the New Deal well to the left at a time when its viability was still in doubt. Disavowing him would alienate Democrats in California and elsewhere. Sinclair was desperate to associate his cause with the New Deal, and by the time of the state’s Democratic convention in late September 1934, Sinclair had backpedaled from the more exotic elements of his plan, notably the idea “On to California” “Easy Pickings in California” cartoons scorned the utopian Socialist’s plans to set up government co-ops for agriculture and manufac- turing as a solution to unemployment in the Great Depression. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 49 of issuing California scrip. Ultimately FDR’s unwillingness to endorse him by late October meant that the EPIC campaign had to rely primarily on its own enthusi- asm and the draw of Sinclair himself. On its own, EPIC was hard-pressed to fight back against the vicious attacks against Sinclair. In addition to Thalberg’s newsreels, anti-Sinclair literature of all sorts poured out of opposition’s well-funded campaign, much of it satirical and worse. EPIC now stood for “Every Pauper is Coming”, and “Elect Parties Endorsing Communism”; in its place was offered the SEPTIC (“Soak Every Possible Taxpayer In California”) Plan. Clem Whitaker in particular mastermind- ed the syndicating of anti-Sinclair propaganda throughout the state’s newspapers. Ultimately, though, Sinclair’s worst enemy was himself. Over the years Sinclair’s writ- ings had targeted everything from mar- riage and the Boy Scouts to organized reli- gion, and his opponents had a field day simply quoting the muckraker’s own words. Noteworthy among the attacks upon Sinclair’s candidacy was the issue of hundreds of thousands of “Sincliar” Dollars by Whitaker’s group CLAS. These drove home the attack upon EPIC (now standing for “Endure Poverty in California”) as a communistic takeover of the state. Styled “The Red Currency,” printed in red, and “good only in California and Russia” (but “not very good anywhere” else), the text is stocked with the sort of ridicule that abounded in the anti-Sinclair literature generally. “Utopian Sincliar” joined the list of puns on the author’s name; “I, Governor of California” alluded to his 1933 pamphlet that proposed a California scrip issue. “Tom Phoney” might be a reference to Tom Mooney, the imprisoned labor mili- tant whose conviction for a 1916 bombing Sinclair promised to commute. “Easy Pickings in California” reminded voters of the core attack on EPIC, namely that it would become a magnet for vagrants and other undesir- ables from around the country. Sinclair’s running mate for the lieutenant governor position was Sheridan Downey, and reference to the “Uppy and Downy bank” played on the popular term for the EPIC gubernatorial slate. Between the vigorous campaign by the anti-Sinclair forces, the presence of a third candidate who siphoned support from the EPIC slate, and the refusal of FDR to endorse him, Sinclair lost the election with 870,000 votes to Merriam’s 1.3 million. Still, it was more votes than a Democratic candidate had ever won in California before. In other state races across the country the Democrats surged that November, and it was only two years later that the Democrats took the gover- norship away from Merriam. Upton Sinclair never ran for office again for the rest of his long life, and the EPIC movement quickly fell into bickering pieces. In his own post-mortem of the campaign, entitled I, Candidate for Governor: and How I Got Licked, Sinclair ruefully acknowledged the “Sincliar” Dollar as one of the cleverer propaganda “California, Here We Come!” “If I am elected Governor, I expect one-half of the total unemployed in the United States will hop the first freights for California.” -- Upton Sinclair Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27750 items put out by the opposition. “We got a lot of these from Merriam headquar- ters,” he wrote, “and I autographed them and we were going to sell them at meet- ings; but our lawyers were afraid we might be breaking some law!” The same news- papers that vilified his candidacy now vied to serialize his account of the election, and Hollywood even seriously looked at a screen adaptation of the EPIC phenome- non. Much as the Presidential election of 1896 ushered in the modern era of campaign finance, the California campaign of 1934 marked the rise of campaign consultants like Whitaker as a political force. Thalberg’s propaganda newsreels pre- figured the televised political commercial, which became an increasingly important political weapon by the 1950s. Sinclair’s failed candidacy was also the incubator of a new generation of liberal California politicians. Ironically, Hollywood’s culture itself soon shifted leftward, catching up with Sinclair and setting the stage for new political conflicts during the McCarthy era. References Clarence F. McIntosh. “The Significance of the End-Poverty-in-California Movement,” The Pacific Historian, 27 (Winter 1983), pp. 21-25. Greg Mitchell. The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair’s Race for the Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics. New York: Random House, 1992. Upton Sinclair. I, Governor of California And How I Ended Poverty. Los Angeles, CA, 1933. ____________. I, Candidate for Governor: and How I Got Licked. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994 [1935].
Sincliar Dollars were printed in red on pink paper lampooning the candidacy of Upton Sinclair for California Governor in 1932. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 51 ACCORDING TO MATT ROTHERT, SR.'S BOOK, ARKANSASObsolete Notes and scrip (SPM, 1985), there were no banks in Arkansasbefore it became a state in 1836. After formation as a state, the Legislature,in September 1836, authorized two banks. The first act of the legislature created the Real Estate Bank of Arkansas and the second act created the Bank of the State of Arkansas. According to Rothert, "There probably could not have been a more inopportune time in the history of the United States to start these two finan- cial institutions. A depression, lasting from approximately 1834 to 1844, was in progress at the time, including the famous panic of 1837... this depression was caused by inflated land values, paper money speculation, and unregulated “wildcat banking.” Sound familiar? The main bank of the Bank of the State of Arkansas in Little Rock opened August 15, 1837. Branch banks were located at Fayetteville, Batesville, and Washington Post, but the opening of these banks was delayed due to lack of funds. According to William S. Campbell’s One Hundred Years of Fayetteville 1828-1928, page 77, the Branch Bank of the State of Arkansas at Fayetteville opened January 18, 1838, with the first notes issued February 2, 1838. Jacob Wythe Walker, father of Judge David Walker, signed notes up to November 1, 1838, and died in December 1838. According to an article in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly (Spring 1964), the original Board of Directors was James McKissick, President, Alfred Henderson, Lodowick Brodie, Morris Wright, William Skelton, John Henry, William T, Lawrence and Alfred Wallace. James McKissick soon resigned (appar- ently before the bank even opened) and Jacob W. Walker was elected President. After Jacob Walker's death, W.L. Wilson was elected president. According to the same article, the bank was located in a two-story brick building which stood on the site later occupied by the Van Winkle Hotel. According to William S. Campbell This note is from the first issue by the Branch at Fayetteville, plate letter B, printed by Rawdon, Wright & Hatch, New York, serial number 284 and is dated February 2, 1838. The note was originally payable on demand but was changed to a post note (payable at a future date) by writing the words "after twelve months" above the "on demand" phrase. The note is payable to A. Wallace who was one of the bank's directors. It is signed by William McK. Ball as Cashier and Jacob W. Walker as President. Rothert rated all the Branch Bank at Fayetteville notes as R-6 with 6 to 10 known to exist. Branch Bank of the State of Arkansas at Fayetteville By Quintin Trammell Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27752 One Hundred Years of Fayetteville 1828-1928, page 137, the Van Winkle Hotel was located at 24-28 East Center Street in Fayetteville. Campbell further writes “Who built the bank no one seems to know. It afterwards was used as a residence. Chas. Butterfield and family from Utica N.Y. lived in it while running the Overland Stage Lines from 1858 to 1861.” Rothert reports the Branch Bank at Fayetteville was an extravagant affair costing $7,500 to build in 1837 yet only sold for $800 upon liqui- dation in the mid 1840’s. That is little more than 10 cents on the dollar. Center Street is the one-way street that runs west from College Avenue (old Hwy 71B), makes up the north side of the Fayetteville square, and then continues west toward the University of Arkansas. Today, 24-28 Center Street is on the north side of the street about half-way between College Avenue and the Fayetteville