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Table of Contents
Series of 1923 Porthole S.C. Doomed—Lee Lofthus |
$1 Series of 1899 S.C. Signature Combinations--Peter Huntoon |
The Delaware & Hudson Canal & its Paper Money—Q. David Bowers |
WW2 British Military Authority Notes for Greece--Evangelos Fysikas |
Commonwealth Edison’s Federal Dividend Coupon System—Loren Gatch |
Seal Varieties on Series 1928 FRNs—Peter Huntoon |
The County of Montgomery (AL) & Their Revenue Notes—Bill Gunther |
Paper Money
Vol. LIX, No. 2, Whole No. 326 www.SPMC.org March/April 2020
Official Journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors
The D. Brent Pogue Collection Part VI
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The sale of The D. Brent Pogue Collection Part VI will be held March 19, 2020, in Baltimore, Maryland as part of our
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For more information visit StacksBowers.com The D. Brent Pogue Collection
Stack?s Bowers Galleries Presents Highlights from
Fr. 1216b. 1882 $500 Gold Certificate.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Fr. 376. 1891 $50 Treasury Note.
PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ.
Fr. 1219e. 1907 $1000 Gold Certificate.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ.
Fr. 45. 1875 $2 Legal Tender Note.
PMG Choice Uncirculated 64.
Serial Number 1.
Fr. 1185. 1906 $20 Gold Certificate.
PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ.
Serial Number 1.
Fr. 167a. 1863 $100 Legal Tender Note.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Fr. 328. 1880 $50 Silver Certificate.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Fr. 377. 1890 $100 Treasury Note.
PMG Choice Uncirculated 63 EPQ.
Lincoln, Illinois. $100 1875. Fr. 462.
The First NB. Charter #2126.
PMG About Uncirculated 55. Serial Number 1.
Fr. 151. 1869 $50 Legal Tender Note.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Fr. 306b. 1878 $20 Silver Certificate.
PMG About Uncirculated 50.
Fr. 342. 1880 $100 Silver Certificate.
PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326
PAPER MONEY ISSN?0031?1162?
Official?Bimonthly?Publication?of?The?Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors?
Vol.?LIX,?No.?1?January/February2020?
80
Cover Story
Series of 1923 Porthole S.C. Doomed?Lee Lofthus
The?Series?of?1923?$5??porthole??silver?certificates?may?appear?to?be?a?simple?one?and?done?type?note?
from?a?numismatic?perspective, but the governmental story behind themwas hardly?simple.?
88 $1 Series of 1899 S.C. Signature Combinations--Peter Huntoon Identification?of?the?known?engraving?varieties?on?the?intaglio?face?and?back?plates?used?to?print?the?Series?of?1899?$1 silver?certificates and a timeline for when those plateswere on the presses?is?presented.
102
?
The Delaware & Hudson Canal & its Paper Money?Q. David Bowers
Obsolete?banknotes?from?the Delaware&Hudson Canal that started in his hometown.?
111 WW2 British Military Authority Notes for Greece--Evangelos Fysikas Under?Law?18?of?9th?November?1944?it?was?decided?that?British?Military?Authority?banknotes?would?circulate?along?with?the?new?currency in Greece.
116 Commonwealth Edison?s Federal Dividend Coupon System?Loren Gatch A?part?of?ComEd?s?strategy?was?its?marketing?of?consumer?appliances?and?electrical?accessories?through?outlets?called??Edison?Electric?Shops.??One?aspect?was?its?use?of?the?Federal?Dividend?Coupon?System.?
122 Seal Varieties on Series 1928 FRNs?Peter HuntoonTreasury seals used on Series of 1928 plates used the FR district number in the FR seal.?
126
The County of Montgomery (AL) & Their Revenue Notes?Bill Gunther
Immediately?after?the?Civil?War?states,?cities?and?counties?throughout?Alabama?found?themselves?bankrupt?
and?without?a?major?source?of?revenue.?A?partial?solution,?adopted?by?many?cities?and?counties,?was????????
to?pay?their?obligations?with?post?dated?notes.?
Departments Advertisers
Uncoupled 134 Stacks-Bowers IFC Fred Bart 121
Obsolete Corner 144 Denly?s 101 ANA 125
Quartermaster Column 146 Vern Potter 109 CSNS 133
Cherry Pickers Corner 148 PMG 110 DBR Currency 143
Chump Change 150 Higgins Museum 115 Lyn Knight 152
Small Notes 151 FCCB 115 PCDA IBC
Heritage Auctions OBC
77
Pierre?Fricke?Buying and Selling!
1861?1869?Large?Type,?Confederate?and?Obsolete?Money!?
P.O. Box 33513, San Antonio, TX 78265; pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com; www.buyvintagemoney.com
And many more CSA, Union and Obsolete Bank Notes for sale ranging from $10 to five figures
Officers & Appointees
ELECTED OFFICERS:
PRESIDENT?Shawn Hewitt,
shawn@shawnhewitt.com
VICE-PRESIDENT?
Robert Vandevender II
rvpaperman@aol.com
SECRETARY?Robert Calderman
gacoins@earthlink.net
TREASURER?Bob Moon
robertmoon@aol.com
BOARD OF GOVERNORS:
Mark Anderson
mbamba@aol.com
Robert Calderman
gacoins@earlthlink.net
Gary J. Dobbins
g.dobbins@sbcglobal.net
Matt Drais
Stockpicker12@aol.com
Pierre Fricke
pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com
Loren Gatch
lgatch@uco.edu
Joshua T. Herbstman,
jtherbstman@aol.com
Steve Jennings
sjennings@jisp.net
J. Fred Maples
maplesf@comcast.net
Cody Regennitter
cody.regennitter@gmail.com
Wendell A. Wolka
purduenut@aol.com
APPOINTEES:
PUBLISHER-EDITOR
Benny Bolin,
smcbb@sbcglobal.net
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Wendell A. Wolka
LEGAL COUNSEL
Robert Galiette
LIBRARIAN--Jeff Brueggeman
jeff@actioncurrency.com
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
Frank Clark
Frank_spmc@yahoo.org
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT--
Pierre Fricke
WISMER BOOK PROJECT
COORDINATOR--Pierre Fricke
From Your President
Shawn Hewitt
March/April 2020
Again, this year we had a club table at the Florida
United Numismatics (FUN) convention in Orlando back
in January. It?s good to have a home base at such a show, where we can catch
up with our members and colleagues. The table was quite busy at times with
youth participating in the Treasure Trivia stopping by. Our second annual
speakers? forum was successful, and we thank all who were part of that effort.
I was pleased that there was a lot of interest and appreciation for the Bank Note
History Project that we launched on our website last year. Mark Drengson gave
a nice presentation on the purpose and how to use it at our membership
meeting.
Over the last several months, our governors Cody Regennitter and Matt
Draiss have been adding content to our Obsoletes Database Project, also on
our website. In addition, the uploading of Tennessee data and images (thanks
to Dennis Schafluetzel) has added thousands of Tennessee notes therein.
In that same period of time, Loren Gatch has been hard at work to get our
program of instructional and educational videos off the ground. We?ll see some
of that come to the website this summer.
As I think about what more we should do next to improve our organization,
two things have been on my mind. The first is that I think it is about time we
give our print journal Paper Money a new look. As the content of our journal is
top notch, it is surely worth an investment of design enhancements. We are
presently exploring how we can best undertake this project. At the same time,
governor Joshua Herbstman has been a proponent of making our journal
distributed digitally, and there may be opportunities to combine these efforts.
Stay tuned for further details.
The second is that I believe we should have a formal giving program. As
my kids entered college, I noticed that their universities have very well crafted
programs to encourage financial support, as do other not-for-profit
organizations to which I belong. While the condition of SPMC?s finances is
stable, there will be additional costs to fund video production, journal redesign,
digital journal delivery, and other worthwhile projects and research programs
that we would like to pursue. I should mention that the National Currency
Foundation has been a great partner over the last several years to help fund
the research we sponsor that eventually ends up in the journal. If you are in a
position to give, there is no better time than the present, and you will be
recognized on our Donor?s Wall (https://www.spmc.org/donors-wall). We will
appreciate every gift. However, a wider base of participation is a good thing,
so I hope to formalize this over the coming year.
As always, we try to be prudent in the use of our treasury, which often
means doing things on a shoestring budget and a lot of volunteer hours. If you
feel you may have talents or information that can help us achieve our goals, I
would love to hear from you. Drop me a note at shawn@shawnhewitt.com.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
78
Editor Sez
By the time many of you are reading this, I will be
lounging like a lizard on a beautiful sandy Waikiki beach!
Yes, my job has all these uber negative requirements, like
going to Italy with the choir and now to Hawaii for a week
with a group (>400) of band students! Oh, woe is the life!
But, never fear, I will be thinking of all of you whilst doing this incredibly
taxing part of my job! Only bad part is, well, have not found it (the taxing) yet!
But on to bigger and better things. The hobby seems to be doing well. The
reports from F.U.N. were all positive and I saw an uptick in interest and prices
in fractional that has not happened in a long while! The SPMC speaker series
was well received. This seems to all be good omens for the future of the hobby.
In the last issue, I raised some ?issues? about Paper Money and its
distribution. While that was not what I intended, it did lead to a discussion and
acceptance on my part that the journal needs a makeover! In this issue, you
will see some of the pages (such as this one) with a new look. There will be
more coming, until we have a more modern product. In this vein, we have done
away with the Money Mart in the back and have placed the larger ads
throughout the magazine. We encourage the smaller ads to be placed on the
website. Don?t be alarmed?the magnificent content we have always had will
not be impacted, just the overall look of the magazine.
As we progress through the months, I hope you had time to stop by the
club table at the different shows, like FUN, ANA mid-winter, Long Beach, etc.
Plan now to attend the paper money premier event, the International Paper
Money Show (IPMS) held once again in Kansas City, MO. It is a great time
for anybody who loves and collects paper money. The SPMC will be having
all of our normal events, including an induction(s) into the Hall of Fame,
exhibit and service awards. We will also have our normal SPMC breakfast
and Tom Bain raffle at which we will have actual, working sound and A/V this
year! We hope to have a nice raffle with great prices and promise to ?Mix
?em Up? every change we get. This is where we will reveal the names of
those selected for the Hall of Fame, and present our literary and service
awards. Due to our incomparable emcee?Mr. Wolka, it is always a fun and
entertaining event. You can soon buy your tickets on the website or at the
SPMC table at the upcoming shows.
Speaking of literary awards, it will soon be time to cast your vote for best
article in Nationals, U.S. Large and Small size, Obsoletes, Confederate, World
and Miscellaneous that were published in 2019 in Paper Money. We will also
be voting on book of the year and favorite column. As usual, these will be done
on-line via the web. So start looking for the notice and vote!
This issue has some great content. Besides some of our normal authors,
we welcome a new World contributor Evangelos Fyskias and an article about
hometown notes from esteemed author Q. David Bowers.
Benny
Texting and Driving?It can wait!
Terms?and?Conditions?
The Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC)
711 Signal Mt. Rd #197, Chattanooga, TN
37405, publishes PAPER MONEY (USPS 00-
3162) every other month beginning in January.
Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA.
Postmaster send address changes to Secretary
Robert Calderman, Box 7022, Gainesville, GA
30504. ?Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc.
2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any
article in whole or part without written approval is
prohibited.
Individual copies of this issue of PAPER MONEY
are available from the secretary for $8 postpaid.
Send changes of address, inquiries concerning
non - delivery and requests for additional copies of
this issue to the secretary.
MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere
and publications for review should be sent to the
Editor. Accepted manuscripts will be published as
soon as possible, however publication in a
specific issue cannot be guaranteed. Include an
SASE if acknowledgement is desired. Opinions
expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect
those of the SPMC. Manuscripts should be
submitted in WORD format via email
(smcbb@sbcglobal.net) or by sending memory
stick/disk to the editor. Scans should be grayscale
or color JPEGs at 300 dpi. Color illustrations may
be changed to grayscale at the discretion of the
editor. Do not send items of value. Manuscripts
are submitted with copyright release of the author
to the Editor for duplication and printing as
needed.
ADVERTISING
All advertising on space available basis.
Copy/correspondence should be sent to
editor.
All advertising is pay in advance.
Ads are on a ?good faith? basis.
Terms are ?Until Forbid.?
Ads are Run of Press (ROP) unless
accepted on a premium contract basis.
Limited premium space/rates available.
To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must
be prepaid according to the schedule below. In
exceptional cases where special artwork or
additional production is required, the advertiser will
be notified and billed accordingly. Rates are not
commissionable; proofs are not supplied. SPMC
does not endorse any company, dealer or auction
house.
Advertising Deadline: Subject to space
availability, copy must be received by the editor
no later than the first day of the month preceding
the cover date of the issue (i.e. Feb. 1 for the
March/April issue). Camera-ready art or
electronic ads in pdf format are required.
ADVERTISING RATES
Space 1 Time 3 Times 6 Times
Full color covers $1500 $2600 $4900
B&W covers 500 1400 2500
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Required file submission format is composite PDF
v1.3 (Acrobat 4.0 compatible). If possible,
submitted files should conform to ISO 15930-1:
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publication trim size. Page bleed: must extend
minimum 1/8? beyond trim for page head, foot,
and front. Safety margin: type and other non-bleed
content must clear trim by minimum 1/2?
Advertising copy shall be restricted to paper
currency, allied numismatic material, publications
and related accessories. The SPMC does not
guarantee advertisements, but accepts copy in good
faith, reserving the right to reject objectionable o r
inappropriate material or edit copy.
The SPMC assumes no financial responsibility
for typographical errors in ads but agrees to
reprint that portion of an ad in which a
typographical error occurs upon prompt
notification.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
79
Series 1923 $5 Porthole Silver Certificates
Doomed by Treasury Policies
by
Lee Lofthus
The Series of 1923 $5 ?porthole? silver certificates may appear to be a simple one-and-done type
note from a numismatic perspective, but the governmental story behind them was hardly simple. The birth
of the porthole notes came in 1923 from Treasury?s design modernization program, but their demise came
barely three years later, caught in the crossfire of powerful policy changes that ultimately led to the
changeover to small sized currency. Involving
many of the key Treasury officials of the day,
there is much more to the porthole story than
meets the eye.
Early 1920?s Modernization Program
Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon?s
Annual Report for 1921 noted that modernizing
and standardizing the currency designs ?has
been before the Department for more than a
decade.? In fact, had World War I not
intervened, efforts begun in 1912 and 1913
could have resulted in changes much earlier.
After the war ended, in 1919 then-Secretary
Carter Glass announced an effort to redesign
and modernize the currency, and Mellon (right)
picked up where Glass left off. Treasury
officials felt the plethora of note designs and
Figure 2. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew
Mellon pushed the adoption of small size currency
to fruition, partially at the expense of the $5
porthole notes.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
80
duplication of denominations among the different series was confusing to the public and expensive to
produce. Now, with the war successfully over, Treasury was again looking to make improvements in its
currency program.
Over the next two years, Bureau of Engraving and Printing designers under direction of Treasury
officials worked to eliminate the ornate allegorical designs used for decades on U.S. currency, including
designs still in use in the Series of 1882, 1899, 1901, 1907, 1908, and 1917, among others. Treasury would
adopt simplified standardized face designs for each denomination, regardless of the class of note. Back
designs would be simplified and made uniform for each denomination.
Designs for the $1 silver certificates and $1 legal tenders were produced early enough that proofs
displayed Elliott-Burke signatures and were tentatively designated as the Series of 1920. The design
program continued, and by summer 1923, Mellon declared that ?Plans for the revision of the paper currency
designs, referred to in the previous annual report[s], have been completed.?
On September 10, 1923, Treasury announced that its new designs had been authorized for
production with the first new notes being the $1 denomination. The standard designs were to have
Washington?s portrait on the $1 note; Lincoln on the $5; Jackson on the $10; Cleveland on the $20; Grant
on the $50; and Franklin on the $100. Affected types were the Treasury currencies; specifically, silver
certificates, gold certificates and legal tender notes. The new notes were designated Series of 1923. Bank
Currency?Federal Reserve notes and national bank notes?would be addressed in due course. If it was
decided to continue using $2 notes, they would be redesigned as well within the Treasury series; however,
there were strong arguments for their discontinuance within Treasury circles.
Face Plate Production and Usage
It is worthwhile to examine the timing of face plate manufacture and usage because not all the
portholes that were printed were released. The availability of the plates coupled with their on-press dates
reveal which production runs yielded the notes that did reach circulation.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing made a total of 53 plates for the portholes (Table 1). Plates
1 through 52 were 8-subject head-to-head plates for use on 4-subject power presses. Plate 53 was a
seemingly peculiar 4-subject plate made for a single-subject press.
Plates 1 through 32 were begun during December 1923 and February 1924, 33-52 during June-
July, 1924, and 53 very late on January 8, 1926.
Plate 1 was certified December 21, 1923. Plates 2-25 and 36 were certified between January and
June 1924, plates 26-35 and 37-38 in December 1924, and plate 53 last on January 19, 1926. The rest of
the plates never were finished.
Plates 1 through 4 were the first four sent to press as a set on February 14, 1924 for use on a power
press, and they were used together until March 4th. They and sixteen others (5-7, 9-16, 18-22) were cycled
through various periodic large-scale press runs on five power presses beginning in June 1924. The
Figure 3. Porthole back.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
81
production from all were stockpiled without being numbered.
The rest of the first 26 plates (8, 17, 23-25) were rotated onto the presses between August and
November 1924.
Observed notes have been found from all of the first 26 face plates that went to press (1-25, 36).
All but one of the first 26 plates were on the press for at least three runs, and many served 4 to 5 different
runs between early 1924 and early 1925. Two plates, 5 and 17, served long enough to be sent for re-entry
and then returned to the press. For those of you looking for scarce plate numbers, only one stands out from
this group. Plate 11 served only one run, June 11 to July 2, 1924, and was canceled on July 3, 1924. Plate
11 has been seen on an observed note. Other than the early demise of plate 11, the next to wear out were
heavily used plates 1, 2 and 4, canceled on November 28, 1924.
The second batch of plates (26-35, 37-38) certified December 2-5, 1924 sat unused for over a year
in the BEP plate vault. Then, in January 1926, the BEP started printing a large run of porthole notes that
Table 1. Series of 1923 $5 Silver Certificate Face Plates.
Bolded face plate numbers were used on press.
Bolded Plates Highlighted in green have been observed on known notes.
All carry Speelman-White Treasury signatures.
Treas. Plate Date Date Treas. Plate Date Date
Pl. No. Ser. No. Certified Canceled Pl. No. Ser. No. Certified Canceled
91623 1 Dec 21, 1923 Nov 28, 1924 92384 28 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91624 2 Jan 14, 1924 Nov 28, 1924 92456 29 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91625 3 Jan 15, 1924 Dec 31, 1924 92457 30 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91626 4 Jan 24, 1924 Nov 28, 1924 92458 31 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91875 5 Feb 4, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 92459 32 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91876 6 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93549 33 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91877 7 Mar 31, 1924 Jun 24, 1925 93550 34 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
91878 8 Jun 19, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93551 35 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
92210 9 Jun 14, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93552 36 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
92211 10 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93623 37 Dec 5, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
92212 11 Mar 31, 1924 Jul 3, 1924 93624 38 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
92213 12 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93625 39 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92255 13 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93626 40 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92256 14 Jun 10, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93656 41 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92257 15 Jun 11, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93657 42 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92258 16 Jun 11, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93658 43 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92315 17 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93659 44 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92316 18 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93748 45 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92317 19 Jun 9, 1924 Jan 29, 1926 93749 46 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92318 20 Jun 11, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93750 47 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92353 21 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93751 48 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92354 22 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93956 49 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92355 23 Jun 18, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93957 50 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92256 24 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93958 51 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92381 25 Jun 28, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93959 52 not finished Sep 8, 1930
92382 26 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 102507 53 Jan 19, 1926 Sep 8, 1930
92383 27 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930
Source: BEP Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault $5 S.C. Face Series 1923
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
82
continued until February 11.
This run utilized many of the
first 26 plates plus eleven of
the twelve previously unused
plates that had been
completed in December
1924. Number 38 was never
used. Not a single one of the
plates finished in December
1924 has been observed on an
issued note.
The serial numbering
runs are listed on Table 2.
The notes from the press runs that were restricted to the first 26 plates were numbered through June 1925.
The numbering runs that included the production from the plates finished in December 1924 were those
carried out in February-March 1926. The notes in that group were the last 2,720,000 to be numbered.
4-Subject Plate 53
Plate 53?a 4-subject plate made for use on a 1-plate press?has an important story to tell. All the
rest of the porthole plates, both back and face, were 8-subject plates used on power presses. Plate 53 was a
production clean-up plate used to apply faces to salvageable halves of misprinted 8-subject backs and
residual 8-subject leftover backs once the big face runs on the power presses had ceased. Its use
demonstrates the lengths to which the BEP went to minimize waste.
