Paper Money - Vol. LI, No. 3 - Whole No. 279 - May - June 2012

PAPER MONEY OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF PAPER MONEY COLLECTORS VOL. LI, NO. 3, WHOLE NO. 279 WWW.SPMC.ORG MAY/JUNE 2012 Shenanigans in a western mining district . . . ‘All that glitters is not copper’ Eric Meythaler digs out the story behind a Salida, Colorado stock swindle Photography by Gwen Meythaler Federal Reserve Notes Messrs. Huntoon, Yakes, Murray, Lofthus & DeGennaro have their say Jan-Feb 2012 SPMC cover_Jan/Feb Cover 3/28/12 10:49 AM Page 1 Jan-Feb 2012 SPMC cover_Jan/Feb Cover 3/28/12 10:49 AM Page 2 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 161 TERMS AND CONDITIONS PAPER MONEY (USPS 00-3162) is published every other month beginning in January by the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC), 101-C North Greenville Ave. #425, Allen, TX 75002. Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Post master send address changes to Secretary Benny Bolin, 101-C North Greenville Ave. #425, Allen, TX 75002. © Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc., 2012. All rights reserved. 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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. 3 Whole No. 279 May/June 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 Scrip of John Leonard Riddell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 By Steve Feller Federal Reserve Notes printed on Gilbert Paper . . . . . . . . . 173 By Steven DeGennaro S. Jennie Sorg, National Bank President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 By Karl Sanford Kabelac The Paper Column: Series of 1914 & 1918 Federal Reserve Notes .181 By Peter Huntoon, Jamie Yakes, Doug Murray & Lee Lofthus Readers Report More on One-Note Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 By Larry Falater & Ron Horstman ‘Ostentatious George’ Shows Up in Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 By Fred Reed The Buck Starts Here: Berlioz Among Composers Featured 223 By Gene Hessler Small Notes: Confusion Sorting FRNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 By Jamie Yakes All That Glitters Is Not Copper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 By Eric Meythaler SOCIETY & HOBBY NEWS Information and Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162 Your Subscription to Paper Money Has Expired If . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 ‘Currency in Chaos’ Civil War Money Seminar Set for Chapel Hill . . . . . . .195 Money Mart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219 President’s Column by Mark Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234 The Editor’s Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 Help Wanted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 BIG NEWS: SPMC Website Re-Designed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236 Don’t Get Me Started by Paul Herbert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238 Spurious Issues by John Davenport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238 If your mailing label reads July or August 2012 RENEW NOW *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 161 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279162 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, 101-C North Greenville Ave. #425, 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). Memberships for all members who joined the Society prior to January 2010 are on a calendar year basis. Dues renewals are due each December. Memberships for those who joined snce January 2010 are on an annual year basis, for example March to March or June-June. These renewals are due before expiration date. Renewal envelopes appear in a fall issue of Paper Money. Checks should be sent to the Secretary. SPMC LM 6 BRNA FUN *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 162 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 163 D R. JOHN LEONARD RIDDELL WAS A SCIENCE LECTURER, botanist, geologist, medical doctor, chemist, physicist, professor, micro- scopist (the inventor of the binocular microscope), numismatist and melter at the New Orleans Mint, an original owner of the Confederate half dollar when it was minted in 1861, Postmaster of New Orleans under Union and Confederate control, and once again, under Union control, issuer of his own post office scrip and his own postage stamps, politician, a founder of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, and science fiction author! Above all he was involved in various intrigues before and during the Civil War. Here we will focus on his scrip; further details of his myriad schemes maybe found in references [1] and [2]. On August 1, 1860, after numerous distinguished and yet volatile career choices, he was appointed the United States Postmaster for New Orleans by President James Buchanan. He would be postmaster during the turbulent years just before and during the Confederate period in New Orleans. He remained true to form and engaged in several controversies. After seven Southern states seceded, including Louisiana, the Confederate government was formed in February 1861. Even though the Civil War broke out shortly afterwards, the postal relations between the two nations remained cordial, even after Fort Sumter was attacked. The two postal services agreed that United States postage could be used in the Confederate States until June 1, 1861. However, Confederate postage stamps were not ready at that time. Riddell got the bright idea to produce his own stamps! His were among the historically interesting Confederate Postmaster Provisional series. Riddell took this action on his own and with a flourish as the story is related in the local press (The Daily Picayune, June 6, 1861): STAMPS FOR THE NEW ORLEANS POST OFFICE: Our energetic Postmaster, Dr. J.L. Riddell, has made arrangements with Mr. John V. Childs, the engraver, number 10 Camp Street, for the engraving of five cent stamps to be used exclusively for the mailing of letters at the New Orleans Post Office, and intended principally for the c o nvenienc e o f o ur c itizens, under o ur new po stal arrangements… and Postmaster Riddell deserves the thanks of the community for his enterprise. The Scrip of John Leonard Riddell, Postmaster of New Orleans A Somewhat Frequent Series on Wonderfully Historic Confederate Notes -- 1 By Steve Feller *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 163 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279164 At that time the post office was located in the customs house in New Orleans. The first of these five-cent stamps was sold June 12, 1861, and were used even into 1862 when Confederate stamps came into general circulation. Two cent provisional stamps were issued as well. Shown on page 165 is a Montgomery Type-4 $50 note that was cashed in at the New Orleans Custom House on June 7, 1861. The note was dated on May 3, 1861 but issued on May 22, 1861. It was redeemed 16 days later and the note was paid off for $50.08; this makes sense since the notes paid 3.65% inter- est or ½ cent per day for the $50 denomination. Sixteen days of interest is eight cents. Further, Riddell produced his own postal scrip while postmaster! They are curious indeed and consist of 16 distinct denominations from ½ cent to $5 (also 500 cents). They carry the imperative “Receivable for postage and redeemable at the New Orleans Post Office.” Each of these rare notes that was issued is signed or impressed with J. L. Riddell as postmaster and cosigned by a postal clerk. In several cases this clerk signed as “L.L. Riddell.” Riddell had 12 children and his fifth was a daughter Lephe Eugenia Riddell Woodward (1848-1902) [3]. Lephe would have been about 13 this time. Could this have been the signer? The signature may also be read S.S. Riddell which could correspond to Riddell’s fourth child, Sanford Schrager Riddell, who would have been 23 in 1861. Each chit carries a distinctive vignette, see table below and illustrations of the notes. The John Ford Collection auc- tioned by Stacks had a nearly complete set of the scrip, including uncut sheets of three notes each; these are shown following. Why were 16 denominations used and in such odd combinations? The various denominations and their purpose remain a mystery to this writer. John Leonard Riddell Postally used cover from New Orleans with J.L. Riddell, P.M. overprint, Aug 14, 1861. This style was used at the river dock for steamboat mail. (Robert A. Siegel Stamps) Two-cent and five- cent New Orleans provisional stamps (Patricia Kaufmann and Steve Feller) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 164 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 165 U.S. Customs House in New Orleans (circa 1861), site of U.S. and C.S.A. Post Offices from November 1860. (Harper’s Weekly, February 16, 1861) Face of CSA Type 4 cancelled at the New Orleans Custom House. (Steve Feller) CSA Type 4 back stamp cancelled at the New Orleans Custom House (Steve Feller). *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 165 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279166 If your label reads May or June 2012 this is your LAST ISSUE. You need to renew to Paper Money immediately, or you will be dropped from the Society’s membership rolls. Listen up, Your subscription expires if . . . *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 166 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 167 Scrip are embossed J.L. RIDDELL and found with signatures, including J.L. Riddell and L.L or S.S. Riddell. (Steve Feller) John Leonard Riddell (Tulane University) Lephe Eugenia Riddell Woodward, daughter of John Leonard Riddell. (source: Mary Cook, great grandniece of John Leonard Riddell) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 167 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279168 New Orleans was a key commercial center of the Confederate States and was made an early goal of the Union army and navy. On April 29, 1862, Admiral Farragut sent an expedition to take control of the Customs House in New Orleans. Lo and behold Dr. Riddell was present to greet the two officers who represented the American Navy. Dr. Riddell’s comments were: “Thank god that you are here. I have been a Union Man all the time. I was appointed by Buchanan and not Jeff Davis: he only allowed me to remain.” Riddell then showed and escorted these naval offi- cers to the roof of the building and was present when the Stars and Stripes were first flown over New Orleans under Northern re-occupation. The fact that he was born a Northerner might help explain his sentiments. Major General Benjamin “Beast” Butler appointed John M.G. Parker as Riddell’s successor as postmaster on May 2, 1862. John Leonard Riddell died on October 7, 1865, after a verbal fight. He did so after a particularly intense political storm regarding his speech to the Louisiana State Democratic Convention five days earlier. Among the things he said were: “Whatever may have been thought of the policy of secession, all are now prepared to admit that the secession of Louisiana was worse than a crime—it was a blunder.” At the evening session of the same day Riddell tried to explain further by “characterizing the acts of the State of Louisiana as criminal and treasonable…,” accord- ing to The New Orleans Daily Picayune,October 3, 1865. For these comments and many more like them he was booed and assailed by the audience. After the evening session, he went to the office of the Daily Southern Star to write his side of the story; how- ever he collapsed there of stroke-like symptoms and was taken home where he recovered somewhat until his death a few days later. Thus, the nation lost one of the most color- ful characters of the antebellum and Civil War South. Shown following are all denominations of Riddell’s scrip. Sources: [1] Karlem Riess. John Leonard Riddell: Scientist-Inventor, Melter and Refiner of the New Orleans Mint 1839-1848, Postmaster of New Orleans 1859-1862, New Orleans: Louisiana Heritage Press, 1977. [2] S.A. Feller, “A Rakes Progress,” The Numismatist, vol. 122 (January, 2009), pp. 43-48. [3] Dic tio nary o f Lo ui s iana Bio graphy, Louisiana Historical Association, http://www.lahistory.org/site35.php. Robert A. Siegel Stamps (photo of New Orleans Postal Cover) Stack’s-Bowers (photos of Riddell’s scrip from the Ford Collection) Harper’s Weekly, February 15, 1861. National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution Tulane University Metairie Cemetery, the final rest- ing place of the Riddells. (Van Bender) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 168 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 169 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 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 169 Table of Riddell’s New Orleans Post Office Scrip Denomination Color Vignettes ½ cent Pink Bull 1 cent Yellow Honey containers 2 cents Yellow Corn 5 cents Dark Pink Peacock 10 cents Green Stag 12 cents Green Fish 15 cents Green Lamb 20 cents Green Dog 24 cents Green Turtle 25 cents Green Hog 48 cents Green Alligator 50 cents Green Horse $1 (100) cents Green Sailing Ship $2 (200) cents Green Riverboat $4 (400) cents Green Carriage $5 (500) cents Green Steamship Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279170 (National Numismatic Collection) (John J. Ford, Stack’s-Bowers) (Steve Feller) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 170 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 171 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 171 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279172 (All examples from John J. Ford Collection, Stack’s-Bowers) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 172 173Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 LAST YEAR WHITMAN PUBLISHING PUT OUT ROBERT AZPIAZU’Sbook Collector’s Guide to Modern Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1963-2009.On the very first page of the catalog listing (Page 1), that author writesregarding $1 Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1963: “CA [Block] C60800001A - C61440000A [Serial Numbers] Gilbert Unknown.” I believe my recent discovery of a Gilbert Paper Co. presentation folder containing the story of these notes and in addition an actual note, is historic and will help fill in some of that information. I posted images of my historic find on www.cointalk.com last November, and also want to share it with readers of Paper Money. I also attempted to research my find. I wrote an email to the mayor of Menasha, Wisconsin asking for history of the mill, and he forwared my email to one of the new owners, of the mill and property. He, (Tom) had an interesting story how he, and his two partners bought the mill and land back in 2002. Tom is a lawyer. He told me that after purchasing the abandoned mill, he was in the basement of the mill office building and discovered a large safe. He con- tacted a local locksmith and had the safe opened. There in the bottom of the safe were 1,100 new, banded $1 bills....nothing else. Neither Tom nor his two partners knew anything about the history of the mill, or the possible significance of the money. They split the money three ways. One partner gambled his share away with- in a month. The second partner had his home burglerarized in 2004, and his share was stolen, but Tom still has his share of the one dollar bills. When Tom and I spoke, he told me the story and was excited to hear about the history of the Gilbert Paper Company, so I told him everything I knew up until then. I told Tom the serial number range and asked him to verify the notes in his Federal Reserve Notes Printed on Gilbert Paper by Steven DeGennaro *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 173 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279174 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 174 175Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 175 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279176 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 176 177Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 177 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279178 possession. The notes Tom has are 1963A $1 Chicago District notes, and are not the correct series or district of the known Gilbert Paper notes. So, after hearing this, I contacted the BEP HRC and asked if they had any information regarding the contract between the BEP and Gilbert back in the early 1960s. I thought this was also very interesting and worth sharing with SPMC mem- bers. This is what the Bureau had to say in response to my questions: Q. I'm writing this time to find out if you, (BEP) have any information in the archives concerning the printing of 1963 $1 notes from paper supplied by the Gilbert Paper Company. All of the currency guides I use refer to 20,000 sheets pro- vided to the BEP in the early ’60s in a search to find an alternative supplier of paper other than the Crane Company. A. I believe that more than trying to find an alternative source for distinc- tive paper (besides Crane), the goal was to encourage competitive bidding. The HRC has a contract in its manuscript collections date effective 1964 between the Bureau and Gilbert. Gilbert was selected under paragraph 14 of the contract which states: “That hereafter, in order to foster competition in the manufacture of distinctive paper for the United States currency and securities, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized, in his discretion, to split the award for such paper between the two bid- ders whose prices per pound are the lowest received after advertisement. This provi- sion is applicable to the procedure of the contracting officer as the representative herein of the Secretary of the Treasury." Q. The notes printed (640,000) were printed for the Philadelphia District (C) and between serial numbers C60800001A and C61440000A. A. That is true. Gilbert was contracted to provide the BEP with approxi- mately 150,000 lbs. of distinctive paper at a total cost of $111,750. The estimated number of sheets Gilbert was to deliver was 2,167,316. They were awarded [the] only item in the total contract. There is an undated amendment notice (most likely for June of 1965) for this contract which states that the contract is considered com- plete with only 1,235,396 sheets having been delivered. A letter also in the contract folder from Gilbert dated May 7, 1965, indicates that the company wants to “be relieved of running the fourth portion of the subject contract.” . . . “There are sever- al reasons for this request, but primarily we want the opportunity to evaluate all of the runs we have made and specifically the last shipment. Also, we are making cer- tain refinements in our equipment which we are confident will help us in future manufacturing of Distinctive Papers for the Bureau.” Q. The Crane Company has been the sole supplier of paper used in the printing of U.S. currency for more than 130 years, and back in the early 60’s, the BEP sent out invitations to six different paper companies to find out if another paper company could manufacture a qualified paper, and if they could be competi- tive with Crane. The Gilbert Paper Company was the only company that wanted to participate, and was able to provide qualified paper to the BEP. Unfortunately, the Gilbert Paper Company was unable to supply paper at a reasonable price, so Crane remains the sole supplier of paper used to manufacture U.S. Currency. A. Although Gilbert's cost was more per pound than Crane’s, I am not sure (given the paragraph quoted above) that cost was the only reason Gilbert did not continue to supply the BEP with paper. Beyond the contract the HRC does not have any more information on Gilbert and future bids. It would be interesting to find out in more depth what happened and why Gilbert pulled the plug on its contract. Did they bid a second or another time when the distinctive paper contract came up again? Thank you, BEP Moneyfactory.gov This information only intensified my interest, so I filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn more. When I do, I’ll report it here. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 178 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 179 MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, WHICH HAD A POPULATION OF9,200 in 1900, is located between Dayton and Cincinnati inthe southwestern part of the state. As the 20th Centurydawned, the Sorg Family of Middletown was the wealth- iest in the community. Their imposing mansion in the city had been completed in 1888. The Sorg Opera House, giving the com- munity a beautiful meeting and entertainment space, had opened in 1891. Paul J. Sorg, who was born in 1840, made his fortune in tobacco. He had served as a United States Congressman in the 1890s, and was president of The Merchants National Bank of Middletown (charter #2025), founded in 1872. Susan Jennie Gruver, a native of the small community of Millville, about fifteen miles from Middletown, married Sorg on July 20, 1876. She was some 15 years younger than he was, having been born on December 1, 1855. They had two children, a son Paul Arthur (1878-1913) and a daughter Ada (1882-1956). With Paul J. Sorg’s death in 1902, the young Paul Arthur Sorg became president of the bank. A few years later, William L. Dechant, who was in charge of the Sorg estate, succeeded him. Dechant was “deposed” (as a local paper termed it) from his role in the Sorg estate in January 1908. At what must have been a tumultuous annual meeting of the bank that month, a new board of directors was elected and the next day they chose S. Jennie Sorg as president of the bank. Her presidency, though, was short, for by the September 1909 S. Jennie Sorg, National Bank President By Karl Sanford Kabelac S. Jennie Sorg about 1900. (Courtesy Middletown [Ohio] Public Library, George C. Crout Collection.) Opposite: A number of newspapers in the country carried the news of her January 1908 election as president of the bank. This is the notice from the Ogdensburg, NY paper. Series 1882 Brown Back signed by Paul J. Sorg as president. (Heritage Auctions Archives) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 179 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279180 Comptroller of the Currency’s annual survey, J. W. Boyd had succeeded her. Mrs. Sorg lived the rest of her life in Middletown and New York City. It was in the latter city that she died on August 21, 1930 as the result of an automobile acci- dent. She was entombed in the Sorg family mausoleum in Woodside Cemetery in Middletown. The main part of her estate, valued at almost six million dollars, went to her daughter, her one grandchild, and her one great grandchild. Sources and acknowledgements As it proved difficult to locate relevant Middletown newspapers, I consulted those from Hamilton, Ohio, which is the county seat. Short articles on the the elec- tion of Mrs. Sorg as president of the bank appeared in The Hamilton Evening Journal for January 15, 1908, and The Republican News for January 16, 1908. The story was then carried nationally and appeared in various other U.S. newspapers. Articles on her tragic death appeared in The Hamilton Evening Journal for August 21 and 22, 1930, and a detailed article on the settlement of her estate appeared in the same newspaper for October 28, 1931. Wikipedia has an informative entry for Paul J. Sorg, the founder of the family fortune. The help of Roger Miller of the Middletown Pubic Library is gratefully acknowledged. A downtown Middletown view, c. 1910. The Merchants National Bank (front left) stood on the corner of Main and 3rd Street. The First National Bank (front right) stood across the street. Postcard views showing Paul J. Sorg, creator of the family fortune; the Sorg mansion in Middletown; and the family mausoleum where S. Jennie Sorg is entombed. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 180 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 181 THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO DEFINITIVELY DELVEinto the Series of 1914 and 1918 Federal Reserve Notes with emphasis onthe varieties and how they came about. These series were current until theswitch to small size currency occurred in 1929. Large size Federal Reserve Notes in denominations $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 were authorized in the Act of December 23, 1913, which established the Federal Reserve System. An amendment passed September 16, 1918, authorized the higher denominations, specifically $500, $1000, $5000 and $10000. The lower denomina- tions comprise the Series of 1914, and the higher the Series of 1918. The Federal Reserve acts were designed to bring stability to the nation’s banking system by providing for an elastic currency -- a currency that, using a self- regulating mechanism, would expand in times of need and contract in times of over- supply. The idea was to tame the cycle of money stringencies and worse, the periodic money panics that regularly gripped the nation. Nowadays, the Fed attempts to stim- The Paper Column By Peter Huntoon, Jamie Yakes Doug Murray & Lee Lofthus The Series of 1914 and 1918 Federal Reserve Notes *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 181 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279182 ulate growth and contain inflation, largely through regulating the money supply. In terms of money supply, the major incentive to go with the Federal Reserve Notes in 1913 was to get away from National Bank Notes, which were an inelastic currency, the supply of which was fixed by the capitalization of the individ- ual national banks. National Bank Notes comprised 28 percent of the currency in circulation in the months preceding the issuance of the first Federal Reserve Notes. Federal Reserve Notes were backed by gold deposits representing at least 40 percent of the value of the notes in circulation. The success of Federal Reserve cur- rency is the fact that it has become the dominant currency of our time. Its issuance led to the demise of National Bank Notes, which were deemed monetarily cumber- some by 1935. Although the large size FRNs quickly became the workhorse currency of the nation, they generally have been considered to be among the plainest looking, least aesthetic of our large size currency issues. There is no question that they possess what at the time was considered to be a modern, streamlined appearance, an artistic repudiation of the gilded look of the currency issues of the 1800s. They were a har- binger of the art deco fad with its futuristic linear symmetry that swept the world during the next couple of decades. Large size Federal Reserve Notes, of course, always have been collected as types, but not with the fervor of other large size notes. The short-lived red seal issues have always been recognized as scarce, and owing to their red seals are considered to have superior eye appeal to the succeeding blue seals, so they are more avidly collect- ed. In contrast, the readily available blue seals are commonly treated with ambivalence. Many of the varieties are very common owing to the large numbers pressed into circulation, so lower grade examples historically have been a glut on the numismatic market. Co-author Huntoon had no choice but to occasionally spend the things during the 1960s when he had to swallow them in deals. The fact is, the large size FRN series, including the blue seals, are brimming with interesting varieties and great rarities. Both make putting together any compre- hensive holding of them a serious challenge. It turns out that the large size FRN issues spanned a period when major manufacturing innovations were being implemented at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The Series of 1914 FRNs were caught up in those changes adding to the story of the series. Concurrently, changes were being made in the handling of redeemed notes by the National Bank Redemption Agency and the Comptroller’s office, both of which handled Federal Reserve Notes. The result was that the attributes of the notes Figure 1. Model of the $100 back for the Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes approved by William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 182 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 183 Figure 2. Four types of the Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes defined on the basis of differing sizes and positions of the district indicators in the cor- ners of the face, plus the inward placement of the seals in the case of the type 4. The notes are arranged in chronological order. (Heritage Auction Archives photos) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 183 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279184 that allowed for rapid sorting were under scrutiny, and that sensitivity led to all the major varieties found in the Series of 1914 from seal color to the size and placement of district indicators on their faces. Varieties The 1914 FRNs traditionally have been classified first by seal color, and second by variations in the layout of the district identifiers in the corners of the faces. We feel that this approach is backward, and leads to unnecessary confusion. The foundation for understanding the Series of 1914 varieties involves the changes in the layout of the district identifiers in the corners of the faces. Those varieties were made on the intaglio face plates. The change from red to blue seals was an important, but technically secondary, overprinting variety in our opinion. To this end, we are suggesting a new four-part type classification for the Series of 1914 that is based on the chronological adoption of changes in the layout of the district identifiers on the faces and which incorporates the change from red to blue seals in the midst of this progression. The result is that we will define four types for the Series of 1914, with two seal colors for our type 2s. Figure 3. Secretaries of the Treasury during the large size Federal Reserve Note era: Upper left, William G. McAdoo (1913-1918); upper right, Carter Glass (1918-1920); lower left, David F. Houston (1920-1921); lower right, Andrew W. Mellon (1921-1932). Carter Glass, formerly a Congressional Democrat from Virginia, is credited with authoring the Federal Reserve Act while serv- ing as chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency. (Wikipedia photos) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 184 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 185 Furthermore, the distinctively different layout found on the Series of 1918 high denomination notes logically and conveniently classifies as a type 5 layout in our system. Types The seal colors and types are extremely important to collectors, because the early red seal varieties are very scarce as are the type 3 and 4 layouts found on the last of the blue seals. Things that changed on the faces of the Series of 1914 notes included the size and placement of district identifiers in the respective corners inside the borders and the position of the treasury and district seals. Table 1 summarizes these ele- ments in chronological order of their adoption. The first appearance of each type is listed on Table 2. Table 1. Placement and size of district letters and numbers in the corners of the faces of Series of 1914 and 1918 notes. Type Upper Left Upper Right Lower Left Lower Right 1 none large large none 2 small large large small 3 small large small small 4 small large large small seals and identifiers in LL and UR corners moved inward 5 large large large large Table 2. Dates when the first Series of 1914 plates for each variety were certified. Type Treasury Signatures Date First Certified First Plates 1 Burke-McAdoo Oct 28, 1914 $5 Richmond, $5 Dallas 2 Burke-McAdoo Mar 4, 1915 $10 Chicago Seals & serials changed red to blue Aug 10, 1915 $5, $10, $20 Dallas 2 Burke-Glass Nov 2, 1915 $10 Boston 2 Burke-Houston Feb 18, 1920 $5 New York, $20 Chicago, $5 San Francisco 2 White-Mellon May 23, 1921 $5 Chicago 3 White-Mellon Aug 17, 1926 $5 Atlanta, $20 Atlanta 4 White-Mellon Mar 30, 1927 $20 New York Figure 4. Treasurers of the United States during the large size Federal Reserve Note era: Above left, John Burke (1913-1921); above right, Frank White (1921-1928). (Wikipedia photos) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 185 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279186 Evolution of Types The adoption of each new Series of 1914 type was a direct consequence of the need for the Federal Reserve Banks and the Treasury Department to sort worn and mutilated notes by Federal Reserve district. Any fragment or mutilated note that arrived for redemption that could not be identified by district was rejected and its cost passed back through the line as a loss to the customer who deposited the note in his bank. Consequently the Treasury Department was very responsive to sugges- tions that improved their ability to credit notes to the bank of issue. We were extremely fortunate to discover hand-written transcriptions of all key correspondence underlying the adoption of each new type. These were copied into a ledger called Order for Notes (BEP, 1928) by a conscientious clerk at the time the decisions were made. His notes revealed where the suggested change originated, the specific concern that was being addressed, who in Treasury authorized the change, and the date that it was implemented at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Figure 5. Comptroller of the Currency John Skelton Williams and Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo (right), both key administra- tors in overseeing the issuance and redemption of Federal Reserve Notes, are walking out of the U. S. Treasury building, Washington, D.C. ( Library of Congress photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 186 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 187 A bit of background is in order on how worn and mutilated Federal Reserve Notes were redeemed. Federal Reserve Notes arriving at the various Federal Reserve banks and the Treasury had to be separated by district so that fit notes could be returned to the banks of issue and unfit notes charged off against new issues to the proper bank. Two independent entities oversaw the redemption of unfit currency, one reporting to the Secretary of the Treasury and the other to the Treasurer. The Federal Reserve Issue and Redemption Division was the agency respon- sible for maintaining the outstanding circulation of the various Federal Reserve Banks at the levels legally prescribed. The division was created in 1914 and placed under the jurisdiction of the Comptroller of the Currency who reported to the Secretary of the Treasury. The division oversaw the requisition of new notes, the issuance of notes to the respective Federal Reserve banks, and the redemption and replacement of unfit notes. Most of the actual work of sorting unfit notes from circulation was carried out at the Federal Reserve banks and their branches although some unfit notes reached the National Bank Redemption Agency in the Treasurer’s office directly. Woods (1932, p. 121-122) describes how unfit notes were handled by the banks. They prepare such unfit notes for remittance to the Treasury by first seg- regating each class and then assembling each denomination under 100-note straps. The next step is to cancel the notes by perforating them. The strapped notes are then bisected longitudinally. The lower halves are shipped to the [Federal Reserve Issue and Redemption Division under the] Secretary of the Treasury. The arrival of the shipment at the Treasury is announced to the bank by telegraph, whereupon the Figure 6. Redeemed notes were perforated, then cut in half length- wise, with the halves sent to differ- ent divisions within the Treasury. The halves are being fed into the top of a maceration machine in the left photo. The right photo shows the macerated currency being poured from the macerator in the room below. (Photos from Woods, 1932) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 187 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279188 bank ships the upper halves to the [National Bank Redemption Agency in the Treasurer’s office]. The employees of the Secretary’s office and of the Treasury’s office each verify the notes and establish harmony with the bank’s claim. After proof of accuracy, the notes are destroyed by macerating machin- ery. The corresponding halves are never brought in contact after leaving the remitting bank -- hence the two haves could not possibly be reunited and be wrongfully circulated. The perforations in every note would forestall their being redeemed anyway -- even if the two parts should be reunited. Of course, the purpose of the transmission of the halves separately is to prevent loss if a shipment should go astray, be stolen, or destroyed. The recipient clerks at both the Federal Reserve Issue and Redemption Division and National Bank Redemption Agency had to verify the counts of the halves. Consequently, adequate district identifiers on the halves were necessary. Type 1 Layouts The type 1 layouts were the shortest lived of the Series of 1914 varieties, lasting in production only four months. All were red seals, and they were made for every district in all five of the Series of 1914 denominations. Type 2 Layouts The first printings of the Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes began on October 24, 1914, and it wasn’t long before the notes started to circulate. A defi- ciency in the type 1 face designs materialized in short order. The lack of district identifiers in two of the four corners of the faces was causing difficulty for the sorters in the redemption agencies. Discussions about the problem immediately took place at all levels within the Treasury Department. Figure 7. Type 1 Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note layout. Notice that no district identifiers appear in the upper left and lower right cor- ners. This model of a $50 red seal Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note for Richmond was used to gain approval for the type 1 layout. All printings of this type have red seals. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 188 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 189 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. You are cordially invited . . . to the 9th Annual SPMC Author’s Forum Friday, June 8th noon - 2 p.m. Marriott Ballrooms Come learn about cutting-edge research and new books on all phases of our paper money hobby *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 189 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279190 The result was the submission of a model of a $5 with additional bank iden- tifiers in the upper left and lower right corners to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury William P. Malburn from BEP Director Joseph E. Ralph on February 24, 1915 (Ralph, 1915). The model was quickly approved, thus launching the type 2 faces. Accordingly, Comptroller John S. Williams sent the following order to BEP director Ralph on March 5, 1915. In connection with the order of even date for the printing of Federal Reserve Notes, is requested that the regional number and letter be added inside the margin near the lower right hand and upper left hand corners of the face of the notes. This will greatly facilitate the identification of burned and mutilated notes, as nearly one-half of the face of present bills are without a distinguishing mark by which the name of the bank can be ascertained. As it is necessary to determine the bank of issue in redeeming these notes, when presented in mutilated form, it is quite evident that a great deal of money may be saved to the unfortunate holders of burned or badly mutilated bills if plans can now be made to facilitate their identification. Figure 8. Type 2 Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note layout. Large district identifiers in UR & LL cor- ners, small in UL & LR. These come with both red and blue seals. St. Louis $100 type 2 plates with White- Mellon signatures were made but never used. (National Numismatic Collection photo) Figure 9. Above left: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury William P. Malburn often coordinated design changes between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing such as implementation of type 2 layouts and the red to blue seal color change on the Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes. ( Library of Congress photo) Figure 10. Above right: Joseph E. Ralph, Director of the Bureau of Engraving from 1908 to 1917, oversaw the design and startup of the printing of large size Federal Reserve Notes. (Library of Congress photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 190 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 191 However, employees at the Bureau already had begun to alter the usable type 1 plates into type 2s, with the first being recertified March 4, 1915. The formal order to do so didn’t arrive in the Engraving Division until March 11th. All the still serviceable type 1 plates were altered. This was accomplished by siderographers who added the district numbers and letters to the upper left and lower right corners of the subjects on existing plates using standard roll transfer technology. New plates that came on line later used type 2 layouts from the outset. Type 3 Layouts The change to the type 3 layouts was an innovation initiated by personnel at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. They observed that long serial numbers, particularly those with 8-digits, occasionally were printed over the district identifier in the lower left corner on the type 2 notes. They recognized that this could cause difficulties for the sorters. BEP Director Alvin W. Hall sent a model of a $10 note with a proposed reduction in the size and location of the lower left district number to Garrard B. Winston, Acting Secretary of the Treasury. He quickly received Winston’s approval for the modification on August 2, 1926. The first type 3 plates were certified August 17th. Unlike the transition from type 1 to 2, no attempt was made to either alter the type 2 plates into type 3s or to take them out of service. The result was that type 2 and 3 plates were used concurrently, often together on the same power press. Figure 11. Plate 206, plate serial 8, was originally made as a type 1 (top). It was altered into a type 2 (bottom) in March 1915. The initials across the top are those of the plate printers who made printings from the plate in its type 1 form. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 191 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279192 Type 4 Layouts In 1921, five years before the adoption of the type 3 layouts, the protocol for handling canceled FRNs was modified to have them cut in half lengthwise (White, 1921). From then on, only the upper halves were forwarded on to the Federal Reserve Issue and Redemption Division for final verification. The lower halves were retained at the National Bank Redemption Agency. The district identi- fiers on the lower halves became very important for both the sorters and clerks who resolved discrepancies. The little number and letter in the lower left corner on the type 3 layouts adopted in 1926 quickly drew the ire of G. O. Barnes, Superintendent of the National Bank Redemption Agency. Barns wrote to the BEP on January 10, 1927, complaining that the small identifier “does not afford this office a very legible sub- ject for proving the assortment of Federal Reserve Notes received here for redemp- tion.” William S. Broughton, Commissioner of the Bureau of the Public Debt, stepped in on February 21, 1927, with a request that BEP Director Hall look into the matter of enlarging the lower left identifier in order to reduce eye strain for the sorters (BEP, 1913-1939). Hall quickly set BEP personnel to work on the problem and submitted the following reply on March 2, 1927 (Bureau of the Public Dept, 1927). You will notice on the attached model of the $10 Federal Reserve Note that in order to use the large symbol in the lower left hand corner it has been necessary to move the seal nearer the portrait. You will also notice that the United States seal, in order to balance the note, has been moved closer to the portrait. If there is no objection to this change it will enable us to insert the large figure and letter, which, I understand, facilitates sorting in the Redemption Division. I should like to have your comments. Figure 12. At top: Type 3 Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note layout. Large district indicator in UR corner, small in UL, LL & LR. All of these have blue seals and White-Mellon sig- natures. Dallas $20 type 3 plates were made but never used. (National Numismatic Collection photo) Figure 13. Above: Type 4 Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note layout. District seal and LL & UR district indi- cators moved inward, as was the trea- sury seal. Large district indicator in UR & LL corner, small in UL & LR. All of these have blue seals and White-Mellon signatures. Minneapolis type 4 plates were made but never used. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 192 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 193 SPMC NEW MEMBERS - 2/05/2011 13707 All Star (C), Jason Bradford 13708 Robert Archibald (C), Jason Bradford 13709 Stanley Baszczuk (C), Jason Bradford 13710 Thomas Byrd (C), Jason Bradford 13711 CJA Investments Ltd. (C), Jason Bradford 13712 Gerald Crain (C), Jason Bradford 13713 Eddie DeLoache (C), Jason Bradford 13714 Kenneth Dubois (C), Jason Bradford 13715 Carl Eby (C), Jason Bradford 13716 Rodney Gianchetta (C), Jason Bradford 13717 Jeffrey Hall (C), Jason Bradford 13718 John Jaremback (C), Jason Bradford 13719 Stanley Kurowski (C), Jason Bradford 13720 Rollin Lacy (C), Jason Bradford 13721 Lawrence Mentz (C), Jason Bradford 13722 Bonnie Metro 44113 (C), Jason Bradford 13723 Edward Morgan (C), Jason Bradford 13724 Jack Pearlman (C), Jason Bradford 13725 Thomas Powell 22030 (C), Jason Bradford 13726 Greg Ristich (C), Jason Bradford 13727 Robin Saunders III (C), Jason Bradford 13728 Glenn Sermersheim (C), Jason Bradford 13729 Danny Watso (C), Jason Bradford 13730 Randall Young (C), Jason Bradford 13731 Rebecca Rothgeb (D), Mark Anderson 13732 Eric C. Helms (C & D), Mark Anderson 13733 Gil Sackheim (C), Frank Clark 13734 Jake E. Wilkinson (C), Website 13735 Emilio M. Ortiz (C), Website 13736 Jimmie Roberts (C), Judith Murphy 13737 Sidney Crawford, PO Box 576, Ozona, FL 34660 (C), Judith Murphy 13738 Thomas Hitselberger, 722 Fordingbridge Way, Osprey, FL 34229 (C, US Small, Foreign), Judith Murphy 13739 Ernie Gerrish, 81 N. Century St, Memphis, TN 38111 (C), Judith Murphy 13740 Bill Bauerband (C), Website REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIP None SPMC NEW MEMBERS - 03/05/2012 13753 Paul Bowles (C), Website 13754 David C. Kranz (C), Website REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIP None 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 NEW MEMBERS Membership Director Frank Clark P.O. Box 117060 Carrollton, TX 75011 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 collec- tion, and have more hobby fun. Up to 20 words plus your address in SIX BIG ISSUES only $20.50/year!!!! * • extra charges apply for longer ads • You too can find “Money Mart success” Put out your want list in “Money Mart” and see what great notes become part of your collecting future, too. Share your hobby, Sign up a new member TODAY! *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 193 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279194 The model made its rounds through the Treasury Department with a sug- gestion by W. H. Moran, Director of the Secret Service, on March 12, that “the sym- bol 12-L in the upper right corner of the note be moved a little southeast in order to obviate it being confused as part of the [serial] number of the note” (Bureau of the Public Dept, 1927). Broughton returned the approved model to Hall on March 14th with Moran’s recommendation (BEP, 1913-1939). The first type 4 plates began to be certified March 30. Obviously, type 3 and 4 production was not mixed, because the type 4s required a different setup configuration for the seals on the numbering presses. Consequently, type 3 production ceased once type 4 production began for a given denomination for a particular district. In fact, the importance of segregating type 4 plates from obsolete type 3s warranted putting a distinguishing mark on them. To this end, prominent stars were placed in front of the plate numbers in the upper margins on the first several plates of type 4s for each denomination for each district. The purpose of the stars was to flag the plates so that the plate vault clerk would be certain to check out the proper plates for use. The best laid plans of men go awry. The stars didn’t always help. The Bureau started to execute an order for $10 Kansas City notes beginning on March 13, 1928. One press was dedicated to the job that day and four type 2 plates were mounted on it, numbers 103, 104, 105 and 106. A second press was added the next day with type 2 plates 107, 108, 109 and 110. However, plate 103 on the first press was showing wear, so a fifth plate was checked out to replace it. That plate was number 119. You guessed it, 119 was a type 4. It landed next to the three type 2 plates already on the press, namely 104, 105 and 106. Production merrily proceeded. The mistake was noticed March 16th, so 119 was hastily removed and replaced by 111, a type 2. Ironically, no other printings were made from $10 Kansas City type 4 plates. We list the $10 Kansas City type 4 as printed on Table 3 but you can be cer- tain that a serious effort was mounted to purge all the plate 119 sheets from the March 14-16 production before those 975 sheets moved through the numbering division. Did they catch all of them? Very important for collectors is that the type 3 and 4 layouts came late in the series, specifically 1926 and 1927. They were used on new plates that were ordered, but there was no effort to create an entire inventory of plates with the new designs. Rather they appeared on an as-needed basis. Consequently the use of type 3 and 4 layouts was spotty among the lower denominations, so both types tend to be quite scarce. Figure 14. Stars were placed next to the plate numbers on the first of the type 4 plates as warnings that they were not to be mixed on presses with plates of older designs. However, $10 Kansas City plate serial 119 was accidentally put on a press with three type 2 plates in March 1928, the only time such a plate was used. It had to be pulled from the press and a concerted effort made to cull out the 975 sheets printed from it. No issued notes are reported from it. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 194 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 195 ON JUNE 2, 2012, THE NORTH CAROLINACOLLECTION of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present a program “Currency in Chaos: How the Civil War Changed America’s Money.” The event will be held 10 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in Wilson Library on the UNC campus. Admission is free and open to the public. Dr. Richard Doty, curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, and other presenters will discuss the confusion and prolif- eration of paper money, coins, and various substitutes in both the South and North during the American Civil War, and how during that period, our money changed forever. Dr. Doty’s keynote speech is titled “Civil War and Money's Change.” He will discuss how the war changed the nature of America's money, and what the form the money took had to say about the prosecution of the war. Doty is author of several books on numismatics including America’s Money, America’s Story and the Macmillan Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatics. Additional presentations include: • A discussion of fractional paper money issued by the federal government to ease the shortage of circulating coins by Dennis Edens. Edens is a life-long coin and cur- rency collector specializing in fractional currency. He serves as vice president of the Raleigh Coin Club. • An examination of some printers who produced Civil War paper, especially North Carolina’s state and pri- vate issues, by Jerry Roughton. Roughton is the author of several monographs on North Carolina numismatics and co-publisher of the No rth Caro l ina Numismati c Scrapbook, a journal of original numismatic research. • A look at counterfeiting and the effect it had on the war and the southern economy, by Bob Schreiner. Schreiner is author of several articles and presentations on obsolete paper money, and past president of the North Carolina Numismatic Association. Experts will be on hand to evaluate attendees’ notes, coins, or other money items from the Civil War era. The program is receiving support from the Friends of the Library, the Society of Paper Money Collectors, the North Carolina Numismatic Association, and the Raleigh Coin Club. Interested parties may obtain more information by e- mail to ljacobso@email.unc.edu or phone (919) 962-0104, Linda Jacobson, Keeper, North Carolina Collection Gallery, Wilson Special Collections Library, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The data on Table 3 reveal that the plates for some denominations for a few districts skipped directly from type 2 to 4. Type 3 $50 plates were made only for New York and Cleveland. No type 3 $100 or type 4 $50 or $100 plates were made for any district. Second Group of Type 2 $50s Four $50 plates numbered 44-47 were completed for New York beginning August 20, 1927, following the appearance of the first type 4 layouts on lower denominations on March 30. The resulting plates were a curiosity. The Bureau enlarged the lower left district identifiers as called for but left the placement of the identifiers and seals the same as on the type 3s. The result was Figure 15. $50 type 4 plates were ordered for New York in August 1927, but when made they came out looking identical to type 2 plates, thus yielding a group of type 2s that fol- lowed type 3s. Top note is from plate serial 43, a type 3. Bottom note is from plate serial 44, a type 2 looka- like. (National Numismatic Collection photo) ‘Currency in Chaos’ Civil War money seminar set for Chapel Hill *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 195 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279196 indistinguishable from type 2 White-Mellon plates. This yielded an out-of-order group of type 2s, following type 3 plates 37-43. This unusual reversion was ren- dered academic because the last $50 New York plate to be used was 41. Type 5 Layouts The type 5 layouts on the high denomination notes, which utilized large district identifiers in all four corners, satisfied all concerns, mostly because in all probability the serial numbers would not reach 7 or 8 digits. Consequently every- thing would fit without overlaps. The sorters in the redemption agency appreciated that all four corner identifiers were large. Seal Color Change Red seal Series of 1914 notes are fairly scarce and highly prized. Both type 1 and 2 faces were overprinted with red seals, and both were short lived types, respectively in production for four and five months. Not all of the denominations for every district were produced with type 2 faces, unlike the type 1s. The prevalent explanation in the numismatic literature for the change from red to blue overprints was that it was impossible for the BEP to acquire adequate supplies of dry red colors from German suppliers after the outbreak of World War I. It is true that German suppliers provided the reds, but they also supplied the blues. The old numismatic saw that the BEP couldn’t acquire red colors from German suppliers was categorically put to rest by the BEP in their 100th anniversary history (BEP, 1962, p. 90-92). The various machinations that had to be resorted to in order to secure sufficient supplies of both red and blue colors for the duration of the war are fully chronicled. Furthermore, it is explained that domestic suppliers for both were developed before the armistice through the aid of the American Chemical Society. Figure 16. The layouts on Series of 1918 Federal Reserve Notes qualify as a distinctive type 5 layout. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 196 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 197 The seal colors were, in fact, changed because Treasury and the BEP offi- cials desired use of inks that were color fast. The reds faded and bled when the notes got wet or were washed, and also faded under strong light. Blues were far more sta- ble. Once again, the primary call for change came from the redemption agency where faded seals and serials were very problematic. Definitive information concerning the decision is contained in correspon- dence in the files of the Bureau of the Public Debt (1915). Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Malburn forwarded a recommendation from the BEP to print the seals in blue to Federal Reserve Governor Charles S. Hamlin on July 8, 1915, with a follow- up explanation on July 23 that the blue ink was more stable. The Federal Reserve Board met on July 31th, approved the change, and referred it to a special committee comprised of the Secretary of the Treasury and Comptroller of the Currency for a final decision. Treasury Secretary William McAdoo finalized the change in a memo to BEP Director Ralph on August 9, 1915. The first notes printed with blue seals and numbers were Dallas $5s, $10s, and $20s on August 10. Scarcity Table 3 (below and continuing on page 198) is a listing of the numbers of printing plates used to print the issued varieties of the large size Federal Reserve Notes. These numbers broadly serve to highlight the relative scarcity of the vari- eties. Obviously, the smaller the number of plates, the fewer notes were printed. Table 3. Numbers of printing plates used to print the plate varieties found on Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes. BM=Burke-McAdoo, BG=Burke-Glass, BH=Burke-Houston, WM=White-Mellon Ty 1 BM have red seals; ty 2 BM have both red & blue seals; all the rest have blue seals. Some varieties that were printed were not issued. Italic boldface denotes varieties not listed in Hessler-Chambliss 7th ed. Series of 1914 Series of 1918 $5 ty 1 BM ty 2 BM ty 2 BG ty 2 BH ty 2 WM ty 3 WM ty 4 WM $500 ty 5 BG ty 5 BH ty 5 WM Boston 14 98 71 99 271 13 8 Boston 1 New York 30 499 147 241 730 48 139 New York 2 1 Philadelphia 7 77 70 85 340 16 38 Philadelphia 1 Cleveland 4 60 39 80 199 20 51 Cleveland 1 Richmond 10 66 33 75 113 16 12 Richmond 1 Atlanta 10 76 44 60 181 8 4 Atlanta 1 1 Chicago 10 166 90 230 415 68 38 Chicago 1 St. Louis 10 68 64 84 62 10 St. Louis 1 Minneapolis 6 60 27 27 95 2 Minneapolis 1 Kansas City 5 108 31 48 104 9 Kansas City 1 1 Dallas 10 46 37 29 75 8 4 Dallas 1 San Francisco 4 90 43 91 327 24 12 San Francisco 1 1 $10 $1000 Boston 8 75 69 86 161 12 Boston 1 New York 24 279 169 162 142 51 100 New York 1 1 Philadelphia 4 81 38 54 143 16 Philadelphia 1 Cleveland 4 49 32 43 109 8 16 Cleveland 1 Richmond 8 42 24 39 60 Richmond 1 Atlanta 8 55 23 31 69 19 Atlanta 1 1 Chicago 8 128 79 20 192 36 25 Chicago 1 St. Louis 8 55 9 74 13 St. Louis 1 Minneapolis 4 42 12 14 42 Minneapolis 1 Kansas City 4 45 7 30 25 1 Kansas City 1 1 Dallas 8 43 5 16 24 Dallas 1 San Francisco 4 39 25 57 101 8 29 San Francisco 1 1 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 197 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279198 It is very clear from this table that the higher the denomination, the less like- ly a type 3 plate was made. This same trend is even more pronounced for the type 4s. The numbers on Table 3 are not perfect proxies for rarity because the num- bers of impressions made from a given plate was highly variable and different plate sizes were employed. Even so, the overall impression is very much on target. The numbers of plates used correlates well with the numbers of reported specimens (Chambliss and Hessler, 2011). As shown on Table 3, thirteen of the Series of 1914 varieties that were printed have not been reported. There is a fair chance that some or all of them simply weren’t issued. Notice in the lower denominations that there are two listings on Table 3 where only one plate was sent to press; specifically Kansas City $10 type 4 White- Mellon plate 119 and Richmond $20 type 3 White-Mellon plate 106. None of these have been reported. Table 3. Numbers of printing plates used to print the plate varieties found on Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes (continued) Series of 1914 Series of 1918 $20 ty 1 BM ty 2 BM ty 2 BG ty 2 BH ty 2 WM ty 3 WMty 4 WM $5000 ty 5 BG ty 5 BH ty 5 WM Boston 3 29 20 49 57 Boston 1 New York 5 107 67 59 76 16 8 New York 1 Philadelphia 3 60 15 41 69 Philadelphia 1 Cleveland 2 51 32 32 103 8 Cleveland 1 Richmond 2 31 14 17 42 1 Richmond 1 Atlanta 2 48 22 29 4 Atlanta 1 Chicago 3 80 39 93 49 14 5 Chicago 1 St. Louis 2 30 4 14 15 St. Louis 1 Minneapolis 2 21 4 12 22 Minneapolis Kansas City 2 33 18 12 Kansas City Dallas 2 20 4 10 15 Dallas 1 San Francisco 2 53 16 21 86 18 21 San Francisco 1 1 $50 $10000 Boston 2 4 3 1 3 Boston 1 New York 2 16 4 8 30 5 New York 1 Philadelphia 2 4 1 5 26 Philadelphia 1 Cleveland 2 10 3 7 22 4 Cleveland 1 Richmond 2 3 1 4 7 Richmond 1 Atlanta 2 2 1 2 8 Atlanta 1 Chicago 2 10 2 9 13 Chicago 1 St. Louis 2 2 2 1 1 St. Louis 1 Minneapolis 2 2 1 3 Minneapolis Kansas City 2 3 5 Kansas City Dallas 2 2 2 2 Dallas 1 San Francisco 2 6 2 5 San Francisco 1 $100 Boston 2 2 1 4 New York 2 14 2 2 9 Philadelphia 2 4 3 Cleveland 2 0 1 4 4 Richmond 2 2 1 1 Atlanta 2 2 1 2 Chicago 2 4 1 4 St. Louis 2 2 Minneapolis 2 2 3 Kansas City 2 2 4 Dallas 2 2 3 San Francisco 2 5 2 3 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 198 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 • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 199 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 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 199 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279200 Plates were made for the 28 varieties listed on Table 4, but were never sent to press. Table 4. Federal Reserve Series of 1914 plates were made for these 28 varieties but never sent to press. * indicates that no type 3 plates were made. District Den Type Treasury Sigs First Plate No. Boston 10 4 White-Mellon 427 20 3 White-Mellon 167 20 4 White-Mellon 171 Philadelphia 20 4 White-Mellon* 199 Cleveland 20 4 White-Mellon 235 Richmond 10 4 White-Mellon* 170 20 4 White-Mellon 126 Atlanta 10 4 White-Mellon 202 20 4 White-Mellon 115 50 3 White-Mellon 16 100 3 White-Mellon 8 Chicago 100 2 White-Mellon 8 St. Louis 5 4 White-Mellon 294 10 3 White-Mellon 161 10 4 White-Mellon 165 20 3 White-Mellon 71 20 4 White-Mellon 79 100 2 White-Mellon 3 Minneapolis 5 4 White-Mellon 222 10 4 White-Mellon* 112 20 3 White-Mellon 64 20 4 White-Mellon 68 Kansas City 5 4 White-Mellon 307 20 3 White-Mellon 72 20 4 White-Mellon 78 Dallas 10 4 White-Mellon* 105 20 3 White-Mellon 58 20 4 White-Mellon 62 Technological Innovations Several significant technological innovations were implemented during the production of the large size Federal Reserve Notes. Included were: (1) transition from hand-operated single-plate presses to four-plate power presses, (2) electroform- ing of printing plates, (3) increase of plate size from 4- to 8-subjects, and (4) adoption of head-to-toe 8-subject plates. The various innovations were phased in gradually and were not applied to every variety that was current at a given moment. Figure 17. Exactly one $20 type 3 Richmond plate was sent to press, plate serial 106. No notes have been reported from the 1,300 sheets printed from it. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 200 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 201 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 201 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279202 Power Presses and 8-Subject Plates The use of power presses led directly to the ability of the Bureau to use 8-sub- ject plates. Power presses held four plates that cycled around the bed of the press and produced a stream of sheets that cycled through the plate numbers present. These high yield presses could use 4- or 8-subject large note plates. Most production from them was from 8-subject plates at the end of the large note era. It should come as no surprise that the Plate Printers Union vigorously resist- ed the use of power presses (BEP, 1962, p. 106-108). Through the good offices of Congressional allies, various sundry civil and appropriations acts restricted the work that could be printed from such presses at the Bureau, the refrain being that power presses produced inferior products. An appropriations act passed August 24, 1912, repealed some restrictions in place since 1898 that required bonds, notes and checks to be produced exclusively on hand presses. Backs of currency were allowed to be printed on the power presses from that date forward. The limitations on the use of power presses were temporarily suspended by Congress for the duration of World War I in supplemental appropriations acts passed October 6, 1917, and July 11, 1919. The primary objective was to facilitate Liberty Loan Bond production, but all Bureau products were carried along on the tide. As a Table 5. First Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note production plate made for each denomination using new technological innovations implemented during the series. Begun Finished First Use District Plate No. Plate Serial No. Face Plates: 8-subject plates $5 Aug 20, 1918 Aug 29, 1918 Sep 4, 1918 Chicago 3973 157 $10 Jul 18, 1918 Jul 31, 1918 Aug 1, 1918 New York 3540 246 $20 Aug 20, 1918 Sep 14, 1918 (a) Sep 25, 1918 New York 3993 85 8-subject head-to-toe plates $5 Mar 1, 1921 Apr 6, 1921 Aug 5, 1921 San Francisco 15314 233 $10 Mar 10, 1921 (b) Apr 20, 1921 May 13, 1921 Chicago 15475 324 $20 Jul 27, 1923 (c) Aug 7, 1923 Sep 5, 1923 Cleveland 20437 163 Back Plates: 8-subject plates $5 Jul 18, 1918 Jul 25, 1918 Jul 31, 1918 3508 302 $10 Jul 18, 1918 Jul 25, 1918 Jul 26, 1918 3524 181 $20 Aug 14, 1918 Aug 21, 1918 Aug 23, 1918 3877 131 electrolytic plates $5 Apr 2, 1920 Apr 27, 1920 May 3, 1920 8992 650 $10 May 1, 1920 May 15, 1920 Aug 19, 1920 9236 546 $20 Apr 19, 1920 May 8, 1920 May 11, 1920 9175 290 8-subject head-to-toe plates $5 Nov 15, 1920 Nov 24, 1920 Nov 26, 1920 12827 1123 $10 Dec 10, 1920 Dec 20, 1920 Dec 20, 1920 13459 673 $20 Dec 14, 1920 Dec 21, 1920 Dec 23, 1920 13526 552 a. Phildelphia 4096-45 was begun Aug 30, 1918, finished Sep 10, 1918 and first used Sep 12, 1918. It was the first finished and used, but not the first begun. b. Kansas City 15310-177 was begun Mar 1,1921, finished Apr 9, 1921, and first used Oct 5, 1922. It was the first begun, but not the first finished or used. c. Philadelphia 20435-149 was begun Jul 27, 1923, finished Aug 14, 1923, and first used Aug 17, 1923. It was the first used, but not the first finished. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 202 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 203 result, 8-subject FRN head-to-head face production was assigned to the power presses between August 1, 1918, and June 24, 1920. In addition, dedicated 4-subject plates fabricated especially to allow them to be mounted on the power presses were used between October 29, 1919, and April 2, 1920. All restrictions on the use of power presses were rescinded by an act passed January 3, 1923, which stated: Hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to print from plates of more than four subjects each upon power presses the fronts and backs of any paper money, bonds, or other printed matter now or hereafter authorized to be executed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Power press 8-subject head-to-toe face production commenced immediately for the $5, $10 and $20 FRN denominations and continued through 1929. Groups of 4-subject plates occasionally were assigned to the power presses, including some $50s. Otherwise, the $50 and higher backs and faces were printed from 4-subject plates on hand-operated presses. The appearance of the notes printed from 4- and 8-subject plates on power presses is indistinguishable from those made from 4-subject plates on hand presses. The dead giveaway that a note was printed from an 8-subject plate on a power press is if the note bears position letters E through H, which only occur on the right halves of 8-subject sheets. Traditional Plate Making The vast majority of Series of 1914 and all Series of 1918 face plates were made using traditional roll transfer technology. Generic steel dies of the faces were prepared and hardened without the district information. Siderographers lifted the images onto a steel roll where it stood in relief, so once hardened, the roll was used to lay in the images on the steel printing plates. After the requisite faces were laid into a plate, the district identifiers and seals were added to each subject, also using roll trans- fer technology. As shown on Figure 19, a minor error occurred during the manufacture of an 8-subject $10 San Francisco type 2 Glass-Burke plate bearing plate serial number 42. The uniform face design was laid in the plate by siderographer John H. Silbert Jr., fol- lowed by the district identifiers by Clarence I. Ronsaville. Ronsaville accidentally omitted the district identifier in the lower right position of the C note. Figure 18. Proof from the generic $50 Series of 1914 die approved December 23, 1914, for hardening. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 203 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279204 A proof was drawn from the plate and presented to BEP Director James Wilmeth for certification on January 13, 1919. Someone spotted the omission at this stage, rejected the plate and it was quickly fixed and certified two days later. Electroformed Printing Plates George U. Rose of the BEP, when he was superintendent of the Engraving Division, invented a process for making printing plates using electrolytic deposition of metal onto the surface of a master plate or die. A prototype electrolytic facility employing his technology was first built at the Bureau in 1920 (Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1928). His concept created an alto from a master plate, wherein the intaglio image on the master appeared in relief on the surface of the alto. The same process was used to create a basso from the alto, which was a perfect reproduction of the image on the master. The basso was transformed into a working plate by adding appropri- ate items such as plate serial numbers and mounting it on a rigid backing. Electroforming was resisted by the Bureau siderographers, who conspired with the plate printers to sabotage implementation by prematurely rejecting the plates from presses as unfit and causing premature wear of the plates through the use of coarse wiping cloths. Operation of the electrolytic manufacturing facility was sus- pended in March 1922 by newly appointed Director Louis Hill, formerly Assistant Chief of the Engraving Division and a person unsympathetic to electroforming. Hill’s appointment came on the heals of the suspension of Director James Wilmeth and 28 senior BEP employees by executive order of President Harding over a contrived political flap involving duplicated Liberty Loan Bond serial numbers (BEP, circa 2008). Ultimately the accusations proved false, Wilmeth was offered reinstatement and declined, and Wallace Kirby succeeded Hill as Director in 1924. Kirby reopened the electrolytic facility in July 1924. The electroforming technology was fully vindicated in short order and quickly supplanted the labor intensive roll transfer process for making high demand plates. Electrolytic plates comprised the vast majority of low denomination large size FRN back plate production within a couple of years. However, $50 and higher back and most face plate production was carried out using roll transfer technology to the end of the series in 1929 owing to the relatively low demand of those plates. The first electrolytic plates to come on line were $5 backs that began to be Figure 19. The siderographer forgot to roll in the district indicators in the lower right corner on the C-note of $10 plate 42 for San Francisco. The mistake was discovered when this proof was presented for certification, so the plate was sent back to be fixed before any notes were printed from it. Too bad. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 204 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 205 made in April 1920 and were first sent to press May 3rd. The $10 and $20 electrolyt- ic backs followed soon thereafter as shown on Table 5. The BEP also made 4-subject electrolytic $5 type 2 faces for New York and Chicago during the tenure of Burke-Houston. These plates were technologically innovative because the district information and treasury signatures appeared on the masters from which they were made. The New York electros were made during the period April to September 1920, whereas the Chicago electros got a slightly later start in May. Many from both districts were sent to press, but several weren’t indicating that they were defective. The New York electros were interspersed among plate serial numbers 677 and 760, whereas the Chicago electros occur interspersed among numbers 286 and 392. We haven’t found documentation for why electro faces ceased being made, but suspect it was a concession to the siderographers union. Head-to-Toe Plates The problem of inverted backs plagued large size FRN production from the outset. These errors occurred when backs were accidentally turned 180 degrees and fed through the face presses. Bureau management wanted to engineer this problem out of existence, so they turned to a technology that already had been employed at the Bureau previously to prevent the same problem during the printing of fractional currency. Figure 20. Electrolytic $5 face plates were made for New York and Chicago with Burke-Mellon signa- tures, the only Series of 1914 face plates made using the technology. This proof is from the master for Chicago, which is distinctive as a master because it contains the dis- trict information. (National Numismatic Collection photo) Figure 21 Use of head-to-toe plates was an innovation used to eliminate production of inverted backs. This proof is from an electrolytic master used to make plates. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 205 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279206 The solution was to utilize head-to-toe 8-subject plates. The idea here is that the four subjects on one side of the plate would face opposite to those on the other. Furthermore, the plates would be made so that they would be entirely sym- metrical. Consequently, it wouldn’t matter how the plates were mounted on the presses. Once head-to-toe plates were adopted, it would be impossible to print notes with inverted backs no matter how the plates were mounted on the presses or how the feed stock was oriented. Obviously, this innovation worked only on power presses, which utilized the 8-subject head-to-toe plates. Out-Of-Sequence Types Closely examine the four $10s from Minneapolis that are illustrated in seri- al number order from the bottom up on Figure 22. Did you spot the fact that the one with the highest serial is the earlier vari- ety; specifically, a type 2 Burke-McAdoo note? This is one wild occurrence to be sure. The plate serial numbers on the Burke-McAdoo note are D34/197, both of which were plates used and canceled back when that combination was current. Specifically, face 34 served six hitches on presses inclusive of December 5, 1918, and May 14, 1919. So how does a face printed then end up with a mid- to late-1920s White- Mellon serial number? The answer is that some old stockpiled sheets were found from an earlier printing and overprinted in the 1920s. Little concern was given to the Treasury sig- natures on the notes as they were being printed in those days, so whatever stock con- formed to the set-up of the sealing and serialing press was used. This note came off a Figure 22. These notes are arranged in serial number order with the largest serial number on top. Notice that I11959888A has Burke-McAdoo Treasury signatures, the oldest in the series, yet sports a White-Mellon ser- ial number! This spectacular note was produced when they used up a stockpile of leftover unnumbered sheets that had been sitting around for five years. (Doug Murray & Heritage Auction Archives photos) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 206 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 207 press set up for type 3 White-Mellon $10s, so there was no problem because that was the same set-up used for type 2s. It was customary when the BEP processed orders to print overages and sim- ply stockpile the surplus for later use. Stockpiles are interesting. Many are operated first in, last out, and that appears to have been what happened here. The group of sheets containing this note was buried in the $10 Minneapolis stockpile for about five years. Not only were the Burke-McAdoo signatures on them obsolete, even the intervening Burke-Glass and Burke-Houston combinations had come and gone! It was both uncanny prescience and good luck that allowed co-author Doug Murray to spot this abnormality and acquire the late-finished Burke-McAdoo note. We have to conclude if it happened once, it happened other times as well, so similar opportunities like this probably exist in other denominations and in other districts. The out-of-sequence $10 Minneapolis situation is not the only one Murray has identified. He also discovered a very short run of $5 Philadelphia type 2 and 3 White-Mellon notes inserted into the middle of the CB block that is otherwise com- prised exclusively of type 4 White-Mellon notes. The serial numbers printed in the $5 CB block were C10000001B through C13824000B, with the type 2 and 3 contaminants in a print run of 8,000 notes between serials C11308001B-C11316000B. Once again, the explanation is con- sumption of residual stockpiles of obsolete preprinted stock. If it happened twice, you can be certain other cases are yet to be found! Odd Sequencing of Plate Position Letters The use of head-to-toe plates sometimes caused seemingly peculiar pairings of plate letters on consecutive notes. Numbering passed from plate positions D to E and H to A. To understand these pairs, you must know that large size FRNs were serial numbered and sealed on 4-subject overprinting presses. Consequently the 8-subject sheets from the power presses had to be cut in half, and the respective stacks of half sheets fed through the numbering presses. Conventional 8-subject plates, those with both halves facing the same way, produced the following stream of plate position letters: left halves A1-B1-C1- D1*A2-B2-C2-D2*A3-B3-C3-D3*A4-B4-C4-D4; right halves E1-F1-G1-H1*E2-F2- G2-H2*E3-F3-G3-H3*E4-F4-G4-H4. Notice that there are no H to A or D to E changeovers. Now let’s look at production from a power press that held four head-to-toe plates. It didn’t matter how the plates were mounted on the press, so let’s assume that the A position was up on plates 1, 2 and 4, but E was up on plate 3. This would yield the following repetitive sequence on the left halves of the sheets: A1-B1-C1- D1*A2-B2-C2-D2*E3-F3-G3-H3*A4-B4-C4-D4. Notice that we now have routine D2 to E3 and H3 to A4 matings. Similarly, the half sheets from the right side would yield H2 to A3 and D3 to E4 pairs Reported consecutive sequences of 1914 FRNs printed from head-to-toe plates demonstrate that pressmen paid little or no attention to how they mounted the plates on the presses. Changeover Pairs Two classes of changeover pairs have been recorded from the large size FRN series: (1) type 2/3 changeovers and (2) treasury signature changeovers. All the reported examples are listed in Table 6 on page 208, and they are possible only in the blue seal issues. These changeover pairs were created on power presses when a mix of differ- ent plates was mounted on the press. It was the policy of the BEP to use obsolete plates until they wore out, so this type of mixing was not unusual. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 207 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279208 Table 6. Reported Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note changeover pairs. Sigsa or Den Serials Face/Back Plates Types Plates Printed Source of Data Treasury Signature Changeovers: $10 E6355944-5A H39/238-E41/240 BM-BG 8 sub 1919 Heritage Apr 2006 lot 17284 $10 H21370388-9A H149/1501-E137/1501 WM-BH 8 sub h to t 1927-8 Heritage Apr-May 2010 lot 13445 $20 K5411332-3A D35/902-A36/902 BH-WM 4 sub 1923 Heritage Sep 2005 lot 17575 White-Mellon Type 2/Type 3 Changeovers: $5 B66469944-5D D1642/3732-E1674/3732 t2-t3 8 sub h to t 1927 Heritage Sep 2005 lot 17478 $10 A68422048-9A D398/1473-E403/1473 t2-t3 8 sub h to t 1926-7 Knight Mar 2011 lot 2243 $10 B49418036-7B H891/1403-E864/1403 t3-t2 8 sub h to t 1926-7 Knight Jun 2009 lot 419 $10 D41702640-1A H?