square. The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, volume 26, autumn 1967, page 231 refers to a letter dated July 19, 1841, and published in the Times and Advocate news- paper in Little Rock on August 9, 1841, that calls the Branch Bank at Fayetteville the most poorly managed of the State banks. It is reported the Bank made large loans to State banking officials in violation of the Bank’s Charter. In the same Quarterly, page 233, it is noted that Governor Archibald Yell appointed Alexander Boileau as a bank commissioner to investigate the rumors of mismanagement at the Fayetteville branch. The report of the completed investigation appears in the Gazette on July 29, 1842, and is called a shocking expose of fraud and embezzle- ment. Just before the investigation into the affairs of the Bank was begun, Mr. Ball reported that the four ledger books of the bank had been stolen. The Fayetteville Witness newspaper reported on May 1, 1841, that on the previous day (April 30th) the bank had been broken into and the ledger book were stolen. Based on the description of the break in, it appears to me to be an inside job and apparently no attempt was made to steal any funds -- just the books. A search of the town and out- lying areas was made. Some of the books were later found, one in the West Fork of the White River and another in a barn belonging to Mr. Gillet, all badly mutilated. After the investigation, Mr. Ball was found to be short $46,199.60 (keep in mind this is in 1840 and differing amounts are reported in different articles), but escaped to Texas. Even though Rothert says he was found guilty, I did not run across any other infor- mation to make me believe he was ever prosecuted for this crime. It should also be noted that I never found any information that said William McK Ball actually took the money but only that the Bank was short that amount while he was Cashier of the bank. In the Arkansas Historical Quarterly article Autumn 1967, page 234, bank examiner Boileau is reported to express conviction that the Fayetteville board of directors had furnished the general board (of the main bank at Little Rock) with false statistics (regarding the bank’s true financial condition). An online Google search for William Mck Ball returns a Google book titled House Document, otherwise publ. as Executive documents:13th Congress 2d which reports the following information starting on page 201: May 6, 1841 Ball reports to the board of directors the robbery of the bank, that all four of the bank’s books were stolen but that two of the books, the general ledger and the Bill-Book had been recovered although badly damaged. The Board authorized and did pay a $100 reward for the return of each of the books. The Fayetteville Witness newspaper article reported the robbery and search for the books on May 1, 1841, so it is assumed these are minutes from the first board meeting after the actual robbery took place. On June 4, 1841, negro Jim is paid $5 reward (the reward was $100 before) for the return of the third book. The board also authorized the bank’s attorney to inquire as the legal authority of David Walker (note son of the first president of the bank Jacob Walker now deceased) and R. C. Byrd, members of the Arkansas Legislature, to act as commissioners to examine the bank. (Apparently these men could have been considered first for appointment by the governor but this action may have caused him to appoint Boileau instead.) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 53 July 2, 1841, paid John Brodie $25 for the return of the fourth book. August 18, 1841, the Baltimore Patriot newspaper says Ball has absconded to Texas. August 27, 1841, the board agrees that Boileau is at liberty to proceed with his examination of the bank. September 29, 1841, it is reported that Ball has returned from Texas, denied all charges, and promised to bring charges himself against the persons slan- dering him. October 4, 1841, the cash committee of the bank reports to the board that the books cannot be reconstructed without a thorough examination such as the one now being conducted by commissioner Boileau. March 30, 1842, the Baltimore Patriot reports there can be little doubt as to Ball's guilt. However, in the book Arkansas, 1800-1860, Remote and Restless by S. Charles Bolton, on page 60, Bolton writes that “Cashier William Mck Ball claimed he had over reported the specie (the funds of the bank) with approval from the board but the directors denied it.” It is possible the board members, who could be personally liability for the banks losses, may have falsified the reports of the bank to cover up those losses and then framed Ball once the Governor appointed an examin- er to investigate the Bank. While certainly not substantiated, this theory is further augmented by: 1. Boileau's expressed conviction the Fayetteville board of directors had furnished the general board (of the main bank at Little Rock) with false statistics. 2. Ball also claims he falsified the books with the approval of the Fayetteville board. 3. The fact the board appears to have at first blocked the attempt of the Governor to appoint someone to examine the bank -- an act they should have wel- comed with open arms. 4. Who breaks into a bank and steals the banks books? I did not see any- thing that says any money was stolen and the description of the robbery seems to indicate the thieves specifically targeted the books and did not attempt to steal any money. 5. According to Rothert, the Fayetteville Board also committed other docu- mented illegal acts. 6. Ball allegedly stole $46,000 over 39 months. That means on average, Ball would have to have stolen $1,200 a month or about $60 per work day. The average salary for a bank cashier at the time was around $1,000 per year. Someone would have noticed him carrying out $60 in gold or silver coin every day. In a letter dated May 21, 1837, Jacob W. Walker wrote that his annual salary at the bank was to be $1,200 per year. As cashier, Ball's salary would have been some less than that. This means Ball would have to have stolen more than his entire annual salary EVERY month. 7. Someone would have noticed the amount of cash on hand was signifi- Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27754 cantly less that the cash on the books. For example, if the cash in the vault is sup- posed to be $50,000 and its $49,500, you might not notice the difference. But if the cash is supposed to be $50,000, someone surely would have noticed it was only $4,000. 8. What started the investigation in the first place were rumors of the Board’s mismanagement of the bank. If Ball stole all the money, but no one knew about it, what started all the rumors? 9. Ball was never charged with the crime that I could determine. Surely it could not have been so difficult to prove someone stole such a large amount of money. Of course the books were destroyed, but they were able to re-construct them enough to allege he stole $46,000. You would think they would have at least attempted to prosecute. Whatever involvement the board of directors may have had, if any, will probably never be known. However, what is certain is these events played a part in downfall of the Bank of the State of Arkansas. By 1843, all assets of the bank were in the hands of receivers to settle up the affairs of the bank. The Real Estate Bank followed a similar course. These bank fail- ures resulted in the loss of millions of dollars to the State of Arkansas, its citizens, and its creditors. As a result of these failures, the first amendment to the Constitution of Arkansas of 1836, ratified by the state legislature on November 17, 1846, read: "No bank or banking institution shall be hereafter incorporated or established in this State." Rothert further notes in his book that “As a result of this amendment, there were no commercial banks in Arkansas from 1846 until after the end of the Civil War.” About William McKinley Ball William McKinley Ball from all accounts seemed like a fine upstanding citi- zen. He is reported as one of Fayetteville’s earliest citizens and the Flashback volume 15 #2 April 1965, page, 7, reports he was deputized as a deputy clerk of Fayetteville in June 1831. Information from various source documents reveal that he was a mem- ber of the Washington County Bar, served in the Constitutional Convention of 1836, was one of the incorporators of the Fayetteville Female Academy, was one of the charter members of Masonic Washington Lodge No. 1 on December 13, 1838, and is reported as Treasurer of the Lodge in August 1841 (Volume 10, July 1960, page 45). I found no reports of any embezzlement from Lodge funds. About Jacob Wythe Walker The following is taken from the book on the Walker Family written by W.M. Lemke and on file with the Washington County Historical Society: Jacob W. Walker was born September 7, 1778, in Culpeper County, Virginia and died in Fayetteville Arkansas in December 1838. He is buried in the Walker Cemetery across from the entrance to the Confederate Cemetery on East Mountain in Fayetteville. He moved to Arkansas in 1836 and had nine children. The most prominent of which was Judge David Walker.