Work on plate 53 was begun January 8, 1926, meaning that 53 was assigned to the plate then. (The
BEP Plate Summary Card shows January 8, 1925, but the Face Plate Ledger lists the year as 1926). Plate
53 was certified for use January 19, 1926. Power press production was in full swing then but was scheduled
to cease February 11.
Plate 53 was sent to press as soon as it was certified on February 19, 1926, eight days after power
plate production ceased. It served continuously until March 4. Its work was finished just in time for the
production from it to be streamed into the last porthole serial numbering run of February 11-March 12th.
Here is how it worked. It is very likely that salvaged good halves of otherwise misprinted 8-subject
backs culled by inspectors prior to the power press face runs were accumulated and constituted feed stock
for plate 53. See Huntoon and Yakes (2015). Also, leftover 8-subject backs were cut in half and used as
feed stock. The press that held plate 53 was a relatively slow, low-volume producer but sufficient to churn
through these residuals. Obviously, there were plenty of them because it took a month to work through
them.
Serial numbering of all the large size notes other than nationals was carried out on 4-subject rotary
Harris numbering machines at that time. The 8-subject production from the power presses was cut in half
and used as the fed stock for the Harris presses. The half sheets were numbered, the notes cut apart, and the
notes collated in serial number order by these mechanical wonders. The fact that the Harris presses used 4-
subject feed stock means that the 4-subject production from plate 53 could be handled without a hitch.
The fact that plate 53 was consuming residuals reveals why the ending serial number in the porthole
series was A6316000B instead of some larger round number as would be expected solely from production
from power presses.
This is the second time an end-of-series 4-subject cleanup plate has been observed in the plate
history records. Peter Huntoon has documented an identical situation at the termination of $1 Series of 1899
silver certificate production. A last, lone 4-subject 1899 plate?in that case Speelman-White face 2922
completed January 8, 1925, two years after the Series of 1923 had started?was used to clean up the residual
1899 back stock.
Policy Changes Impact Production
The porthole $5 notes were the third of the Series of 1923 designs to reach circulation. The first
two were the 1923 $1 silver certificates and $1 legal tenders, released in December 1923 and January 1924,
Table 2. Series 1923 $5 Silver Certificate Serial Numbering
Runs.
Serial No. Range Dates
A1B to A1216000B Aug 7 to Aug 30, 1924
A1216001B to A1968000B Sept 2 to Nov 16, 1924
A1968001B to A2600000B Nov 20 to Dec 2, 1924
A2600001B to A3596000B June 9 to June 27, 1925
A3596001B to A6316000B Feb 11 to Mar 12, 1926
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
83
respectively.
The first 2.6 million portholes were delivered to the Treasurer between August 7 and December 2,
1924. But, after this initial launch, events developing within the Treasury began to foil their production and
ultimate use.
Andrew Mellon announced the formation of the Treasury Currency Board on January 8, 1925, in
response to ongoing currency supply problems. The board quickly became known as the currency
committee within the Treasury. Its charge was to review currency printing, supply and distribution issues,
and to implement steps to reduce the size of the currency.
Assistant Fiscal Secretary Charles S. Dewey chaired the committee. William S. Broughton, the
influential Commissioner of the Public Debt, and Walter L. Eddy, Federal Reserve Board Secretary, were
the other members. W. J. Collins of the Division of Loans and Currency served as recording secretary.
Early on, the committee worked to solve a pressing shortage of $1 notes. They then worked on
simplifying the production process and finally on reducing the size of currency.
The Board moved quickly to reduce the
numbers of different classes and denominations in
circulation. On February 21, 1925, Dewey (right)
wrote to BEP Director Alvin W. Hall to advise that
the Board had decided to ?eliminate, as far as
possible, duplicates of kinds in the smaller
denominations, by placing our future issues of $1
notes in silver certificates, $2 notes to be divided
between U.S. notes and silver certificates, $5 U.S.
Notes, and $10 in U.S. Notes and gold certificates.
This will eliminate $1 U.S. Notes and $5 silver
certificates, as is to become effective as soon as the
plates for these kinds are worn out.?
Dewey also asked Hall to survey his
incomplete plates in order to determine whether it
was more cost-effective to complete and use them
or simply leave them unfinished. Hall had just
certified another dozen porthole?plates, faces 26
to 35, plus plates 37 and 38?in early December, so
a decision had to be made to send them to press or
not. Hall, for the time-being, withheld the
December plates from use, consistent with the
committee?s decision to end production of $5 silver
certificates. Hall also sidelined plates 39 to 52 from
being completed.
Clearly the production and use of the
porthole notes was caught in the crosshairs of
changing policies at the Treasury level.
In December 1925, the Currency Board?s legal subcommittee was debating whether the Treasury
Department had the authority to eliminate $5 silver certificates entirely. The law (31 U.S.C. 406) stated that
?Silver Certificates shall be issued only of denominations $10 and under.? Did this mean that all silver
certificate denominations of $10 and under must be issued? They concluded that the Secretary of the
Treasury had discretion over the denominations provided they were $10s or smaller. Consequently, $2 and
$5 silver certificates could be totally eliminated without violating the statute.
By 1926, the Currency Board began the planning required to implement the changeover to small
size currency. Hall, a longtime champion of efficiency, favored the change and was eager to begin the
retooling necessary at the BEP to do the job. Nonetheless, he had to continue the production of the large
size notes and the portholes were still in that mix if needed.
Figure 4. Charles S. Dewey was appointed Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury by Andrew Mellon in 1924.
In 1925, Dewey chaired the Currency Committee as it
pursued the standardized of currency designs. One of
his responsibilities was to ensure that there would be
an adequate supply of small denomination notes,
especially $1s.
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84
Porthole Notes in Circulation
Although Table 2 lists the
porthole serial number runs, those runs
don?t correlate with the timing of the
release of the notes into circulation. A
fortunate find in the National Archives a
few years ago sheds light on the actual
release pattern.
Thomas Desmond, a New York
City resident living on Park Avenue, sent
a letter to the Treasury Department on
April 3, 1929, stating ?In recent months,
there has come into circulation in the
New York City vicinity a $5.00 bill, with
a likeness of Abraham Lincoln on one of
its sides. Although the bill has on its face
Series of 1923, I have only observed it in
recent months.? Desmond disliked the
bills because the ornate Roman number
?V? on the upper left of the face appeared
to be a ?1? at first glance.
His letter was routed to William
Broughton at the Public Debt Service to
provide information for a response.
Broughton advised the Secretary?s office
that ?The Treasurer has had in reserve for
many years about $20,000,000 of these certificates [out of the original $31,580,000 printed]. They had not
been issued because of the demand for the $1 denomination. It was found possible recently to start
liquidation of this stock?hence the appearance of these certificates in New York.?
This reveals that since their inception, porthole use was being squeezed out in favor of meeting the
need for $1s. Silver certificate circulation was limited to the number of silver dollars held by the Treasury
for their backing, so $1s were pushed out at the expense of $5s.
Undersecretary of the Treasury Ogden Mills replied to Mr. Desmond on April 6, saying ?The design
in question was adopted in 1923 in connection with the general revision of designs for paper currency then
undertaken. However, very few of these certificates were issued as the $1 denomination exhausted
practically all the authorized silver certificate circulation. Recently, it has been found possible to issue into
circulation the printed stock of this denomination in anticipation of the issue of the reduced sized currency
next July. This accounts for the present appearance of this bill in circulation. * * * the new reduced-sized
$5 bill [will have] the Arabic number 5 prominently displayed in each corner.?
The internal Treasury documents and accompanying reply to Desmond tell us what really happened
to the porthole notes. Roughly $10 million of them, about one-third of the total printed, were released when
they first became available in 1924/25. This represented most of the notes printed during 1924.
Two-thirds were not released and went into inventory with the Treasurer. This stock suddenly
became useful in 1929 when a shortage of $5s developed in New York City prior to the arrival of the small
size notes.
Combining our knowledge of the known serial numbers with the information from the Broughton
memo, it is evident that the first $10 million or so in porthole notes went out in 1924/25, and another $10
million or so were released in early 1929 in New York. The reported high serial number in the Gengerke
census is A4286409B, indicating the last $10 million worth of portholes never left the Treasury. This last
group of two million or so harbored the entire press runs of face plates 26 through 35, and plates 37, 38,
and 53.
Figure 5. Alvin W. Hall, the longest serving Director of the BEP
(1924-1954) was new to the job and largely cut his teeth seeing
the Bureau through the transition to small size currency
production. While his engravers and printers produced the
Series of 1923 designs that included the Porthole notes, by 1926
his focus was on the massive push to launch the small size notes.
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85
Numismatic Highlights
Martin Gengerke?s census reveals that the first
two dozen porthole notes were saved. The number 1 note
revealed itself at the American Numismatic Association
World?s Fair of Money at Rosemont, Illinois, in August,
2019, a find that was profiled by Huntoon in the Bank
Note Reporter (Nov, 2019). After originally being
delivered to the Treasurer on August 7, 1924, serial A1B
sold 95 years later in Lyn Knight?s November 7, 2019
currency auction.
Acknowledgments
Hallie Booker of the BEP graciously provided the
plate summary cards for the Series 1923 $5 notes. Photo
of the A1B porthole note is courtesy of Lyn Knight
Auctions. The photographs of the Treasury officials are
courtesy of the Library of Congress except for William S.
Broughton, which was provided courtesy of the U. S.
Treasury Library. Doug Murray and Martin Gengerke
provided census information. Peter Huntoon made
welcome editorial suggestions and supplied insights on
the 4-subject plate analysis.
Sources
Broughton, William S. Commissioner of the Public Debt, Letter to
Charles S. Dewey, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury,
April 24, 1924 [Delivery Schedules for May 1925,
redistribution of $1 notes between Federal Reserve banks,
authorization for BEP to utilize Series 1917 $1 plates].
Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53,
Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, unnumbered files (2) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and
Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Broughton, William S. Commissioner of the Public Debt, Letter to Ogden Mills, Undersecretary of the Treasury, April 1929.
[Discussing design defect in Series 1923 $5 silver certificate, holding of 1923 $5 silver certificates in vault until release
in Spring 1929 to address demand for $5 notes before introduction of new small size currency]. Records of the Bureau
of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2 Currency Design, Silver
Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1928, Final receipts for notes and certificates: Vols NC01-NC09 split between the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Records of the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, Record Group 318, entry P1, ledgers 268 and 269, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault, 4-8-12 subject faces, Silver
Certificate Series 1899-1935. Record Group 450, UD1 Entry 1, 450/79/17/02 Container 41. U. S. National Archives,
College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault, 4-8-12 subject backs, Silver
Certificate Series 1899-1935. Record Group 450, UD1 Entry 1, 450/79/17/02 Container 42. U. S. National Archives,
College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Plate Summary Cards for Series 1923 Faces, 3 pages, Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1924 Currency models: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American
History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
Collins, W. J. Secretary to the Currency Board, Department of the Treasury, Memoranda to Currency Board Members Charles S.
Dewey, William S. Broughton, and Walter L. Eddy. [March 18, 1925 re currency stocks and production schedules; April
16, 1925, re sheet inventories, production by kinds and denominations, status of $1 notes; November 10, 1925, re currency
transactions for October, distribution of $1 notes; December 11, 1925, re elimination of $2 and $5 silver certificates,
elimination of $10 U.S. notes, distribution of $1 notes]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53,
Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National
Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Desmond, Thomas. Letter to Treasury Department, April 3, 1929. [Questioning the appearance of unusual 1923 $5 silver
certificates in the New York City vicinity, and asserting the design led to confusion with $1 notes]. Records of the Bureau
Figure 6. William S. Broughton, head of the Bureau
of the Public Debt, was one of the most influential
behind-the-scenes policy makers in the Treasury. It
was a 1929 memo of Broughton?s found in the
National Archives that revealed the release pattern
for the porthole silver certificates.
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Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326
of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2 Currency Design, Silver
Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Dewey, Charles S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury. Letter to Alvin W. Hall, Director, BEP,
February 21, 1925. [Currency Board policies; production of Series of 1923 notes; elimination of duplicative currency
types and denominations; status of incomplete plates]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry
53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives
and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Dolan, P. E. Division of Loans and Currency, Public Debt Service. Memorandum to Currency Board Members Charles S. Dewey,
William S. Broughton, and Walter L. Eddy, April 12, 1926. [Currency stocks, production schedules, $1 note distribution].
Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and
two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College
Park, MD.
Glass, Carter. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for fiscal year 1919. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
1920.
Gengerke, Martin. Census of U.S. Large Size Currency. 2019.
Hall, Alvin W. Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. BEP Annual Report. Table 5, Statement showing bonds, notes, and
certificates delivered during the fiscal year 1925, p. 10; Table 5, Statement showing the United States notes and
certificates, national-bank currency, and Federal-reserve notes delivered during the fiscal year 1926, p. 27. Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC. 1925; 1926.
Hall, Alvin W. Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Letter to Treasury Assistant Secretary Charles S. Dewey, January 19,
1925. [BEP currency deliveries, by class, series, and denominations, July 1 to December 31, 1924]. Records of the Bureau
of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled
?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Hessler, Gene. U.S. Essay, Proof, and Specimen Notes. Portage, OH: BNR Press, 1979.
Huntoon, Peter. ?Number 1 Porthole Comes In.? Bank Note Reporter, Vol. 68, No. 11, November 2019. Active Interest Media,
Stevens Point, WI. 2019.
Huntoon, Peter, and Jamie Yakes, ?Partlys, Salvaged Notes.? Paper Money, Mar-Apr 2015, v. 54, pp. 80-88.
Lofthus, Lee. ?Why $5 Porthole Silver Certificates are Scarce.? Paper Money, Mar-Apr 2014, v.53, pp. 102-3.
Lofthus, Lee. ?Why So Few Series 1923 $10 Legal Tenders Were Issued.? Paper Money, Nov/Dec 2009, v.48, pp. 442-450.
Mellon, Andrew W. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for fiscal years 1921 through 1926. Government Printing
Office, Washington, DC. 1921-1927.
Mills, Ogden, Undersecretary of the Treasury. Letter to Thomas Desmond, NY City, April 6, 1929. [Responding to Desmond?s
letter of April 3, explaining the original circulation of the 1923 $5 notes, explaining few were issued at the time because
of the need for $1 notes, indicating their release in 1929 was to address demand for $5 notes before introduction of the
reduced-size currency, and explaining the new currency designs would have clear Arabic numerals displayed in each
corner]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2
Currency Design, Silver Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD.
Murray, Doug. Email to author re high serial number, January 4, 2012; updated via Huntoon, BNR, November 2019.
Book Review
Thian?s Masterpiece and the Early Literature of Confederate Paper Money
by David Fanning
In his 40-page book, Thian's Masterpiece and the Early Literature of
Confederate Paper Money, David Fanning begins with a descriptive history
of the early literature of Confederate paper money during the late 19th
century. Thomas Addis Emmet?s listing of notes and Dr. William Lee?s
books are discussed before Fanning goes into a history of Raphael Prosper
Thian?s life and work which culminated in the Adjunct-General?s office of
the U.S. Army as well as Thian?s writings prior to his book. Fanning related
how other works and activities were intertwined with Thian?s and how they
were different with very little mention in any of Thian?s work. Sales of
Confederate paper money as well as dealers and Thian?s possible work as a
dealer are discussed.
He then talks about Thian?s ?The Currency of the Confederated States
of America? and the importance of that publication today. He ends with
seven pages of endnotes, acknowledgments and an appendix which will aid future researchers.
Only 100 copies of the book were printed with the first twenty-four issued in a custom-made portfolio
containing a leaf from an imperfect copy of Thian?s book. The books with the leaves or the seventy-six
without can be purchased from the Kolbe-Fanning website, www.numislit.com.
87
$1 Series of 1899
Silver Certificate
Signature Combinations and Plate Varieties
Overview and Purpose
The purpose of this article to identify the known engraving varieties on the intaglio face and back
plates used to print the Series of 1899 $1 silver certificates and to present a timeline for when those plates
were on the presses. Particular attention will be paid to how signature changes where handled.
$1 Series of 1899 silver certificate production began December 1898 and continued through
January 1925. Almost 3.5 billion were printed from 21,743 face and 9,575 back plates assigned to the
design. More of them were made than any other large size U. S. type note.
The 1899 $1s experienced every technological and processing innovation that occurred while they
were in production. Some of those innovations were directly responsible for changes that appeared on the
notes. Consequently, you can readily apply that knowledge to the timing of identical changes that
transcended other Treasury currency during the same period. Treasury currency at the time consisted of
legal tender notes, gold certificates and silver certificates.
Intaglio Plate Varieties
Table 1 is a list of every intaglio plate variety found on the 1899 $1s along with when those plates
were in production. The on-press ranges are displayed graphically on Figure 1.
Table 1. Inclusive on-press dates for plates used to print the $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate signature
combinations and intaglio plate varieties.
Range of Plate Serial Nos. Range of Treasury Plate Nos. Inclusive On-Press Dates
Treasury Signature Combinations
Lyons-Roberts 1 2949 8618 20612 Dec 6, 1898 Nov 14, 1905
Lyons-Treat 2950 3617 20621 22956 Oct 12, 1905 Dec 1, 1906
Vernon-Treat 3618 5578 22959 31088 Oct 18, 1906 Dec 28, 1909
Vernon-McClung 5544 6881 30893 35648 Nov 3, 1909 Sep 23, 1911
Napier-McClung 6882 9879 35655 42356 May 26, 1911 Jan 14, 1914
Napier-Thompson 8594 9034 39698 40683 Dec 2, 1912 May 21, 1913
Napier-Burke none
Parker-Burke 1 1859 42365 47387 Oct 25, 1913 Oct 13, 1915
Teehee-Burke 1860 7412 47396 68018 Jul 14, 1915 Feb 27, 1920
Elliott-Burke 1 291 68377 75446 Jan 22, 1920 Mar 2, 1923
(There was no Elliott-Burke production inclusive of Dec 18, 1921-Aug 1, 1922)
Elliott-White 1 1239 75578 80948 Jul 20, 1921 Aug 11, 1922
Speelman-White 1 2922 81012 95927 Apr 1, 1922 Jan 8, 1925
Series date placement varieties on face plates (LR = Lyons-Roberts, VM = Vernon-McClung, SW = Speelman-White)
horizontal series above serial number LR 1 LR 509 8618 12408 Dec 6, 1898 Jun 28, 1901
horizontal series below serial no. at 9.5 mm LR 508 VM 5677 12405 31647 Jun 28, 1901 Apr 19, 1910
horizontal series below serial no. at 10.5 mm VM 5672 VM 5678 31621 31652 Dec 3, 1909 Feb 8, 1910
horizontal series below serial no. at 12 mm VM 5544 VM 6803 30893 35373 Dec 15, 1910 Jun 21, 1911
vertical series at right end VM 6734 SW 2922 35226 95927 Mar 29, 1911 Jan 8, 1925
Plate serial number varieties on face plates (LR=Lyons-Roberts, TB = Teehee-Burke, SW = Speelman-White)
type 1 LR 1 TB 3955 8618 52019 Dec 6, 1898 Dec 18, 1916
type 2 TB 3956 SW 2922 52026 95927 Oct 8, 1916 Jan 8, 1925
Plate serial number placement varieties on back plates
number at lower center-right 1 6136 8514 75508 Nov 7, 1898 Jun 20, 1923
number at lower far right 1 3439 75529 93878 Jun 23, 1921 Nov 4, 1924
The Paper
Column
Peter Huntoon
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Some definitions are in order. The plates used to print currency carried two kinds of plate numbers:
Treasury plate numbers and plate serial numbers.
Treasury plate numbers were from an omnibus set begun in 1886 that threaded chronologically
through most of the intaglio plates made for the Department of the Treasury including Treasury currency,
bonds, revenue stamps and other items. The Treasury plate number was unique to a given plate and appeared
in the margin of the plate. It was trimmed away when the selvage was cut from the sheets. BEP personnel
formally called this set of numbers ?U. S. Notes and Miscellaneous Work.?
In contrast, plate serial numbers are variety numbers. In currency there was a separate sequential
set of numbers beginning at 1 for the plates for each denomination in each class and series. There were
Figure 2. Spectacular bookend pair from the $1 Series of 1899 EE serial number block.
Figure 1. Graph showing the periods when $1 Silver Certificate Series of 1899 plates with various Treasury signature combinations and other intaglio varieties were on the presses.
1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Treasury Signature Combinations
Lyons-Roberts
Lyons-Treat
Vernon-Treat
Vernon-McClung
Napier-McClung
Napier-Thompson
Napier-Burke
Parker-Burke
Teehee-Burke
Elliott-Burke
Elliott-White
Speelman-White
Series date placement varieties on face plates
horizontal series above serial number
horizontal series below serial number at 9.5 mm
horizontal series below serial number at 10.5 mm
horizontal series below serial number at 12 mm
vertical series at right end
Plate serial number varieties on face plates
type 1
type 2
Plate serial number placement varieties on back plates
number at lower center-right
number at lower far right
1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
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89
separate sets of numbers for the face and back plates. As revealed on Table 1, plate serial numbering on the
face plates usually restarted at 1 with the advent of a new Treasury signature combination beginning in
1913. All the subjects on a given plate carry the same plate serial number and it appears inside the border
of each subject.
