Paper Money Vol. LVII, No. 2 Whole No. 314 www.SPMC.org March/April 2018 Official Journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors The first offering of the landmark Joel R. Anderson Collection of United States Paper Money will be presented in conjunction with our Official Auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring Expo. For more information visit StacksBowers.com 800.458.4646 West Coast Office • 800.566.2580 East Coast Office 1231 E. Dyer Road, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92705 • 949.253.0916 123 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 • 212.582.2580 Info@StacksBowers.com • StacksBowers.com California • New York • New Hampshire • Hong Kong • Paris SBG PM Anderson Balt2018 180131America’s Oldest and Most Accomplished Rare Coin Auctioneer Stack’s Bowers Galleries Presents The Joel R. Anderson Collection of United States Paper Money March 21-23, 2018 • Baltimore, Maryland LEGENDARY COLLECTIONS | LEGENDARY RESULTS | A LEGENDARY AUCTION FIRM Fr. 11. 1861 $20 Demand Note. New York. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. Minor Edge Restoration. Second Finest Known Fr. 183c. 1863 $500 Legal Tender. PCGS Very Choice New 64PPQ. Finest of Four Known Fr. 186d. 1863 $1000 Legal Tender. PCGS Choice About New 58. Finest of Two Known Fr. 187b. 1880 $1000 Legal Tender. PCGS Choice About New 55. Finest of Two Known. Unique in Private Hands Fr. 207. 1861 $50 Interest Bearing Note. PCGS Very Fine 25. “Payable to Samuel Colt” Unique. No Other Notes are Known Fr. 209a. 1861 $500 Interest Bearing Note. PCGS Very Fine 25. Finest of Two Known. Unique in Private Hands Fr. 1218g. 1882 $1000 Gold Certificate. PCGS Extremely Fine 40. Finest of Four Known. Two in Private Hands Fr. 316. 1886 $20 Silver Certificate. PCGS Gem New 66PPQ. Finest Known Fr. 831. 1918 $20 Federal Reserve Bank Note. St. Louis. PCGS Choice About New 58PPQ. Terms and Conditions  PAPER MONEY (USPS 00-3162) is published every other month beginning in January by the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC), 711 Signal Mt. Rd #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405. Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Postmaster send address changes to Secretary Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mtn. Rd, #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405. ©Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. 2014. 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. PAPER MONEY  Official Bimonthly Publication of The Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. Vol. LVII, No. 2 Whole No. 314 March/April 2018 ISSN 0031-1162 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 payable in advance. All ads are accepted 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. 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Benny Bolin, Editor Editor Email—smcbb@sbcglobal.net Visit the SPMC website—www.SPMC.org Silver Certificates of the Great Depression Revisited Lee Lofthus ..................................................................... 80 Patented Lettering Peter Huntoon ................................................................ 93 Unusual Confederate Printed Backs Michael McNeil .............................................................. 108 The Stockyards Nat’l Bank of Fort Worth Frank Clark ..................................................................... 114 Seaton Grantland Tinsley; Confederate Note Signer Charles Derby ................................................................. 116 John Jay Knox & the Central Bank of New Ulm Shawn Hewitt .................................................................. 125 Civil War Patriotic Envelope Rick Melamed ................................................................. 130 Uncoupled Joe Boling & Fred Schwan ................................... 135 Small Notes—1934B FRNs Carried New Bank Seal .............. 138 Interesting Mining Notes—David Schenkman ...................... 142 Obsolete Corner--Robert Gill ................................................. 144 Chump Change--Loren Gatch ................................................ 147 Presidents Message .............................................................. 148 Editor’s Report ....................................................................... 149 New Members .........................................................................150 Money Mart .............................................................................. 