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 55 Fred: I have studied and later purchased a note already PCGS graded and noted to have 4 individual print- ing plate numbers. (never seen more than 2 full plates) I have confirmed PCGS and imaged the note. I thought it may be of interest to readers of Paper Money. I am an Error Note collector. My collection can be found on the PMG site under Signature / Myers Error Collection. I also oversee the Forensic Document Lab for the State of Florida, dealing with the print design and authentication of bearer instruments (Currency, Checks, Lottery Tickets, etc.) This includes paper documents with values in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Our lab is one of the best equipped document and paper labs in the country. It is a million dollar lab that just maintains an interest in ink and paper. David C. Myers Special Agent in Charge Forensic Document Lab Bureau of Law Enforcement Department of the Lottery State of Florida Interesting from Florida: Note exhibits four distinct plate printings
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27756 Fred: Attached is a very rare Obsolete note that I recently acquired. As you can see, it is a $5.00 note on the Bank of Orleans, located in Albion, New York. I got the note from someone in California who found it in a collection of Foreign Currency (go figure!!). Although Haxby listed the note as SENC, Hugh Shull says that a few have surfaced over the years. He also added that it’s not just a very rare note, it is even more so because it still has the selvege from being printed as a one-note-sheet. I thought this might be information that our readers would enjoy see- ing. Robert Gill Ardmore, Oklahoma Interesting from Oklahoma: Another report of a one-note sheet
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 57 Dear Fellow Paper Money Lovers: Happy New Year to all of you. Best Wishes for a successful 2012 and every good thing that this new year can bring. Here is also hoping you have all enjoyed the year-end holidays of 2011 and have rung in 2012 with appropriate celebration and pleasant anticipation. As usual, this is written in anticipation of events which will be distant in our rear windows by the time this reaches you. Over the next two weeks, just after the dead- line for submission of this to “Editor Fred” [Reed], the Society will be attending its last numismatic events of the year. That event is the perennial PCDA Show, transplant- ed from its home of many years in St. Louis/St. Charles to Chicago, well, Rosemont actually. Traditionally a paper money show only, the move to Rosemont is coincident with another change in the show. It has been opened up to include activities that celebrate those little round metal things. As in years past, the organizers of the Rosemont show, the Professional Currency Dealers Association, have kindly offered the SPMC the traditional “club table,” and yours truly expects to be at the event, repre- senting the Society, along with Vice President Pierre Fricke, Treasurer Bob Moon, and Librarian Jeff Brueggeman. There will be no official Board Meeting per se, but your Society will be well represented at the final serious pure paper convention event of 2011, the Society’s 50th Anniversary year. It seems fitting to again thank the Society’s Governors, Officers, and cadre of generous vol- unteers who have done so much in this and previous years to make the Society a fine organization and our anniver- sary a fine success. During the last two months, there has been a sig- nificant amount of work accomplished for the SPMC on a project about which I have pointedly not written much: the long-awaited and badly needed revamp and upgrade of our website. I say “pointedly,” because major projects like this can take on lives of their own. As such, promising delivery dates and specific details of a project like this one, particularly when working with an outside third party [in this case our web developer], can create problems as well. However, progress is now well along, and as you all hope- fully saw in our November/December issue and again here on Page 57, we are actively soliciting volunteers for the functionalities we are adding that require moderators, bloggers and a variety of new fulfillment activities, such as the advertising. This project has required far more time and work than expected [like any other project worth doing], and it is likely that the Governor who has done 98% of the work to date rues the date he decided this would be “fun.” That Governor is Shawn Hewitt, and while he has led a small subcommittee which includes VP Fricke, Governor Wolka, and myself, we have really been more of a support group than a workforce. It is Shawn who has worked with the web developer to pushing this significant rock uphill at every turn. And while it is early for us to predict a final launch date, the new site has been turned over to us for testing, and we are heavy into the “test and fix” mode. How and when we will soft launch, hard launch, and offi- cially unveil is far from detailed at the moment, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. And, as many times as we the Governors may eventually thank Shawn, the long-term winners will be all of us as members. So, when you run into Shawn, who is incredibly modest, give him an “atta boy.” We will cer- tainly be talking more about the website in the future, and anyone interested in getting involved in the site’s many activities should please contact us, so that we can make sure you and Shawn get “talking.” And, for anyone wish- ing to contact Shawn directly [the smart way to go!] you can do so at shawn@north-trek.com. Lastly, but not leastly, here in New York we are coming off an interesting new show which was held in the Museum of American Finance at 48 Wall Street [an insti- tution I have written about here in these pages previously and which I heartily endorse as a destination]. John and Diana Herzog, years after the unhappy discontinuation of their most popular shows held in Strasburg, PA, decided that New York needed a local show again, and decided that the Museum might be a lovely place to hold some- thing they have named “The Wall Street Bourse.” In cooperation with the Museum, they arranged for a splen- did, intimate event to transpire on Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd of October, featuring a broad represen- tation of scripophily, coin and paper money dealers and an auction by Archives International. For an event in its first year, this was a show with considerable “depth,” including local club representation, a welcoming dinner at the nearby and historic India House, an IBSS breakfast, strong local P.R., discounted valet parking for the dealers, meeting space [an SPMC meeting included], and an exhibit area. In addition to all the efforts of the Herzogs and their hard-working team, the Museum of American Finance must be thanked for making every effort to accommodate and nurture this new event, with logistical support, operational support and flexibility, and making admission to the Museum free for the two days of the show. Next week, off to Rosemont…. Happy New Year and best regards, Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27758 The President’s Column Mark
Paper Money will accept classified advertising on a basis of 15¢ per word (minimum charge of $3.75). Commercial word ads are now allowed. Word count: Name and address count as five words. All other words and abbre- viations, figure combinations and initials count as separate words. No checking copies. 10% discount for four or more insertions of the same copy. Authors are also offered a free three-line classified ad in recognition of their contribution to the Society. These ads are denoted by (A) and are run on a space available basis. Special: Three line ad for six issues = only $20.50! CHINA CURRENCY BUYER!, 1853 thrugh 1956. Singles to Packs. $2 to $2,000 notes wanted. All singles, groups, packs & accumulations needed. Package securely with your best price or just ship for our FAST Top Offer! Send to G. Rush Numi, P.O. Box 470605, San Francisco, CA 94147. Contact Goldrushnumi@aol.com. Full-Time Numismatists since 1985. Member ANA, FUN, IBNS, FSNC, SPMC (279) WANTED: 1778 NORTH CAROLINA $40. Free Speech. Obsolete: Wheatland Furnace. Notgeld: 1922 Chemnitz 5 Mark. N.d. Magdeburg 50 Mark (Sozialisierungs). Kenneth Casebeer, (828) 277-1779; Casebeer @law.miami.edu (283) WANTED 1862 Private Scrip Notes with Jefferson Davis in Circle printed in Memphis. Send photocopies. Frank Freeman, Box 163, Monrovia, MD 21770. (281) PHOTOGRAPHERS’ MONEY WANTED. Advertising notes (Handbills that resemble currency). Daguerreotypists of the 1840s to modern times. ngraver@rochester.rr.com or NM Graver, 276 Brooklawn Dr., Rochester, NY 14618 (276) WANTED: ALBANY GA NATIONAL BANK NOTES. Any charter, size, denomination, or type. Email: gaanderson.1966@yahoo.com (276) ERROR NOTES AND OTHER SMALL-SIzE U.S. currency. Buy, sell, trade my duplicates for yours. - MrCashMan@hotmail.com (276) WRITING A NUMISMATIC BOOK? I can help you with all facets of bring- ing your manuscript to publication. Proven track record for 40 years. Create a legacy worthy of your efforts. Contact Fred Reed fred@spmc.org (282) WANTED: Notes from the State Bank of Indiana, Bank of the State of Indiana, and related documents, reports, and other items. Write with description (include photocopy if possible) first. Wendell Wolka, PO Box 1211, Greenwood, IN 46142 (276) WANTED: 1/0 BINARY SMALL-SIzE NOTES. All possible combinations of 1’s and 0’s in 8-digit serial numbers. Doug Merenda, 215 W. Troy St. #1009, Ferndale, MI 48220. ddm_50@yahoo.com (278) WANTED TO BUY: Small Change Notes Dated March 12, 1792, Which Were Issued by “The Union Society” Located in Smithtown, New York. Anthony Bongiovanni, Box 458, Rocky Point, NY 11778 (274) HAWAII KINGDOM AND REPUBLIC CURRENCY, proofs, and related paper. Please offer. Thank you. jimscoins@sbcglobal.net, 608-233-2118, James Essence, 702 N. Midvale Blvd B-2, Madison, WI 53705 (278) NORSE SKI GODS ULLR and SKADI pictured on medals and tokens sought by R.Jordan, Freitagstrasse 32, 97422 Schweinfurt, Germany. (A)
