Please sign up as a member or login to view and search this journal.
Table of Contents
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
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. The
author’s name, address and telephone number should
appear on the first page. Authors should retain a copy
for their records. Authors are encouraged to submit a
copy on a MAC CD, identified with the name and ver-
sion of software used. A double-spaced printout must
accompany the CD. Authors may also transmit articles
via e-mail to the Editor at the SPMC web site
(fred@spmc.org). Original illustrations are preferred
but do not send items of value requiring Certified,
Insured or Registered Mail. Write or e-mail ahead for
special instructions. Scans should be grayscale or
color at 300 dpi. Jpegs are preferred.
ADvERTISINg
• All advertising accepted on space available basis
• Copy/cor re spond ence should be sent to Editor
• All advertising is payable in advance
• Ads are accepted on a “good Faith” basis
• Terms are “Until Forbid”
• Ads are Run of Press (ROP)
unless accepted on premium contract basis
• Limited premium space/rates available
To keep rates at a minimum, all advertising must be
prepaid according to the schedule below. In exceptional
cases where special artwork or additional production is
required, the advertiser will be notified and billed
accordingly. Rates are not commissionable; proofs are
not supplied. SPMC does not endorse any company,
dealer or auction house.
Advertising Deadline: Subject to space availability
copy must be received by the Editor no later than the
first day of the month preceding the cover date of the
issue (for example, Feb. 1 for the March/April issue).
Camera-ready copy, or electronic ads in pdf format, or
in Quark Express on a MAC CD with fonts supplied are
acceptable.
ADvERTISINg RATES
Space 1 time 3 times 6 times
Full Color covers $1500 $2600 $4900
B&W covers 500 1400 2500
Full page Color 500 1500 3000
Full page B&W 360 1000 1800
Half page B&W 180 500 900
Quarter page B&W 90 250 450
Eighth page B&W 45 125 225
Requirements: Full page, 42 x 57 picas; half-page may
be either vertical or horizontal in format. Single-column
width, 20 picas. Except covers, page position may be
requested, but not guaranteed. All screens should be
150 line or 300 dpi.
Advertising copy shall be restricted to paper currency,
allied numismatic material, publications, and related
accessories. The SPMC does not guarantee advertise-
ments, but accepts copy in good faith, reserving the
right to reject objectionable material or edit copy.
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
Tweet
More like this
- Paper Money- Vol. LIII, No. 1- Whole No. 289- January/February 2014
- Paper Money- Vol. LIX, No. 1- Whole No. 295- January/February 2015
- Paper Money- Vol. LV, No. 1- Whole No. 301- January/February 2016
- Paper Money- Vol. LVI, No. 1- Whole No. 307- January/February 2017
- Paper Money- Vol. LVII, No. 1- Whole No. 313- January/February 2018