Treasury Signature Combinations
The primary variable features on large size type notes were the Treasury signatures. The signature
combinations that were current when the $1 Series of 1899 note were in production are listed on Table 2.
Table 2. Treasury signature combinations, dates when current and serial number block letters used
for them on $1 Series of 1899 silver certificates.
Register Treasurer Period when Current SC 1899 $1 Block Letters
Judson W. Lyons Ellis H. Roberts Apr 7, 1898-Jun 30, 1905 no letter A B D E
Judson W. Lyons Charles H. Treat Jul 1, 1905-Jun 11, 1906 H K
William T. Vernon Charles H. Treat Jun 12, 1906-Oct 31, 1909 M N R T
William T. Vernon Lee McClung Nov 1, 1909-May 17, 1911 V X Y *B
James C. Napier Lee McClung May 18, 1911-Nov 21, 1912 Y Z AA BB EE HH *B
James C. Napier Carmi A. Thompson Nov 22, 1912-Mar 31, 1913 DD
James C. Napier John Burke Apr 1, 1913-Oct 1, 1913 none printed
Gabe E. Parker John Burke Oct 1, 1913-Mar 23, 1915 KK MM NN RR *B
Houston B. Teehee John Burke Mar 24, 1915-Nov 20, 1919 RR TT UU VV XX YY ZZ BA DA *B
William S. Elliott John Burke Nov 21, 1919-May 1, 1921 DA EA HA MA NA RA *B
William S. Elliott Frank White May 2, 1921-Jan 24, 1922 DA EA HA KA MA NA *B
Harley V. Speelman Frank White Jan 25, 1922-Sep 30, 1927 HA KA MA NA RA TA VA XA *B
There were a number of fascinating interplays between the Treasury signature combinations on the
$1 1899s and the serial numbering of the series. Those that are known will be profiled.
The Bureau could not suddenly stop production when a signature change came along while
everyone sat around waiting for plates with the new signature to come on line. They had no option but to
continue printing.
A comparison between the official starting dates for the various signature combinations on Table
2 and the first use of plates with those combinations on Table 1 reveals that it could take up to a few months
before plates bearing a new combination were made and sent to press. Figure 1 illustrates that plates
Figure 1. Graph showing the periods when $1 Silver Certificate Series of 1899 plates with various Treasury signature combinations and other intaglio varieties were on the presses.
1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
none
1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
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carrying both the former and new combinations were on the presses simultaneously following
appointments.
Treasury Signature Combinations and Serial Numbering During Transitions
The protocol changed as to how notes with new and old signature combinations were to be
numbered following the startup of a new combination. At first, the notes with the different combinations
were rigorously segregated into two streams and numbered independently. Then, beginning in 1920, they
were comingled into a single stream and numbered together.
This significantly impacts how to make use of Figure 1. For example, if you are interested in
signature changeover pairs, look for overlaps between the different combinations. However, because the
notes with different combinations were segregated before 1920, there was no mixing so changeover pairs
were not being made. However, beginning in 1920 the sheets with the different combinations were
commingled so overlaps reveal changeover opportunities from then on.
Late-Numbered Notes
The notes were printed on flatbed presses that held one 4-subject plate when the Series of 1899
commenced so it was easy to segregate production by signature combination. Consequently, when plates
with a new combination came on line, they were numbered using a new dedicated serial number block. The
production from the old continued to be numbered within its current block until the last of those plates wore
out.
This protocol was followed for the 1899 $1s between 1899 and 1920 with the exception of the
Vernon-McClung/Napier-McClung and Parker-Burke/Teehee-Burke transitions. In those cases, numbering
was sequential from the old combination to the new within the current serial number block. See Table 2.
In these two instances, the sheets printed from plates with the obsolete combination were isolated
from the production from the plates with the new once the new came along. The sheets with the old
combination were accumulated instead of being forwarded to the numbering division. Once the last of the
obsolete plates was taken out of service, that stockpile was fed en masse through the numbering presses as
one large consecutive late-numbered batch.
Two of these late-number batches were created, one in the Y block for the Vernon-McClung
combination and the other in the RR block for the Parker-Burke combination, each with characteristic late
out-of-range serials. See Table 3. These cases are treated in detail in Huntoon (2019b).
Table 3. Recognized occurrences of pre-1920 late-numbered $1 Series of 1899 silver certificates with obsolete
signatures.
High Serial
Fr. Number at Observed Serials from Number
No. Obsolete Combination New Combination Changeover Late-Numbered Group Reported
229 & 229a Vernon-McClung Napier-McClung Y51404000 Y68426490-Y68955387 7
232 Parker-Burke Teehee-Burke R49660000R R68736001R-R73344000R1 37
1. Official range from delivery ledger.
Napier-Thompson and Napier-Burke Signature Combinations
The scarcest signature combination to appear on $1 1899 notes was that of Napier-Thompson.
Republican President Taft?s Treasurer Lee McClung found himself at odds with Secretary of the Treasury
Franklin MacVeagh near the end of Taft?s term so he resigned in November of 1922. Taft appointed Carmi
Thompson, his personal secretary, to fill the vacancy until incoming Democrat Woodrow Wilson could
appoint a successor. As a result, Thompson was a short-termer who served from November 22, 1912 to
March 31, 1913.
The last thing BEP Director Joseph E. Ralph wanted to deal with was a full-blown signature
changeover involving an official whom it was clear was going to be out of office in a few months. He
finagled a memo from the Secretary of the Treasury?s office with language that he used as license to make
a token number of Napier-Thompson plates for a small number of the Treasury type notes that were then
current. This subset included the 1899 $1s.
The production of forty-three $1 Napier-Thompson plates was interspersed among the ongoing
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91
flood of Napier-McClung plates. As was the custom at that time, the sheets printed from those plates were
segregated by signature combination, and the Napier-Thompson notes were assigned a new serial number
block; specifically, DD.
When the smoke cleared, the Napier-Thompson $1 1899 plates had been certified between
November 30, 1912 and March 25, 1913. However, 398 Napier-McClung plates were made during that
same interval. More startling is that another 845 Napier-McClung plates were made after March 25th.
As shown on Figure 1, the Napier-McClung $1 plates were on the presses continuously from May
26, 1911, until January 14, 1914. The Napier-Thompson plates saw service only between December 2, 1912
and May 21, 1913. Production from the Napier-McClung plates totaled 469,200,000 notes in contrast to a
mere 6,740,000 Napier-Thompson notes.
A list of the $1 Series of 1899 Napier-Thompson plates is appended to this article as Table 5.
President Wilson appointed John Burke as his Treasurer shortly after taking office in 1913, but it
was clear that Register of the Treasury James C. Napier, a Republican appointee, would be pushed out
shortly. Once again BEP Director Ralph was looking at another short-term combination. This time he got
permission from the new Secretary?s office to stall putting Burke?s signature on notes until a new Register
was appointed. He never used the Napier-Burke combination on any small denomination Treasury type
note plates, which were his biggest headache. However, Wilson dallied in appointing a new Register until
October 1913, so Ralph caved?at virtually no inconvenience to the Bureau?and had the Napier-Burke
combination placed on some little used plates beginning in July; specifically, Series of 1882 $100 and
$10,000 and Series of 1907 $1,000 gold certificate plates.
The full Napier-Thompson and Napier-Burke story is chronicled in Huntoon (2019c).
Changeover Pairs and Rare Blocks
It was decided during the Teehee-Burke/Elliott-Burke transition, which began in late 1919, that
maximum efficiency could be achieved if production was mixed in one stream without regard to signatures
and simply numbered consecutively. The incentive to make the change was driven not only for efficiency
by largely by machinery.
That story began in 1917 when Congress lifted the prohibition against the use of 4-plate power
presses for the printing of faces at the Bureau. Bureau management moved aggressively to begin phasing
Figure 3. Elliott-Burke/Teehee-Burke backward changeover pair created after production from both types
of plates was fed into a single stream and numbered consecutively beginning in January 1920. Heritage
Auction Archives photo.
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in the modern presses. Power press plate size was increased to 8-subjects, so 8-subject face plates began to
be used in August 1918. All the $1 1899 plates in service at that time carried Teehee-Burke signatures. The
8-subject sheets coming off the power presses were cut in half and fed through 4-subject Harris numbering
and sealing machines along with the 4-subject sheets from the flatbed presses.
Elliott-Burke plates began reaching the presses in January 22, 1920 and started to displace Teehee-
Burke plates on both the flatbed and power presses. In fact, both combinations were mixed on the same
power press. All of this production was fed into one stream that was numbered consecutively.
This new protocol greatly simplified processing but it gave rise to changeover pairs?both forward
and backward?comprised of notes with different signature combinations that were consecutively
numbered. See Figure 3.
The first mixed stock to be numbered arrived midway through the DA serial number block on
January 30, 1920 when serial D44712001A was printed. Teehee-Burke and Elliott-Burke notes were mixed
within the next 6 million numbers or so. The DA block was still in use when the first Elliott-White plates
arrived at the end of July 1921, so mixed Elliott-Burke/Elliott-White production rounded out the last 4
million numbers in the block.
A few peculiar situations arose after the commingling practice became established. Occasionally
production from plates with an obsolete signature combination overwhelmed that from current combination.
The simpler of these tales involved Elliott-White plates, of which a large inventory had been made.
When Speelman-White plates came along on April 1, 1922 and began to be numbered in the latter part of
the HA block, so many Elliott-White plates remained in the plate inventory, they preferentially were sent
to press. As a result, most of the notes printed in the HA and succeeded KA blocks carry Elliott-White
rather than Speelman-White signatures. However, some Elliott-White/Speelman-White changeover pairs
were printed then.
More unusual was the fact that a large inventory of even older Elliott-Burke plates remained in
inventory at the start of Speelman-White era. Some were still serviceable, others never used. They hadn?t
been consumed during the previous Elliott-White era but instead had been dropped from service on
December 17, 1921. They began to be fed into the mix of plates on the presses on August 2, 1922, just 10
days before the last of the obsolete Elliott-White plates were finally used up. Elliott-Burke, Elliott-White
and Speelman-White plates found themselves in concurrent production for the next ten days. Elliott-
Burke/Elliott-White, Elliott-White/Speelman-White and Elliott-Burke/Speelman-White changeover pairs
were all possible from this 10-day interval. Then the older Elliott-Burke plates continued to serve until
March 2, 1923 alongside the Speelman-White plates with more production of the highly unusual Elliott-
Burke/Speelman-White changeover pairs.
Figure 4. Use of plates with obsolete Treasury signatures until they wore out resulted in
production of Elliott-White notes well into the Speelman-White era. The last of the Elliott-
White notes was numbered in the NA block. Doug Murray photo.
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Scarce and Rare Serial Number Blocks
The usage patterns illustrated on Figure 1 had interesting consequences for serial number block
collectors. You will find from Table 2 that there was numbering of Elliott-Burke, Elliott-White and
Speelman-White notes within the HA, MA and NA blocks. Notice, however, that the eight-month hiatus in
Elliott-Burke production from December 1921 to August 1922 precluded production of Elliott-Burke KA
notes. The gap between the earlier and later Elliott-Burke groups has been narrowed to H40797764A-
M42098443A based on reported specimens. This range will narrow further but there is no point in looking
for KA Elliott-Burke notes because they just weren?t around to be numbered then.
When Elliott-Burke production resumed in August 1922, the plates lasted well beyond the last of
the Elliott-White plates. This created the rare Elliott-Burke RA block. In contrast, Elliott-White numbering
ceased in the NA block.
Series Date Placement Varieties
Outside of the Treasury signature combinations, the most visible varieties on the 1899 $1s involve
the placement of the right series date on the faces. Ultimately there were five different positions as
illustrated on Figures 5 and 6. The date was moved to accommodate the numbering of the notes as
numbering technology evolved.
Believe it or not, until 1903 all serial numbers at the BEP were printed one number at a time on the
sheets of currency by women operating paging machines. The machines held a single numbering head that
they used to stamp the serials into place. The women used the right series date as a guide for the placement
of the right serial number.
As illustrated on Figure 5, the series date was situated above the right serial number on the first
Lyons-Roberts plates at the startup of the series. It quickly became apparent that the womens view of the
date was obscured by the numbering head, so the date was dropped into full view and the serial number
printed above it. This change was made abruptly in June 1903 after the first 100,000,000 notes were
numbered. Those notes had no block letters.
If you examine Tables 1 and Figure 1, you will discover that this was the only design change in the
entire series where there was no overlap in either the production of the plates or printing of the faces. The
right series date was not on the generic master die or the rolls lifted from it that were used to lay in the face
plates. Consequently, the date was rolled in separately on each subject from a component roll. The last face
with the date above the serial bore plate serial number 509, which was certified May 8, 1901. The first with
the date below was 508 certified June 3, 1901. The out-of-order numbering resulted simply because 508
happened to be finished after 509.
No Treasury seals were printed on the notes at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That
monetization step was carried out within the Treasury building in the Treasurer?s Division of Issue, and had
Figure 5. The right series date was
moved from above the right serial
number at 4 mm (left) to below at 9.5
mm (right) during the Lyons-Roberts
era. The distance is measured from the
base of the I in ?America? to the base of
?Series of 1899.?
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been since 1885. The personnel in the Division of Issue also separated the notes.
Four-subject rotary presses manufactured by the Potter Printing Press Company were introduced at
the BEP in 1903 that numbered but did not seal the notes. A problem became evident that was caused by
differential shrinkage of the wetted paper each time it was dried following the printing of the backs and
faces. Some of the serials landed on the right series date and spoiled the notes. Finally, in 1909, the series
date was lowered from 9.5 to 10.5 cm on Vernon-McClung face plates 5672, 5674, 5675, 5676 and 5678,
which were certified between November 20 and 24, 1909. That was better, but since they were lowering
the date, why not drop it ever further to 12 mm. This was done thereafter, which helped immensely.
A new generation of machines made by the Harris Automated Press Company went into production
in 1910. These machines not only numbered the notes, but also sealed, separated and collated them in
numerical order. The sealing operation was transferred from the Treasurer?s Division of Issue to the Bureau
upon their arrival. Also, star notes began to be used with the introduction of the new machines. See Murray
(1996) and Huntoon and Lofthus (2014).
Some of the serial numbers were still landing on the series date, which was an annoyance. However,
an opportunity for a permanent fix presented itself. The 1899 $1 master die was worn out and a new one
was prepared. Director Ralph took that opportunity to have the series date moved to a vertical position
against the right border. The series date was placed in the new position on the new die, so the
siderographer?s didn?t have to be bothered with entering it from a component roll each time they laid-in a
new plate.
The first plate with the vertical placement was Vernon-McClung face 6734, which was certified
March 28, 1911. Both horizontal and vertical variety plates were made concurrently until 6803 was certified
April 27, 1911, which was the last with the horizontal variety. The change came near the end of the Vernon-
McClung era so Vernon-McClung notes with the vertical variety are scarce and avidly sought.
Considerably more information is available on the $1 1899 series date placement varieties in
Huntoon (2019a).
Plate Serial Number Varieties
Two types of plate serial number varieties occur on the $1 1899s. First, the layout of the face plate
letter and accompanying plate serial number was altered in 1916 on Teehee-Burke plates by aligning the
bases of the plate position letter and plate serial number as illustrated on Figure 7. Next, the back plate
serial number was relocated from the lower right center to lower right corner in 1921 (Figure 8).
The new rendering of the face plate serial numbers was a stylistic change that made its way across
all the Treasury currency face plates at that time. The last 1899 $1 plate with a type 1 number was 52019-
3955, and the last plate of its kind was certified October 14, 1916. The first with a type 2 number was
Figure 6. Illustration of the four placements of ?Series of
1899? on the right side of Vernon-McClung notes that began
with the 9.5 mm spacing inherited from the Lyons-Treat era,
a small group at 10.5 mm, followed by a large group at 12 mm.
The distance is measured from the base of the I in ?America?
to the base of ?Series of 1899. Finally, the series was turned on
end and pushed against the right border.?
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52026-3956, and the first of that variety was certified October 7.
The move of the back plate serial number was implemented on both 4- and 8-subject plates. The
last back plate with a number in the lower right center was 75508-6136 certified July 13, 1921. The first
with the number in the lower right corner was 75529-1 certified June 17. Numbering was restarted at 1 with
the change.
Invisible Occurrences
The fascinating feature of the $1 Series of 1899 $1 notes to a researcher such as me is that virtually
every innovation that occurred in the production of currency at the BEP was tested first on these notes
because they were by far and away the biggest currency production item at the BEP. The same can be said
for all the $1 silver certificates that followed regardless of series or size.
It has been pointed out in this article that some of the varieties that showed up on the notes were
driven by changes in the machinery. An example is the placement of the series date on the right side of the
1899 $1s.
It is my opinion that you can?t fully appreciate the notes without knowing about some of these
technological innovations. To that end, I am including Table 4, which is a chronological listing of the
important innovations made during the production of the 1899 $1s.
For example, when George U. Rose was inventing the electrolytic procedure for duplicating
intaglio printing plates at the BEP, the first that he attempted to replicate was a $1 1899 face in the form of
a one-subject plate (Huntoon, 2016). The first electrolytic production plates were Series of 1899 backs,
which came on line at the end of 1921. No electrolytic faces were used in the series.
When the power presses began to be used to print currency after Congress began to lift their
restrictions on such use, the first such use made of them was to print 1899 $1s. Then when the plate size
was increased from 4- to 8-subjects in August 1918, the first of those plates was made for the 1899 $1s.
In no time after using the 8-subject plates, they figured out that they could eliminate inverted back
Figure 7. The format of the Series of 1899
$1 face plate serial numbers was altered in
1916 on Teehee-Burke notes by aligning
the bases of the plate position letter and
number. Type 1 is on the left, type 2 on the
right.
Figure 8. The back plate serial number on the Series of 1899 $1 silver certificates was relocated to the lower
right corner in 1916.
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errors through the use of toe-to-head plates (Figure 9). The toe-to-head plates came along in October 1918,
the first of which were made for the 1899 $1s. The fact is, they only made eight head-to-head back plates
and thirty-two face plates for the 1899 $1s before the toe-to-head arrangement dawned on them. They didn?t
waste those head-to-head plates, but while using them they had to take care to keep the production from
them separated from that of the toe-to-heads!
As revealed on Table 4, four-subject plates were still being made as late as November 1923.
However, production for all the high-volume Treasury currency was being moved to 4-plate power presses
by then. Organized labor had been resisting the use of power presses at the Bureau since 1878 when the
first steam press was tested at the Bureau, and in due course Congressional allies passed legislation
prohibiting their use to print currency. Restrictions on the use of the presses for currency were lifted starting
with backs and eventually faces with acquiescence of the printer?s union during World War I.
An Act of Congress dated January 3, 1923, formally cleared all impediments. It 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.?
The 4-subject plates were designed for use on single plate flatbed presses, although four of them
could be mounted on the 4-plate power presses. However, the power presses worked optimally with four
8-subject plates.
Once the gloves were off in 1923, Bureau management under Director Louis A. Hill ramped up
production of 8-subject plates, which consisted of steel plates made by traditional roll-transfer technology
because Hill had disbanded the electrolytic unit. However, at that time, the Bureau still possessed a large
inventory of almost 900 unused or lightly used 4-subject steel back plates of several types, including 575
$1 1899 backs, as well as 40 $1 1899 faces.
They quickly seized upon altering pairs of the 4-subject plates to create 8-subject forms that could
be used on the power presses (Murray and Huntoon, 2019). The respective plates within each pair were
machined so that one served on the left and the other on the right side of the 8-subject form. The two halves
were arranged in toe-to-head fashion for faces and head-to-toe for the backs. Lettering on the face plates
remained A-B-C-D/A-B-C-D.
The more plentiful 4-subject back plates were the first to be altered in this fashion with the first 8-
subject form being certified April 14, 1923 consisting of conjoined 4-subject backs 2238 and 2239.
Figure 9. Upper-right corner from a proof of the first 8-subject $1 1899 toe-to-head face plate certified on
October 1, 1918, a month after the first 8-subject head-to-head plate was made. It didn?t take long for them to
figure out that this configuration eliminated production of inverted back notes on power presses.
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Speelman-White faces followed, with 2689/2688 certified January 15, 1924, and the last consisting of
2670/2669 certified February 11, 1924. The last four pairs of backs were certified September 5, 1924. These
hybrid plates were interspersed on the power presses with conventional newly manufactured 8-subject
plates. The beginning and ending back and face plates involved in this innovation are not listed on Table 4
because the order in which the plates were altered was not systematic and there where gaps in the affected
plate serial numbers.