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 59 $$ money mart WANT ADS WORK FOR YOU We could all use a few extra bucks. Money Mart ads can help you sell duplicates, advertise wants, increase your collection, and have more fun with your hobby. Up to 20 words plus your address in SIX BIG ISSUES only $20.50/year!!!! * * Additional charges apply for longer ads; see rates on page above -- Send payment with ad Take it from those who have found the key to “Money Mart success” Put out your want list in “Money Mart” and see what great notes become part of your collecting future, too. (Please Print) ______________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Notes that might have been tell interesting hobby tales “OPEN FOR ME YOUR CABINET OF [PAPER MONEY]patterns and I open for you a record which, but for these half forgotten witnesses, would have disappeared under the fingers of Time…. Now, only these live to tell the tale of ‘what might have been.’” These words that originally pertained to coins are from “The Pattern Piece,” in the American Journal o f Numismatics, by W. Dubois and Dr. R.M. Patterson, vol. 17. Paper money “that might have been” has always been of more inter- est to me than designs that were approved and issued. There is sel- dom a debate over a poor design that was considered inferior, however, we can only wonder why other designs were rejected in favor of those that were accepted. In 1975, while researching material at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) for a book, I saw some essays or unissued paper money designs. Four years later, everything I saw, at the time, plus what was in collectors hands was then listed and illus- trated in U.S. Essay, Proof and Specimen Notes. An enlarged sec- ond edition of this book released in 2004 included additional notes “that might have been.” There is one series of designs that, if it had been issued, would have delighted collectors of national bank notes. The National Bank Act was passed in February 1863 and participating banks were chartered for periods of 20 years; ulti- mately there would be three charter periods. In 1873 the follow- ing was included in an act that would cover government expens- es: “For replacing the worn and mutilated circulating notes of national banking associations, and for engraving and preparing in such manner and on such paper and of such form and design as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe new circulating notes…to replace notes of a design and denomination now suc- cessfully counterfeited…. Provided, That each of said national banking associations shall reimburse the treasury the costs” of these notes. The $10 note was the most counterfeited national bank note denomination and therefore was the first to receive a new design. A portrait of William Seward engraved by Charles Schlecht was selected for this new design. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing would not take complete responsibility for producing bank notes until 1887, consequently these notes were created at National Bank Note Company in New York City. American Bank Note Company was also requested to create a competitive design, however, if they did, the designs have not survived. When I uncovered this design at the BEP I was filled with excitement and was eager to show it to the collecting communi- ty, especially Peter Huntoon, national bank note specialist. Peter was equally excited when he saw this essay. He delved into some serious research that enlightened us further about this intended issue. Engraved $10 plates for this unissued series were completed for banks in ten states. In my opinion the most interesting bank title is The Powow River National Bank of Salisbury, Massachusetts, for which 500 sheets, with four notes on each, were printed. Individual bank presidents decided they did not want to pay for the preparation of these notes, after all, they did not pay for the original first issue. In 1875 The Banker’s Magazine reported that: The Secretary of the Treasury had decided to make no change in the engraving or printing of the new series of National Bank notes, except that the [current] notes are to be printed on distinctive paper and marked, ‘Series of 1875,’ and will bear the signatures of the present Treasurer of the United States.” Most collectors of national banks wish that this design had been issued. However, this $10 note joins hundreds of designs “that might have been.” Reprinted with permission from Coin World, May 24, 2004
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27760 A Pr imer for Col lectors BY GENE HESSLER THE BUCK Starts Here The Powow River National Bank of Salisbury, Massachusetts is one 13 banks from ten states to have Series of 1873 notes prepared for them, notes that were not issued. THE BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING usedSeries of 1928 $1 United States Note face plate 12; see the ledger page pictured below. They sent it to press on March 27, 1933, in the first large group of these plates put into service. It remained there until April 12. A persistent rumor claims the Bureau never used the plate, but numerous notes are known from it. In fact, lot 1508 of Lyn Knight’s 2011 Memphis auction was a group of five consecutive plate 12 notes. The rumor originated from Chuck O’Donnell’s research. He pulled his data from the Bureau’s plate cards, where press operators recorded production data for face and back plates. Chuck never found the card for plate 12, appropriately assumed it was not used, and listed the plate as such in his guide (O’Donnell, 1982). Fortunately, redundant recordkeeping at the Bureau duplicated much of its data. The plate ledgers located at the College Park archives confirmed the observations of notes from this plate. Unfortunately, O’Donnell never saw those records. The Bureau finished plate 12 and nine other $1 plates on March 27. They sent all ten to press the same day. Over the next few weeks, they sent twenty more, the last on April 8th. They had thirty-two $1 plates in service on April 12, when suddenly, they pulled all of them off the presses that day. The anticipated shortage of $1 Silver Certificates that made preparation of the notes necessary had proved a false alarm. The Treasury then abruptly canceled the legal tender issue. After that, the Bureau never printed any more 1928 $1 United States Notes. They canceled most of those plates, including plate 12, on April 1, 1937. The rumor has infiltrated the numismatic knowledge for almost four decades. References to it appeared as recent- ly as June 2011, when I wrote this piece. Let us finally put it to rest. Acknowledgment The Professional Currency Dealer’s Association supported this research. Peter Huntoon provided personal recollections about Chuck O’Donnell’s research. References O’Donnell, Chuck. Standard Handbook of Modern United States Paper Money. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1982. U.S. Treasury. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Ledgers Pertaining to Plates, Rolls and Dies, 1870s-1960s. Volume 6. Record Group 318: Records of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. U.S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 61 Small Notes by Jamie Yakes Series of 1928 $1 United States Note Face #12 AT THE MOST RECENT MEMPHIS INTERNATIONALPaper Money Show, the SPMC Board clarified the Society’s Awards Program. Program purpose SPMC recognizes its members as being the lifeblood of the organization. The society values the hard work and extra effort that its members do to make the SPMC an exemplary organization. The society rewards members for their contributions through its awards program. The awards program is designed for the purpose of publicly recognizing these individuals/groups in the areas of ser- vice, literary achievements and exhibiting. Nathan Gold Memorial Award SPMC’s highest award. Given yearly to an individual who has made a continuing contribution to the collecting of paper money and to the SPMC over a period of years. Specifically would entail long-term contributions to the society. Nominations requested from membership in Jan/Feb Paper Money and from the board. Nominations from both groups detailed and sent to board for voting. Henceforth, there will be no repeat winners. Founders Award Given yearly to an individual who has done a major service to the SPMC during the last calendar year. Usually would not entail long-term contributions or contributions (projects) lasting more than 3 years to the society. Nominations requested from membership in Jan/Feb Paper Money and from the board. Nominations from both groups detailed and sent to board for voting. Given based on merit. No requirement to award