152 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 77 Society of Paper Money Collectors Officers and Appointees ELECTED OFFICERS: PRESIDENT--Shawn Hewitt, P.O. Box 580731, Minneapolis, MN 55458-0731 VICE-PRESIDENT--Robert Vandevender II, P.O. Box 2233, Palm City, FL 34991 SECRETARY--Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mtn., Rd. #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405 TREASURER --Bob Moon, 104 Chipping Court, Greenwood, SC 29649 BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Mark Anderson, 115 Congress St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 Robert Calderman, Box 7055 Gainesville, GA 30504 Gary J. Dobbins, 10308 Vistadale Dr., Dallas, TX 75238 Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 Loren Gatch 2701 Walnut St., Norman, OK 73072 Joshua T. Herbstman, Box 351759, Palm Coast, FL 32135 Steve Jennings, 214 W. Main, Freeport, IL 61023 J. Fred Maples, 7517 Oyster Bay Way, Montgomery Village, MD 20886 Michael B. Scacci, 216-10th Ave., Fort Dodge, IA 50501-2425 Wendell A. Wolka, P.O. Box 5439, Sun City Ctr., FL 33571 APPOINTEES: PUBLISHER-EDITOR--Benny Bolin, 5510 Springhill Estates Dr. Allen, TX 75002 EDITOR EMERITUS--Fred Reed, III ADVERTISING MANAGER--Wendell A. Wolka, Box 5439 Sun City Center, FL 33571 LEGAL COUNSEL--Robert J. Galiette, 3 Teal Ln.,ssex, CT 06426 LIBRARIAN--Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mountain Rd. # 197, Chattanooga, TN 37405 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR--Frank Clark, P.O. Box 117060, Carrollton, TX, 75011-7060 IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT--Pierre Fricke WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR--Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 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 i s 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 societies are eligible for membership. Other applicants should be sponsored by an SPMC member or provide suitable references. MEMBERSHIP—JUNIOR. Applicants for Junior membership must be from 12 to 17 years of age and of good moral character. Their application must be signed by a parent or guardian. Junior membership numbers will be preceded by the letter “j” which will be removed upon notification to the secretary that the member has reached 18 years of age. Junior members are not eligible to hold office or vote. DUES—Annual dues are $39. Dues for members in Canada and Mexico are $45. Dues for members in all other countries are $60. Life membership—payable in installments within one year is $800 for U.S.; $900 for Canada and Mexico and $1000 for all other countries. The Society no longer issues annual membership cards, but paid up members may request one from the membership director with an SASE. Memberships for all members who joined the S o c i e t y prior to January 2010 are on a calendar year basis with renewals due each December. Memberships for those who joined since January 2010 are on an annual basis beginning and ending the month joined. All renewals are due 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. Pierre Fricke—Buying and Selling! 1861‐1869 Large Type, Confederate and Obsolete Money!  P.O. Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 ; pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com; www.buyvintagemoney.com And many more CSA, Union and Obsolete Bank Notes for sale ranging from $10 to five figures ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 78 September 20-22, 2018 West Coast Auction, Santa Clara, CA March 28-30, 2019 Offi cial 2019 ANA National Money Show Auction David L. Lawrence Convention Ctr, Pittsburgh, PA Experience the Kagin’s Diff erence: • 0% Seller’s fee for $25,000 and up consignments* • Unprecedented Exposure to millions of potential buyers leveraging our extraordinary marketing with Amazon, ANA, Coin World, NGC, PCGS, iCollector and non-numismatic media • Innovative marketing as we did with The ANA National Money Show Auction and the “Saddle Ridge Hoard Treasure” • Innovative programs including the fi rst ever KAGIN’S AUCTIONS LOYALTY PROGRAMTM that gives you 1% back in credit. • Free educational reference books and coin club memberships * 5% Seller’s Fee for under $25,000/ consignment and $1,500/ item 99% Sell Through RECORD PRICES REALIZED! For more information about consigning to Kagin’s upcoming 2018-2019 auctions contact us at : kagins.com, by phone: 888-852-4467 or e-mail: JimG@kagins.com. Contact Nina@Kagins.com or call 888.8Kagins to speak directly to Donald Kagin, Ph.D. for a FREE Appraisal! Consign with The Offi cial Aucti oneer of the ANA Nati onal Money Shows® Let Kagin’s tell your personal numismati c story and create a lasti ng legacy for your passion and accomplishments! Kagin’s has handled over 99% of the coins listed in The Guide Book of U.S. Coins from Colonials to Pioneer and 99% of the currency listed in Paper Money of the United States from Fractional to Errors.  