-E? t2-t3 8 sub h to t 1927 Knight Nov 2005 lot 1379 $20 G42990744-5A H266/984-A261/984 t3-t2 8 sub h to t 1927 Heritage Jun 2010 lot 13192 $20 G43156064-5A H261/978-A266/978 t2-t3 8 sub h to t 1927 Heritage Sep 2005 lot 17563 a. Treasury signatures: BM =Burke-McAdoo, BG= Burke-Glass, BH=Burke-Houston, WM=White-Mellon; h to t = head to toe plate. Figure 23. Treasury signature changeover pairs were created when obsolete plates, such as the one used to print the Burke-Houston note here (top), were used together with current plates on the same press. Use of obsolete plates was an economy measure. (Heritage Auction Archives photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 208 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 209 Signature Changeovers Changeover pairs involving different pairs of Treasury signatures are very scarce so only a few have been reported. Changeovers pairs involving any two of the four signature combinations used on large size FRNs are theoretically possible. So far, only Burke-McAdoo/Burke-Glass and Burke-Houston/White-Mellon pairs have been reported. We have not seen pairs that skip over a signature combination such as Burke-Glass/White-Mellon. Similarly we have not seen signature changeovers that involve face plates of different types, such as a type 2 Burke-Houston/type 3 White- Mellon. Both of these exotics are theoretically possible. Type Changeovers Type changeover pairs occur only between the type 2 and 3 varieties, because plate for those types are the only ones that were mixed on the presses. Type 1/2 changeovers are impossible, because use of type 1 faces was ter- minated before use of type 2s commenced. This speaks to the importance placed on having district identifiers in each corner. Similarly, types 3 and 4 plates weren’t mixed on the presses because the type 4 layouts required a different setup for the treasury seal and serial numbers on the numbering presses. Out-of-Sequence Plate Numbers Cleveland $100 plate 3 has Burke-Houston signatures whereas plate 4 has Burke-Glass. The Burke-Glass signatures on plate 4 are out of order because, of course, that combination is earlier. What happened was that both plates were begun on December 12, 1919. However, plate 4 moved to completion first on December 31 with then current Figure 24. Type 2-type 3 changeover pairs were created when obsolete type 2 (top) and type 3 (bottom) plates were used together on the same press. (Heritage Auction Archives photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 209 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279210 Burke-Glass signatures. Plate 3 wasn’t finished until six months later on June 10, 1920, so it got Burke-Houston signatures! There are two similar cases of out-of-order type 3 $5 plates for Boston and Atlanta. The data for both are distilled on Table 7. The explanation is the same. The completion of the type 3 plates with the anomalously low numbers was delayed until after the type 3 layouts were adopted, so they were finished as type 3s instead of 2s. Table 7. Key dates associated with the out-of-order $5 type 2 and 3 Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Note 8-subject head-to- toe plates made for the Boston and Atlanta districts. Notice how some type 3 plates have lower plate serial numbers than the last of the type 2 plates. The data for Atlanta plates 353 and 365 reveal that the changeover from type 2 to 3 plate production occurred on plates certified August 17, 1926. All plates finished thereafter were type 3. Plate Serial Type Date Begun Date Certified $5 Boston type 2/3 changeover 544 2 Jul 16, 1926 Aug 16, 1926 545 2 Jul 16, 1926 Aug 6, 1926 546 3 Jul 16, 1926 Aug 20, 1926 547 2 Jul 20, 1926 Aug 4, 1926 548 2 Jul 20, 1926 Aug 4, 1926 549 2 Jul 20, 1926 Aug 16, 1926 550 2 Jul 20, 1926 Aug 13, 1926 551 3 Dec 1, 1926 Dec 20, 1926 551 3 Dec 1, 1926 Dec 18, 1926 $5 Atlanta type 2/3 and 3/4 changeovers 351 2 Jul 8, 1926 Aug 23, 1926 352 2 Jul 8, 1926 Aug 16, 1926 353 3 Jul 8, 1926 Aug 17, 1926 354 3 Jul 8, 1926 Aug 24, 1926 355 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 9, 1926 356 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 10, 1926 357 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 16, 1926 358 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 9, 1926 359 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 12, 1926 360 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 13, 1926 361 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 10, 1926 362 2 Jul 26, 1926 Aug 12, 1926 363 2 Aug 4, 1926 Sep 3, 1926 364 3 Aug 4, 1926 Aug 26, 1926 365 2 Aug 4, 1926 Aug 17, 1926 366 3 Aug 4, 1926 Aug 19, 1926 367 3 Jan 25, 1927 Feb 21, 1927 368 3 Jan 25, 1927 Feb 19, 1927 369 3 Jan 25, 1927 Feb 15, 1927 370 3 Jan 25, 1927 Feb 9, 1927 371 4 Mar 30, 1927 Apr 28, 1927 372 4 Mar 30, 1927 Apr 25, 1927 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 210 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 211 High Denomination Series of 1918 Notes The high denomination FRNs are a thing of beauty to behold, but in gener- al a discussion about them is pretty academic because in the cases of the $5000 and $10000 values they are either so rare as to be unobtainable, or in the case of the $500 and $1000 denominations so pricy most people will never possess one. The reason for this state of affairs is the small issuances for them. The fact is, they really didn’t have much practical utility so they didn’t circulate freely. Figure 25. $500 Series of 1918 $500s were printed for every Federal Reserve District. (National Numismatic Collection photo) Figure 26. San Francisco was the only district for which a $5000 Series of 1918 White-Mellon plate was made. Only 400 were printed. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 211 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279212 Table 3 reveals that $500 and $1000 plates and notes were made for every district. Plates were made and sent to press with all three possible signature combi- nations, although the Burke-Glass combination is the only one to appear on notes from every district. A $500 or $1000 note with Burke-Houston or White-Mellon signatures is a real prize. The $5000 and $10000 plates weren’t even made for all districts, and of those made, fewer were actually used to print notes. Only seven districts issued $5000s and six $10000s. Those denominations were made in negligible quantities ranging from 400 to 2,800 per district for the $5000s, and 400 to 2,000 for the $10000s. All were Burke-Glass notes, except for 400 White-Mellon $5000s made for San Francisco. They didn’t circulate and served no identifiable purpose. Figure 27. New York was the only district for which a $1000 Series of 1918 Burke-Houston plate was made. Nearly 25,000 were printed. (National Numismatic Collection photo) Figure 28. Graph showing the major components of United States currency in circulation during the large size Federal Reserve Note era. FRBN=Federal Reserve Bank Notes; FRN=Federal Reserve Notes; Gold=Gold Certificates; LT=Legal Tender Notes; NBN=National Bank Notes; and SC=Silver Certificates. Data from Secretary of the Treasury (1914-1929). *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 212 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 213 The Big Picture Figure 28 and Table 8 show the quantities of the principal classes of the cur- rency in circulation during the era of the large size Federal Reserve Notes. The overriding feature on the graph is that Federal Reserve Notes rose quickly to become our dominant currency, closing out the era at over 40 percent of the total. The appeal of Federal Reserve currency was that it was elastic; that is, it could expand and contract in response to the business needs of the country. This quality stood in stark contrast to the supply of legal tender and national bank notes, which were inelastic. The volume of legal tender notes, which were nothing more than fiat money in the form of circulating federal debt, was fixed at $1/3 billion dollars by statute. National bank currency was fixed at roughly $2/3 billion dollars by the total capital- ization of the national banks in the country to which it was tied. The latter was another number that hardly fluctuated in response to economic conditions. If you will find the curves for the legals and nationals, you will see that they are virtually flat - unresponsive - during the 1914-1929 period, just as their detractors claimed. In contrast, the supply of Federal Reserve Notes skyrocketed once the United States entered World War I in mid-1917. FRN volume peaked at over 60 percent of the total currency supply in 1920 coincident with the economic bubble in large part created by Federal spending attending the industrial buildup during the war. The supply of Federal Reserve Notes contracted materially beginning in 1920 as agricultural commodity prices collapsed following the war and the country entered the agricultural depression of 1920-4. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that exports to Europe in the form of both agricultural and industrial goods dimin- ished greatly because the European countries laid waste by the war could not afford that trade. Federal Reserve Notes issued to member banks were backed by either deposits of gold or commercial paper from member banks. The law required that “the reserve bank must be possessed of $40 in gold for every $100 of its notes it pays into circulation” (Woods, 1932, p. 84). If you will follow the curve representing gold note circulation, you will see Table 8. Net outstanding circulation in dollars by class of currency as reported by the Secretary of the Treasury (1914-1929). Amounts shown exclude currency held by the U. S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Banks, and the Federal Reserve Agents. United States 1890 Treasury Federal Reserve Federal Reserve National Bank Gold Silver FRN as % Year Notes Notes Notes Bank Notes Notes Certificates Certificates Total of Total Circ 1914 337,845,647 2,427,763 0 0 715,180,037 1,026,149,139 478,601,977 2,560,204,563 0.00% 1915 332,342,246 2,244,687 80,374,650 0 735,393,047 1,072,847,819 481,970,395 2,705,172,844 2.97% 1916 341,719,547 2,098,165 173,100,785 8,961,995 719,400,794 1,413,823,289 489,910,937 3,149,015,512 5.50% 1917 335,961,238 1,970,078 544,412,775 12,693,790 697,448,551 1,392,137,359 477,184,842 3,461,808,633 15.73% 1918 340,042,812 1,851,114 1,713,074,255 15,257,105 703,056,066 818,353,349 379,211,468 3,970,846,169 43.14% 1919 332,862,551 1,745,161 2,494,029,937 163,245,730 649,641,741 530,362,211 169,148,295 4,341,035,626 57.45% 1920 337,113,852 1,656,227 3,119,604,061 198,680,017 696,075,274 390,665,365 118,257,883 4,862,052,679 64.16% 1921 342,649,537 1,576,184 2,680,494,274 148,349,552 729,550,513 452,174,709 201,534,213 4,556,328,982 58.83% 1922 292,342,996 1,509,543 2,138,713,031 71,867,941 727,681,036 173,342,219 265,335,374 3,670,792,140 58.26% 1923 302,749,451 1,460,383 2,235,346,490 19,969,203 711,075,890 386,456,089 364,257,981 4,021,315,487 55.59% 1924 297,790,492 1,422,626 1,843,091,038 10,066,348 733,835,038 801,380,819 364,414,212 4,052,000,573 45.49% 1925 279,942,551 1,386,882 1,636,192,095 6,920,857 681,708,888 1,003,285,302 379,796,243 3,989,232,818 41.02% 1926 294,915,527 1,356,304 1,679,384,196 5,452,708 651,476,522 1,057,364,119 377,741,064 4,067,690,440 41.29% 1927 292,200,153 1,326,804 1,702,823,642 4,605,575 650,055,936 1,007,081,189 375,790,242 4,033,883,541 42.21% 1928 298,438,352 1,303,600 1,626,432,872 4,028,984 650,211,920 1,019,148,559 384,576,612 3,984,140,899 40.82% 1929 262,188,339 1,283,450 1,692,721,416 3,615,511 652,812,212 934,993,939 387,073,075 3,934,687,942 43.02% *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 213 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279214 that the volume of that type of currency falls off sharply beginning in 1917 coinci- dent with the explosion in FRN circulation. Gold note circulation rose again in 1922 when the supply of FRNs was being contracted. This inverse relationship is not a coincidence. The Federal Reserve banks were pulling Gold Certificates out of circulation so that they could leverage the gold represented by them into an increased supply of Federal Reserve Notes when money was sorely needed to support the war effort. This conversion of $1 worth of gold notes into $2.50 worth of FRNs accounts for a significant percentage of the increase in FRN circulation during that period. FRNs were pulled out of circulation when the need for currency declined after 1920, releasing the gold used for their backing. The remainder of the rise and fall of the stock of FRNs represented commer- cial paper deposited with, and then withdrawn from, the Federal Reserve Banks by the member banks as the economic bubble passed. Another numismatic story is clearly illustrated by the graphs, and that was the impact on the currency supply caused by the Pittman Act of April 23, 1918. This was the act that provided for the melting of 270 million silver dollars in the Treasury, and the sale of that bullion to Great Britain for use in coining money for India. Those silver dollars represented silver that had been purchased by the Treasury in compliance with past silver purchase acts. Once purchased, the silver was coined into dollars that no one wanted to carry around. Instead, the Treasury issued far more convenient silver certificates that the public liked, which served as warehouse deposit receipts for the silver dollars in the Treasury should anyone want to have them. As soon as the silver dollars started to be melted under the terms of the Pittman Act, the Treasury had to remove an equal value in Silver Certificates from circulation. This caused the decline in the stock of Silver Certificates evident between 1918 and 1920. The outstanding Silver Certificates dropped like a rock from about $370 million to less than $120 million as the silver dollars were being melted. The Pittman Act also required the Treasury to replace that silver by purchas- ing newly mined silver from our western mines. The Silver Certificate curve rebounded beginning in 1921, when the Treasury began to purchase the new silver and coin it into new silver dollars. Of course, what happened was that the new dol- lars went into storage in the Treasury, and the Treasury issued its convenient Silver Certificates against them just as it had before the big melt. One wrinkle in all of this was that Silver Certificates comprised the bulk of low denomination notes in circulation, particularly $1s. Treasury officials feared a shortage of them during the melt, so the Pittman Act authorized the issuance of Federal Reserve Bank Notes of $1 and $2 denominations to offset the Silver Certificates that had to be withdrawn from circulation. Consequently as you trace the FRBN curve on the graph, you will observe the corresponding rise and fall of FRBNs during the period 1918-1923! The grand lesson to be observed from the graph is the major role that elastic FRNs had in fueling the growth of industry during the Great War. Industrialization was on a rapid ascent and the United States was maturing into the leading economic powerhouse of the world as a result. The metamorphosis of that noisy new nation on the other side of the pond into the tail that was wagging the international dog was in no small part attributable to adoption of a currency that was up to the challenge, and that currency was Federal Reserve currency. Not National Bank Notes. Not Gold Certificates. But rather a currency that was “based upon the legitimate commercial credit of the country” (Woods, 1932, p. 89). Thus the volume of notes is a measure of the capacity of the nation’s economy to produce wealth and material well-being for its citizens. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 214 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 215 References Cited and Sources of Data Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1913-1939, Central Correspondence Files. Record Group 318, Box 148, file U.S. Sec[urity], Information, 1927, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Federal Reserve bank plates, 1914-1929, Series 1914, 1918 [plate history ledgers for large size FRN & FRBN faces and backs]. Record Group 318 (318/450/79/17/1/v. 3), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1914-1929, Federal Reserve Note Series of 1914 and 1918 serial number ledgers (FR01-FR21). BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1914-1929, Federal Reserve Note Series of 1914 plate record cards. BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1914-1929, Federal Reserve currency plates [plate history ledgers for large size FRN & FRBN faces and backs]. Record Group 318 (318/450/79/17/1/v. 4), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Order for [Federal Reserve] Notes, 1928. Record Group 318, Ledgers pertaining to plates, rolls and dies, 1870s-1960s (318/450/79/18/03 v. 114), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, January 11, 1928, History of the development of the electrolytic process for making engraved printing plates, unpublished report, Record Group 318 (318/450/79/14/1 box 157, file E & P Bu. Electrolytic), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD, 9. P. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. History o f the Bureau o f Engraving and Printing, 1862-1962. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1962, 199 p. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. “A brief history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.” BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, , circa 2008, 30 p. Bureau of the Public Dept, 1915, Record of decision concerning the change in seal color from red to blue on Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes. Record Group 53 (53/450/54/01/06/Box 11), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of the Public Debt, 1915, Correspondence files: Record Group 53 (53/450/54/01/06 Box 11), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Chambliss, Carlson, and Hessler, Gene. The Comprehensive Catalog of U. S. Paper Money, 7th edition. Port Clinton, OH: BNR Press, 2006. Ralph, Joseph E., Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, February 24, 1915, Letter to William P. Malburn, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, concerning additional district identifiers on Series of 1914 Federal Reserve Notes. Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53 (53/450/54/01/06/Box 11), U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. [References continued on page 221 . . .] Figure 29. $1000 Series of 1918 were printed for every Federal Reserve District. (National Numismatic Collection photo) *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 215 Date First Plate Treasury Signatures Type Plate Numbers of Type Certified Boston $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-14 Oct 31, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 15-102 Mar 9, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,8,10,11,12,13,14 Burke-Glass 2 103-175 Feb 10, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 176-274 Mar 24, 1920 White-Mellon 2 275-545, 547-550 Jul 2, 1921 White-Mellon 3 546, 551-562 Aug 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 563-583 (570) Apr 5, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 9, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-75 Mar 10, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Burke-Glass 2 76-144 Jan 8, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 145-230 Mar 3, 1920 White-Mellon 2 231-398 Sep 14, 1921 White-Mellon 3 399-426 (410) Nov 22, 1926 White-Mellon 4 427-438 Sep 23, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-3 Nov 17, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 4-30 Mar 10, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3 Burke-Glass 2 31-51 Feb 7, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 52-100 Mar 4, 1920 White-Mellon 2 101-166 (158) Nov 12,1921 White-Mellon 3 167-170 Feb 21, 1927 White-Mellon 4 171-189 May 31, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 31, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-4 Mar 25, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 5-7 Jan 23, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 8 Jan 11, 1921 White-Mellon 2 9-12 (11) Nov 3, 1921 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 19, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 3 Jan 4, 1919 White-Mellon 2 4-8 (7) Nov 1, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 8, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 31, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 17, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 17, 1919 New York $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-30 Oct 31, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 31-512 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,7,8,12,13,14,15,17,20,21,22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30 Burke-Glass 2 513-660 Jan 11, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 661-915 Feb 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 916-1651 Jun 20, 1921 White-Mellon 3 1652-1699 Nov 23, 1926 White-Mellon 4 1700-1839 May 6, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-24 Nov 10, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 25-282 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,3,5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 Burke-Glass 2 283-452 Jan 7, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 453-615 Feb 20, 1920 White-Mellon 2 616-869 Jul 2, 1921 White-Mellon 3 870-921 Aug 27, 1926 White-Mellon 4 922-1023 (1022) Apr 2, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-5 Nov 16, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 6-108 May 17, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4, Burke-Glass 2 109-176 Jan 31, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 177-235 May 22, 1920 White-Mellon 2 236-314 Sep 9, 1921 White-Mellon 3 315-330 Aug 30, 1926 White-Mellon 4 331-356 (338) Mar 30, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 4, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-17 Feb 28, 1917 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 18-21 Jun 3, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 22-29 Mar 26, 1920 White-Mellon 2 30-36 Jul 28, 1922 White-Mellon 3 37-43 (41) Mar 7, 1927 White-Mellon 2 44-47 Aug 10, 1927 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 2, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-14 Mar 2, 1917 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279216 Table 9. Series of 1914 and 1918 Federal Reserve Note plate serial numbers and usage. Boldface italics = no plates of the variety were used. ( ) = highest numbered plate used to print a variety if the full range was not used. The first Burke-McAdoo Type 2 certification date shown is when the first Type 2 plate was certified regardless of whether it was an altered or new plate. Often the lowest plate number of a given variety was not the first certified for use. Note: Some plates were not finished, others were finished but not used, so the plate serial number ranges shown can be incomplete sequences giving rise to smaller than expected counts on Table 3. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 216 Burke-Glass 2 15-16 Dec 19, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 17-18 Aug 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 19-27 Nov 2, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1-2 Feb 24, 1919 White-Mellon 5 3 Jan 11, 1923 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 14, 1919 Burke-Houston 5 2 Jun 14, 1920 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 13, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 15, 1919 Philadelphia $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-7 Nov 2, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 8-81 Mar 18, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,5,7 Burke-Glass 2 82-151 Dec 30, 1918 Burke-Houston 2 152-237 Mar 16, 1920 White-Mellon 2 238-587 Jun 25, 1921 White-Mellon 3 588-603 Nov 24, 1926 White-Mellon 4 604-663 (642) Apr 14, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 10, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-82 Mar 11, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 2,3,4 Burke-Glass 2 83-120 Apr 14, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 121-175 Mar 10, 1920 White-Mellon 2 176-324 Jun 2, 1921 White-Mellon 4 325-364 (340) Apr 21, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-3 Nov 18, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 4-60 Mar 11, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3 Burke-Glass 2 62-77 Mar 19, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 78-119 Mar 9, 1920 White-Mellon 2 120-198 (188) May 24, 1922 White-Mellon 4 199-216 Jun 6, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 5, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-4 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 5 Jan 23, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 6-10 May 16, 1920 White-Mellon 2 11-36 Jul 27, 1921 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 5, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-4 Apr 26, 1917 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 5-8 (7) Nov 4, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Feb 28, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 21, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 17, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 20, 1919 Cleveland $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 3, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-59 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4 Burke-Glass 2 60-98 Dec 20, 1918 Burke-Houston 2 99-178 Mar 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 179-381 Jun 18, 1921 White-Mellon 3 382-401 Nov 8, 1926 White-Mellon 4 402-458 (450) Apr 7, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 13, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-49 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4 Burke-Glass 2 50-81 Jan 11, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 82-124 Apr 6, 1920 White-Mellon 2 125-241 Aug 30, 1921 White-Mellon 3 242-249 Jan 29, 1927 White-Mellon 4 250-290 (265) Jun 20, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 18, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-52 Mar 9, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 53-84 Jan 14, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 85-116 Mar 12, 1920 White-Mellon 2 117-222 Jul 9, 1921 White-Mellon 3 223-234 (230) Jan 12, 1927 White-Mellon 4 235-251 Jul 19, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 5, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-10 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 11-13 Jul 24, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 14-20 May 7, 1920 White-Mellon 2 21-42 Nov 3, 1921 White-Mellon 3 43-50 (46) Oct 1, 1926 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 23, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 4 Dec 31, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 3,5-6 Jul 10, 1920 White-Mellon 2 7-10 Apr 21, 1924 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Feb 28, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 27, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 13, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 20, 1919 Richmond $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-10 Oct 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 11-66 Apr 27, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Burke-Glass 2 67-100 Mar 7, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 101-176 Apr 8, 1920 White-Mellon 2 177-289 Jun 24, 1921 White-Mellon 3 290-305 Dec 13, 1926 White-Mellon 4 306-333 (318) Apr 16, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 5, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-42 Mar 11, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Burke-Glass 2 43-66 Feb 15, 1919 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 217 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 217 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279218 Burke-Houston 2 67-105 Mar 12, 1920 White-Mellon 2 106-169 (165) Jul 7, 1921 White-Mellon 4 170-192 Apr 5, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 17, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-31 Mar 12, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 32-45 Mar 10, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 47-63 Oct 29, 1920 White-Mellon 2 64-105 Jun 13, 1921 White-Mellon 3 106-125 (106) Jan 12, 1927 White-Mellon 4 126-134 Dec 7, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 5, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 4 Jan 23, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 5-8 Jun 7, 1920 White-Mellon 2 9-16 (15) Nov 2, 1921 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 5, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 3 Jan 27, 1919 White-Mellon 2 4-9 (4) Nov 9, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 5, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 21, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 16, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 20, 1919 Atlanta $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-10 Oct 29, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 11-76 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Burke-Glass 2 77-120 Jan 7, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 121-180 Apr 10, 1920 White-Mellon 2 181-352,355-363,365 Jun 30, 1921 White-Mellon 3 353-354,364,366-370 Aug 17, 1926 White-Mellon 4 371-398 (374) Apr 25, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 7, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-57 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Burke-Glass 2 58-80 Jan 11, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 81-111 May 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 112-180 Nov 12, 1921 White-Mellon 3 181-201 (199) Aug 24, 1926 White-Mellon 4 202-219 Jun 3, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 17, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-48 Apr 18, 1918 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 49-70 Nov 4, 1920 White-Mellon 2 71-102 Mar 5, 1923 White-Mellon 3 103-114 (106) Aug 17, 1926 White-Mellon 4 115-132 Apr 12, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 6, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 3 Jan 16, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 4-5 Nov 17, 1920 White-Mellon 2 6-15 (14) Nov 3, 1921 White-Mellon 3 16-19 Oct 8, 1926 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 24, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 3 Jan 24, 1921 White-Mellon 2 4-7 (6) Jun 12, 1922 White-Mellon 3 8-11 Oct 7, 1926 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 10, 1919 White-Mellon 5 2 Jun 24, 1922 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 22, 1919 White-Mellon 5 2 Jun 24, 1922 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 20, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 20, 1919 Chicago $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-10 Nov 3, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 11-169 Mar 5, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 Burke-Glass 2 170-260 Mar 11, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 261-504 Mar 12, 1920 White-Mellon 2 505-923 May 23, 1921 White-Mellon 3 924-991 Nov 10, 1926 White-Mellon 4 992-1051 (1029) Jun 22, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 13, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-131 Mar 4, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,7,8 Burke-Glass 2 132-211 Apr 8, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 212-231 Mar 22, 1920 White-Mellon 2 232-428 Jun 22, 1921 White-Mellon 3 429-464 Oct 18, 1926 White-Mellon 4 465-513 (489) Jun 30, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-3 Nov 16, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 4-80 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3 Burke-Glass 2 81-119 Feb 20, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 120-213 Feb 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 214-263 Jun 7, 1921 White-Mellon 3 264-287 Dec 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 288-302 (292) Jul 6, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 7, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-10 Mar 24, 1914 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 11-12 Dec 3, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 13-21 May 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 22-34 Nov 9, 1921 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 23, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 4-5 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 6-7 Aug 13, 1920 White-Mellon 2 8-11 Aug 2, 1924 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 218 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) WANTED: 1790s FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. Kenneth Casebeer, (828) 277-1779; Casebeer @law.miami.edu (284) 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: charters #769 Whitinsville, Mass., #1022 Uxbridge, Mass.; #1385 Tolland, Conn.; national bank notes and obsolete currency contact: Terry Jackson, P.O. Box 783, Tolland, CT 06084-0783 email: Terry.Jackson@comcast.com (284) 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) BUYINg COUNTERFEIT DETECTORS: Heath, Hodges, Foote, Ormsby, Bond Detectors, Bank Note Reporters, Autograph Detectors, Related Receipts and Sales material, Naramore, and more. I will pay a strong mar- ket price for items need. Michael Sullivan, POB 10349, Fayetteville, AR 72703 or numisbookmjs@gmail.com (284) PAPER MONEY BACK ISSUES NEEDED: Need Paper Money issues Vol. 31, no. 5 (1992), Vol. 32, no. 1 (1993), and Vol. 43, no. 4 (2004). PRE- MIUM PRICE PAID FOR CRISP NEW COPIES. Michael Sullivan, POB 10349, Fayetteville, AR 72703 or numisbookmjs@gmail.com (280) AR 72703 or numisbookmjs@gmail.com vIRgINIA NATIONAL BANK NOTES FOR SALE -- For list, contact jameslbecknerjr@gmail.com (285) Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 219 $$ 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) ______________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 219 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279220 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 3, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 27, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 17, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 21, 1919 St. Louis $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-10 Oct 29, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 11-68 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Burke-Glass 2 69-133 Dec 31, 1918 Burke-Houston 2 134-217 Mar 13, 1920 White-Mellon 2 218-281 Jun 29, 1921 White-Mellon 3 282-293 (291) Nov 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 294-316 Apr 12, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 9, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-55 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Burke-Glass 2 56-65 Feb 1, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 66-139 Apr 6, 1920 White-Mellon 2 140-160 (156) Nov 28, 1921 White-Mellon 3 161-164 Feb 16, 1927 White-Mellon 4 165-181 Oct 31, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 17, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-30 Nov 25, 1916 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 31-34 Feb 3, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 35-48 Oct 27, 1920 White-Mellon 2 49-70 (63) Dec 17, 1921 White-Mellon 3 71-78 Feb 19, 1927 White-Mellon 4 79-86 Oct 29, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 8, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 3-4 Jan 18, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 5 May 20, 1920 White-Mellon 2 6-10 Nov 8, 1921 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 (2) Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 3-6 Nov 9, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Feb 21, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 31, 1918 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 17, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 22, 1919 Minneapolis $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-6 Nov 3, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 7-63 Mar 8, 1915 type 1 plates altered into type 2: 2,3,4,5 Burke-Glass 2 64-90 Jan 2, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 91-117 Oct 23, 1920 White-Mellon 2 118-213 Jun 20, 1921 White-Mellon 3 214-221 (215) Dec 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 222-243 Apr 9, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 12, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-43 Mar 23, 1915 type 1 plates altered into type 2: 1,2,4 Burke-Glass 2 44-55 Jan 14, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 56-69 Jun 16, 1920 White-Mellon 2 70-111 Jul 8, 1921 White-Mellon 4 112-133 Apr 12, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 18, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-21 Mar 8, 1915 type 1 plates altered into type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 22-25 Jan 22, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 26-37 Jun 19, 1920 White-Mellon 2 38-63 (59) Jun 10, 1922 White-Mellon 3 64-67 Feb 16, 1927 White-Mellon 4 68-81 Apr 8, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 8, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 23, 1915 type 1 plates altered into type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 3 Nov 22, 1920 White-Mellon 2 4-7 (6) Apr 29, 1924 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 23, 1915 type 1 plates altered into type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 3-6 (5) Nov 8, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Aug 19, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 4, 1919 Kansas City $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-5 Nov 3, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 6-109 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 2,3,4,5 Burke-Glass 2 110-140 Jan 15, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 141-188 May 24, 1920 White-Mellon 2 189-294 Jan 27, 1922 White-Mellon 3 295-306 (303) Nov 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 307-331 Jun 1, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 13, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-47 Mar 8, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3 Burke-Glass 2 48-55 Nov 10, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 56-86 May 26, 1920 White-Mellon 2 87-118 Jul 23, 1923 Type 2/4 4 119-130 (119) Nov 7, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 18, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-33 Mar 9, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 34-51 Nov 2, 1920 White-Mellon 2 52-67 (63) May 31, 1924 White-Mellon 3 68-77 Dec 21, 1926 White-Mellon 4 78-90 Apr 16, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 4-8 Jun 28, 1924 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 220 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 221 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 3-7 (6) Nov 12, 1921 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 3, 1919 White-Mellon 5 2 Jun 24, 1922 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 31, 1918 White-Mellon 5 2 Jul 17, 1922 Dallas $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-10 Oct 28, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 11-46 Mar 9, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Burke-Glass 2 47-84 Jan 3, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 85-113 Jun 15, 1920 White-Mellon 2 114-189 Nov 26, 1921 White-Mellon 3 190-197 Jan 24, 1927 White-Mellon 4 198-229 (201) Apr 5, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-8 Nov 9, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 9-44 Mar 10, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, Burke-Glass 2 45-50 Feb 4, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 51-70 Oct 25, 1920 White-Mellon 2 71-102 (97) Jun 30, 1923 White-Mellon 4 103-123 Sep 2, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 17, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-20 Mar 11, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 21-25 Jan 24, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 26-35 Nov 4, 1920 White-Mellon 2 36-57 (53) Nov 10, 1922 White-Mellon 3 58-61 Feb 16, 1927 White-Mellon 4 62-78 Apr 11, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 9, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 3-4 Jan 13, 1921 White-Mellon 2 5-7 (6) Apr 29, 1924 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 29, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 Mar 23, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 White-Mellon 2 3-5 Aug 28, 1924 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 3, 1919 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 3, 1919 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 18, 1919 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 none issued Jan 20, 1919 San Francisco $5 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 5, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-91 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4 Burke-Glass 2 92-135 Jul 26, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 136-226 Feb 18, 1920 White-Mellon 2 227-559 Jul 8, 1921 White-Mellon 3 560-583 Aug 20, 1926 White-Mellon 4 584-620 (596) Apr 7, 1927 $10 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-4 Nov 13, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 5-39 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2,3,4 Burke-Glass 2 40-64 Jan 13, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 65-121 Apr 5, 1920 White-Mellon 2 122-234 Oct 13, 1921 White-Mellon 3 235-242 Dec 1, 1926 White-Mellon 4 243-280 (271) Apr 2, 1927 $20 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Nov 18, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-54 Mar 6, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Glass 2 55-70 Feb 3, 1919 Burke-Houston 2 71-91 Apr 5, 1920 White-Mellon 2 92-178 Jul 8, 1921 White-Mellon 3 179-198 Nov 27, 1926 White-Mellon 4 199-228 (219) Jun 13, 1927 $50 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Jan 18, 1915 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-6 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 7-8 Jan 14, 1921 White-Mellon 2 9-16 (13) Mar 21, 1922 $100 Burke-McAdoo 1 1-2 Dec 30, 1914 Burke-McAdoo 2 3-5 Mar 24, 1915 Type 1 plates altered into Type 2: 1,2 Burke-Houston 2 6-7 Mar 5, 1921 White-Mellon 2 8-16 (10) Aug 28, 1924 $500 Burke-Glass 5 1 Mar 6, 1919 Burke-Houston 5 2 Apr 21, 1920 $1000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Dec 31, 1918 White-Mellon 5 2 Jun 24, 1922 $5000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 18, 1919 White-Mellon 5 2 Jun 24, 1922 $10000 Burke-Glass 5 1 Jan 21, 1919 [ . . . References continued from page 215] Secretary of the Treasury. Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1914-1929. White, Frank, U. S. Treasurer, November 1, 1921, Letter to Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, outlining revisions to redemption and assortment procedures at the National Bank Redemption Agency. Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Woods, Walter O. The Story of Uncle Sam’s Money. New York: Gregg Publishing Company, 1932, 177 p. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 221 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279222 Editor’s note: In recent issues of Paper Money, the subject of one-note sheets has come up repeatedly. We received a nice note from dealer Larry Falater, observing that banknote reporters often reprinted notes from original and fake plates, and some of what collectors are observing may be plates removed from these volumes. We also received another note from past SPMC President Ron Horstman regarding a one-note sheet in his collection (shown below). Hello Fred, Referring to the recent article in Paper Money, I offer a one-note sheet on the Alton Bank of Illinois. Alton is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River a few miles north of St. Louis. The bank opened in 1852, survived the Civil War, and converted to the Alton National Bank, charter #1428. Best wishes, Ron Horstman Ostentatious George Shows up in change Paper money circulation contin- ues to fascinate this publication’s editor. This note was entered into the www.wheresgeorge website and circulation at Yukon, OK just west of the state’s capital city. It showed up in Oklahoma City, and subsequently in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Thus, this “Ostentatious George” (i.e. bear- ing many colorful markings) is another of the well-traveled Interstate 35 notes that we’ve chronicled in these pages. -- Fred Reed Readers report more on one-note sheets *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 222 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 223 Berlioz among composers featured on banknotes Bach, Beethoven and Brahms were the three legendary Bs in music until about 40 years ago when the list was extended to five or six. The original three have been honored on coins from Germany. Two of the additional composers, Bruckner and Bartok, have been recognized with portraits on coins and paper money from Austria and Hungary, respec- tively. The portrait of the sixth “B” composer, Berlioz, can be found on a bank note from France. (Claude Debussy is the only other French composer to be recog- nized on French paper money. Anyone who has studied piano for more than two or three years has played Debussy's Clair de lune.) Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was born three years after the death of America's first professional musician, William Billings (1746-1800). The portrait on the face of the 10-franc note (P[ick] 150) shows Berlioz as a conductor; on the back he is depicted playing a guitar, his first instrument. If you are not a lover of classical music, the name Berlioz might not be familiar to you. Nevertheless, you have heard his music. Portions of his Symphonie Fantastique often are played as background music for films and television shows. The music of organist and composer Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) was celebrated in the mid-20th century by conductors around the world, among them another musician whose name begins with “B,” Leonard Bernstein. Bruckner's music is often linked with that of fellow Austrian Gustav Mahler whose music Bernstein also championed. The music of both Austrians can be glorious. The face of the 1,000 schilling note (P135) dated January 2, 1954 bears a por- trait of Bruckner engraved by Rudolph Zenziger. The ornate back, embellished with four cherubs and the organ at St. Florian was engraved by Rudolph Toth. It is the only note mentioned here that might be out of reach for most collectors. In choice condition, it is increasingly scarce and moderately expensive. The only composer from the extended "B" list who lived in the 20th century is Hungarian Bela Bartok (1881-1945). Bartok, was influenced by Johannes Brahms, but chose a dif- ferent musical direction after hearing the music of Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. Bartok escaped to the United States in 1940, but died five years later. In November 1940 Columbia University bestowed an honorary doctorate to this pianist-composer. Bartok's Mikrokosmos collection has become part of the standard studies for many beginning pianists. His portrait appears on Hungary's 1,000 forint (P173) dated March 25, 1983. The portrait probably was engraved by Kaŕoly Bolytos or Kaŕoly Bojtos, two picture-portrait engravers who were employed at the Hungarian Bank Note Printing Office. Some American musicians whose name begin with “B” have been honored on postage stamps: Irving Berlin, Count Basie and Leonard Bernstein. None are likely to be recog- nized on U.S. coins or bank notes. Stephen Foster is the only American musician to be portrayed on our coins. Collectors will recognize the “American Troubadour's” profile on the 1936 50th anniversary of the Cincinnati Music Center. Reprinted with permission from The Numismatist August 1994 www.money.org A Pr imer for Col lectors BY GENE HESSLER THE BUCK Starts Here France’s 10-franc, Pick 150 shows Berlioz as a conducter on face and as a violinist on back. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 223 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279224 Small Notes by Jamie Yakes Confusion sorting FRNs IN JUNE 1930, BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTINGDirector (BEP) Alvin Hall responded to a letter from Public Debt Commissioner William Broughton: “Under the date of June 3, you called my attention . . . that the banks are having dif- ficulty in distinguishing the letter "H" which appears in the cir- cle on the left of the portrait. We have taken steps to correct the defect . . . by strengthening the horizontal lines (Hall, 1930)." Broughton had written Hall on June 3 to say that note sorters were confusing the "H" in the district seals on St. Louis Federal Reserve notes with the "11" in the seals on Kansas City notes (Broughton, 1930). By law banks had to separate redeemed Federal Reserve Notes according to the issuing banks. The let- tered- and numbered-seal notes complicated the process, espe- cially for banks that sorted thousands of notes a day. In the con- fusion notes were beng credited to the wrong banks. Why, though, were notes with both kinds of seals circulat- ing in 1930? Federal Reserve notes originally had numbers in the district seals when issued in July 1929. Fearful the public would confuse them for the denomination, the Treasury changed to letters on all new plates starting late that September (Yakes, 2011). The BEP pressed the lettered-seal plates into service, and sealed and numbered those notes soon thereafter. The numbered-seal plates, however, remained in use until May 1930, and the BEP finished numbering those sheets until they exhausted the supply. All the numbered-seal notes would eventually be redeemed from circulation. In the meantime the BEP lessened the confu- sion by having plate engravers strengthen the crossbars on the Hs by deepening the engravings on the lettered-seal plates. They did this only to the master plates and left untouched the working plates already in use. My attempt to detect differences between the old and reworked Hs using scans from the Heritage archives proved unsuccessful. I contacted Peter Huntoon about my dilemma, and he agreed to search the plate proofs in the National Numismatic Collection in Washington, D.C. Those provided the best options for seeing the alterations. We determined candidate plates for displaying both kinds of Hs by comparing the plate certification dates with those of Broughton's and Hall's correspondence. As only St. Louis $5, $10, $500, and $1000 plates entered service prior to June 1930, these became our targets. Huntoon made his trip early in 2011, but unfortunately notified me with bad news: None of our candidate proofs showed any distinctions in the Hs when compared to proofs from unimproved plates. The change was so subtle it was unno- ticeable. For collectors, that was too bad--a possible new variety turned into nothing. Apparently only the trained eye of a skilled plate engraver could tell the difference. Left: Series 1928 Federal Reserve Note District Seals Acknowledgments The Professional Currency Dealers Association supported this research. The figures were cropped from scans taken of certi- fied proofs located in the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., provided by Peter Huntoon. References Broughton, W. S., Commissioner of the Public Debt, June 3, 1930 letter to A. H. Hall, Director of the BEP, regarding distinction between St. Louis and Dallas notes. Record Group 53, Bureau of Public Debt, Series K Currency, Box 12, File K723. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Hall, A. H., Director of the BEP, June 12, 1930 letter to William S. Broughton, Commissioner of the Public Debt, regarding distinction between St. Louis and Dallas notes. Record Group 53, Bureau of Public Debt, Series K Currency, Box 12, File K723. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Yakes, J. "Search Clears Up 1928 Seals Change." Bank Note Reporter 60, no. 5 (2011, May): 1, 87-88. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 224 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 225 Do color ads in Paper Money Really Work? Just Did! . . . Gotcha Isn’t it time that YOU advertised in Paper Money? *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 225 All that Glitters is not Copper By Eric Meythaler THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS! WHEN YOU think of the mining history ofColorado, your mind turns to gold of course, and silver…and copper? Yes, Arizona’sneighbor to the northeast had a small but profitable copper industry around the turn ofthe twentieth century. Four main areas still boast more than one hundred mines that once produced copper. Despite the metal’s rising price, none of the mines have been redeveloped. One region in south-central Colorado often gave up ores with a high percentage of usable minerals. A town in the area that lies between two mining districts also had the advantage of having the main railroad run through it. It is called Salida and is a typical mining and railroad-developed town. The rail company built the hospital, a roundhouse, and other structures, mainly boarding houses and storefronts. Although the roundhouse is gone, many of these traditional brick-fronted buildings remain today as part of the largest downtown historical district in Colorado. The Salida area was home to a goodly number of mining concerns. Our tale revolves around one such venture, enticingly titled The Boston-Colorado Copper Company. Incorporated in 1905, it was capitalized with a supposed and optimistic one million dollars worth of stock. The handsome certificates use flowery cursive script in the legal description. Three engraved vignettes cover the top third. The central oval shows foothills and a train track, in what could easily pass as local scenery. On either side are circular illustrations of miners working by candlelight. Two 226 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 226 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 227 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 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 227 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279228 stocky men swing pickaxes in the left picture, while the right shows a crew shoveling rocks into an underground ore car. A very ornate gold border surrounds it all, wavy gold lines (reminiscent of a topographical map) cross the paper, and an official-looking gold seal is embossed in one corner. Signed by the company’s two principles, this particu- lar certificate for 3,000 shares was issued on July 16th, 1906, to a Mrs. Della Carson, probably of the Chicago area. Although it states the shares are worth one dollar each, they were often sold for half that amount. But the real story lies in the shady maneuverings of the company’s founders. In a nutshell, the Boston- Colorado Copper Company was a sham, a con job, and a tale worthy of any soap opera. The prologue starts with a man named B. S. Denison. For five years he was the manager of a general store’s jewelry department in the small town of Delta, Colorado, some 150 miles west of Salida. While in his charge, $2,500 worth of jewelry was stolen from the company safe. Curiously, the safe had not been physically attacked in any way -- no crowbar or dynamite was employed. Instead the safe had been opened by means of its combination. Of course Denison was the prime suspect, but no evidence could be found linking him to the crime. Nonetheless, he moved on to Salida shortly thereafter. Denison briefly worked as an optician, but gold and diamonds attracted him again. So he opened his own jewelry store in the downtown area. While he was proprietor of the shop he met a rather rakish dance instructor by the name of Frederick H. Colvin. Colvin was concocting his own nefarious scheme and convinced Denison to loan him two hundred dollars to help him get started. Colvin used this money to buy an old, abandoned, and basically worthless copper mine about nine miles out of town. Thus the two men became partners in business and later, partners in crime. Denison proved to be a poor busi- nessman and his jewelry store neared bankruptcy. Having (allegedly) stolen his own merchandise before he and Colvin cooked up a different plan. One night in early spring of 1906, Colvin showed up at the shop with suitcases and trunks. He proceeded to take away moe than $5,000 worth of goods. While caching fifteen hundred of it in Salida, he sold another $3,500 of jewelry to acquaintances in Texas. Two days after removing the store’s best wares, the men set fire to the shop in an arson insurance fraud that netted them another thousand dollars. In March Colvin then took off for Chicago, where he lavishly distributed diamonds and other pieces of the jewelry to a number of wealthy women, including his landlady. This set the stage for him to implement the second and more ambitious of their schemes. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 228 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 229 800.458.4646 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. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 229 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279230 Using Denison’s membership in the National Association of Jewelers, Colvin sought out another association member in the Chicago area. His search led him to Charles Breitenbach, a part-time jeweler, but more importantly, an influential broker. Colvin’s smooth talk and documents won over the man to become (an unwitting) part of the Colorado copper company. Among the material Colvin presented were numerous brochures extolling the mine’s operation. The paperwork claimed four tunnels of two thousand feet in total length, ore mills capable of handling one hundred tons of ore, and $65,000 already spent in getting the old mine going again. But the kicker was an assay report from Salida, which showed remarkably rich ore. It turns out that Denison and Colvin had secretly taken samples from a real and profitable copper mine to the assayer in order to obtain the glow- ing report he showed and mailed to prospective investors. Colvin also quietly added that they only needed $50,000 more and the Boston-Colorado Copper Company would soon be issuing marvelous dividends to all stockholders. He even installed Mr. Breitenbach as treasurer of the company. Colvin was already president and Denison the secretary. Breitenbach was convinced and set out to sell shares of the stock to his own wealthy clients. In a very short while he had sold about $150,000 worth (different sources mention amounts between $135,000 and $160,000). After turning over almost half of the proceeds to Colvin, something spooked the new company official and he started ques- tioning Colvin about the mine. When satisfactory answers were not forthcoming, Breitenbach dispatched his lawyer, one A. L. Gottlieb, by train to Colorado to personally inspect the operation. Back in Salida, Denison salted the mine with gold and copper. He also hired a crew to be industriously working when Gottlieb showed up. But the attorney was not fooled. Upon returning to Chicago, he told Breitenbach that he “wouldn’t give $75 for the whole territory, let alone the mine.” He also produced a letter from the mine’s previous owner stating, “...there was no patent on the mining claims.” This makes the provenance of the claim difficult to ascertain and Colvin’s ownership tenuous. Perusing county records, Colvin’s written description of his five acres is vague and incomplete. At this point, in the fall of 1906, events got even more convoluted because Breitenbach refused to turn over all of the money from his stock sales, Colvin had him arrested for embezzlement. But the broker and his lawyer had not been sitting idle. The very next day Colvin himself was arrested by postal authorities and charged with using the U. S. mails to defraud. They were first alerted to the swindle by Mrs. Barbara Schwalbe whose address was the swank Plaza Hotel in Oak Park, an upper economic suburb of Chicago. With her information and first-hand knowledge from Breitenbach and his lawyer, the Post Office detectives had enough to hold Colvin on five hundred dollars bail. In early 1907, his bail was raised to $4,000 when news of the fire insurance scam was brought in. During the last half of 1906, the National Association of Jewelers and the insurance company had also been busy. Two of their detectives were investigating Denison and the fire at his Salida store. Denison cracked under the pressure and broke from Colvin, blaming the other man for engineering everything. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 230 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 231 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 231 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279232 Upon hearing this, Colvin promptly fired Denison as company secretary and installed a man named E. C. Eckes in that position. This did nothing to forestall Colvin’s problems and Eckes disappeared quietly from the story. While Colvin sat in jail unable to pay his bail bond, the wheels of justice ground slowly. Mining experts were dispatched to Salida to do their own assay of the copper ore. Authorities in both states were trying to follow the money trail from the stock sales. But they had no luck. Colvin told them that the company records had been lost when the office burned - a remarkably convenient and familiar occurrence. Legal maneuverings between Colorado and Chicago mainly consisted of attempts to combine the stock and insurance frauds into one case. But the prosecutor soon realized that if this were to happen, Denison would not be allowed to testify against his former partner since they both would be co-respondents. So the two cases were split. Denison’s arson case came down to a “he said/she said” situation. With little fan- fare the trial was hastily concluded without serious jail time for Denison. He then was escorted out to Chicago to be one of the primary witnesses against Colvin and the stock swindle. While there, Denison was able to find employment as a jeweler once again. He continued to live in the Midwest for many years. (His trail runs cold by World War I, and there is no record of him living anywhere else.) By now, December of 1907, Colvin had been in jail for almost a year. The judge had yet again increased his bail bond, now up to a whopping $10,000. But the defendant was sprung from jail for the actual trial. A local Salida man, reported back to the town’s newspaper of a “plain-looking widow lady who seems to have a heightened interest in the proceedings.” He was able to discover that it was indeed this lady who had furnished the money to get Colvin released. But his freedom was short-lived. Within a month’s time the Chicago jury found him guilty of mail fraud. His punishment was a relatively small fine of one thousand dollars, but also two and a half years in the federal prison at Leavenworth. A month after the trial, B. S. Denison was back in Salida for a visit. He informed people there that Colvin had promised, “if he ever returned to Hell (meaning Salida), he would leave no stone unturned until he made even with some of his ‘friends’ here.” So there it is: one of the most twisted and convoluted tales of frontier flimflam perpetrated on people “back east.” There are dozens of similar stories throughout the early years of mining. Investors were sure that any and every mine in California or Colorado or wherever would pay handsomely for little more than a minimum bit of effort and cash. One of the other stock certificates in my collection has a one pence tax stamp from England. Four men in London had invested in a local Salida gold mine, but this one was legitimate and profitable. But all these scenarios show that the allure of precious metals-or even just copper, a handsome and professional-looking stock certificate, and the glib tongue of a salesman will open the wallets of dreamers everywhere. I would like to thank my wife, Gwen, for all photography and technical support, and the good people at the Chaffee County Courthouse and the Salida Regional Library for their professional and kind help in my research. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 232 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 233 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 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 233 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279234 Dear Fellow Lovers of All Things Fiscal in Paper: This is written immediately upon return from the March 8th to 10th CPMX event in Chicago, an event that seemed to me to evidence healthy levels of interest in our delight-filled hobby. There was plenty of bourse activity, almost non-stop dealer-to-dealer activity, broad participa- tion in an auction which had diverse groups of U.S. and world currency, and the many pleasant and highly social interactions which are the heart of this “reporter’s” enjoy- ment of our hobby. At the SPMC table [kindly provided to us by Krause Publications/F&W], the vast majority of the conversation fell into one of three areas. One bucket could be [broadly] characterized as various paper money specific discussions, e.g., “What should I collect next?”; “What would be a fresh new topic for an exhibit at Memphis?”; “Why are Lady Lavery notes in higher denominations becoming so hard to find?”; “Nationals: To slab or not to slab?”; and the like. The second area of discussions could be characterized by the following exchange: “Selling breakfast tickets?” “Yes.” “How much?” “$15” “Gimme two.” “Okay!” Not everybody buys two, some buy one and some buy four, but it is universally agreed that the breakfast in Memphis remains a very good time, a very good breakfast, and has been priced remarkably consistently over time [read: “This is the last year it will be less than twenty bucks.”]. If you did not attend CPMX, but are attending the Central States Numismatic Convention in April, you can hunt down Governor Wendell Wolka, who will be covering that event for us. Even better yet, you can go to the SPMC’s highly interactive, very cool website and buy your tickets over the web. But buy them before May 1st; the early bird price will disappear after that. Yes, the new site, very much the subject of last issue’s column, but in “quiet launch” mode, is now in full- fledged release, and was the third [and most satisfying] of the many table discussions at CPMX. All the intended basic functionality is now up and running. While we heard much about the site, all of it was complimentary about the new features, the design, and the content. Where people had encountered issues, the commentary was still very complimentary, but with useful constructive observations which can be addressed promptly. At the time of this writing, all of our members have been mailed their temporary PINs, allowing entry into the secure sections of the site intended for use by Society members only. If you have not received your PIN mailing, please go to the site [www.spmc.org], and e-mail us. Please provide us your name and address and membership num- ber if you know it, so we can properly and promptly resolve this issue for you. We need this because we only have a limited [but growing] database of member e-mail addresses tagged to specific member names at this point. While there have been various incidental issues reported back to us by users, their volume has been sur- prisingly small. We have been knocking these glitches off left, right, and center pretty much as fast as they are reported to us. I say “we,” but that is a liberal and grandiose “we,” because all the real work is getting done by Governor Hewitt, the true architect of the site’s exis- tence, and Secretary/Past President Bolin, who has brought reasoned and reliable support to the process. Your President wishes he could claim more than a mod- icum of cheerleading and a few polite answers to e-mails along the way, but that is about it. He remains tremen- dously impressed by the site’s design, features and func- tionality, successful rollout to date, and the prompt and responsive fashion in which the small fixes and occasional need for profile merges have been taken care of. The team makes it look easy, which to them it may occasionally be, but it is clearly time consuming, and being done with impressive alacrity and responsiveness. We are very lucky to enjoy these folks’ devotion. And, even though we have tried to be explicit in how we feel about the printed version of the magazine, the dis- cussion of the new website has still led more than once to speculation as to “when we might or would discontinue the printed version of the magazine.” Since I spent a fairly solid slug of the last President’s Column on this topic, I do not want to bore readers with a full repetition. However, I do want to be consistent [and a bit relentless] on this topic. Being able to access our journal, Paper Money, on the website may be viewed as a convenience by some, an improvement by others. Society in general may be trending in the direction of more electronic delivery over time, and this may continue. But I believe that uni- versal preference is at least a generation away [and more than likely, much longer than that]. So, please let me allay any fears that visits to the new website may arouse…the e- PM version is and should be viewed as an option and an added convenience for the benefit of members of the SPMC. It is not part of a planned transition from our paper-based journal to a web-based, e-only version. Last year I mentioned before Memphis in this column The President’s Column *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 234 Where’s Waldo this time? IN THE LATE 1980s-EARLY 1990s WHEN MY SONwas a youth there was some silly game (and books too, I believe) called Where’s Waldo or somesuch. You probably recall them too. The idea was to locate Waldo hiding in a crowded illustration that had all sorts of optical false leads. This time out, “Waldo” is on page 235, in the space where you may be used to seeing the “Money Mart” ads from your fellow members. Yes, ye olde Editor’s odyssey continues. Please see page 219 for the ads. He (I’m) still looking for a regular contributor to send in his thoughts to fill a half page of this magazine opposite mine so we can both occupy a regular spot each issue. It seems that nobody has opinions, or is outraged (imagined or real) over the state of the hobby in some way . . . or even is egotistical enough to want to get his/her face and authorial voice in this periodical on a regular basis. Meanwhile my former “Back Page” continues to bub- ble along with the input of recent squatters, our new regu- lar columnists Messrs. Herbert and Davenport. So please consider what you might have to offer to your fellow hobbyists and drop me a line, actually 400 words or so and let’s get our wandering Waldo a regular space once again. Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 235 that I had finally caved into temptation and agreed to try my hand, for the first time in my life, at doing an exhibit for Memphis. This was primarily a result of the renewed focus that Lyn Knight has brought to the exhibit aspect of our hobby since he acquired the Memphis show. His efforts have improved the quantity, the quality, the topical breadth, and the sheer volume of exciting material “dressed up in its Sunday Best.” At the time I “caved” I suspected that exhibiting would be a lot of work, take some thought, and organization. I was right. But I did not understand how fulfilling it would be, both in terms of what I would learn from my collection, and the reactions and feedback to the display itself. So, while at the time it was not my place to proselytize, now that I have been through it, I can. If you love your stuff, or the tale it tells, be brave, sign up, exhibit, and tell that tale! The deadline for signing up for exhibit “cases and space” at Memphis is May 1st, so get in touch with Mart Delger or Bob Moon [our Treasurer] to book what you need. It has clearly been a busy pair of months for the Society. As noted, it has been so on the web front, but also [no doubt] for our busy Editor, putting yet another fine publication together for the benefit for you, our members, from the hard work of a dedicated group of members and contributors. And now you can enjoy it in two formats. So, in closing, [and this I do lift verbatim from the last column], Go to the new site. Play at the new site. Use the new site. Tell us what you like and dislike or find prob- lematical. But go to the new site and use it. Read the mag- azine in e-format if you so choose. Browse the back issues. Read a few articles published before you joined [there are plenty, unless you are a fifty year member]. If nothing else, log in and get your Memphis breakfast tickets! Sincerely, The Editor’s Notebook Fred L. Reed III Fred@spmc.org Mark Help wanted: Editor desires a regular hook-up. Applicant needn’t be pretty just presentable. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 235 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279236 BIG NEWS! The SPMC Website has been re-designed! Big Content and Big Benefits SPMCproudlyannouncesanew,sociallyorientedwebsitefortheuseofyou,ourmembership.Itgiveseverymember theopportunitytoeasilyengagewithothermembers inthepursuitoftheirhobby. Further,theentirehistoryofthe SPMCjournalPAPERMONEYispostedinPDFformat,providingawealthofknowledgeatyourfingertips. Come on along - Get on board! Followthetrackstogetonboard: Gotohttp://www.spmc.org/pin EnteryourmembershipnumberandPIN,foundonthelabelinwhichthisletterwasmailed Gotoyouraccountpage ™ Enteryouremailaddress,newpassword,etc.andthenclickthe“Createnewaccount”button ™ Choose“EditProfile”andverifyyourmailingaddress ™ Provideinformationaboutyourcollectinginterests ™ Besuretohitthe“Save”buttonatthebottomofthepage Thiswillcompletethebuildingofyouraccount.Youcanaccesstheresourcessolongasyourmembershipiscurrent.   Now Explore the Site! ) FREECALENDAROFEVENTS(http://www.spmc.org/calendar) Î Clickonthe“Calendar”menuitem.Itshowseventsthathavebeenpostedbyyourfellowmembers, includingconventions,auctions,seminarsandlocalshows. Î Doyouhaveaneventthatyouwouldliketotellyourfriendsabout? 9 ClickontheMembers:Addaneventlinkabovethecalendar.Youreventwillbereviewed, andifapproved,willbepostedinshortorder.Thisisafreeserviceforourmembers. ) BLOGS(http://www.spmc.org/blogs) Î Go toCommunity>Blogs. Thesearepostingsbymemberswhohavevolunteered towriteabout theirareasofinterest.Wehaveseveralbloggerslinedup,sohopefullyyouwillseesomethingnew herefairlyoften. Î AreYOUinterestedinbecomingablogger?Letusknow! *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 236 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 237 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:20 AM Page 237 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279238 HERE’S A SIMPLE IDEA FOR YOU FUN-LOVINGextroverts looking to amuse your friends and neighbors: use $2 bills. Pay for your McDonald’s coffee with one and joke with the cashier as he’s thumbing about trying to make change for a bill he almost never has to change. Your Starbucks barista will chuckle at herself (hopefully!) for her ineptness at not being able to figure out why the change she gives you just doesn’t seem to add up correctly. Have fun with it but make sure to give them their change back if they give you too much! And if anyone offers to “buy” some of these bills from you, make sure to tell them their bank hay supply them for just $2 each! Thomas Jefferson, a man who strongly believed power should reside with the states and not the federal government, would have appreciated the irony of his image creating so much confusion on a federal currency note. While Alexander Hamilton—the advocate of the federal government controlling the power—gloats from the face of the $10 bill, Jefferson twists about on the $2 bill, forever searching for a cash register or vending machine willing to make space for him. The “Sage of Monticello” may have the nickel—widely used with no thoughts or laughs--but when it comes to paper money, he’s relegated to horse track betting and gift envelopes for kids. Hardly anyone uses $2 bills; indeed, many people don’t even know they exist. This scarcity presents all kinds of unusual and humorous scenarios, but beware: the person you’re trying to give the bill to may think it’s not legal. One place you’re likely to see them is at Clemson University away football games. As a calling card of sorts, Clemson fans have a tradition (dating back to 1977) to use $2 bills--stamped with the orange Clemson tiger paw--when they travel for away games. Shortly after the government started printing them again for our Bicentennial celebration, after a 10-year hiatus, I received a $2 bill as a gift. Having never seen one before I thought it was highly collectible. So now, years later, that note is snugly packed away with a lot of memories and old baseball cards from the days when the Big Red Machine was mowing every team down, and in politics, a Georgia peanut farmer beat an old college football player. You can’t buy much with two bucks anymore, but you can enjoy the experience more if you use the $2 bill. Having fun spending money never came so cheaply. Paul Herbert Don’t get me started WHILE CONSIDERING THIS COLUMN, I PERFORMED Abit of a thought experiment – what would happen to our hobby if all payment were electronic, and physical currency was no longer used? Realize that I don’t foresee this occurring anytime in the near future; at the very least, local scrip would undoubtedly make a rousing comeback if it were ever seriously attempted. My thoughts on the matter are still coalescing, as I consider how the various segments of paper money collecting are both separate and connected. The experiment did, however, make me think about how people begin collecting, and how I personally got into paper money. I got the collecting bug from my grandfather. Stamps were his primary interest, and I’m sure I still have a small box of can- celled stamps from around the world, having already waited a few decades to be soaked off of their individual scraps of enve- lope. We filled a lot of Whitman coin albums together, though, and by high school I was beginning a type set, with him giving me advice and encouragement the whole way. He didn’t collect currency, aside from putting away a few Silver Certificates he found in circulation, so I really didn’t consider it, either. Sure, now I know there are albums for dollars, but you have to fold the bills so they fit in the round holes, and then you end up having to push really hard on Washington’s face to get them to stay in…(yes, of course I’m joking. You have to get the albums with Eisenhower-sized holes, not Susan B. Anthony, if you want the dollars to stay put). Anyway, I eventually stopped collecting altogether. First college, then life, got in the way. Maybe ten years later, however, the bug came back. And even though grandpa wasn’t around anymore, and even though I no longer collected what we had worked on together years before, the advice he had given me and the skills he instilled in me have served me very well in the years since. My grandpa may not have collected currency, but he did instill the love of building a collection in me. And I have the feeling that regardless of what happens to currency in circulation, as long as there are grandpas, our hobby will be in good hands. John Davenport Spurious Issues Editor’s odyssey off the ‘Back Page’ continues. Please see Page 235 for his new scheme. *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:21 AM Page 238 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279 239 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 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 Another chance to sell your duplicate notes at “collector prices” Advertise in this space and take home the big bucks!!! *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:21 AM Page 239 Paper Money • May/June 2012 • Whole No. 279240 *May-June 2012 Paper Money_Extra Pages 2b 3/28/12 11:21 AM Page 240 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 Jan-Feb 2012 SPMC cover_Jan/Feb Cover 3/28/12 10:49 AM Page 3 crack open the safe! C U R R E N C Y S I G N AT U R E A U C T I O N SEPTEMBER 5-8, 2012 | LONG BEACH | LIVE & ONLINE It’s time to crack open the old safe, visit the safe deposit box, dust o the stack of notes on your desk, and check under the mattress. Heritage Currency is currently accepting consignments for our 2012 Signature Currency Auction that will be held in Long Beach in September. We are also making outright purchases of notes to add to our inventory. If you are interested in consigning or selling your material, please call us today at 800-872-6467, ext. 1001. Annual Sales Exceed $800 Million | 700,000+ Online Bidder-Members 3500 Maple Avenue | Dallas, Texas 75219 | 800-872-6467 | HA.com DALLAS | NEW YORK | BEVERLY H ILLS | SAN FRANCISCO | PAR IS | GENEVA 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. Consignment Deadline: July 16 23289 Jan-Feb 2012 SPMC cover_Jan/Feb Cover 3/28/12 10:49 AM Page 4