year- ly. Given for recent service/projects that benefit the soci- ety. President’s Award Given to an individual, club or group that has done a major service to the SPMC. The criteria is developed by each individual president and the awardees are determined solely by him/her. Given at major conventions/meetings and at the annu- al meeting venue (IPMS). Nathan Goldstein Award Given yearly to the individual who has recruited the most new members during the past year. Winner is selected by the membership director based on new member sign-ups. Awarded annually. Major change is felt to be needed due to some compa- nies having a perceived unfair advantage as they offer a free membership with the purchase of their services. These new members often times do not renew after their compli- mentary year. Therefore a Member Retention Award will be given every three years to the member who has recruited the most new members who have remained members of the SPMC for three years. Data refreshes after the award is given so that only a three-year period is used for the award purposes. Forrest Daniel Award for Literary Excellence Given yearly to an individual in recognition for excep- tional literary achievements, including, but not limited to long time authors in Paper Money, multiple book authors, multiple hobby publication columnists, hobby publication officials (editors, etc.). Nominations requested from membership in Jan/Feb Paper Money and from the board. Nominations from both groups detailed and sent to board for voting. Given based on merit. No requirement to award year- ly. Wismer Award Given yearly to the author(s) of a new book related to paper money, stocks, bonds, etc. Nominations requested from membership in Jan/Feb Paper Money and from the board. Nominations from both groups detailed and sent to board for voting. Given yearly. Updates to previous books not eligible unless content extensively changed, updated or added. May give up to two runners up awards based on same criteria and to be titled Literary Award of Merit. George M. Wait Memorial Award Given yearly for paper money research relating to a book-length publication. It is available annually to assist researchers engaged in important research leading to publi- cation of book-length works in the paper money field. Applications from interested individuals requested from membership in Nov/Dec Paper Money. Editor receives applications and chooses winner. All applications and editor’s choice sent to awards committee for final approval. Dr. Glenn Jackson Award Given yearly to the author of the best article pub- lished in Paper Money or elsewhere related to the use of vignettes, proofs, specimens. List of articles will be compiled by the Editor in March and sent to award chair compilation and then for- warded to the board by April 1 for voting. Given based on merit. No requirement to award yearly. Literary (article) Awards Given yearly to authors of the best article published in PM. Categories will be • Federal • Foreign • Nationals • Obsoletes • Confederate • Miscellaneous (general banking, finance, etc. which do not fit above) List of articles will be compiled by the Editor in March Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27762 SPMC Board clarifies Society’s Awards Program Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 63 Lyn Knight Currency Auct ions If you are buying notes... You’ll find a spectacular selection of rare and unusual currency offered for sale in each and every auction presented by Lyn Knight Currency Auctions. Our auctions are conducted throughout the year on a quarterly basis and each auction is supported by a beautiful “grand format” catalog, featuring lavish descriptions and high quality photography of the lots. Annual Catalog Subscription (4 catalogs) $50 Call today to order your subscription! 800-243-5211 If you are selling notes... Lyn Knight Currency Auctions has handled virtually every great United States currency rarity. We can sell all of your notes! Colonial Currency... Obsolete Currency... Fractional Currency... Encased Postage... Confederate Currency... United States Large and Small Size Currency... National Bank Notes... Error Notes... Military Payment Certificates (MPC)... as well as Canadian Bank Notes and scarce Foreign Bank Notes. We offer: Great Commission Rates Cash Advances Expert Cataloging Beautiful Catalogs Call or send your notes today! If your collection warrants, we will be happy to travel to your location and review your notes. 800-243-5211 Mail notes to: Lyn Knight Currency Auctions P.O. Box 7364, Overland Park, KS 66207-0364 We strongly recommend that you send your material via USPS Registered Mail insured for its full value. Prior to mailing material, please make a complete listing, including photocopies of the note(s), for your records. We will acknowledge receipt of your material upon its arrival. If you have a question about currency, call Lyn Knight. He looks forward to assisting you. 800-243-5211 - 913-338-3779 - Fax 913-338-4754 Email: lyn@lynknight.com - support@lynknight.c om Whether you’re buying or selling, visit our website: www.lynknight.com Fr. 379a $1,000 1890 T.N. Grand Watermelon Sold for $1,092,500 Fr. 183c $500 1863 L.T. Sold for $621,000 Fr. 328 $50 1880 S.C. Sold for $287,500 Lyn Knight Currency Auctions Deal with the Leading Auction Company in United States Currency and sent to award chair compilation and then forwarded to the board by April 1 for voting. Best of category and honorable mention in each catego- ry will be awarded if at least five articles in that category are eligible. If four or fewer articles in any category are eli- gible, only the Best of category award will be awarded. If all articles in any category fail to meet the standards of the award, no award in that category will be awarded. Exhibit Awards Stephen R. Taylor Best-in-Show Exhibit Award is given for the best exhibit at the IPMS. Three judges from the board who are not exhibiting will be the panel. They will judge all exhibits based on their own subjective criteria. Will also award two honorable mention awards. Julian Blanchard Memorial Exhibit Award Awarded for the best exhibit at the IPMS that best typi- fies the relationship between proofs, specimens, essais, and bank notes and other syngraphic items. Three judges from the board who are not exhibiting will be the panel. They will judge all exhibits based on their own subjective criteria. Awards of Merit Given at the discretion of the Board for exemplary ser- vice or for other purposes. Honorary Life Memberships Awarded by criteria established by the Board of Directors at the time of the award.
Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27764 SPMC Board clarifies Society’s Awards Program continued Ho, Ho, Ho . . . Everybody enjoy the holidays? IHAVE THREE GRANDKIDS, MAYBE YOU HAVEone or more too. Any grandparent can attest to the joy they bring. I’d rather come home to them than a dog any- time. Trouble is my grandkids have two dogs. I love the kids; the dogs, not so much. But the kids always kid me about being Santa. After all I normally wear a beard and have the girth to match, so this year I let my beard grow out. What the heck. My portly figure didn’t need any special attention. The kids thought I fit the bill pretty well, and showed me off to their schoolmates. It was a kick when a pre-teen came up to me on their schoolhouse yard and asked me “Are you Grace Taylor’s grandfather.” Along the way I ran into scores of strangers in malls, in stores, and on the street who wouldn’t have given a dumpy, bearded old man a second thought, but cheerfully approached Santa Claus. Old and young alike, I found myself being greeted by people in crowds. I’m afraid my wit sometimes failed me and I ran out of witticisms to bestow after “Ho, Ho, Ho” failed to suffice. I don’t share these personal details with readers of Paper Money casually. I’d like to make a point worth the space this column is taking up. We all advertise something by our presence and our words, verbal or written. I’m pleased by the results of our search for a “Back Page” running mate for this publica- tion, but perplexed by the results, which apparently have kicked me off the “Back Page” for the present. Both op-ed writers Paul Herbert and John Davenport are articulate, have ideas, and most important are young. This hobby needs rejuvenation from within. As I say, I’m pleased that both are ready, willing and able to contribute a column bimonthly to this publication. Over time, I can forsee both making significant contributions to this hobby, our Society and this periodical in particular. Their writings in tandem with the outstanding suc- cess of our new writers contest during our 50th anniver- sary year in 2011 gives me great hope for this publica- tion’s continued and future success. Time marches on. When the “greats” of today (I’ll not mention any because you known who they are in your own specialties) finally lay down their pens, willingly or unfortuitously, there are and will be others to move the knowledge base and enjoyment of this hobby forward in meaningful ways. I thank and congratulate all these new voices in our hobby, who emerged so finely on these pages last year: Robert Gill Paul N. Herbert Michael V. Stratton Quintin Trammell Walter Blada James C. Ehrhardt Tom Snyder Carson Miller R. Logan Talks Dave Undis Carroll Hilliard Christopher B. Kuch John Davenport May their tribe increase in 2012. Ho, Ho, Ho . . .