Check out our NEW website or contact us for our latest off erings. We also handle want lists and provide auction representation. Because Kagin’s only produces two auctions a year, your consignment will receive up to four months of innovative and unprecedented   promotion including non-numismatic venues like Amazon.com. But space is limited as we are planning only two 500 lot sessions and we don’t run duplicates of very rare coins. So contact us today!  • 1% credit back on all purchases through the Kagin’s Auction Loyalty ProgramTM • Free memberships in a number of coin clubs and associations. • Free references works (some worth over $200) to successful buyers of certain types of coins. • Free grading initiatives for consignors and buyers from NGC and PCGS. Kagin-PM-NMS-Cons-Ad-02-22-18.indd 1 2/22/18 2:19 PM $1 Silver Certificates of the Great Depression Revisited Explaining the 1928 C and E Block Rarities by Lee Lofthus This rare Series 1928C JB block note was printed sometime before June 1, 1934, but not numbered until April/May 1935 when the last of the Series of 1928 silver certificates were being serially numbered. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions Archives. Graeme Ton’s groundbreaking article “Depression Notes 1928-C,D,E” (Paper Money July/August 1977) provided a block rarity index for the three scarce Series of 1928 silver certificates. Now, on the 40th anniversary of that work, this article examines whether Ton’s original rarity findings have withstood the test of time and explains why certain blocks within these series turned out to be so rare. The 1928C, D, and E notes have long been recognized as the difficult-to-find series among 1928 $1 silver certificates. The BEP printed approximately 5.4 million, 14.5 million, and 3.5 million of them, respectively, compared to over 2.2 billion 1928A notes, and 650 million each of the 1928 and 1928B notes. These numbers reflect un-numbered notes, but most went on to be numbered, so the comparisons remain valid for finished notes. The scarcity of the trio reliably follows their printing figures: the 1928Es are the scarcest, followed by the 1928Cs, and then the 1928Ds. 1928D notes are the common series of the three. While brief discussion is provided on the 1928D here for context, this analysis concentrates on two scarcer series, the 1928C and 1928E notes. The 1977 Rarity Findings The rarity index compiled by Ton was based on the observation of 221 1928C, D, and E notes over several years of searching. Those rarity findings have proved accurate for the most part, but with another forty years of data, the findings require updating. Some notes are as scarce as or more so than originally reported, while a few have proven more common. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 80 Ton’s index identified ten blocks of 1928C notes: BB through JB and *A. The BB block was by far the most common, with the CB, FB, and JB blocks being the scarcest. Eight 1928D blocks were printed, DB through JB and *A. The DB block uncut sheet notes were most common while the EB block was judged the rarest. Six 1928E blocks were used, FB through JB and the *A. The first-issue FB-block notes from the uncut sheets were rated most available, while the GB and JB notes were Ton’s rarest. All three series are common across the HB and IB blocks, unsurprising since those blocks were numbered between May 1934 and April 1935. By that time, the 1928C, D, and E plates had all been in production long enough that their sheets were amply available in the numbering division by the time the HB and IB blocks came long. In 1977, the 1928C, D, and E notes carried sizeable premiums and renown. In 2017, they remain popular and still command a premium. They are available as type notes, and compared to other silver certificates, some blocks are rare. Then, as now, high grade examples were comparatively plentiful from the first blocks of each