The very last Series of 1899 $1 face plate was 95927/2922, a 4-subject Speelman-White face plate
that was certified November 10, 1924 almost six months after the last 8-subject production face plate had
been made. The Bureau had been making $1 Series of 1923 face plates for 13 months by then. This lone
1899 face plate was sent to press from November 14, 1924 to January 8, 1925. It was used as a cleanup
plate to put faces on the remaining stock of preprinted backs after the last of the other 1899 face plates had
worn out. Probably much of that feed stock consisted of 8-subject backs that had to be cut in half before
the faces could be printed.
Even minor occurrences that you would never think of first appeared on the 1899 $1 plates. For
example, to help track accountability, management decided that the siderographers should put their initials
on the plates that they made beginning in 1906. This was such a good idea, they had the plate finishers
initial the plates they worked on as well beginning in 1909. In due course, the Treasury plate number was
moved from the bottom to the top margin of the plates in 1911 in order to facilitate handling them.
The last delivery of $1 Series of 1899 notes was sent to the Treasury on January 26, 1925. More $1
Series of 1899 notes were printed than any other large size type note.
Table 4. Firsts, lasts and production innovations that occurred during the life of the Series of 1899 $1 silver
certificates. In the case of plates, the dates are when the plate listed was certified.
Treas. Pl. Ser.
Dates Event Pl. No. No.1 Treasury Sigs.
1899 Mar 3 use of power presses for currency production outlawed at BEP
1903 mid use of Potter 4-subject rotary serial numbering presses without seals began
1906 May 16 first sideographer initial used on a plate 22068 3363 Lyons-Treat
1909 Apr 5 first plate finisher initial used on a plate 29481 5201 Vernon-Treat
1910 Apr use of Harris 4-subject numbering, sealing, separating and collating presses began
1910 Jun 12 use of star notes began
1911 Jan 16 successful experimental 1-subject electrolytic plate 34910 none none
1911 Dec 6 first Treasury plate number in top margin 36933 7406 Vernon-McClung
1911 Nov 29 prototype 8-subject face plate lettered A-B-C-D/A-B-C-D 37036 7419/7420 Napier-McClung
1912 Aug 24 currency backs and tints began to be printed on power presses
1917 Oct 6 all restrictions on use of power presses lifted
1918 Aug 9 first 8-subject steel head-to-head back plate 60932 5583 rc
1918 Aug 29 last 8-subject steel head-to-head back plate 61065 5618 rc
1918 Sep 3 first 8-subject steel head-to-head face plate 61111 6794 Teehee-Burke
1918 Oct 1 first 8-subject steel toe-to-head face plate 61261 6820 Teehee-Burke
1918 Oct 3 last 8-subject steel head-to-head face plate 61371 6831 Teehee-Burke
1918 Oct 3 first 8-subject steel head-to-toe back plate 61413 5619 rc
1921 Dec 152 first 8-subject electrolytic head-to-toe back plate 74741 5922 rc
1923 Mar 27 last 4-subject steel back plate 86038 3062 lr
1923 Jul 11 last 8-subject electrolytic head-to-toe back plate 89393 3321 lr
1923 May 27 last 8-subject steel toe-to-head face plate 93155 2921 Speelman-White
1923 Dec 22 last regular 4-subject steel face plate 91504 2689 Speelman-White
1924 Jul 23 last 8-subject steel head-to-toe back plate 93878 3439 lr
1924 Nov 10 lone cleanup 4-subject steel face plate made 95927 2922 Speelman-White
1925 Jan 26 last delivery of 1899 $1s to the Treasury Department
1. Plate serial number locations: rc = right center, lr = lower right.
2. Electrolytic backs 5997, 6015, 6064, 6065 certified May 24, 1921 before 5922.
No electrolytic production face plates were made for the $1 1899 silver certificates.
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Conclusion
Good grief, you waded through this article and arrived at the end without any checklist, without a
rarity listing and worst of all without a price guide! What good was it!
What you have is a guide that you can use to determine the varieties that are possible from each
signature combination as you decide the scope of how you wish to collect from this great series. Go to
Figure 1. Drop vertical lines from any signature combination that interests you to determine the different
series date placements, face plate serial number varieties, and back plate serial number placements that are
possible on those notes. Merge this information with the block letters data on Table 2. It won?t take long to
discover what is and what isn?t possible, and best of all you can identify the short-lived combinations. Now
you know the scope of your chase.
Beginning in 1920, use your vertical lines to determine all the overlapping signature combinations
and start looking for changeover pairs that are possible. Some of the possible pairs haven?t been discovered
yet.
There is no end of the use that you can make of Figure 1 and the tables presented here.
Mules have been very popular among small size collectors for decades. A mule is a note where one
side is printed from a plate bearing a current design element, such as the most recent Treasury signature
combination or style of plate letter, that is mated on the other side with a plate bearing a design element
that was being phased out. The Series of 1899 $1s offer up a plethora of mule varieties that type note pioneer
Doug Murray spent a lifetime chasing with great delight.
An easy mule to understand is a Speelman-White note with a back plate number that occurs in the
lower right center. Plates with back plate numbers in the lower right center were being used up alongside
those with the number on the lower right corner after the latter came on line. Figure 1 reveals that those
mules were in production from mid-1921 to mid-1923. Try for a serial number block letter set of those
mules, including a star note. There is no end to the mule varieties that can be assembled for the 1899 $1s,
especially if you combine going after all the serial number block letter combinations that go with them.
All of a sudden, this type note with the largest production of all the large size type notes starts to
offer innumerable stiff challenges. Collecting one of each signature combination just doesn?t cut it. There
are varieties galore. And, as large size type notes go, these 1899 $1s are plentiful and cheap, so the cherry
picker can have a field day with them. Yes, there are plenty of discoveries to be made, virtually all hidden
in plain sight!
When you get serious, obtain Gengerke?s large size type note census. You quickly can see what
has been discovered and what is scarce, rare or undiscovered.
If you make the effort to understand how the production of the $1 Series of 1899 notes changed
during their 1898 to 1925 life span, you will find parallels in the production of the other large size Treasury
currency produced during the same era.
The consumption of plates with obsolete signature combinations or other obsolete design elements
alongside current plates coupled with the practice begun in 1920 of merging all that production into a single
stream for serial numbering established a precedence for how currency was printed for the next 33 years.
New innovations and machinery brought an end to these practices when the 12-subject small size currency
plates were phased out in the 1950s.
References Citied and Sources of Data
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1899-1925, Certified proofs listed from $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate face and back plates:
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1928, Final receipts for notes and certificates: ledgers NC01-NC09 split between the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Record Group 318, entry P1, ledgers
268 and 269, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1917-1953, Record of plates in the United States and Miscellaneous vault: ledgers split between
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Record Group 318, entry P1, U.
S. National Archives, College Park, MD.
Gengerke, Martin, 2014, U. S. paper money records, a census of U. S. large size type notes: privately produced on demand by
gengerke@aol.com.
Huntoon, Peter, Jan-Feb 2016, Invention and evolution of electrolytic plate making at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Paper
Money, v. 55, p. 4-17.
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99
Huntoon, Peter, Sep-Oct 2019a, $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate series date placement layout varieties: Paper Money, v. 58, p.
307-314.
Huntoon, Peter, Sep-Oct 2019b, Large size type note signature protocols created scarce serial number varieties: Paper Money, v.
58, p. 347-355.
Huntoon, Peter, Nov-Dec 2019c, Napier-Thompson Napier-Burke Treasury signature rarities: Paper Money, v. 58, p. 392-405.
Huntoon, Peter, and Lee Lofthus, Nov-Dec 2014, The birth of star notes, the back story: Paper Money, v. 53, p. 400-411.
Murray, Douglas D., 1996, The comprehensive catalog of United States large size star notes, 1910-1929: BNR Press, Port Clington,
OH,128 p.
Murray, Doug, and Peter Huntoon, Jul-Aug 2019, 4-subject large-size plates altered into 8-subject forms during 1923-1925: Paper
Money, v. 58, p. 231-237.
Table 5. Certification and on-press dates for the 43 Napier-Thompson
$1 Series of 1899 silver certificate plates.
The intervening plate serial numbers were used on Napier-McClung plates.
Treas. Pl. Ser.
Pl. No. No. Certified Inclusive On-Press Dates
39698 8594 Dec 4, 1912 Dec 5, 1912-Jan 11, 1913
39699 8595 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Feb 6, 1913
39724 8601 Dec 5, 1912 Dec 6, 1912-Mar 18, 1913
39732 8604 Dec 6, 1912 Dec 20, 1912-Feb 12, 1913
39733 8605 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Jan 29, 1913
39736 8606 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Jan 3, 1913
39781 8613 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Jan 27, 1913
39788 8614 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 5, 1913
39789 8615 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 10, 1913
39802 8618 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 5, 1913
39809 8619 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Jan 11, 1913
39810 8620 Dec 5, 1912 Jan 9, 1913-Feb 20, 1913
39817 8621 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Jan 10, 1913
39818 8622 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Feb 3, 1913
39824 8623 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Feb 27, 1913
39825 8624 Dec 4, 1912 Dec 5, 1912-Feb 10, 1913
39826 8625 Dec 7, 1912 Jan 10, 1912-Feb 7, 1913
39827 8626 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Mar 31, 1913
39836 8627 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Jan 23, 1913
Figure 10. Napier-Thompson Series of 1899 $1s were produced in a token quantity of 6,740,000
notes assigned to the DD serial number block. The notes were produced concurrently with and
in the midst of a flood of on-going production of Napier-McClung notes. No Napier-Thompson
star notes have been reported so it is likely that none were printed. Heritage Auction Archives
photo.
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Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326
39837? 8628? Dec?2,?1912? Dec?4,?1912?Jan?23,?1913?
39855? 8629? Dec?3,?1912 Dec?4,?1912?Jan?16,?1913?
39856? 8630? Dec?2,?1912 Dec?3,?1912?Jan?18,?1913?
39863? 8633? Dec?4,?1912 Dec?5,?1912?Jan?11,?1913?
39864? 8634? Dec?4,?1912 Dec?5,?1912?Mar?11,?1913?
39865? 8635? Dec?2,?1912 Jan?10,?1913?Feb?13,?1913?
40036? 8733? Jan 6, 1913 Jan 15, 1913?Mar 10, 1913?
40037? 8734? Jan 6, 1913 Jan 17, 1913?Mar 13, 1913?
40038? 8735? Jan 10, 1913 Jan 22, 1913?Mar 18, 1913?
40039? 8736? Jan 11, 1913 Jan 25, 1913?Mar 3, 1913?
40040? 8737? Jan 28, 1913 Feb 1, 1913?Apr 4, 1913?
40041? 8738? Jan 20, 1913 Jan 27, 1913?Mar 14, 1913?
40042? 8739? Jan 18, 1913 Jan 28, 1913?Apr?10, 1913?
40043? 8740? Jan 22, 1913 Feb 4, 1913?Apr 14, 1913?
40044? 8741? Jan 24, 1913 Feb 6, 1913?Mar 1, 1913?
40045? 8742? Jan 24, 1913 Feb 7, 1913?Apr 4, 1913?
40239? 8845? Feb 1, 1913 Feb 4, 1913?Mar 31, 1913?
40240? 8846? Jan 29, 1913 Feb 5, 1913?Apr 10, 1913?
40650? 9021? Mar?21,?1913 Mar?23,?1913?Apr?28,?1913?
40651? 9022? Mar?22,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?10,?1913?
40670? 9025? Mar?24,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?5,?1913?
40671? 9026? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?10,?1913?
40682? 9033? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?7,?1913?
40683? 9034? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?21,?1913?
101
MYLAR-D? CURRENCY HOLDERS
BANK NOTE AND CHECK HOLDERS
SIZE INCHES 50 100 500 1000
Fractional 43/4 X 21/4 $33.00 $60.00 $273.00 $490.00
Colonial 51/2 X 31/16 $30.00 $54.00 $253.00 $454.00
Small Currency 65/8 X 27/8 $30.00 $56.00 $257.00 $470.00
Large Currency 77/8 X 31/2 $36.00 $64.00 $303.00 $594.00
Auction 9 X 33/4 $36.00 $64.00 $303.00 $594.00
Foreign Currency 8 X 5 $43.00 $78.00 $355.00 $627.00
Checks 95/8 X 41/4 $44.00 $81.00 $375.00 $667.00
SHEET HOLDERS
?? 10 50 100 250
Obsolete Sheet--end
open 83/4 X 141/2 $25.00 $110.00 $191.00 $447.00
National Sheet--side
open
Note?to be discontinued when
sold out
81/2 X 171/2 $26.50 $120.00 $205.00 $459.00
Stock Certificate--end
open 91/2 X 121/2 $23.00 $110.00 $182.00 $415.00
Map & Bond--end open 181/2 X 241/2 $104.00 $470.00 $863.00 $2011.00
Foreign Oversize 10 X 6 $28.00 $107.00 $180.00 $384.00
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The Delaware and Hudson Canal
AND ITS PAPER MONEY ISSUES
by Q. David Bowers
Introduction
?A great place to visit, a better place to live? is today?s motto for Honesdale?a sentiment that most
people will share. I was born there in 1938 and lived there on 914 Church Street for much of my early
life. Growing up in a Victorian mansion must have had a good influence on my love for history and
tradition.
The red-brick mansion at 914 Church Street.
In the annals of numismatics, the town has a rich heritage, including paper money from the 1830s
through the National Bank note era.
Contemplating bank notes of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company piqued my interest when I
realized that the canal started in Honesdale, where I was born. Based in Honesdale, the route connected
the settlement with the Hudson River. I was determined to learn more.
Bird?s eye view of
Honesdale, 1890.
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About Honesdale
Honesdale, slightly more than four square miles in area, was named for Philip Hone, one-term mayor
in New York City 1825-1826, when it was laid out as a village at the confluence of the Lackawaxen River
and Dyberry Creek in 1826. Hone was president of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. The town
was incorporated as a borough in 1831.1
Artist?s conception of the Stourbridge Lion in its 1829 run. The D&H coal storage area is in the distance.
One of the town?s claims to fame is the first commercial steam locomotive run on rails in the United
States. On August 8, 1829, the Stourbridge Lion, owned by the Delaware and Hudson Canal, left
Honesdale, ran three miles west to Seelyville, and then returned to its starting point. Years later the
Stourbridge elementary school preserved the name. In the early days boats on the canal carried anthracite
coal by a gravity railroad from mines near Carbondale to New York City on a route that ran to Kingston,
New York on the Hudson River, from which point it was shipped to New York City on barges. Two
horses could tow a barge with 100 tons of coal?much more efficiently than coal could be moved on land
in wagons. Speed on the canal averaged about three miles per hour. The waves
eroded the banks of the canal, necessitating constant maintenance.
Philip Hone was an avid coin collector in that era and assembled an important
cabinet.2 The sale of the Hone Collection was conducted by New York City
auctioneer E.H. Ludlow on April 28, 1852. A 26-page listing offered paintings,
statuary, medals, and other items and described 292 lots, of which coins and
medals realized $837.88, and numismatic books $166.50. A much larger sum was
realized for paintings, $5,910.00.3 The Hone event is important historically as the
first significant auction offering of numismatic items in Manhattan.4
The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, April 24, 1823, included this description of
the canal project, an enterprise that had been introduced into the Pennsylvania
State Legislature in April 1822:
Philip Hone.
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103
Another Canal
The New York papers contain the outline of a bill which is now before the legislature of that state,
entitled, ?An act to incorporate the president, managers and company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company..?
The preamble sets forth the importance of having a channel opened through which the city of New York
and other parts of the state may receive a supply of stone coal which is found in the interior of the state of
Pennsylvania; that there is a large body of this valuable article, belonging to Maurice Wurts of Pennsylvania,
situated near the head waters of the river Lackawaxen, which empties into the river Delaware opposite the
county of Sullivan, and the legislature of that state has recently passed an act authorizing the above named
individual to improve the navigation of said river; that it is represented that a water communication can be
formed between the rivers Delaware and Hudson, through the counties of Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster, or
some one or more of them, so that a supply of this coal may be had from the source aforesaid; and that a
number of the citizens of the state of New York have petitioned the legislature to incorporate a company for
the purpose of making such a communication between the said rivers.
On March 13, 1823, the Pennsylvania State Legislature passed a bill providing that
?Said company shall hold and enjoy the same, as fully as effectively as the same Maurice
Wurts, his heirs, or assigns might, or could do, &c.; and it shall be lawful for the company
to purchase and hold any quantity of lands situate within ten miles of the Lackawaxen, not
exceeding five thousand acres.?
A subsequent bill declared that ?The toll on stone coal shall not, in the whole, exceed the
sum of once cent and one half per ton per mile, on the ascertained burthen or capacity of any
ark, boat, or craft.?
The canal route.
In November 1824 the State of New York passed a supplemental bill to allow the company to use
$500,000 in the business of banking and to establish a banking house in New York City.5 In January 1825
capital stock in the amount of $1,500,000 was authorized and immediately sold. Soon afterward the
company became a legal entity.
Following the pattern of related paper money, notes issued by the canal were probably used mainly
along the route of the waterway and would have not been accepted elsewhere except at a deep discount.
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Delaware and Hudson Canal $2 note.
Delaware and Hudson Canal $3 note.
Delaware and Hudson Canal $10 proof note.
Delaware and Hudson Canal $500 proof note.
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105
The Wurtses tapped Benjamin Wright and John Jervis, architects and engineers of the Erie Canal, to
lay out the route of the new canal from Honesdale to Eddyville on Rondout Creek near Kingston, New
York on the Hudson River. From that point coal could be sent upriver to connect with a route to Canada
or downriver to New York City.
To attract workers, advertisements were placed over a wide area, such as this in the Vermont Gazette,
March 7, 1826:
Three Thousand Men
Will find employment at good wages on that part of the Delaware and Hudson Canal which is now
under contract, commencing at the Hudson River near the Village of Kingston, 60 miles below the city of
Albany and about 80 miles above New York, extending through the counties of Ulster, Sullivan and
Orange, in the State of New York. To the Delaware River.
A line of 65 miles of canal, together with all locks, aqueducts, culverts, bridges, and fencing, is to be
completed during the present year. Laborers and mechanics will find employment on application to
contractors on the line as soon as the spring opens.
The country is remarkable healthy; in this respect it offers greater inducements than any other work of
the kind in the United States, to all persons wishing steady employment throughout the season.
Maurice Wurts
Agent for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
Kingston, Feb. 2, 1826.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal was 32 feet wide and 4 feet deep, with 108 locks, 137 bridges, and
26 dams and basins. To raise capital the Wurtses set up a meeting at the Tontine Coffee House on Wall
Street, New York City, and demonstrated the utility of anthracite coal. The needed funds were raised
quickly.
At each of the 108 locks, water could be raised or lowered 8 to 12 feet. The highest point on the canal
was what became the town of Summitville. There were two aqueducts to carry the canal over the
Neversink River and Rondout Creek. Years later from 1847 to 1851 four new aqueducts were designed by
John A. Roebling, who would later become famous for engineering the Brooklyn Bridge (opened in 1883)
and other projects. The waterway was closed during the deepest months of winter and usually reopened in
April.
The History of Wayne County, Phineas G. Goodrich, 1880, added this
Maurice and William Wurts, Quakers of Philadelphia, men with far-seeing and prophetic vision, devised the plan of
constructing a canal from the Lackawaxen, the site of Honesdale, to the Hudson river at Kingston, a distance of one hundred
and eight miles; and of making a railroad with inclined planes from the Lackawanna to the Lackawaxen, a distance of sixteen
miles, which railroad would ascend the Moosic mountain at an elevation of two thousand feet above tidewater. With a
determination and perseverance equaled only by that of Field in the laying down of the Atlantic cables, Maurice and William
Wurts carried out their plans, being aided by many enterprising capitalists.6
The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company was organized and the proposed canal and railroad made and put in operation
in the year 1829. By way of experiment one or two boats were run up the canal in the autumn of 1828. Many difficulties,
almost insurmountable, were encountered in building the canal. At a point between Paupack Eddy and the Narrows was a sharp
bend in the Lackawaxen called "the pulpit," where it was found indispensable to use the river for the canal, consequently a new
channel was dug around "the pulpit" for the river to run in. A great flood in the spring of 1829 broke away the embankments
between "the pulpit" and the new channel, and part of the river resumed its old course. The repairs were very costly and were
not completed until midsummer, and heavy damages were paid to lumbermen. This misfortune happening in the very
commencement of the enterprise was very disheartening, and this was the most critical period in the existence of the Company.