The Editor’s Notebook Fred L. Reed III Fred@spmc.org Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 65 Do color ads in Paper Money Really Work? Just Did! . . . Gotcha Isn’t it time that YOU advertised in Paper Money? Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27766 FOR CANADA AND CANADIANS, AND IN PARTICULAR FOR THOSEwho take an interest in the nation’s monetary heritage, Tuesday, November15th marked, one might say, the beginning of the end. The end of paper money, a tradition of two centuries and more. The beginning of the polymer era. Through thousands of bank branches, large and small, from Atlantic Coast to Pacific Coast to Arctic Coast, the occasion celebrated the release of Bank of Canada polymer (“plastic”) currency. The Sir Robert Borden, brown $100, had come with supporting literature on further polymer notes to follow: $50, $20, $10, and $5. Canada’s $2 denomina- tion has been a largish bimetallic coin since 1996, and the basic $1 note gave way to the 11-sided “loon” coin 25 years ago this month. Validating signatures (on plate) on polymer hundreds are Tiff Macklem, recently appointed senior deputy governor, and M. Carney, governor. With the new hundreds also came directions that any paper hundreds on hand or received from the public were not to be issued or reissued, but rather to be “cleared” to the cen- tral bank for destruction . . . or so bankers have been telling me. Three earlier issues (1975, 1988, 2004) also depicted Borden, who had been Canadian prime minister Notes from North of the Border By Harold Don Allen New Canadian $100 Inaugurates Five-Value Polymer Changeover Sir Robert Borden, Canadian Prime Minister (1911-1920), has become identified with the $100 top denomination, and is featured on Canada’s first polymer note, released November 15th. The note reverse highlights Medical Innovation. Earlier paper $100s are being aggres- sively withdrawn, and four further denominations will complete Canada’s poly- mer changeover by 2013. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 67 An Invitation from The NEW HAMPSHIRE CURRENCY STUDY Project The NEW HAMPSHIRE CURRENCY STUDY Project Q. DAVID BOWERS and DAVID M. SUNDMAN are involved in a long-term project to describe the history of all currency issued in the State of New Hampshire, as well as to compile a detailed registry of all known notes (whether for sale or not). Our area of interest ranges from issues of The Province of New Hampshire, The Colony of New Hampshire, the State of New Hampshire (1709-1780), issues of the New Hampshire state-chartered banks (1792-1866), and National Bank Notes issued by New Hampshire banks (1863-1935). This will result in a book under the imprimatur of the Society of Paper Money Collectors, with help from the New Hampshire Historical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and others. The authors of the present book, holding a rare Series of 1902 $10 National Bank Note from West Derry, New Hampshire. $1 Ashuelot Bank of Keene, NH, 1862 www.nhcurrency.com If you have New Hampshire currency, old records,photographic images or correspondence relating to the same, or other items of historical interest, please contact us at the address below, or send us an e-mail at info@nhcurrency.com. Both of us are avid collectors and welcome offers of items for sale. We will pay strong prices for items we need. Box 539, Wolfeboro Falls, NH 03896 E-mail: info@nhcurrency.com (Your e-mail will be forwarded to both authors.) Visit the NH Currency Study Project website: www.nhcurrencycom. Find a listing of New Hampshire banks that issued currency, read sample chapters, and more. Apart from the above, David M. Sundman is President of Littleton Coin Company, and Q. David Bowers is Co-Chairman of Stack’s Rare Coins. For other commercial transactions and business, contact them at their firms directly. New Hampshire Colonial Note: Thirty Shillings, November 3, 1775 We look forward to hearing from you! Series of 1902 $5 Plain Back from the Indian Head National Bank of Nashua Seeking currency, images, and collateral NHCS_SPMCJournal_09:Layout 1 7/8/09 3:38 PM Page 1 Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27768 from 1911 to 1920. Those who were featured on still earlier hundreds include Elizabeth II as Canadian queen (1954 issue), and Sir John A. Macdonald, first Canadian prime minister (1937 issue). “Check to Protect: Bank notes are secure only if you check them,” is the headline message in the leaflet, Canada’s new po lymer notes: Secure, Durab le, Innovative, currently being made available by the Bank of Canada through bank branches. See-through windows with portraits are featured on these polymer notes, rather imaginatively as has been the case for polymer issues of other nations. New Canadian note issues in recent years have been submitted to the pre- liminary scrutiny of “focus groups,” which currently base their comments on mock- ups (preliminary versions) of proposed note designs. Two or three types of errors may be perceived or suspected, and normally would be corrected prior to any large initial press run. There might be an outright blunder, going to press undetected. Unlikely, but it did happen in Canada in 1900, when a new $4 bill honoring mar- itime shipping depicted the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. A knowledgeable glance at the photograph or the corresponding engraving would have identified the American, not the Canadian, locks. A new release, dated 1902, correctly depicted the Canadian locks, but such errors do occur on tokens, coins, notes and such. A related error involves the note color, inscription, or layout . . . important in any country where Brochure from the Bank of Canada describes the new security features of the $100 polymer note, and the release schedule for the additional denomina- tions. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 69 800.458.4646 West Coast Office 800.566.2580 East Coast Office 1063 McGaw Avenue Ste 100, CA 92614 • 949.253.0916 123 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 • 212.582.2580 P.O. Box 1804, Wolfeboro, NH 03894 • 603.569.0823 Email: info@stacksbowers.com • Website: www.stacksbowers.com SBG PM 11.22.11 We Invite You to Consign U.S. AND WORLD COINS AND CURRENCY Date Auction Consignment Deadline Jan 6-7, 2012 Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio Closed Official N.Y.I.N.C. Auction New York, NY World Coins and Paper Money Jan 25-27 2012 Stack’s Bowers Galleries Closed New York Americana Sale New York, NY U.S. Coins and Currency Mar 19-24, 2012 Stack’s Bowers Galleries January 30, 2012 Official Auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo Baltimore, MD U.S. Coins and Currency Apr 2-4, 2012 Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio January 9, 2012 Hong Kong Auction of Chinese and Asian Coins & Currency Hong Kong Chinese and Asian Coins & Currency Aug 1-11 2012 Stack’s Bowers Galleries June 8, 2012 Official Auctions for the ANA World’s Fair of Money Philadelphia, PA U.S. Coins and Currency Aug 1-11 2012 Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio May 14, 2012 Official Auctions for the ANA World’s Fair of Money Philadelphia, PA World Coins and Paper Money Aug 20-22, 2012 Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio May 21, 2012 Hong Kong Auction of Chinese and Asian Coins & Currency Hong Kong Chinese and Asian Coins & Currency Sept 18-22, 2012 Stack’s Bowers Galleries July 23, 2012 Philadelphia Americana Sale Philadelphia, PA U.S. Coins and Currency We would like to sell your coins and currency to the highest bidders in an upcoming Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction! Stack’s Bowers Galleries Upcoming Auction Schedule We also buy and sell direct – please call for information. Call today to find out how you can maximize your consignment potential in an upcoming Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27770 colors long have been used to distinguish denominations. The Edward, Prince of Wales, $2 note of 1897 had its back changed from red-brown to dark brown during the initial (Courtney) signature period. The Bank of Canada King George VI $1 of 1937 had its face redesigned to permit larger signature overprints roughly 60 million notes into that 17-year issue. More insidious, and tougher initially to spot, are images which, with imagi- nation, reveal ambiguity—a design element could be misconstrued. Canada’s best- known example—truly world class—has to be the “devil” or monkey, or whatever, at the Queen’s ear . . . a “face” illusion in the royal coiffure (painfully evident once you’re shown it) on all eight denominations of the central bank’s 1954-dated release . . . tens of millions of the relatively early notes. Someone, in due course, checked the exclusive picture from which the engraving had been done, and the photo also seemed to show a face. The engraving subsequently was “modified,” but it’s the sort of illusion that a focus group, had the central bank had them way back then, might or might not have discerned. Optical-type illusions of international interest have been observable on a range of world notes, and on postage and revenue stamps and other such entities. Two favourites in my own collection are the German “reparations” alleged reference of 1922 the 10000 mark denomination of Reichsbanknoten issues of 1915-1924), and the Seychelles “sex in the palm fronds” image in five releases of the 50 rupees higher value of 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, and 1973. The German inflationary note is relatively common, shadows on the neck and throat of the male, head-and-shoulders likeness at right symbolising for some a vampirish drawing-off of German vitality through reparation payments, though whether the note designer had any such thought, we cannot know. The more recent Seychelles note spells out S-E-X in overlapping palm fronds to the right of a familiar version of the Queen Elizabeth II portrait. You can’t miss it once you spot it, but clearly no one did spot it during the British interval of note design and production. Seychelles 50 and 100 rupee notes of this time are scarce in collections, primarily due to their high denomination. Their successors were a routine Republic of Canada’s best known paper money illustion, the ‘devil” (or “monkey”) face at the Queen’s ear, is rep- resented by this low num- ber release of 1954, as shown modified on a Centennial commemora- tive dollar of 1967. The latter is an asterisk replacement note, a col- lectible variety no longer readily identified on Canadian releases. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 71 Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27772 Seychelles release of 1977 and a Seychelles Monetary Authority first issue of 1979. Plastic “folding money,” as we have come to know it, has seen service in two distinct varieties, the heavier Tyvek, which has gone on to other usefulness, and the Australian–produced polymer, which has been receiving increased attention, as currency material, worldwide. Tyvek, as a basis for bank notes, was promoted by American Bank Note Company, entering service between 1980 and 1982 . . . Haiti adopted a full set of Tyvek notes. (As Bradvek, the same product was used for Bradbury Wilkinson clients on the Isle of Man.) The product lives on, though not (except historically) as “folding money.” Locally, I see Tyvek as “Homewrap,” an insulating underlayer in house construction, and in diverse specialized uses, including tear-free envelopes. The thinner, better handling polymer has become the “plastic” of choice for world currency. The collecting and exhibiting of polymer money has indeed become a spe- ciality in itself. With the coming of polymer, and indeed with the decades of enhanced security that led up to it, you sense unprecedented challenge to those who design currency, and who mass-produce it. From Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, across seas and to other continents, polymer has well shown its monetary utility—over a span of, say, 25 years. The challenge is to bring together highly diverse components, in an optimal, visually pleasing fashion, and it has been instruc- tive to view how skill in this area has grown. Combining design elements, multilin- gual text and difficult polymer-related enhancement is something that we can watch with interest over years and decades to come. References Hussein, Mohamad H. “An Introduction to Plastic ‘Paper Money,’” Paper Money, 244 (July/August 2006), pp. 243-258. Rennie, Steve. “New Plastic Bills Yield Spooky, Sexy Images,” The Globe and Mail, Toronto, October 26, 2011, p. A-6 Singh, Ajay. “Security Features of Currency Notes,” IBNS Journal, 39: 2 (2000) pp. 22-26.