series, often from uncut sheets that were distributed by the Treasury at the time of issue. Concurrent Series 1928 Production In the midst of the Great Depression, and with the $1 notes in high demand, Treasury was not going to cancel serviceable plates when the Treasury signatures changed. Thus, the 1928A, B, C, D, and E plates were used concurrently until worn out. They were used together on four plate presses, meaning, there could be three 1928B plates of twelve subjects and one 1928C plate sharing a press at the same time. The 1928A Woods/Mellon and 1928B Woods/Mills plates, by the hundreds, were producing sheets in overwhelming numbers compared to the eight intermittently-used 1928C plates and the ten 1928E plates. On May 12, 1934, three months after 1928E production had begun, BEP director Alvin Hall provided a memorandum giving a snapshot of the press room production status to Herbert Gaston, a senior Treasury Department advisor to Secretary Morgenthau. Hall’s $1 silver certificate data was as follows: Plates Plates Series in Vault at Press 1928A 1 5 1928B 45 275 1928C 0 3 1928D 0 29 1928E 0 10 The data above shows why 1928C and 1928E notes are scarce in comparison to other 1928 series $1s. The Series of 1928C carried the signatures of Treasurer Walter O. Woods (left), appointed by Herbert Hoover in Jan. 1929, and FDR’s new Treasury Secretary William H. Woodin (right). Their joint tenure was short, not even a full three months, contributing to the short window for preparation of 1928C plates. This article will go further and explain why certain blocks within the 1928C and E notes are scarce or rare in comparison to other blocks within these scarce series. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 81 1928C Plate Data The 1928C notes bearing the signatures of Walter O. Woods and William H. Woodin are the second scarcest of the Series of 1928 $1 notes. The 1928C had a printing of 5,364,348 notes, beginning on March 21, 1933 and ending on June 1, 1934. This run of 14 months was quite long in comparison to the six month press run for the 1928E plates. Table 1 provides the plate and production information for the 1928C notes. Ten plates were prepared, but only 8 made it into production. Plates 5 and 10, omitted in Table 1, were masters and not used on the press. Master plate 5 was destroyed early, on May 9, 1933, and master plate 10 followed soon after, on June 23, 1933. The scarcity of the 1928C notes becomes more apparent when one considers that the nine blocks (omitting the *A) in production during the period the 1928Cs were numbered equated to almost 900 million notes. The 5.4 million 1928C notes were only 6 tenths of one percent of that total production. 1928C Block Rarity In the 1977 analysis, the big dogs of the 1928C blocks were CB, FB, and JB, a status that remains true today. Some of the other blocks from the 1977 analysis are, if anything, more available. In the past two years a fair number of high grade 1928Cs in the G191xxxxxB range have hit the numismatic market, almost all in mid to high uncirculated condition. This author’s analysis reveals the circumstances leading to the CB block rarity differed materially from what caused the FB and JB rarities. 1928C CB Block The CB block is scarce because few sheets were made in time to be numbered in any quantity during CB block production. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s serial numbering division began work on the CB block on May 8, 1933, and finished the block on June 27 (see Table 2). Only 1928C plates 1 through 4 and 6 were on the press in time to catch this block. Plate 1 came first, on March 21, with the others arriving on press in a staggered fashion through mid-April. The five plates served runs from three to six weeks in length (with one shorter exception discussed below) during CB block numbering, with an approximate combined production of less than 60,000 sheets. That was it for early 1928C press production, which then halted until an August 22, 1933 re-start. The 60,000 or fewer pre-August 1928C sheets joined millions of 1928A and 1928B sheets in the numbering division, and few of these early 1928C sheets received CB serials. 