James Archibald, then its general superintendent, counseled perseverance, and his salutary advice was heeded. When the canal
was repaired there was but little coal to be found at Honesdale; none had been brought over by the railroad. Men had been
employed the previous winter to haul coal from Carbondale to Honesdale, but there was but little snow that season, and
consequently but little coal was drawn, so that the Company delivered only seven hundred tons at Rondout in 1829. Since that
time its advance has been steadily progressive with constant rapidity of advancing step until, wonderful to tell, in 1879, by said
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company there were mined and sold of coal shipped from Honesdale via canal and railroad one
million, nine hundred and thirty three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four tons. The upper part of Honesdale was owned
by Jason Torrey, and the lower part was bought by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company of Samuel Kimble for a slight
consideration. One of its chief patrons was Philip Hone, a wealthy merchant of the city of New York, and, out of respect to
him, the place at the head of canal navigation was named Honesdale. It was first laid out in 1826, and was incorporated as a
borough January 26th, 1831.
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106
On April 5, 1826, the State Legislature authorized the canal company ?to construct a railway or
railways from the coal beds owned by the company, on the forks of the Dyberrry on the river
Lackawaxen? and to collect and receive by toll on said rail road a sum not exceeding sum of twelve per
centum per annum? on the coal transported. In 1829, 7,000 tons of coal were shipped by rail.
In the summer of 1841, Hone organized a party of prominent New Yorkers interested in the canal to
visit Honesdale. The entourage included author Washington Irving, who wrote from there to his sister,
Mrs. Van Wart, on August 1:
I write from among the mountains in the upper part of Pennsylvania, from a pretty village which has recently sprung into
existence as the deposit of a great coal region, and which is called after our friend, Philip Hone, who was extremely efficient in
directing Rev. Mr. Richardson, who, in 1841, had a school enterprise into this quarter.
I came here along the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which extends from the Hudson River, near the Catskill Mountains,
upward of a hundred miles into the interior, traversing some of the of the most beautiful parts (as to scenery) of the state.
I accompanied the directors of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in their annual visit of examination. Among the directors
are Philip Hone and my friend [Henry] Brevoort. I do not know when I have made a more gratifying excursion with respect to
natural scenery, or more interesting from the stupendous works of art.
The canal is laid a great part of the way along romantic valleys, watered by the Rondout, the Lackawaxen, &c. For many
miles it is built up along the face of perpendicular precipices rising into stupendous cliffs with overhanging forests, or jutting
out into vast promontories, while on the other side you look down upon the Delaware, foaming and roaring below you at the
foot of an immense wall or embankment which supports the canal. Altogether it is one of the most daring undertakings I have
ever witnessed, to carry an artificial river over rocky mountains, and up the most savage and almost impracticable defiles; and
all this, too, has been achieved by the funds of an association composed of a handful of individuals. For upward of ninety miles
I went through a constant succession of scenery that would have been famous had it existed in any part of Europe; the Catskill
Mountains to the north, the Shawangunk Mountains to the south, and between them lovely valleys, with the most luxuriant
woodlands and picturesque streams.
All this is a region about which I had heard nothing?a region entirely unknown to fame; but so it is in our country. We
have some main routes for the fashionable traveler, along which he is hurried in steamboats and railroad cars; while on every
side extend regions of beauty, about which he hears and knows nothing. Some of the most enchanting scenes I have beheld
since my return to the United States have been in out-of-the-way places into which I have been accidentally led.7
The canal proved to be profitable and gave a nice return to its stockholders. It remained in service well
into the twentieth century. Over a period of time its business was transferred to the Delaware and Hudson
Railway, which became prominent in the Northeast, extending into Canada.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal basin as
depicted on a stereograph card.
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107
The basin in Honesdale in the early twentieth century.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal railroad system in 1886
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108
The town of Honesdale continued to achieve success and prominence. Today with a population of
nearly 4,500 it has many activities and business enterprises and is also a tourist center.
In later years of the nineteenth century, extending into the early twentieth, there were many other
paper money issues, including of the Honesdale Bank, the Honesdale National Bank, and various scrip
bills.
Endnotes
1 Hone was a client of John Allan, a New York City accountant who was America?s first rare coin dealer.
2 American Journal of Numismatics, April 1874.
3 George Parish, Jr., American Journal of Numismatics, August 1866. In the April 1884 sale of his own collection, Lot
3312, W. Elliot Woodward stated that ?only two or three copies are known? of the Hone sale catalogue. The manuscript
catalogue of his collection survived and was exhibited by Elisha Y. Ten Eyck at the April 9, 1868, meeting of the American
Numismatic and Archaeological Society. ?They [the coins and medals] were gathered together at a time when a collection of
this sort, or of any sort, was an extremely unusual thing; and they were sold and dispersed after their proprietor?s death, which
occurred in May 1851. The printed catalogue of this collection is one of the rarest known. It is valued at $10 by Mr.
Woodward, according to whom only three are ascertained to exist.?
4 Years later Hone?s diary was published in two volumes and gave detailed insights on the city during the era 1828-1851,
but did not discuss numismatics, even in passing. Hone lived at 235 Broadway opposite the Park, moving to the corner of Great
Jones Street and Broadway in October 1837 (the New York Tribune, April 18, 1868, contained a description of the residence).
The auction catalog can be viewed on the Newman Numismatic Portal on the internet.
5 Historical retrospective in The Wyoming Herald, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1830.
6 In the book Wurts was consistently misspelled as Wurtz. This is corrected in the present citation.
7 The Life and Letters of Washington Irving edited by his nephew, Pierre M. Irving, Vol. III. London, 1863, pp. 132, 133.
Also, History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania, Alfred Mathews, 1886, p. 347, with more information
about the visit. Some other histories have Irving incorrectly visiting in 1844 and the entourage including John Jacob Astor.
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109
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WW2 British Military Authority notes for Greece.
The R Series (1944-1947)
Evangelos Fysikas
Historical background
The occupation of Greece (excluding
Dodecanese islands) by the Axis Powers began in
April 1941 after Germany invaded Greece to assist
its ally Italy, which had been at war with Greece
since 28th October 1940. Following the conquest
of Crete, all of Greece was occupied by June 1941.
The German troops started to evacuate Southern
Greece from early of September 1944 and finally
withdrew from Athens on 12th October 1944. By
the end of the month, they had withdrawn from all
Greece. However, German garrisons remained in
control of part of Crete and some other Aegean
islands up until May 1945. The first British troops
arrived in Athens on 14th October 1944. Four days
later, the Greek government-in-exile returned to
the Greek capital and finally took the control of the
country.
During the years of the occupation, Greek
economy devastated and hyperinflation made
drachmas banknotes useless. The highest
denomination ever issued reached the value of 100
billion drachmas in November 1944. Then, the
new post-war drachma was introduced being
equally to 50 billion old drachmas. Under Law 18
of 9th November 1944 it was decided that British
Military Authority banknotes would circulate
along with the new currency. The rate was pegged
at 600 new drachmas to 1 BMA pound. The
purpose of the military banknotes remaining in
use, was to help the Greek population trust the new
drachma seeing it was connected to a stable
currency. It should be mentioned that BMA notes
were not allowed to circulate in Britain. Those that
released for circulation in Greece had print on
them the characteristic letter R. Apart from
Greece, the same BMA banknotes were in use in
North Africa, in 1942-43 (A-F, K, L series), in
Italy, in 1943-45 (S series) and, for a short while,
in Yugoslavia, during 1944 (X series). BMA notes
were withdrawn between 16th April and 31st May
1945 at the initial rate of 600 drachmas to one
BMA pound.
Dodecanese islands
The Dodecanese (literally "twelve islands") is
a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands
in the southeastern Aegean Sea with Rhodes being
the most historically important and well-known
island. From 1912 to 1943 Dodecanese were the
"Italian Islands of the Aegean" and ruled by the
Kingdom of Italy who annexed them from the
Ottoman Empire. During World War II Italy used
the Dodecanese as a naval staging area. After the
surrender of Italy in September of 1943, the
islands briefly became a battleground between the
Germans and Allied forces. The Germans
prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign, and
although they were driven out of mainland Greece
in Autumn of 1944, the Dodecanese remained
under German occupation until the end of the war.
Then, on 8 May 1945, the islands became a British
military protectorate, upon which the islands
became informally united with Greece, though
under separate sovereignty and military control.
Finally, the islands were formally united with
Greece by the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy.
Until the end of the German occupation the
officially currency in Dodecanese was the Italian
Lire. When British forces liberated the islands and
took the control, they introduced BMA notes
having one pound equally to 400 Lire. They
100 billion drachmas banknote (PM-135, Fysikas #132)
(Obverse)
100 billion drachmas banknote (PM-135, Fysikas #132)
(Reverse)
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
111
remained in circulation until 31st March 1947
when they exchanged at a rate of 20,000 drachmas
to the pound. Alongside with the notes bearing the
code R, another one note placed into circulation in
Dodecanese contrary to the mainland Greece. This
was the one with the lower denomination, the six
pence note but without having any serial number
or any letter printed on it. A total of 1,980,000 six
pence notes circulated while 371,449 of them were
never been redeemed.
Description of the notes
Six different denominations issued by the
British Military Authority during WW2. The
highest five circulated in Greece between October
1944 and May 1945 and all six in Dodecanese
from May 1945 to March 1947. All
denominations, except the six pence note, have the
''code'' letter R either as part of the serial number
or alone. The one pound and the 10 shillings notes
bare a watermark of goddess Athena and only
these two have a distinctive serial number printed
on them. None of the notes bear any signature or a
date.
Map of Greece. Dodecanese islands at lower right Watermark of 10 shillings and 1 pound notes
6 pence note (PM-1, Fysikas #434) (Obverse) 6 pence note (PM-1, Fysikas #434) (Reverse)
1 shilling note (PM-2, Fysikas #435) (Obverse) 1 shilling note (PM-2, Fysikas #435) (Reverse)?
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
112
2 shillings and 6 pence note (PM-3, Fysikas #436) (Obverse) 2 shillings and 6 pence note (PM-3, Fysikas #436) (Reverse)
5 shilling note (PM-4, Fysikas #437) (Obverse) 5 shilling note (PM-4, Fysikas #437) (Reverse)
10 shilling note (PM-5, Fysikas #438) (Obverse) 10 shilling note (PM-5, Fysikas #438) (Reverse)
1 pound note (PM-6a, Fysikas #439a) (Obverse) 1 pound note (PM-6a, Fysikas #439a) (Reverse)
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
113
The "GREECE" overprint
A rare variety of the 1 pound BMA note is the
one with a black overprint on the obverse with the
word "GREECE". This has a special prefix 39Z
and serial number from 000026 to 000050 i.e. 25
pieces. Similar overprints can be found with the
indication ?BULGARIA? (39Z 000001-25) and
?FRANCE? (39Z 000051-75 or 100?). During the
last 25 years of research, I had come across with
12 of the overprinted notes. Their serial numbers
are 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47 and
49. The purpose behind this overprinting is not yet
been clarified, but two reasons may be the
following.
The British considered adding an indication
of the name of each country on the banknotes
alongside with the distinctive letter. However, if
this indication was printed in London there was the
risk that, during the process and before the paper
sheets were cut into separate notes, the names of
the countries, which the British planned to invade,
would leak and become known. Thus, they
decided to have the notes cut from the sheets, have
them sent to the occupied countries after taking
them over and have each separate banknote
overprinted with the distinctive indication locally.
They had some of the banknotes overprinted only
as a trial but the project proved impractical and it
was soon abandoned. Although this explanation is
very logical, it cannot explain why three different
overprints had to be made while with only one
country's name they could figure out the pros and
the cons of the procedure.
The other opinion is that these overprints were
made for deception purposes. Selected British
officers would carry the overprinted notes and
"reveal" them to persons that might been spies in
favor of Axis. Thus, enemy would believe that the
Allies had plans to land in Greece or Bulgaria, but
the reality would be completely different.
Although this explanation is plausible, it cannot
make clear the "FRANCE" overprint, because as
we know Allies finally landed on Normandy in
June of 1944.
Although it is relative easy to copy the
overprint, the fact that we know exactly the serial
numbers of the original notes, prevents someone
to do this. However, during the past years, I came
across with only one such counterfeit specimen.
Reading the serial number of the note (40A
227536) we have no doubt that the overprint is
obvious fake.
1 pound note overprinted with "GREECE" (PM-6d, Fysikas #439b) (Obverse) Counterfeit overprint "GREECE"
Epilogue
BMA notes form a fascinating banknote-collecting field. These banknotes can easily fit into three
different collections: British notes, war notes and Greek notes. Especially the rare overprinted one pound
is the most sought-after British Military Authority note.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
114
List of the quantity of BMA notes circulated in Greece (1944-45) and Dodecanese (1945-47).
Source: T.F.A. van Elmpt.
Den. Ordered Circulated
Pieces Value Pieces Value Serial Number
PM-6 1 ? 1,300,000 ?1,300,000 1,015,000 ?1,015,000 40R 000001-
41R 300000
PM-5 10/- 4,000,000 ?2,300,000 3,050,000 ?1,015,000 01R 000001-
04R 1000000
PM-4 5/- 4,000,000 ?1,000,000 3,050,000 ?762,500 R
PM-3 2/6 4,000,000 ?500,000 3,050,000 ?381,250 R
PM-2 1/- 4,000,000 ?200,000 3,050,000 ?152,500 R
PM-1 6d 15,300,000 ?382,500 1,980,000 ?49,500 without
Total 32,600,000 ?5,682,500 15,195,000 ?3,885,750
Author's e-mail: greeknotes@gmail.com
Bibliography/Sources
1. Evangelos Fysikas, "Catalogue of Greek Paper Money 1822-2002", 2015.
2. T.F.A. van Elmpt "?British Military Authority Occupation Currency 1942-1956. Europe and North
Africa", Elran Press, 2003.
3. C.F. Schwan & J. E. Boling, "World War II Military Currency", BNR Press, 1978.
4. wikipedia.com
5. spink.com
1507 Sanborn Ave. ? Box 258
Okoboji, IA 51355
Open from Memorial Day thru Labor Day
History of National Banking & Bank Notes
Turn of the Century Iowa Postcards
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
115
Commonwealth Edison?s Federal
Dividend Coupon System
by Loren Gatch
Introduction
While the legacy of Samuel Insull (1859-1938)
remains forever tainted by the financial collapse of his
utilities empire in 1932, the British-born Chicago
business figure played a major role in the
electrification American industry, and indeed in the
emergence of our modern consumer society. After
becoming head of Chicago (later, Commonwealth)
Edison in 1892, Insull pioneered the business
expansion strategy that, over the next four decades, put
Chicago as the ?Electric City? at the global forefront
in the use of electricity at work, for travel, and in the
home.
A prot?g? of Thomas Alva Edison, Insull was not
himself an inventor. He was nonetheless an innovative
leader, risk taker and organizational genius who
grasped and exploited a fundamental insight into the
economics of electricity generation. Insull recognized
that the power business promised economies of scale
that linked increasing electricity demand to ever-lower
per unit production costs. The key to exploiting this
potential of electricity, he saw, lay in the relentless
expansion of power output from a central source. In
addition to adopting new generation technologies,
production efficiency entailed absorbing competitors
within a given service area to the point where a single
provider enjoyed a natural monopoly operating under
government regulation. Achieving this required
recognizing the demand for electricity as a critical
driver of the expansion process.
Though the benefits of an electrified world seem
self-evident today, at the end of the 19th century
Americans had to be educated into the virtues of the
new energy source. After achieving early successes in
electrifying industry and adding Chicago?s streetcar
and elevated railways as customers, Insull?s
Commonwealth Edison (or ?ComEd?) embarked on
the project of signing up the hundreds of thousands of
Chicago households for its electricity service.
The benefits of electric lighting were only the
beginning. Insull appreciated that consumer demand
generated from the use of numerous new electrical
appliances improved the company?s ?load factor? by
increasing the use of electricity, especially during off-
peak times. Each iron, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher or
toaster in operation added to electricity demand, in this
way feeding into lower unit production costs and thus
lower electricity rates for all customers.
A part of ComEd?s demand strategy was its own
marketing of consumer appliances and electrical
accessories through outlets called ?Edison Electric
Shops.? In addition to serving as retail establishments,
Electric Shops also had cashier?s windows where
customers could pay their electricity bills and arrange
repair and installation services. One aspect of this
marketing strategy was its use of the Federal Dividend
Coupon System. Though similar to other arrangements
at the time, such as that of United Cigar or Sperry &
Hutchinson, ComEd?s use of premium coupons was
different in that the company sought to encourage
appliance purchases not primarily to make a profit on
their sale, but for the subsequent demands for
electricity that they represented.
This article describes the features of the Federal
Dividend Coupon System, its range of denominations,
and the ways in which it contributed to ComEd?s
evolving efforts to improve its ?load factor.?
The Edison Electric Shop and Federal Coupons
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the
nascent electricity industry confronted a classic
Samuel Insull, electricity magnate
Source:?Wikipedia?
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problem typical of any capital-intensive enterprise.
Where was the demand that would justify expensive
upfront investments in electricity generation capacity?
Like other energy entrepreneurs, Insull sought to
expand his business both horizontally (absorbing
competitors) and vertically (bringing electricity into
the home). A key innovation was his adoption of the
metered billing system, which priced electricity
according to whether it was used during low- or high-
demand times.
Signing up households entailed marketing to
consumers new products that would consume power.
In the early twentieth century, this meant selling
Americans on the benefits of an electrified world.
Electric lighting itself seemed self-justifying, as did
some other applications. Who wouldn?t prefer
cleaning a carpet with an electric vacuum, as opposed
to dragging the thing outside, and laboriously beating
it? Similarly, using electric irons on clothing seemed
unambiguously superior to heating irons on the
kitchen stove, particularly during the uncomfortable
summer months.
In other respects, though, the benefits of electrical
appliances might not have been obvious, and ComEd?s
publicity sought to educate the public into what it was
missing. In these early years, Insull published his own
magazine, Electric City, whose contents showcased
the new technology. A ComEd truck loaded with
10,000 electric irons trundled through Chicago
neighborhoods, offering the devices at no money
down in exchange for signing up for electricity
service. The company also mounted a traveling
exhibition called the ?Electric Cottage?, in which an
entire house equipped with the latest conveniences
was towed around for public viewing. Endorsements
by celebrities, such as the vaudeville star Trixie
Fraganza, somehow sought to impart glamour to
electric appliances.
In 1909, the company opened the first Edison
Electric Shop at Michigan Avenue and Jackson
Boulevard, a decidedly high-rent location. Pitched to
an upscale clientele, the Electric Shop?s sumptuous
displays ranged from lamps and domestic appliances
on the ground floor to lathes, drill punches, and other
industrial equipment in basement showrooms. The
new store aimed not merely to generate sales, but to
awaken aspirations as well, serving to educate the
public into the benefits and conveniences of the
new electrical products for which markets simply
did not yet exist.
In 1915, the Edison Electric Shop relocated
nearby to 72 West Adams, where it remained for
decades. As other branches of the Edison Electric
Shop were opened up around the city, the
downtown Loop address henceforth served as the
flagship of the utility?s appliance marketing
operation. The following year ComEd sought to
bolster its sales by introducing a premium program
Bringing electricity to the masses (Source: Platt 1991).
The glamour of electricity (Sources: Hogan 1986; Platt 1991).
The Edison Electric Shop in 1909 (Source:
Electrical World 1909).
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using Federal Dividend Coupons, administered by the
Federal Profit-Sharing Co., which was housed at the
same West Adams location. These coupons were
given out in the form of trading stamps, one for each
five-cent purchase at participating merchants. The
stamps had to be pasted into books of 960, which the
company redeemed for one dollar when purchasing
any item at the Electric Shop.
Since it took nearly $50 in expenditures to
accumulate 960 stamps/coupons, the premium
represented a straight 2% discount on Electric Shop
purchases. The premium catalog associated with the
plan priced items both in terms of coupons and the
cash equivalent. This was not a particularly generous
deal, compared to similar plans of the time. But since
the Federal Profit-Sharing Co. was not an independent,
third-party premium marketing company, but an
affiliate of the power utility, a number of the plan?s
features reflected ComEd?s overarching goal of
increasing electricity demand.
First, retail merchants giving the coupons out had
to be themselves customers of Federal Sign System, a
ComEd affiliate, meaning that they rented commercial
signs, and bought the electricity to illuminate them,
from ComEd. Customers accumulated coupons not
just from participating retailers, but from the utility
itself. Every month, customers received in the mail
with their electric bills an enclosed advertising
certificate that could be taken to any Edison Electric
Shop and exchanged for thirty coupons. If a person
paid their bill at the main Electric Shop on West
Adams, they received an additional certificate worth
ten coupons.
In addition to purchases at participating retailers,
when customers bought appliances at any Electric
Shop, they received coupons at the same rate of one
for every five-cent purchase. ComEd further
encouraged consumer purchases, particularly of more
expensive items, by allowing customers to pay in
installments that were folded into their monthly utility
bills. These installment payments also earned
customers additional coupons at the same rate of one
coupon for every five cents spent. Conversely, in
making their installment payments, customers were
allowed to apply their coupons only up to half the
amount of the itemized monthly amounts.