Use of multiple languages on a note or coin can add a design challenge. Canada replaced 1935- dated English or French notes with a bilingual release two years later, and use of languages on the new Robert Bordon $100 is interesting. Languages can pose a challenge, but problems can be solved, as on this Republic of Singapore $100 note of the recent, popular “ships” issue. Singapore has four official languages, and all appear on the note. The Z/1 pre- fix denotes a replacment issue. Singapore adds a challenge to collectors by extending each series to $1000 and $10000 denomi- nations. Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 73 Florida Prisoner of War Scrip By Ronald J. Benice DURING WORLD WAR II, MORE THAN 425,000 ALLIED PRISONERSof war were held in the United States. The scrip that was produced forthe prisoners to use as currency has been largely neglected by thenumismatic community. This article discusses the scrip from Camp Blanding in Florida and tells the story of the prisoners who were there, how they got here, their daily lives, and their role in the wartime economy. The first comprehensive publication on prisoner of war scrip was written by Albert I. Donn in 1970. He was able to locate many of the job orders from the private contractors that printed the scrip. This enabled him to produce a check- list of issuers and denominations. He also compiled a list of base camps and sub- camps. The only Florida scrip he identified were 5¢ chits printed in booklets of $1 by Weldon, Williams and Lick Company of Fort Smith, Arkansas for Camp Blanding. These were printed on both sides in black on rose paper with serial numbers in red. His illustration bore serial number 025015. A 1993 catalog by Lance Campbell had the same 5¢ chit and illustration as the only Camp Blanding entry. The check list in Fred Schwan and Joe Boling’s comprehensive work on World War II numismatics also showed just the 5¢ chits. Larry Smulczenski commented in a 2001 MPC Gram that he knew of 8 surviving chits, all with serial number 025015. It is unknown whether the booklet cover or any more of the 20 chits originally in this booklet have survived. Recently I discovered that the Camp Blanding Museum on the base in Starke, Florida has an unlisted 1¢ chit in its collection. These chits were manu- factured by a different printer. They are printed on only one side in red on tan paper. The first German military men to be interned in Florida were 14 sailors from five U-boats who arrived at Camp Blanding on September 24, 1942. The first of many captured submariners were from U-352 which the USS Icarus sunk off the Front and back of 5-cent chit. (Author’s collection) Uniface one cent chit. (Camp Blanding Museum) These historical markers at the site of the Dade City branch camp tell about POW life and pro- vide examples of the jobs assigned to PWs. (Pasco County Historical Preservation Society) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27774 Above: German Prisoners of War inside barracks at Camp Blanding, April 1944. (U.S. National Archives) Below: POWs listening to radio outside barracks. Notice the PW imprint on the shirt. (U.S. National Archives) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 75 coast of North Carolina on May 9, 1942. They were temporarily housed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The small contingent of 216 German Navy prisoners was housed separately from the Army prisoners who arrived later. The first German Army prisoners arrived at Camp Blanding in November 1943. They were elite soldiers from German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in Libya and Tunisia. These men were captured between March 1943 and the surrender of the Panzer Army Africa on May 13, 1943. These POWs exceeded the Allied capacity to hold and guard them in England or North Africa, so they were transferred to the United States even though they were captured by or surrendered to British troops. The German prisoners either worked in the camp or in one of 21 subsidiary work camps. Every prisoner received a 10-cent daily allowance paid in small chits, a form of scrip which the Army referred to as coupons. These chits could be used to buy soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, razor blades and other items at the Canteen. The Canteen was run by the POWs and also sold pencils, American news- papers and magazines, soda, tobacco and beer. Profits from the Canteen were used to purchase hobby and athletic equipment. The German prisoners could also pay to see an American movie in the recreation hall. They could also attend classes to learn the English language or learn about American history, literature, culture and democ- racy. Initially, prisoners were put to work at the camp building and repairing roads, maintaining buildings, doing laundry or servicing non-tactical vehicles in the motor pool. Meanwhile, an acute manpower shortage arose in the United States. A major portion of our farm labor went off to war or migrated to industrial towns to work in defense factories. Conveniently, increasing numbers of German soldiers were being shipped to this country. Indeed, the troop ships carrying our men to Europe returned with prisoners that could be used to backfill the domestic labor shortage. Prisoners arrived at a rate of 20,000 per month during most of 1943 and 30,000 monthly in late 1944. A contract labor program was established. Farmers and other contractors were allowed to hire prisoner of war laborers provided there German Prisoners of War working in motor pool at Camp Blanding. “PW” vis- ible on sleeve of man holding oil can. (U.S. National Archives) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27776 was no civilian labor available, and they would pay for the labor at the same rate that would have been paid to civilians. In Florida, most of the jobs were cutting sugar cane, harvesting citrus, cutting pulpwood, canning farm produce, or helping with light industry. Many enlisted prisoners worked as contract laborers and received compen- sation at the rate of 80 cents per day. [By agreement with Germany, American POWs in Germany were paid 70 pfennig per day.] Many officers opted to work and were paid between $20 and $40 per month depending on rank. Since the employers paid the U.S. Treasury the going labor rate, this arrangement was profitable after allowing for the cost of food, clothing and guards. Most of the allowances and wages were put in savings accounts. The War Department created an accounting system for thrifty prisoners who could withdraw their savings at the end of the war when they were repatriated. The POW contract laborers were housed at one of 21 work camps spread throughout Florida. Since prisoners were often transferred between camps in other states and between work camps within Camp Blanding’s jurisdiction, exact popula- tion figures are elusive. Approximately 1,250 Army POWs were held on the base and about 6,250 were spread among the 21 side work camps for a total of approxi- mately 7,500. Nationally there were 141 permanent camps and 319 branch camps. Brigadier General Blackshear M. Bryan, the Assistant Provost Marshal General, told the House Committee on Military Affairs in June 1945 that the value of labor in the camps nation-wide in 1944 was $80 million and additionally contractors paid $22 million to the Treasury for labor. This was based on almost 20 million man-days of work at the camps and over 10 million man-days for contract employers, most of which was agricultural. There was some public perception, fueled by pictures of prisoners playing soccer or eating at picnic tables, that the prisoners were coddled. However, the Geneva Convention, signed July 27, 1929, ratified by the Senate on January 7, 1932, and signed by President Hoover on January 16, 1932, encouraged sports and required us to provide comparable (but not identical) housing, clothing and food as other troops at the base. A Congressional investigation in 1944 in response to peti- tions from veterans organizations supported the way we treated POWs. The War Department also hoped that our treatment of prisoners would be reciprocated by humane treatment of captured Americans. Indeed, there was considerable evidence that word of our treatment of prisoners led to an increase in voluntary surrenders by German soldiers. Soccer field at Camp Blanding for POW recreation. (Camp Blanding Museum) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 77 Camp Blanding began in 1939 as a Florida National Guard camp named for Major General Albert H. Blanding, commander of the 31st Dixie Division in World War I. Nine infantry divisions and the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained here between 1940 and 1943. It became America’s largest Infantry Replacement Training Center in 1943-44. In 1945 it became an Army Separation Center. The Camp Blanding prisoner compound closed in February 1946. Camp Blanding is still used by the Florida National Guard and other Guard and Reserve units as a training site. References Billinger, Robert D., Jr. Hitler’s So ldiers in the Sunshine State. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. Campbell, Lance K. Prisoner-o f-War and Concentration Camp Money o f the Twentieth Century. Port Clinton, Ohio: BNR Press, 1993. Donn, Albert I. World War II Prisoner of War Scrip of the United States. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1970. Krammer, Arnold P. “German Prisoners of War in the United States,” Military Affairs, April 1976, pp. 68-73. Lerch, Major General Archer L. “The Army Reports on Prisoners of War,” American Mercury,May 1945, pp. 536-547. Schwan, C. Frederick and Joseph E. Boling. World War II Remembered: History in your Hands, a Numismatic Study. Port Clinton, Ohio: BNR Press, 1995. Smulczenski, Larry. “Camp Blanding POW Camp,” MPC Gram,October 4, 2001.