1928C Plates 7, 8, and 9 had been finished in April 1933 but were not sent to press until four months later (Table 1). This late trio started together on August 22, 1933, the same time the first five plates returned to the press. This marked the first time all eight 1928C plates were in use at the same time, possibly together in an eight-plate, two press run. The late start for plates 7, 8, and 9 meant their production of 166,448 sheets, equating to 37% of the 1928C total production, entirely missed the numbering of the BB and CB blocks. The CB block is scarce, with fourteen notes known to this author. Thirteen of the fourteen are in the CB755xxxxxB range, with a lone earlier note known, C55260204B, sold by Dean Oakes via his 5th FPL in 1978 (p. 18). ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 82 For real rarity, consider serial number CB75534340B, a VG from plate 4. Plate 4 had just 88 days of press use, but even those few days are deceiving when it comes to the CB block. Plate 4 had four press runs, but only one was in time to produce sheets for CB block numbering. The first run for plate 4 was April 6 to April 13, 1933, when Plate 4 was then taken off the press, not to return until August 22. This short eight-day run was the only plate 4 run that produced sheets in time for CB block numbering. Table 1.  1928C Plates ‐ Dates on Press  Days  Plate  1st Sent    Last Dropped  on  Plate    No.  to Press  from Press  Press  Canceled  Sheets  Notes  1  3/21/1933  2/9/1934  182  2/12/1934  60,280    723,360    2  3/23/1933  10/26/1933  107  10/27/1933  41,605    499,260    3  3/30/1933  6/1/1934  255  4/17/1935  88,255    1,059,060    4  4/6/1933  2/13/1934  88  2/14/1934  30,020    360,240    6  4/14/1933  6/1/1934  200  4/17/1935  60,421    725,052    7  8/22/1933  2/28/1934  159  3/1/1934  45,700    548,400    8  8/22/1933  4/25/1934  188  4/26/1934  59,920    719,040    9  8/22/1933  5/28/1934  209  5/31/1934  60,828  729,936  Totals  1388  447,029    5,364,348    Notes:    days on press include first and last day.    Masters and canceled plates omitted.  Table does not show individual runs, but all plates had multiple runs on press.  Days on Press column reflects total days per plate, all runs combined.  Source:    BEP Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault.  A scarce Series of 1928C CB block note. Only five 1928C plates, compared to nearly 300 hundred other 1928 plates, were in production when the CB block was serial numbered ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 83 1928C FB Block The 1928C FB block is scarce and similar in availability to the CB block. The FB block was numbered from December 22, 1933 to March 9, 1934. By that time twenty separate press runs had been made from 1928C plates, and plenty of sheets were available for the numbering division, making the FB block circumstances different than what caused the CB block scarcity. Unlike the CB block notes, which are tightly clustered in the C755 and C552 range, the known FB serials are evenly scattered across the entire block. But raw statistics still came into play: the 1928C sheets were meager in comparison to the hundreds of millions 1928B sheets they were competing with in the numbering division, and fewer 1928C sheets received FB serials. It was not until the GB block was in production that the 1928C sheets hit the numbering division’s work stream in larger quantities. Sheets, once seasoned (about a week’s time), were sent to the numbering division for serial numbers to be applied. There was not a strict first-in, first-out protocol in the division. The sheets from the several 1928 series were received without regard to their signatures or series, and pulled from pallets as needed, in quantities as needed, to make up the intended numbering runs. As a result, while the 1928C sheets were available to the BEP numbering division while the FB block was being numbered, they were too few in comparison to the 1928A and 1928B sheets, and they were less likely to be pulled for numbering. Table 2. Series 1928 Block Serial Numbering Dates    BB  Jan 23, 1933  to  May 8, 1933  CB  May 8, 1933  to  June 27, 1933  DB  June 27, 1933  to  Sept 19, 1933  EB  Sept 19, 1933  to  Dec 22, 1933  FB  Dec 22, 1933  to  March 9, 1934  GB  March 9, 1934  to  May 2, 1934  HB  May 2, 1934  to  Aug 8. 