Sometime by the mid-1920s, two changes to
ComEd?s premium program took place. First, the
company shifted away from using trading stamps
(which it had nonetheless been calling ?coupons?) to
scrip-like notes printed on 2 x 4 inch slips of safety
paper. These resembled the advertising inserts that
ComEd had been including in its monthly bills to
customers. While the color and size of these notes
varied according to denomination, each was nicely
ornamented, with an obverse featuring elaborate
scrollwork, the logo which had previously appeared on
the stamps (a capital ?F? combined with a lightning
bolt), a serial number, reference to its redemption at
the Commonwealth Edison Electric Shop, and the
printed cursive signature of the Federal Profit Sharing
Company. The overall arrangement looked not
dissimilar to the coupons used by other outfits at the
time like United Cigar, United Profit Sharing, or
Mutual Coupon Corp. The back of each Federal
coupon looked nothing like the front, instead carrying
a mix of advertisements for some appliance available
This advertising certificate worth 30 coupons came with
customers? bills. As with all Federal coupons and
certificates, the back of this note advertised a product
available in the Electric Shops.
Customers earned this certificate worth 10 coupons by
paying their bills in person at an Electric Shop.
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at an Edison Electric Shop, as in the thirty-coupon
example shown above.
While sticking hundreds of small stamps into a
booklet might have been feasible, it was not practical
to accumulate and carry around similar numbers of the
new, larger coupons, especially if it took nearly 1,000
of them to secure a mere one dollar in additional
purchasing power. Accordingly, the premium plan
expanded its denominational range to include
?certificates?, one certificate being equal to twenty
coupons. While certificate denominations were similar
in design to coupon denominations, they were
somewhat larger (2 ? x 4 ? inches). The four corners
of all coupon and certificate denominations expressed
the cents and dollar purchase amount that they
represented. These ranged from 5?, 10?, 25?, 50?, (on
one-, two-, five-, and ten-coupon notes) to $5.00 (on a
five-certificate note). In keeping with the underlying
redemption formula, this meant that a customer
bringing in to the local Electric Shop ten of the five-
certificate notes had spent $50 in U.S. funds to
accumulate them, and then would get a $1 discount on
the price of an appliance.
In terms of the price relations that prevailed in the
1920s, this represented a real, albeit modest, consumer
incentive. ComEd could, and did, sweeten the terms
through specific promotions. Thus, a 1926 newspaper
ad offered 10,000 coupons (500 certificates) along
with the purchase of a Federal washing machine ($5
down, the rest payable in monthly installments on the
utility bill). According to an undated Federal premium
catalog, the cheapest Sunbeam iron could be had for
168 certificates, or a Westinghouse table fan for 325
certificates. This suggests that Commonwealth Edison
was basically giving away a small appliance or two
when customers purchased a more expensive item
whose retail price, depending upon the model, ranged
from $150 to $200.
On occasion, the offers could be much more
generous. Each of the advertising certificates enclosed
with customers? monthly electric bills bore a serial
number, and ComEd regularly gave away washing
machines to those lucky recipients possessing
certificates bearing the numbers chosen by the
company.
Finally, at some point after 1925 another change
took place in the entity administering ComEd?s
premium plan. Instead of the Federal Profit Sharing
Company, the Federal Merchandise Company, located
These coupons, signed by the Federal Profit Sharing
Co., differed only in color and denomination.?
Washing the dishes with a Federal appliance for $5 down.?
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at 140 South Dearborn Street, took over as the plan?s
agent. Its signature appeared henceforth on the range
of coupons and certificates issued under the premium
plan. Although their precise relationship within
Commonwealth Edison?s corporate structure remains
unclear, the common word ?Federal? in all three
company names?Federal Sign, Federal Profit
Sharing, and Federal Merchandise?as well as the
existence of a line of Federal (and possibly ?Fedelco?)
appliances regularly advertised by the utility?
suggests that Federal was an in-house brand marketed
and perhaps even manufactured by the larger utility.
All of these features of The Federal Dividend
Coupon plan were meant to both encourage appliance
purchases at Edison Electric Shops and the
consumption of Commonwealth Edison electricity.
While expanding its own retail sales footprint, the
utility strove to maintain a cooperative relationship
with a wider network of independent dealer-
contractors across the Chicago area who also sold
appliances and other electrical supplies. These local
dealers also redeemed monthly advertising certificates
for coupons. More importantly, they worked on
commission selling appliances, arranging the
installment and deferred payment plans that would
appear on customers? utility bills.
How much of a difference Commonwealth
Edison?s coupon plan specifically made is impossible
to say with any precision. At its launch in 1916,
Federal Profit Sharing announced its intention to offer
its premium plan nationwide. This expansion never
took place, though Federal coupons were used
throughout Chicagoland and were advertised in
markets as far away as Battle Creek, Michigan. More
commonly, electricity providers around the country
adopted portions of ComEd?s marketing strategies,
either in direct imitation (ComEd was regularly lauded
for them in the trade press) or simply because the ideas
made inherent sense.
In any event, the growth of Commonwealth
Edison?s electricity output in these decades was
spectacular, as was the diffusion of consumer
appliances. Sales at the main Electric Shop quadrupled
in the first five years of its operation. The distribution
of coupons by on-site cashiers was said to have
boosted its traffic to between 4,000 and 5,000 people
a day.
America?s abbreviated entry into the European
war in 1917 resulted in some spectacular coal
shortages that temporarily crimped the utility?s
expansion strategy. With the return to peacetime,
however, the electrification of Chicago proceeded
rapidly, and in an increasingly democratic fashion as
service was extended to ever-larger swathes of the
population. Electrical appliances that reduced the
drudgery of domestic work became accessible, and
affordable, to a much broader range of Chicagoans.
By the mid-1920s, Chicago was distinctive for
having the highest per-capita electricity consumption
in the world. Some appliances were in more
widespread use than others. In 1929, the company?s
own survey data revealed that only electric irons and
vacuum cleaners were ubiquitous in households across
socio-economic status. In working-class homes, about
half of families had a radio and barely a tenth a
refrigerator.
In other respects, the company?s marketing
efforts fell completely flat. Insull devoted considerable
resources to promoting electric cars and even an
electric taxi service, but to no avail. Likewise, electric
heating never made serious inroads into a market more
cheaply serviced by natural gas. By the end of the
1920s, Chicago was an electrified city, even if the
diffusion of appliances was still vastly uneven.
The Edison Electric Shop itself, which began in
1909 as an elegant showcase catering to affluent
Larger in size than coupons, these certificates bear the
signature of the Federal Merchandise Company.
This coupon from a Massachusetts utility is quite
similar to Commonwealth Edison?s.
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downtown shoppers, through its multiplying branches
throughout the city signaled that the benefits of
electricity were within reach of middle and working
class Chicagoans as well. Even though the financial
collapse of 1929 brought down Samuel Insull?s paper
empire, the underlying electricity business was more
resilient in the face of the economic downturn. The
most visible change to appliance marketing during the
1930s was in the product mix itself, as a flood of
inexpensive radios provided a more affordable form of
entertainment for cash-strapped families than going to
movie theaters.
Federal coupons remained in use until 1938, the
year of Insull?s death, when on April 30 the utility
announced through newspapers that all coupons and
certificates without an expiration date had to be
redeemed by the end of the year. Those that did bear
the expiration date of December 31st, 1940 remained
valid until then. This deadline brought to an end The
Federal Dividend Coupon System. The Edison
Electric Shops themselves remained in business until
1963, when the last one closed. By then, the wide
variety of retail outlets available for electrical
appliances made the institution of the Electric Shop
obsolete.
REFERENCES
Catalog of Premiums Given for Federal Coupons (Federal Merchandise Company, nd).
Chicago Tribune, various dates.
Electrical Merchandising (May 1923), pp. 3312-3315.
Electrical Review and Western Electrician (May 13, 1917), p. 864.
Electrical World (March 18, 1909), pp. 684-689; (February 8, 1919), p. 277.
Hogan, John. A Spirit Capable: The Story of Commonwealth Edison (Chicago, IL: The Mobium Press 1986).
NELA [National Electric Light Association] Bulletin (July 1916), p. 572.
Platt, Harold L. The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880-1930 (University of Chicago
Press 1991).
Public Service (June 1910), p. 188.
Wasik, John F. The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis
(NY: Palgrave Macmillian 2006).
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Seal Varieties
on Series of 1928 FRNs
The purpose of this article is to reveal that the Treasury seals used on Series of 1928 plates finished
prior to September 26, 1929 utilized the Federal Reserve district number within the Federal Reserve seal.
Plates finished afterward used the district letter.
The plates with numbers in the seals were Series of 1928 $5 through $100 and Series of 1928A $5
through $20. Those with letters were Series of 1928 $500 through $10,000 and Series of 1928A $50 and
$100. All Series of 1928B, C and D notes have letters in the seals.
Seal Varieties
There are two varieties of Federal Reserve seals on Series of 1928 Federal Reserve Notes: (1) the
earlier display the district number, and (2) the later display the district letter. Which occurs depends on
when the plates were made.
The decision to use letters in the seals was made about the end of the first week of August 1929,
during the midst of Series of 1928 $500 face plate production. $500 face plate production with number
seals was abruptly suspended as a result.
The use of letter seals began to be implemented shortly thereafter so, by September 26th, the first
of the face plates with letters was certified, a $500 made for Boston.
What is interesting is that by September 30, all of the Series of 1928A $5, $10 and $20 face plates
that were going to be made had been certified. All carried number seals. Similarly, all the Series of 1928
$5 through $100 face plates also were completed, so none of them would be produced with letters in the
The Paper
Column
Peter Huntoon
Figure 1. All the Series of 1928A $5, $10 and $20 face plates were made prior to the decision to use district
letters in the Federal Reserve seals, whereas all the $50 and $100 plates were made after the decision.
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seals either.
What remained to be made were the $500 and higher Series of 1928 plates, and $50 and $100 Series
of 1928A, face plates. Consequently, all of these would carry letter seals.
This information is summarized on Figure 2.
The decision to replace the numbers with letters turned on the desire to eliminate any possible
confusion, no matter how remote, between the numbers in the seals and the denominations of the notes.
Interplay Between the Series of 1928 and 1928A
The production of the Series of 1928 face plates had been progressing in denomination order since mid-
1928, long before the seal issue came up. The smaller denominations had been given priority owing to
demand.
The first $500 face plate wasn?t completed until July 10, 1929. By August 6, one $500 face plate
had been finished for each of the seven districts through Chicago. They had numbers in the seals, and all
carried face check number 1. Production was terminated before the St. Louis plate was finished.
Figure 2. Chart showing which
denominations in the various
1928 Federal Reserve series
had district numbers or district
letters in the Federal Reserve
seal. The changeover occurred
at the end of September 1929.
Figure 3. Production of $500 Series of 1928 plates was begun using district numbers in the Federal Reserve
seal. All bear plate serial number 1. None were used. These were followed by new $500 plates with district
letters in the seals, which bear plate serial number 2. These were the ones that were used.
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Those seven plates never were used.
A new set of $500 face plates, one for each of the twelve districts, was begun, but this time with
letters in the seals. These were certified between September 26 and October 22, 1929. All carried face check
number 2. These were the $500 Series of 1928 plates that saw service.
The result of this machination is that no $500 notes were printed in the Series of 1928 with face
plate serial number 1.
The production of the Series of 1928 $1000, $5000 and $10,000 plates followed in sequence, and,
of course, all had letters in their seals.
When Walter O. Woods replaced H. T. Tate as Treasurer on January 18, 1929, his presence
triggered the Series of 1928A. Oddly, production of Series of 1928 Tate-Mellon plates, including all the
high denominations, continued after he took office.
The first of the Series of 1928A $5 plates began to appear in mid-April 1929. Successive
denominations followed, so by September 30, all the $5 through $20 Series of 1928A face plates that were
going to be made were already completed. Important is that their preparation predated the decision to put
letters in the seals, so all got number seals.
It wasn?t until mid-October 1929, that the first Series of 1928A $50 and $100 plates arrived. They
were, of course, made with letter seals as illustrated on Figure 1.
Summary
The key to understanding the changeover from number to letter Federal Reserve seals is to
recognize that the changeover occurred at the end of September 1929. There was concurrent production of
both Series of 1928 and 1928A plates during this period. Those that were made before got number seals,
those that came after got letter seals.
It happened that the decision was made during the production of Series of 1928 $500 plates. Those
that were made with the number seals were not used. By the time the decision was made to go with letter
seals, Series of 1928 $5 through $100 face plate production had ceased, so all had number seals. The $500
through $10,000 Series of 1928 plates, which were yet to be made, carried letter seals.
Similarly, the Series of 1928A $5 through $20 plates all predated the changeover so they have
number seals. The $50 and $100 1928A plates postdate it, so they have letter seals.
Sources of Data
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1928-1934, Certified proofs of Series of 1928 Federal Reserve face plates: National Numismatic
Collections, Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
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Financing Government During Reconstruction: The County of Montgomery
(Alabama) and their Revenue (Tax) Anticipation Notes of 1867
by: Bill Gunther
Immediately after the Civil War (April 1865)
states, cities and counties throughout Alabama found
themselves bankrupt and without a major source of
revenue. Confederate and Alabama paper money that
circulated during the war was now worthless. Even if
there was some ?money?, shortages of manufactured
goods, medical supplies as well as food drove prices
beyond reach by most residents. Food was scarce due
to the absence of the men who would have tilled and
planted the crops and much of the existing food supply
had been diverted to the military. It was estimated that
as a result of these shortages, ?a typical Southern
family?s food bill was $6.65 per month at the time of
secession and $400 a month in 1864.?1
While the tax base in many areas of the South was
destroyed during the war, such destruction was
minimized in the City of Montgomery. Local
businessman, John Robert Powell, and others
??joined the Mayor and a group of leading citizens
who rode out to meet the enemy and presented (Union)
General Wilson the unconditional surrender of the
city.?2 This act of surrender, as well as the good
behavior of the Union troops in Montgomery, is
credited with allowing the city to escape major war
damage.
Despite the lack of destruction in Montgomery,
property values dropped by almost two-thirds and
general commerce was severely disrupted. Farmers
and their products fared no better with ?? the loss in
corn, livestock and other farm property in the same
four years cannot be estimated, so great it is.?3
Compounding these problems was a drought which hit
the State in late 1865 with the result that crops ??
were almost total failures because of the drought, not
one-tenth of the crop of 1860 being made.?4 The end
result can be summed up by Provisional Governor
Lewis Parson?s opening address to the State legislature
in December, 1865, in which he estimated that there
?were 200,000 people who needed assistance in some
degree.?5 ?
R234-1. County of Montgomery. $1. 1867. Henry Clay left, Sir Henry Landseer?s bloodhound, ?Odin,?
center, girl with pitcher right. American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint.
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How to Pay for the Reconstruction
With no tax base and support from the Federal
government slow to arrive with adequate assistance,
finding ways to raise local government revenues was
a difficult task. A partial solution, adopted by many
cities and counties, was to pay their obligations with
post-dated notes. These ?Post Notes? as they were
called, stated (often obscurely) a redemption promise
sometime in the future (e.g., six months). For example,
the County of Montgomery issued $1 notes payable in
one year, and $2 and $5 notes payable in five years. It
was ?anticipated? that by the due dates of these notes,
the economic condition of the state would have
improved to the point where revenues would allow the
redemption of these notes.
Since none of these notes paid interest there was
little incentive to hold on to them. The fact that the
notes were ?receivable in payment of county dues?
may have made them acceptable and they may have
circulated like ?money? by local residents.
?Revenue Anticipation Notes?
Today, these notes might be compared to
?Revenue Anticipation Notes? or even ?Tax
Anticipation Notes?.6 The private sector engaged in
such financing during the time leading up to the Civil
War through the use of what were called ?Post Notes?
by the issuer. An example of such use in Alabama
occurred in the 1837s when ?cotton brokers? would
purchase cotton with their ?post-notes?, then ship the
cotton to Mobile or New Orleans and sell it for cash
(specie). The post-notes allowed cotton brokers time
to bridge the period between the purchase and the sale
of cotton. However, some unscrupulous brokers
collected the cash on the sale of the cotton, but rather
than redeeming their notes, disappeared with the cash
Reverse of $1 note. American Bank Note Co. New-York
R357-9. Wetumpka Trading Company ?Post Note?. January 20, 1839.
Redeemable after four months (top left margin).
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leaving planters holding worthless ?post notes.? A
good example of this type of fraud was the Wetumpka
Trading Company, whose activities were estimated to
have cost cotton farmers in the Wetumpka community
between $125,000 and $150,000 (between $3.5 and $4
million in 2020 dollars7).8
The notes from the County of Montgomery do not
use the words ?Post Notes? but the term would clearly
apply. They were printed by the American Bank Note
Company. Henry Clay appears on the $1, Daniel
Webster on the $2 notes while the $5 contains the
image of John C. Calhoun.9 All of the notes carry the
printed issue date of February 22, 1867.
The Signatures - Judge David Calvin Campbell
David Campbell was Judge of Probate for the
County of Montgomery for thirty-five years. He was
born on September 10, 1805 in South Carolina.10 He
first married Eliza Woodley in 1835 in Montgomery.
She was born in 1819 in Georgia and was thirteen
years younger than Campbell.11 They had 7 children
between 1837 and 1859. Eliza died on December 9,
1865 in Montgomery at the age of 46.12 Campbell
apparently remarried sometime after 1865 to Emeline
Moseley Chambliss, a widow, who died in 1873.13
The 1850 Census shows Campbell was a farmer
in Montgomery with real estate valued at $3,000.14 By
1860, his financial condition had improved
significantly with real estate now valued at $20,000
and a personal estate valued at $50,000.15 His
R234-2. County of Montgomery. $2. 1867. Daniel Webster center, female figure left and man harvesting corn
right. (Rosene incorrectly identified Webster as Henry Clay). American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint.
Reverse?of?$2?note.?American?Bank?Note?Co.?New?York.
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occupation in 1860 was now listed as Judge of
Probate. Although no definitive Census record for
1870 could be located, we know from his signature on
these notes that he was Judge of Probate in 1867,
indicating that he served in that position no less than
seven years (1860-1867). By 1880 he is listed as a
?retired judge? living with his son-in-law, J. G. Allen,
and his family in Montgomery.16 He died in 1894 in
Montgomery at the age of 89.17
The Signatures ? William H. Ogbourne
William Harrison Ogbourne was born on
February 24, 1819 in Troup County, Georgia.18 In
1836 he was listed as a student at the University of
Alabama and in 1839 graduated with a M. A. degree.19
In 1850 he was listed as a ?Planter? in Montgomery
with real estate valued at $11,500.20 It is interesting
that Ogbourne, a ?planter? owned 7 slaves in 1850 and
none in 1860.21 By 1860 his financial fortunes had
changed and his real estate was valued at $26,000 and
his personal estate at $50,000.22 It appears that his
financial situation allowed him the freedom to pursue
elective office as the Census listed his occupation as
Deputy Sherriff in 1860. Ogbourne also signed
fractional issues for John Henley & Co., Bankers, in
Montgomery as well as $1 and $3 notes.23 The
fractional notes were all undated, but the $1 and $3
notes were dated March 15th, 1862.
After the war, William H. Ogbourne became one
of 99 elected delegates to the constitutional convention
in Montgomery and was elected Secretary of the
Convention.24 By a vote of 61 to 25, the constitution
was approved and Ogbourne signed the transmittal
letter on September 12, 1865.25 The entire constitution
passed on that day is in Ogbourne?s hand and the fact
that his writing is so legible may explain his election
as Secretary!
R234-3. County of Montgomery. $5. 1867. J.C. Calhoun center. American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint.
Reverse of $5 note. American Bank Note Co. New-York.
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During the Civil War, Ogbourne served as Acting
Commissary in the 18th Regiment of the Alabama
Infantry.26 That position carried the rank of Captain.
In 1870, Ogbourne was listed in Montgomery as ?tax
collector,? presumably for the County of
Montgomery.27 He died in 1872 at the age of 53.
Scarcity of the Notes
A review of County of Montgomery notes sold at
auction and available on currency dealer websites
reveals a total of only 13 notes.28 The $5 note has a
population of 6 notes; the $2 notes a population of 2;
and the $1 notes a population of 5. Although there are
surely additional notes residing in collector hands, the
absence of any information suggests rarity of 7 (1-7
scale used by Rosene), indicating 1-5 known, for the
$1 and $2 with a rarity of R6 for the $5 note. All of
the notes know are fully signed and issued while no
?remainders? have been identified.
Signature of Wm. H. Ogbourne on transmittal page
of new State Constitution, September 12, 1865.
R-239-Unlisted. A 5-cent ?John Henley & Co. , Bankers? note signed by
William H. Ogbourne. He also signed 25-cent and 50-cent notes.
R239-Unlisted. A $1 ?John Henley & Co., Bankers? note signed by William H. Ogbourne.
He also signed the $3 note (R-239-Unlisted).
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
130
Footnotes?