German Prisoner of War pursuing his miniature ship building hobby at Camp Blanding. (U.S. National Archives) Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27778 SINCE 1969, WHEN THE UNITED STATES TOOK THE$500 note out of circulation, Ben Franklin’s $100 image has stood as the “King of Currency.” What pin-headed bureaucrat, or blue-ribbon coterie of them, killed the $500 bill? Why, in the name of commerce and paper money collecting, is the $100 note the largest currency in circulation today? Certainly it couldn’t be because $500 is such a staggering amount of money that there is no need for a single note in that denomination. If that were the case when they expelled William McKinley--whose image fronted the note in the late 1960s--it sure isn’t true today. We’re left with a $100 note that will scarcely pay for a family of four to eat at Olive Garden. Forget about it covering the cost of a ballgame or any special event. Someday soon, even a tank of gas will top $100. Decades ago, it may have been a lot of money, but let’s face it: A hundred bucks isn’t worth a hundred bucks anymore. But here’s the kicker: As you’re reading this, 200 and 500 Euros notes are circulating in Europe. One Euro is worth about $1.38, making 500 of them worth $690. Europeans use a bill worth almost $700 and we’re stuck at $100? Are you kidding me? I understand the larger denomi- nations make the Euro more attractive for people dealing in cash. That very attractive feature in turn makes the Euro more desirable and valuable. So, the dollar gets hammered in the inter- national financial ring for all kinds of complicated reasons, but also because it’s simply too small going into the fight. I’m not an economist or a Federal Reserve wonk, but isn’t that reason enough to bring back the 500? If $500 is too large for a single note, maybe $50 or $100 is too. Perhaps we’re lucky they haven’t taken the $100 and $50 out of circulation, leaving us with Andrew Jackson to do the heavy currency lifting. As the dollar shrinks in value — which it constantly does — the need for bringing back the $500 grows. Whether we leave William McKinley’s face on it or go with someone or something different can be debated later. Aha, an idea for a future column! But it really doesn’t matter who or what goes on the bill, it just needs to come back into circulation. This is outrageous. But don’t get me started. . . .
Paul Herbert Don’t get me started Ican’t say I wasn’t warned. When I started into currency about a dozen years ago, I bought a few books, visited a bunch of websites, and considered a handful of different collecting specialties before ultimately decid- ing on obsoletes from my home state of Ohio. Not long after I met Wendell Wolka for the first time and while editing a draft of his enormous Ohio tome he wished me luck but told me that Ohio had “a lot of easy notes, a lot of impossible notes and not much in between.” He was right, of course. Over the years I have acquired most of the easy notes and my share of the impossible ones as well. But the hunt has gotten more difficult. I’ve only added one note to the collection in the last six months, and the set I’ve been working on has seen no progress all year. It was going to happen eventual- ly – the set is going to require at least one new discovery to ever get finished. And I imagine most of us will reach such a point in our collecting careers – it may be time to change collecting spe- cialties. The obvious question is what should my new specialty be? Maybe I’ll just spill over a line on the map. Perhaps I’ll look to an area without a lot written about it. Nationals are a logical continuation for an obsolete collection, but maybe a complete change is needed. And budget is an issue of course – I’m not giving up my Ohio collection, just passing the time between new finds. The larger issue, to me at least, is that the idea of changing focus is rather daunting. I know so much more about my little area than any other – which banks’ notes tend to appear in what condition, the tell-tale signs that a note is genuine or counterfeit, the last auction something appeared in. I’m not looking forward to the process of building up that level of expertise again. For some of us, we reach this point through the good fortune of completing a goal. For others, it’s a matter of too scarce mater- ial or even lost interest. Undoubtedly, many of you have been through this process before, maybe more than once. I’m looking forward to the challenge, knowing the time and effort will eventu- ally pay off with more knowledge and enjoyment of the hobby as a whole. And for the rest of you, now you can’t say you weren’t warned, either. . . .
John Davenport Spurious Issues Editor bumped off the Back Page once again. Please see Page 64 for his two cents. Bring back the $500 bill . . . I can’t say I wasn’t warned . . . Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 277 79 DO YOU COLLECT FISCAL PAPER? Join the American Society of Check Collectors http://members.aol.com/asccinfo or write to Lyman Hensley, 473 East Elm St., Sycamore, IL 60178. Dues are $13 per year for U.S. residents, $17 for Canadian and Mexican residents, and $23 for those in foreign locations. This space for rent Only $225 for six issues, or $125 for three issues, or $45 for one issue DBR Currency We pay top dollar for • National bank notes • Large size star notes • Large size FRNs and FRBNs www.DBRCurrency.com P.O. Box 28339 San Diego, CA 92198 Phone: 858-679-3350 info@DBRCurrency.com Fax: 858-679-7505 See our eBay auctions under user ID DBRCurrency Buying & Selling Quality Collector Currency • Colonial & Continental Currency • Fractional Currency • Confederate & Southern States Currency • Confederate Bonds • Large Size & Small Size Currency Always BUYING All of the Above Call or Ship for Best Offer Free Pricelist Available Upon Request James Polis 4501 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 306 Washington, DC 20008 (202) 363-6650 Fax: (202) 363-4712 E-mail: Jpolis7935@aol.com Member: SPMC, FCCB, ANA You are invited to visit our web page www.kyzivatcurrency.com For the past 12 years we have offered a good selection of conservatively grad- ed, reasonably priced currency for the collector All notes are imaged for your review NATIONAL BANK NOTES LARGE SIZE TYPE NOTES SMALL SIZE TYPE NOTES SMALL SIZE STAR NOTES OBSOLETES CONFEDERATES ERROR NOTES TIM KYZIVAT (708) 784-0974 P.O. Box 451 Western Springs, IL 60558 E-mail tkyzivat@kyzivatcurrency.com Paper Money • January/February 2012 • Whole No. 27780