?R??denotes?a?Rosene?catalog?number?from?Walter?Rosene,?Jr.?Alabama?Obsolete?Notes?and?Scrip?
(Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors,?1984).?
1Michael?O.?Varhola.?Life?in?Civil?War?America?(Cincinnati:?Family?Tree?Books,?2001),?p.166.?
2Mary?Powell?Crane.?The?Life?of?James?R.?Powell?(Brooklyn,?N.?Y.:?Braunworth?&?Company,?Inc.),?1930,?p.97.?
3John?Witherspoon?DuBose,?Alabama?s?Tragic?Decade:?Ten?Years?of?Alabama?1865?1874?(ed.?By?James?K.?
Greer)?(Birmingham:?Webb?Book?Company,?1940),?p.?26.?
4Walter?L.?Fleming,?Civil?War?and?Reconstruction?in?Alabama?(New?York:?The?Columbia?University?Press,?
1905),?p?278.?
5Fleming,?p.?279.?
6See??Tax?Anticipation?Notes??and??Revenue?Anticipation?Notes??a?http://financial?
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com.??Often?a?specific?tax?is?dedicated?to?a?particular?use?such?as?highways?
and?other?infrastructure?projects.?
7William?H.?Brantley.??Banking?in?Alabama:?1816?1860?(Privately?Printed,?1967),?Vol.?II,?pp.?65?68.?
8?For?estimates,?see?https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1837?amount=125000?
9Rosene?incorrectly?identified?the?man?on?the?$2?as?Henry?Clay.??It?is?Daniel?Webster.??See?Walter?
Rosene,?Jr.?Alabama?Obsolete?Notes?and?Scrip?(Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors,?1984),?p.?99.?
10See??Judge?David?Campbell,??Find?a?grave,?Ancestry.com.?
11Eliza?Woodley,??Alabama?Select?Marriages,?1816?1942,??accessed?through?Ancestry.com.?
12??Eliza?Woodley?Campbell,??Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.?
13Judge?David?Campbell,?Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.?
14David?Campbell,?Census?of?1850,?Ancestry.com.?
15David?Campbell,?Census?of?1860,?Ancestry.com.?
16David?Campbell,?Census?of?1880,?Ancestry.com.?
17Judge?David?Campbell,?Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.?
18William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Public?Family?Tree,?Ancestry.com.?
19See?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,??College?Student?Lists,?1763?1924?,?Ancestry.com.?
20William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1850,?Ancestry.com.?
21?Census?of?Slaves,?1850?and?1860,?Ancestry.com.?
22?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1860,?Ancestry.com.?
23See?Bill?Gunther,??A?Montgomery?Mystery:?Who?Was?John?Henley?of?John?Henley?&?Co.,?Bankers,??
Paper?Money?(Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors:?Nov/Dec?2018),?pp.?414?419.?
24William?W.?Rogers,?Robert?D.?Ward,?Leah?Atkins?and?Wayne?Flynt.??Alabama:?The?History?of?a?Deep?
South?State.?(Tuscaloosa:??The?University?of?Alabama?Press,?1994),?p.231.?
25See?Alabama200.org.?
26See?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,??Civil?War?Soldier?Records,??Ancestry.com.?
27?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1870,?Ancestry.com.?
28A?search?was?made?of?Heritage?Auctions?archives?(?www.ha.com),?Stacks?Bowers?archives.?
(www.stacksbowers.com)?as?well?as?a?number?of?obsolete?currency?dealer?websites.?
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
131
WELCOME TO OUR
NEW MEMBERS!
BY FRANK CLARK?SPMC MEMBERSHIP
DIRECTOR
NEW MEMBERS 01/05/2020
15047 Daniel Crots, Website
15048 Philip Dunlap, Tom Denly
15049 William Casey, Robert Calderman
15050 Vacant
15051 Ralph M. Miron, Robert Calderman
15052 Patrick O'Neill, Website
15053 Steven Bigelow, Website
15054 Stephen Holm, Website
15055 Bob Hargreaves, Website
15056 William Blaha, Website
15057 Tom Gettman, Frank Clark
15058 Randy Ihnfeldt, ANA Ad
15059 Robert Garger, Tom Denly
15060 James Drenth, Frank Clark
15061 Russ Sigmon, Robert Calderman
15062 David Schechter, Website
15063 David Schnorr, Website
15064 Bill Buxton, Robert Calderman
15065 Donald Morgan, Robert Calderman
15066 Tom Holloway, Robert Calderman
15067 Russell Casson, Robert Calderman
15068 Johnnie Dillow, BNR
15069 Frank LePore, Tom Denly
REINSTATEMENTS
None
LIFE MEMBERSHIPS
None
NEW MEMBERS 2/05/2020
15070 Bernard Smith, IBNS
15071 Derek Higgins, Local Coin Shop
15072 Brian Fitch, Website
15073 Carl Guzzo, Website
15074 Tom Voitik, Website
15075 Gary Hanson, Tom Denly
15076 Marshall Schultz, Robert Calderman
15077 Craig Ronzone, Ed Zegers
REINSTATEMENTS
None
LIFE MEMBERSHIPS
LM448 Shawn Hewitt, Member
LM449 Jordan Kalilich, Member
LM450 Greg Rohan, Frank Clark
Dues Remittal Process
Send dues directly to
Robert Moon
SPMC Treasurer
104 Chipping Ct
Greenwood, SC 29649
Refer to your mailing label for when
your dues are due.
You may also pay your dues online at
www.spmc.org.
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 Meeting
of the SPMC is held in June at the
International Paper Money Show.
Information about the SPMC,
including the by-laws and activities
can be found at our website--
www.spmc.org. The SPMC does not
does not endorse any dealer, company
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
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Other applicants should be sponsored
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suitable references.
MEMBERSHIP?JUNIOR.
Applicants for Junior membership
must be from 12 to 17 years of age
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with renewals due each December.
Memberships for those who joined
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before the expiration date, which can
be found on the label of Paper
Money. Renewals may be done via
the Society website www.spmc.org
or by check/money order sent to the
secretary.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
132
L
otel &
vations:
Central States
Numismatic Society
81st?Anniversary Convention
Schaumburg, I
Schaumburg Renaissance H
Convention Center
April 22-25, 2020
Early?Birds:?April?22???11am?3pm;?$125?Registration?Fee?
Public?Hours:?Wednesday?Saturday?
No Pesky
Sales Tax in
Illinois
Hotel Reser
Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel - 1551 North Thoreau Drive ? Call (847) 303-4100
Ask for the ?Central States Numismatic Society? Convention Rate.
Problems booking? - Call Convention Chairman Kevin Foley at (414) 807-0116
Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking.
Visit our website:
www.centralstatesnumismaticsociety.org?
Bourse Information: Patricia Foley
foleylawoffice@gmail.com
? Numismatic Educational Forum
? Educational Exhibits
? 300 Booth Bourse Area
? Heritage Coin Signature Sale
? Heritage Currency Signature Sale
? Educational Programs
? Club and Society Meetings
? Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking
? $5?Daily?Registraton?Fee?/?$10???4?Day?Pass
Wednesday???Thursday???Friday???Saturday
Now Including:
The Chicago Coin Expo ? a foreign
and ancient specialty event
Also including:
The National Currency Convention
? a rare currency specialty event
sponsored by the PCDA
U N C O U P L E D :
PAPER MONEY?S
ODD COUPLE
Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan
A Few Chinese Fakes
Before we get into my topic, I want to add some
information on Fred?s topic this issue?Thai MPC
coupons. I don?t know of any contemporary
counterfeits of MPC coupons, but they have been
reproduced (and slabbed) for collectors. Now that the
grading companies are aware of the coupons?
production details, I expect that they will not be
slabbing any more digital copies, but some are out there
in old holders. Look closely before you buy.
The originals are printed by line lithography. That
means that each color on the face or the back was
printed from a separate plate with its own color ink, in
whatever shade the Finance Corps wanted?the colors
were not created by overlaying different sized droplets
of red, blue, yellow and black inks (four-color process
lithography?see farther down in this column
for examples of that).
The copies in the marketplace were printed with
digital technology on inkjet printers (I have yet to see a
laser-printed piece). The inkjet printers use the same
four basic colors that I mentioned above?with
different application densities depending on the image
Thai MPC Coupons in Detail
Last time, we discussed Korean MPC coupons in
detail. This time we will look at Thai coupons.
All coupon issues are fascinating. The first thing that
you will notice from an overview is that there were three
series of Thai coupons, rather than the four series of
Korean coupons. Just as with the Korean coupons, we do
not know many numismatic details that we often take for
granted. Things like inclusive issue dates and quantities
issued are not known for the Thai coupons. However, we
do know more than we did in the 1970s, and we keep
adding to the information. I am happy to be able to include
some information here that has not yet appeared in any
numismatic publication.
Just as with the Korean coupons, the Thai coupons
were printed at the United States Navy Printing Facility,
Guam. All three series were printed on check security
paper without watermark.
Thai MPC Coupon Series 1
The first series was issued on 29 January 1970 and
possibly withdrawn in April or May 1970. Unlike the first
series Korean coupons, this set is printed on both sides,
with the back having the same design as the face. While
the design is simple, it is quite interesting.
All denominations have a large wreath element to the
left and a crest at the center. The crests of the four
fractional denominations have a sea horse, a leaping
panther, a victory slogan, and a handshake respectively.
The four dollar-denominated notes are larger but with
exactly the same design elements, but with the crests in a
different order: from $1-$20, victory slogan, sea horse,
leaping panther, and shaking hands.
Overall, I believe that this is the scarcest MPC coupon
series. A clue to this fact is that in the fourth edition of the
Comprehensive Catalog of Military Payment
Certificates?by far the most complete coverage thus far
published on coupons?only two denominations are
illustrated, those being the ten-cent and one dollar
denominations. This column is the first time that a full set
has ever been illustrated.
Figure 1 Figure 2
Figure 3 Figure 4
See Boling page 139
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134
I bought the ten-cent piece that is in the book at a
Memphis show many years ago. It would have to be
long ago, since the book came out in 2002! Clyde
Reedy (now deceased) handed me the coupon and asked
if I was interested. I said that I was and I bought it. His
holder identified it as a second series coupon. I did not
know the difference by sight. Sometime later I was happy
to correctly identify it and put it into my collection.
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135
Thai MPC Coupons Series 2
Information from one source said that Series 2 was
issued in April or May 1970. The conversion date is not
known, but also might have been 7 October 1970 when
Series 681 MPC was withdrawn. The design concept is
similar to series 1, except that we now have leafy
devices at both ends and the crest is off center to the left.
Furthermore, the crests feature the same elements?in
the same order?as the first series, denomination by
denomination.
The most significant difference is the wreaths. The
easy way to remember which series each design belongs
with is to say ?one wreath, first series; two wreaths,
second series.? As you will see, series 3 is much
flashier; one does not confuse it with the earlier issues.
Thai MPC Coupons Series 3
Again, we have no information about the date of
conversion from series 2 to series 3. We do have a clue,
though. Notice the text in the handshake crest on the
face??Royal Thai Forces Vietnam 1970-1971? (not
plainly legible on all of the illustrations, and indeed not
always clearly legible on a note). The dates are new for
this series. It seems unlikely that the notes would be
forward-dated when printed, so a 1971 or later
Series 2 Series 3
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136
conversion date seems most likely. Similarly, if the
designer was sharp, a date already past would not appear
on that crest, so we can be reasonably confident that the
series was prepared in 1971.
The series 3 designs include the crests from the first
two series. The shaking hands crest is used on the face
of every note, augmented with the dates described
above. All four crests are used on the backs of the
fractionals: victory, sea horse, leaping panther, and the
shaking hands (repeated on the face) respectively. The
handshake crest on the back of the 50-cent note is the
same modified crest that is described above.
The series includes some interesting twists. Do you
recall that a denomination sheet set of SAMPLE Series
2 Korean coupons was found in the 1980s? The sheets
were cut and the notes distributed widely among
collectors. That discovery included a similar
denomination set of Series 3 Thai coupons! Unlike the
Korean sheets, the Thai sheets were not marked in any
way except that the high value sheets did not have serial
numbers.
Which brings us to the first new feature of this
series: the dollar denominations as issued are serially
numbered. This is wonderful because, among other
things, it allows us to inventory known pieces. I have
been recording the numbers for a long time, but not
necessarily aggressively. The results are nonetheless
interesting. I have recorded 21 $1, 7 $5, and 27 $10
coupons.
So where are the $20 notes? That is the next new
feature. There is apparently no $20 note in series 3. I say
apparently because no issued $20 has ever been
reported, and there were none in the set of uncut sheets.
With only three high-value designs, the handshake crest
was not used on the backs of the dollar-denominated
notes. The order of use, $1-$10, is victory-seahorse-
panther.
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138
Those Thai sheets created more opportunities for
collectors. The fractional pieces cannot be distinguished
from issued pieces except that they are all uncirculated,
and issued pieces in that condition are extreme rarities.
However, some of the notes were cut without removing
the sheet selvage, creating varieties such as the
fractional set illustrated here.
There it is. I have told you everything that I know
about MPC coupons. I think that you can tell that the
coupons fascinate me. While I am pleased at the amount
of information we have accumulated in the past forty
years, we still have much to learn.
I have a few more things to discuss on the matter of
Allied use of MPC. I will present them next time.
Boling Continued:
being created. But the colors are not arranged in regular
patterns, varying only in their density?rather, the inks
tend to run together, with a very muddy appearance at
high magnification. Figures 1-4 show two 20x photos
each of parts of the seals on the backs of two
denominations of Thai MPC coupons. Figures 1 and 3
are of the line-lithography genuine notes; figures 2 and
4 are inkjet printer products. Hopefully the quality of
reproduction of the magazine will allow you to see the
qualitative differences in the two technologies.
Now some Chinese reproductions intended to be
sold to tourists or collectors. The back-story: In 2012,
an exonumia dealer who usually has some paper items
on his lists, along with hundreds of tokens and medals,
offered a group of scarce Chinese notes dating across
the first half of the 20th century. I suspected that they
were copies, based on his prices, and ordered the group.
Too late?Neil Shafer had already asked to examine
them. So I contacted Neil and asked him to bring them
to the next show we would both attend. He did, and sure
enough, they were all reproductions. I took them home
for photography and then returned them to the dealer
with a description of what he had and my desire to own
them. ?Not so fast,? he replied. How was it that I had
them, not Neil, and anyway, he had a substantial offer
from Hong Kong for them, and that?s where they would
go. I explained that the HK buyer would either send
them back or ask for a substantial revision in the price.
Too bad?that?s where they were going. I was glad I
had had the opportunity to study them.
Fast forward seven years, and here they are again on
the same dealer?s list, save for one note, and with a
couple of others added. After dialing his number many
times, they were mine (when his lists hit the street, the
phone lines melt, and he has no published email).
Meanwhile, I have been looking for genuine examples
of the pieces that I could show along with the deceptive
copies. So far, I have been able to acquire only one
piece, in a much lower denomination but the same series
as one of his (which happens to be the single note that
did not make it back in the packet, but hey?I got those
photos back in 2012).
So here is the first one. Figures 5 and 6 are face and
back of a Bank of China 50 yuan note, dated 1 June
1913. It looks like a respectable example. Apparently,
this denomination is known only as a specimen, and
this piece has zero serials and SPECIMEN in red
across the bottom face.
Figure 5
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139
bottom face.
Figure 6
Figures 7 and 8 are face and back of a one yuan note of
the same series. It?s a bit more beaten up than the
specimen is which is not surprising. But now we put
away the camera and get out the microscope?this is
where we separate the fraud from the workhorse.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figures 9 and 10 show the first word of the printer
imprint on the face??American,? from American Bank
Note Company, New York. Notice all the dots in figure
9, and the misregistered colors. Fig 10, the genuine
note, shows nothing like that.
Figure 9 (above) and Figure 10 (below)
Now compare figures 11 and 12. Fig 11 is one of the
cartouches on the face intended to receive a printed seal
of the bank or one of the bank?s officers. It should be
plain white paper. The reproduction process wants to put
something in that blank space, and it uses the colored
dots of the 4-color printing process, in a specific pattern,
to give some shading to that cartouche. The dots are
invisible to the naked eye unless you get really close to
them and know what to be looking for. Over in figure
12, the designer has put in some ruled lines where the
seal would go, but even though the design seems to
expect that a seal will be applied, this note has only the
printed signatures authenticating it for issue. But the
ruled lines are not composed of dots. They and the frame
around them are solid (although printing dropouts and
circulation wear do create some gaps in the lines and
frame). Those are part of a variegated letterpress tint?
it turns brown a little farther down the note.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
140
Figure 11 (above) and Figure 12 (below)
Figures 13 and 14 are parts of the serial numbers on the
back of the note. Again, the 4-color process note shows
many dots on elements that should be solid?
letterpress, in the case of the numerals. Figure 14 shows
the letterpress numerals on the genuine note, with their
small mounds of ink at the edges of the numerals.
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figures 15 and 16 show the emperor?s right eye, in 4-
color process litho and line intaglio. The difference is
telling. Twenty power (20x) magnification is what
reveals the truth about the 50-yuan note.
Figure 15 (above) and Figure 16 (below)
One more, and I?ll let the others wait for a future
column.
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141
Figures 17 and 18 are the face and back of a 1933
20-yuan Three Eastern Provinces People?s Soviet
Military Note. First, observe the font of the serial
number. I have never seen that font used on a genuine
note of any kind, but have found it on many
reproductions and fantasies of both notes and bonds. It
is letterpress, as a serial number should be, but
whenever you see that font, treat its bearer as pariah.
Figure 19 shows a part of a serial number printed over
a blue tint that could be either litho or letterpress. In this
case, it is litho, but look at all the breaks in it. This tint
has been screened as part of the reproduction process.
The brown border above it has also been screened?its
dots are arranged in a shallow diagonal climbing from
lower right to upper left. All those dots spell trouble.
Figure 20 shows one of the seals. It has that same blue
tint under it. The seal should be orange, but the colors
intended to create orange (red and yellow) have been
misregistered, so the red has a yellow ghost all along its
top edges.
Figure 20
Figure 21 shows the blue overprint on the back, printed
over a long text box. The characters of the red text are
completely destroyed by the screening process. The blue
characters again are intended to be printed in both blue
and red, but the two colors are misregistered, so there is
a red shadow along the right of every blue character.
Figure 21
Figure 22 is intentional distressing and repair of an edge
of the note, to make it look like it has circulated all
through the 1930s and 40s.
Since I find this note in no catalog known to me, I
conclude that it is a fantasy. More another time
(probably next time).
Figure 17 (above) and Figure 18 (below)
Figure 19
Figure 22
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142
Joseph Boling to speak on short-
snorters at 21st annual MPCFest
MPCFest, the annual
gathering of collectors of
military numismatica, is
pleased to announce the
keynote speaker for the 21st
Fest.
Colonel (retired) Joseph
Boling is a half-century
collector of world paper money. Growing out of
that collecting, and his experiences with military
payment certificates (MPC) both as a military
dependent following WWII, and in active service
in Vietnam, he began collecting military
currencies of all kinds. He is a recognized
authority on Japanese emissions, having co-
authored (with C. Frederick Schwan) World War
II Remembered: history in your hands?a
numismatic study, the first publication reporting
on WWII-related numismatics of all theaters from
all participants (even the neutral nations). It
remains the ?bible? for the Fest Trivia Madness
contest held annually at MPCFest.
Among other achievements, Col. Boling has
been president of the International Bank Note
Society (IBNS, two terms), following which he
served 21 years as its treasurer and is now an
Honorary Director for Life. He also holds the
IBNS gold medal for service. He is one of two
collectors (the other being Mr. Schwan) who is a
member of the Halls of Fame of both the IBNS
and the Society of Paper Money Collectors
(SPMC). From the American Numismatic
Association (ANA), he has received the Howland
Wood award (national champion competitive
exhibitor, 1995) and the Farran Zerbe Memorial
Award for Distinguished Service (2005). He was
the chief exhibit judge for ANA for twenty-five
years, lead judge trainer for 27 years, and served
four years as an elected governor. He was named
a Numismatic Ambassador by Krause
Publications in 1989.
He and Mr. Schwan have co-taught the WWII
Numismatics course at the ANA Summer
Seminar for almost twenty years. His current
research and collecting interests center on
identifying paper money that is intended to
deceive; he consults widely in identifying such
notes. He writes a bi-monthly column for Paper
Money dealing with counterfeit paper, as well as
being a frequent speaker on that topic for IBNS,
SPMC, and ANA events. He has edited eight
books dealing with paper money for BNR Press.
However, the keynote address at Fest XXI
will not deal directly with any of that! Expanding
on ?history in your hands,? Col. Boling will speak
about short-snorters and some of the striking and
unexpected information he has found in the study
of such souvenir notes. The keynote presentation
will be at 1315 hours Saturday 18 April 2020, at
Camp Leo May.*
Society of Paper Money Collectors members
are invited to be MPCFest guests for the keynote
presentation. For information about MPCFest
XXI, to be held 17-19 April this year, contact
FredSchwan@yahoo.com.
*1:15 PM, Saturday, April 18th, 2020, at the
Holiday Inn Express, 50 NE Catawba Road, Port
Clinton, Ohio.
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143
The Obsolete Corner
The American Theatre, Bowery
by Robert Gill
We are now into the new year, and I'm hoping it will
be a good one in adding to my paper money collection. I
hope you have a good one also.
I attended The FUN show in January, and I'm here
to tell you, I had a blast! I prepared an incredibly large
display of ninety cases of Obsolete sheets, totaling two
hundred twenty. I was able to visit with friends that I
don't see very often, and I also met some new ones. I'm
already planning for next year. And now, let's look at
the sheet that I've chosen from my collection for this
article.
In this issue of Paper Money, let's look at The
American Theatre, Bowery, a popular entertainment
center that the people during that time enjoyed
immensely. I was fortunate to acquire this sheet of its
currency, as it is extremely rare. When it came into my
possession, I contacted my good friend /Obsolete
specialist, Hugh Shull, about it. He said that he may
have seen a single note at some time in the past, but
definitely not a sheet. And now for the history.
The American Theatre, Bowery was a playhouse on
the Bowery, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New
York City. Although it was founded by rich families to
compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Theatre saw
its most successful period under the populist, pro-
American management of Thomas Hamlin, in the 1830s
and 1840s. By the 1850s, it came to cater to immigrant
groups such as the Irish, Germans, and Chinese. It
burned down several times in its lifetime.
The Theatre opened on October 22nd, 1826, under
the name New York Theatre. Its first few seasons were
devoted to ballet, opera, and high drama. It was, by this
time, quite fashionable, resulting in the northward
expansion of Manhattan giving it access to a large
patronage. It burnt down on the evening of May 26th,
1828, but was rebuilt, and reopened on August 20th of
the same year.
In August of 1830, the owners hired Thomas
Hamblin and James H. Hackett to manage the Theatre.
A month later, Hackett left his position with Hamblin in
complete control. After the Bowery burned down later
that year, Hamblin rebuilt. He then took the Theatre in a
decidedly different direction for what would be its most
innovative and successful period.
American theatres stratified in the Jacksonian Era,
and The Bowery emerged as the home of American
nativists and populist causes. Hamblin eventually
renamed the playhouse "The American Theatre,
Bowery". It was referred to as "The Bowery", for short.
He hired unknown American actors and playwrights, and
allowed them to play for long runs.
The pro-Americanism of The Bowery's audience
came to a head during the Farren Riots of 1834. Farren,
the Theatre's British-born stage manager, had
reportedly made anti-American comments, and fired an
American actor. Protesters reacted by attacking the
homes, businesses, and churches of abolitionists and
blacks in New York City, and then later storming the
Theatre. Farren later apologized for his comments,
resulting in calming the unrest.
Hamblin defied conventions of theatre as high
culture by booking productions that appealed
to working-class patrons, and by advertising them
extensively. Animal acts, blackface minstrel shows,
and melodrama enjoyed the most frequent billings. And
hybrid forms, such as melodramas about dogs saving
their human masters, became unprecedented successes.
Featured prominently were very spectacular productions
with advanced visual effects, including water and fire.
Hamblin also innovated by using gas lighting in lieu of
candles and kerosene lamps. The popular Bowery
earned the nickname, "The Slaughterhouse", for its low-
class offerings. Terms like "Bowery melodrama" and
"Bowery actors" were coined to characterize the new
type of theatre.
Through Hamblin's careful actions, working-class
theatre emerged as a form in its own right, and
melodrama became the most popular form of American
theatre. Low-class patrons from the area predominated
in the audience. Some sources even suggest that patrons
engaged in sexual behavior in the lobbies and boxes.
Understandably, Hamblin was careful to remain in this
crowd's good graces.
Profits were harder to come by in the 1840s, as
more playhouses sprung up in New York. Hamblin
staged more effects-driven melodrama, and later
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
144
increased bookings of circus acts, minstrel shows, and
other variety entertainments. The Bowery burned down
again in April of 1845. This time, Hamblin had fire
insurance, and he rebuilt with an eye toward appealing to
a more upscale patronage, and to staging more
spectacular melodrama. The new Theatre seated four
thousand, and with a stage of a hundred twenty-six feet
square, it secured its place as one of the largest
playhouses in the world.
Thomas Hamblin died in January of 1853, and the
Theatre remained in his family until 1867.
The American Theatre, Bowery, burned again in
1929, and was never rebuilt.
So, there's the history behind this popular theatre
that operated back in the 1800s. I'm very fortunate to
have, what could very be, the only existing sheet that has
survived for us paper lovers to enjoy.
As I always do, I invite any comments to my
personal email address robertgill@cableone.net or my
cell phone number (580) 221-0898.
So, until next time... HAPPY COLLECTING.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
145
The front of the Type-41 Treasury note endorsed by Capt. Hector R. McLean, ACS to the 7th Regiment,
Texas Mounted Volunteers. image: Bridges
The Quartermaster Column No. 11
by Michael McNeil
A few, very rare Confederate military
endorsements include the title of an officer and his
unit but not his name. With the help of the website
Fold3.com we can find the unit card listings of
officers for Confederate military units. The
endorsement reads:
?Issued Jackson Oct 14/1862
I?(ssue)d from 5th Apl 1863
ACS 7th Reg(imen)t
T(exas) M(ounted) V(olunteers)?
The first wording in this endorsement could be
interpreted as ?In(teres)t from? or ?I?(ssue)d from?
but there is only one unambiguous example of an
officer paying interest on a note, and it was not their
job to do so; interest was paid by Treasury
department depositaries. The presence of the
apostrophe suggests the latter and more logical
interpretation. The title ?ACS? means ?Assistant
Commissary of Subsistence,? an officer who used
Treasury notes like this for purchase of food for
troops. The last initials ?T. M. V.? were more
difficult, but experience has shown this to mean
?Texas Mounted Volunteers.? A quick check of the
unit card for the 7th Regiment, Texas Mounted
Volunteers shows an Assistant Commisssary of
Subsistence: Capt. Hector R. McLean.
The National Archives file for Capt. McLean
contains documents with his own script which are an
excellent match to the script on the Treasury note
endorsement. We can reasonably assume that we
have identified the officer who endorsed this note.
McLean was appointed as an ACS by Col.
Arthur P. Bagby, Commanding the 7th Regiment at
Halletsville, Texas, on November 29th, 1862. Bagby
had previously served with General Sibley in the ill-
fated invasion of New Mexico. Bagby was also later
The back of the Type-41 Treasury note with the April
5th, 1863 endorsement by Capt. McLean. A
manuscript issue at Jackson (MS) is seen at top.
image: Bridges
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
146
accused of drunkenness during that campaign, and he
tendered his resignation. The War Department
refused his resignation, cleared him of charges at a
court-martial, and on November 15th, 1862 promoted
him to Colonel, commanding the 7th Regiment, Texas
Cavalry (also known as the Texas Mounted
Volunteers).1
The story gets more interesting with a
National Archives document, a Special Order at
Camp McGruder (sic), to Capt. H. R. McLean ACS
on December 30th, 1862 for...
?...Three Hundred and fifty Pounds of Bacon
and Three Hundred and fifty Pounds of Flour
for the use of One Hundred and fifty men and
their Officers on a naval Expedition aboard
Steamer Neptune.?
This is two days before the Second Battle of
Galveston on January 1st, 1863, in which the 7th
Regiment, now known as the ?Horse Marines,?
boarded the CS Neptune and sailed with the CS
Bayou City from Houston to confront the six Union
ships at Galveston. The CS Neptune was disabled and
eventually sank but the CS Bayou captured the USS
Harriet Lane. It was a Confederate victory on both
land and sea, and the remaining Union ships
retreated.2
McLean spent much of the remainder of the
war in the area of Alexandria, Louisiana. The final
record is McLean?s parole document at Columbus,
Texas, dated June 29th, 1865, which he signed as
?Major, Commissary of Subsistence.? He was about
45 years old.
? carpe diem
Notes and References:
1. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_P._Bagby_Jr.
2. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Galveston
2. McNeil, Michael. Confederate Quartermasters, Commissaries, and Agents, Pierre Fricke, Sudbury, 2016, see pp. 470-473
for the initial research on Capt. Hector R. McLean, ACS.
Photo #: NH 59142
"Surprise and Capture of the United States
Steamer 'Harriet Lane', by the Confederates,
under General Magruder, and the
Destruction of the Flagship 'Westfield' in
Galveston Harbor, Texas, January 1st,
1863."
Line engraving published in "The Soldier in our
Civil War", Volume II. USS Harriet Lane is shown
in the center, under attack by the Confederate
gunboats Neptune and Bayou City. USS Westfield
is at the far left, being blown up to prevent her
capture.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Col. Arthur P. Bagby?s order to Capt. Hector R.
McLean for the issuance of commissary stores to
the men who would fight in the Second Battle of
Galveston aboard the CS Neptune.
image: Fold3.com
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
147
by?Robert?Calderman?
Deuces?Wild!?
There is nothing new under the sun. All of the great
notes have already come out of the woodwork. There is
no such thing as ?Fresh? material. The hobby is dead and
there will never be any new exciting discoveries. Can
you imagine what a horrid landscape that would be!?! I
have heard people say each one of those statements
?and all I do is laugh!
Thankfully in the Paper Money hobby, we have so
much left to unearth and there are new exciting
discoveries made all the time! Whether it is a National
Bank Note from a previously unreported Charter, or a
new Large Size variety that was right there for all to see
but went unnoticed until the light bulb went on for a
skilled and attentive collector! Maybe a new fancy serial
number previously unreported, discovered on an early
series of small size notes with a miniscule print run. How
about a Federal Reserve Note Star on a District that was
previously unknown to exist!
The greatest caveat of Paper Money collecting are the
individual serial numbers printed on each note. We can
track notes, and their potentially rare varieties,
throughout their journey in time. Buried in collections
for decades, and selling at public auction, notes are
treasured as they travel from one collector to the next.
So, when something brand new turns up that no one has
seen, it is a great day! Not only is there excitement and
adrenaline for the individual who made the discovery, a
fever grows all over the collecting community as other
hard-core collectors now have another item to add to
their want list. One that they have written in bold,
underlined, circled, and notated with a giant asterisk. All
of those exaggerations indicating one thing ?I Want One
of These!?
This is what happened very recently when something
brand new and previously unknown was plucked off
eBay by an expert collector! The Serial Numbers that we
generally refer to are on the front side of notes (Unless
an error is involved) and on all Federal Small Size notes
feature an eight-digit number with a prefix and suffix
identified by letters or a star. That is not what is so
exciting about this particular discovery! Here we have a
whole different animal and are focusing on ?Plate? Serial
Numbers. Face Plates and Back Plates have their own
serial numbers typically located in the lower right-hand
corner ranging from one, to up to four digits in length.
Some of the most coveted and sought-after small size
notes are rare varieties that are associated with variations
of these plate serial numbers. With often extremely
small ?Micro? size numbers indicating these important
plate numbers, it is no wonder that many lazy,
unmotivated, or maybe just unknowledgeable collectors
and dealers overlook notes that could potentially be
extremely valuable. High caliber trophy notes that have
the potential to be unique rarities ?passing right through
Fr.1502 1928A $2.00 USN with No Back-Plate Serial Number!
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
148
their hands!!! Fortunately, for us, this is where highly
skilled collectors like Ryan ?The Enforcer? take charge
and have the eagle eye to spot an amazing discovery note
like this No Back-Plate Deuce we have featured here
today! At a whopping price of just under $50, this find
could be considered by some to be almost legendary!
More details on this incredible note are coming later in
this article, so don?t give up now, keep reading!!!
No Back-Plate Deuces were first discovered back
around the disco days of the late 70?s and became instant
fuel for bragging rights by collectors lucky enough to
locate an example. It is up for debate on whether this
variety constitutes an error since the aberration is as
made and simply lacking a feature typically found on US
Paper Money, but no one can argue the fact that the
variety clearly exists and is extremely popular with now
at least 37 unique serial number recorded, including three
star notes!! It was a conundrum right out of the gate,
were these notes toyed with? Did someone remove the
micro size plate serial number through some sort of high-
tech chemical process or simply via skilled erasure?
After a number of pristine Gem Uncirculated examples
were discovered, there was no longer any question of the
validity of this variety.
Since their initial discovery, additional notes have
occasionally popped up over the years with a healthy
grouping falling into a similar SN range giving an
illusion that the notes may have all spawned around the
same time period. With closer inspection the smoke
quickly clears as the observed SN range now spans a vast
gap indicating the potential of heavy use over many print
runs for our mystery no Bp.# printing plate ?could there
have been more than one plate produced without a serial
number? I would not necessarily have anticipated this,
but wow what an intriguing thought! SN?s have been
observed as low as A04985825A and as high as
A46954739A. The majority of known examples fall
under three specific ranges: A27132XXXA,
A35395XXXA, and A39023XXXA. Please contribute
your SN?s (and images of your notes) to my email
address at the end of this article so more study can be
conducted. Also, SN?s are needed for notes ?With Back
Plate #?s Present? that fall under the ranges listed above!
For example, SN A35395313A features back plate #99.
These additional pieces of the puzzle are needed to
identify more of the story behind this mystery printing
plate missing its back-check number!!
So, as I?ve now been known to do, I have been holding
out on you this entire time! How can Ryan possibly find
a so-called discovery note if this variety has clearly been
known to exist long before he was even born!?! If you
are a wise grasshopper then you obviously already know
the answer! Well, ?do you?? If you are already familiar
with 1928 $2 Legal Tender Deuces w/ No Back Plates,
they all have one very important thing in common! If
you own an example, then you have absolutely no excuse
if you have not already figured it out! All previously
known missing back plate $2 examples are Series of
1928 Fr.1501 notes. Take another closer look at the note
featured here! It is a SERIES of 1928A Fr.1502!!! Who
knew to even fathom the sheer possibility that these
could exist? I sure wasn?t looking for an example!
The 1928A note pictured here was printed at the end of
May 1931, while the earliest observed 1928 series
example of this variety was printed at the beginning of
May two years prior in 1929 making this discovery a
seemingly improbable creation! For now, this discovery
note stands alone as the only one of its kind. Keep your
eyes peeled ?will you be the one to find the next 1928A
No Bp.# example??
Special recognition goes out to: Jim Hodgson, Logan
Talks, and Larry Thomas for contributing SN Data on
this topic!
Do you have a great Cherry Pick story that you would
like to share? Your note might be featured here in a future
article and you can remain anonymous if desired! Email
scans of your note with a brief description of what you
paid and where it was found to: gacoins@earthlink.net.
Fi 1
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
149
Currencies Divided, How do They
Stand?
A house divided against itself cannot stand?,
announced Abraham Lincoln in 1858. When a nation?s
fa?ade begins to crumble, cracks also emerge in its
money. Two present-day conflicts show how
internecine political strife can splinter money as well.
Yemen?s Battle of the Banknotes
The present-day country of Yemen has
experienced little peace or prosperity since its founding
in 1990. An uprising by the northern Houthi tribe led, in
2015, to those rebels seizing control over the capital of
Sana?a, including the country?s central bank, while the
internationally-recognized Yemeni government retained
authority in the southern port city of Aden. Beset by
chaos and corruption, the government has demonstrated
little capacity to offer basic public services.
Between the two parts of Yemen, the Yemeni
rial continued to circulate, though greatly depreciated.
In late 2018, the Aden-based government introduced a
new series of rial banknotes, printed in Russia. As these
entered circulation, the Houthis responded by
forbidding their use in areas under their control,
confiscating the notes from the public and punishing
anyone who dared to spend them.
The result, by early 2020, is two separate
economies defined by two Yemeni monetary systems,
one using the new notes, the other the old notes. It?s an
arrangement reminiscent of Iraq?s ?Swiss dinar?
episode of the 1990s. Two different US dollar/rial
exchange rates have emerged, with the older notes
actually gaining in value since their amount is fixed
relative to the growing supply of new notes. Bottled up
in the Aden-ruled south, the new notes contribute to
inflation there, while in the north traders and the wider
public scramble to keep and use whatever supplies of
the grubby old rial currency are available. Meanwhile,
speculators do a lucrative business in trading one type
of rial for another, all at the expense and inconvenience
of the public.
Libya: A Tale of Two Dinars
Unlike Yemen, Libya?s divide runs east to west,
rather than north to south. Ruled for over forty years
with bad-boy flair by Muammar Gaddafi, Libya
descended into turmoil after 2011, when the Arab
Spring and western interventions led to Gaddafi?s
overthrow and death. Despite UN attempts to keep the
country together, after 2014 political authority in Libya
split between a so-called House of Representatives,
centered in Tobruk, and a UN-backed Government of
National Accord located in Tripoli.
This division of authority is awkward in a
fundamental way. Libya?s oil fields lie in the east, while
the Bank of Libya in Tripoli is the sole authorized
recipient of precious hard currency from the country?s
oil exports. Occupying Tripoli would give the eastern
government control over those export receipts as well as
access to some $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves.
The eastern forces, known as the Libyan National
Army, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, have scored
military successes in the west and by 2019 threatened to
advance towards Tripoli itself.
Haftar?s big problem has been finding the funds
to pay his troops and pay off his motley militia allies. In
addition to support from the Egyptians and the Emiratis
(among others), Haftar has financed his operation by
creating a parallel banking system, and even a parallel
dinar currency, all managed by a renegade branch of the
Bank of Libya in the eastern city of Beida.
Libya has been a longstanding customer of De
La Rue, the printer of its current banknotes. Yet in
2016, the eastern Bank of Libya began taking delivery
of its own supplies of Libyan dinars, printed by
Russia?s Goznak. By the end of 2018, the Russians had
provided over 10 billion dinars? worth of this alternative
supply, even as De La Rue continued its own deliveries
to the western Bank of Libya. Enforcing an
international embargo on the eastern Libyan
government, in November 2019 the government of
Malta seized a huge transshipment of this unofficial
Libyan currency, apparently destined for Haftar, much
to Russia?s annoyance.
While the two varieties of dinar look similar,
they are readily distinguishable by their different
watermarks, serial numbers, and other security features.
The eastern government is in effect financing its
rebellion via a massive counterfeiting operation. Yet it
is not at all clear that the government in Tripoli could
repudiate this unauthorized currency, even if it wanted
to. Doing so at this point might simply create a liquidity
crisis for the entire Libyan economy.
As Lincoln once predicted about his own
divided nation, ?it will become all one thing or all the
other.? Likewise, in both Yemen and Libya there
doesn?t seem to be any plausible equilibrium between
the opposing sides. Perhaps in some distant future,
Libyan dinars and Yemeni rials will persist only as
numismatic curios, like the Biafran pound or the
Katanganese franc, testaments to failed secessionist
aspirations and to the sufferings of the people who used
them.
Chump Change
Loren Gatch
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
150
$ m a l l n o t e $
Inflationary Silver Certificates
By Jamie Yakes
This cartoon appeared in the Washington Post on August 4, 1934, just weeks after Congress
passed the Silver Purchase Act on July 19 and almost two months after the Treasury began printing Series
of 1934 $1 and $5 silver certificates. It portrayed an underlying fear at the time of runaway inflation beset
by the provisions of the new act that gave the Treasury nearly unlimited power to purchase silver bullion
on the open market and immediately monetize it into silver certificates. From 1934 to 1946, they would
quintuple their holdings of
monetary silver and issue
billions of Series of 1934 and
1935 silver certificates against
those stocks.
Under the act, the
Treasury could freely purchase
silver to an extent equivalent to
25% of their gold holdings.
Their gold purchases were not
limited, however, and so long
as that kept increasing, which it
did after the U.S. became a net
importer of gold in 1934, so
could their acquisitions of
silver. In fact, the Treasury
only ever attained a high ratio
of 22% in 1938, meaning they
effectively had no cap in how
much silver they could acquire
and monetize.
Source:
Washington Post, opinion cartoon,
August 4, 1934. Record Group 53-
Bureau of the Public Debt: Entry
UD-UP 13, ?Historical Files,
1913-1960,? Box 2, File 214.2.
National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________
151
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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
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Rockaway, NJ- Rockaway Bank $2 May 1, 1858 Proof
From the Charles R. Pease, Jr. Collection
Paul R. Minshull 441002067; Heritage Numismatic Auctions
#444000370. BP 20%; see HA.com. 57547
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T1 Montgomery $1,000 1861
PCGS Extremely Fine 45PPQ
From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection
T2 Montgomery $500 1861
PCGS Extremely Fine 40
From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection
T15 $50 1861
PCGS About New 53
From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection
Seneca Falls, NY - $5 Original Fr. 397a
The National Exchange Bank Ch. # 1240
PMG Very Fine 30
Romulus, NY - $5 1902 Plain Back Fr. 607
The Romulus National Bank Ch. # 11739
PMG Extremely Fine 40
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