1934  IB  Aug 8, 1934  to  April 10, 1935  JB  April 10, 1935  to  May 28, 1935  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 84 1928C JB Block The final tough block is the JB, and it is the rarest of the 1928Cs. The JB block was numbered from April 10 to May 28, 1935. Yes, that’s 1935, roughly a year after the last 1928C sheets were printed. By this time, numbering of the remaining 1928 $1 silvers by series was the luck of the draw – whatever sheets remained got numbered, and few 1928C sheets remained by then. On June 1, 1934, the last 1928C sheets were printed and their plates dropped from the press. By this time numbering of the HB block had begun. For the next ten months, the 1928C sheets received HB and then IB serials. By April 1935, when the JB block began, there were still sheets in the numbering division from the 1928A, B, C, D, and E series, but very few were 1928C sheets. The author has been able to track six examples, five by serial number and one note from a Heritage 2005 sale, part of a group lot, identified by block but not serial. (It could possibly duplicate one of the five known by serial number). Dean Oakes, in his March 1996 FPL (p. 19), remarked about the 1928C as follows: “All are scarce, with the J-B block very scarce and hard to locate.” The highest JB block serial used was J55796000B. The known 1928C JB notes are clustered in the J43xxxxxxB to J47xxxxxxB range.   Table 3.  1928E Plates ‐ Dates on Press  Days  Plate  Sent    Dropped  Re‐sent  Dropped  on  Plate    No.  to Press  from Press  to Press  from Press  Press  Canceled  Sheets  Notes  1  2/18/1934  5/29/1934  5/31/1934  7/16/1934  149  4/17/1935                  49,003                    588,036    2  4/13/1934  7/16/1934  n/a  n/a  95  4/17/1935                  31,643                    379,716    3  4/19/1934  7/16/1934  n/a  n/a  89  4/17/1935                  22,175                    266,100    4  3/2/1934  5/15/1934  6/18/1934  7/16/1934  104  4/17/1935                  56,568                    678,816    7  4/13/1934  6/1/1934  n/a  n/a  50  6/6/1934                  21,450                    257,400    8  4/19/1934  7/16/1934  n/a  n/a  89  6/4/1934                  22,775                    273,300    9  4/24/1934  6/12/1934  n/a  n/a  50  4/17/1935                  15,400                    184,800    10  4/19/1934  7/16/1934  n/a  n/a  89  4/17/1935                  22,775                    273,300    11  4/24/1934  5/14/1934  6/18/1934  7/16/1934  50  4/17/1935                  10,563                    126,756    12  4/19/1934  4/20/1934  4/27/1934  7/16/1934  83  4/17/1935  40,725    488,700    Totals  848              293,077              3,516,924  Notes:    days on press column include first and last day. Plates listed are only those sent to press.    Master and canceled plates omitted. Source: BEP Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in  Miscellaneous Vault.  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 85 1928D Notes With the appointment of William A. Julian as Treasurer on June 1, 1933, the signature combination of Julian/Woodin appeared on the Series of 1928D notes. A total of 14,451,372 1928Ds were printed, spanning eight blocks. The 1928D printing outdistanced the smaller printings of the 1928C and E notes combined. 1928D notes have proven to be readily available in both high and circulated grades. In contrast to the eight 1928C plates that made it to the press room, forty-three 1928D plates saw time on the presses. 1928D plate 1 went to press August 22, 1933, and five 1928D plates were still on the press on the last day of Series 1928 printing, August 10, 1934. Contributing to the availability of the 1928D DB block is the fact sixty uncut 1928D sheets were printed (Schwartz/ Lindquist 2011). This contrasts with only eleven 1928C and twenty-five 1928E uncut sheets. Many of the early sheets were used by senior Treasury officials as souvenirs, hand- cutting notes from the sheets and autographing them. As of 2011, about half the 1928D sheets remained uncut, with only five 1928C and seven 1928E sheets thought to remain uncut. The 1928D EB block was the top scarcity in the 1977 index, and remains that today. The author has identified ten EB notes by serial number, and no doubt the serious numismatic trackers of these early silver certificates have others recorded. The DB cut sheet notes and the GB, HB, IB blocks are seen with regularity. The FB block appears more than the EB, but less than the others. The JB notes are less encountered, but given the author’s casual accumulation of more than fifteen observations, it seems to be more available than the 1977 analysis suggested. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 86 William Julian, left, became FDR’s appointee for U.S. Treasurer on June 1, 1933, pairing his signature on the Series of 1928D notes with Secretary Woodin, center. When Woodin fell ill, Henry Morgenthau Jr., right, a close friend, campaign confidante, and Hyde Park area neighbor of Franklin Roosevelt was sent to Treasury in the fall of 1933 to assist in Woodin’s absence. After Woodin’s resignation, Morgenthau took office as the new Secretary of the Treasury on January 1, 1934. Morgenthau’s signature paired with Julian’s were on the Series of 1928E notes. The long-serving Julian served with successive Secretaries until his death at age 87 in a car accident in 1949. 1928E Plate Data Ten 1928E plates produced sheets for a short five-month span from mid-February to mid-July of 1934. The short-run scarcity of the 1928E notes was preordained: by the winter of 1933/4, before the first 1928E was even printed, Treasury was already planning for a new consolidated series of silver certificates, what ultimately would become the Series of 1934. Henry Morgenthau took office as Secretary of the Treasury on New Year’s Day 1934, replacing the terminally ill Woodin. The 1928E notes were more than just a change in Treasury signatures to Julian/Morgenthau – they came with a change in the legal tender clause on the silver certificates, which now read “This certificate is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” If any Treasury official was looking for justification to get the old series silver certificate plates off the presses, here was the ideal time to do it, but it didn’t happen. Sheer production demands for one dollar bills, coupled with Depression-era budget sensibilities for saving money at the BEP, meant Treasury had no intention of abandoning usable old-clause plates and kept them in production alongside the new 1928E designs. For the history of this change and the context for the launch of the 1928E series, see Lofthus/Huntoon/Yakes (2016). The first of the 1928E plates with the Julian/Morgenthau signatures and new clause were begun on February 8, 1934. Twenty plates were started, but only ten were finished and certified for production (see Table 3). The first day on press for a 1928E plate was plate 1 on February 18, and the first delivery of the serial number F7200xxxB notes in uncut sheet form was February 19, 1934 (this paragraph corrects the January 14/February 13 date references in Lofthus/Huntoon/Yakes 2016). Unlike the 1928C plates, all of which were re-entered to extend their use at least once, and several many times, only four of the ten 1928E plates were re-entered. The complete 1928E plate runs are shown individually in Table 3. Note that Plate 12 saw only two days of use in April before requiring re-entry. More on this fascinating plate later. While more 1928E plates were put on the press than 1928C plates, a comparison between Tables 1 and 3 discloses the total ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 87 days on press for all the 1928E plates was only 848 days compared to 1,388 total press days for the 1928Cs. Demise of the 1928 Plates The first Series 1934 plates went on the press in June, and by July sufficient numbers of the new 1934 plates were in production that the BEP could finally cut off production of the 1928 series. The last Series 1928E plates were pulled from the presses on July 16, and the last of any Series 1928 plates were pulled August 10. 1928 and 1934 plates did not serve together on a press, and there are no changeover pairs between 1928 and 1934 $1 silver certificates. This didn’t mean the abrupt end of the 1928s however, as millions of printed sheets were stockpiled in the numbering division. The 1928 stock lasted until May 28, 1935. HB, IB, and JB block serials were applied to the stockpiled Series 1928 notes while the Series of 1934 notes were in production and reaching the BEP numbering division. The concurrent serial numbering of the 1934 series with the remnant 1928 stock is what allowed the production of a 1928E overprint error on a Series 1934 face. At least one 1934 Julian/Morgenthau sheet was misplaced with a stack of 1928E Julian/Morgenthau sheets and received the Series of 1928E-style overprint, resulting in a fabulous error note. We know that error occurred in the first two months of Series 1934 production since the one known error note is serial H73569603B, and the numbering of the HB block concluded on August 8, 1934. 1928E Block Rarity In Ton’s 1977 article, the GB was the rarest block, followed by the JB. That ranking remains true today, but the GB block is rarer by far. The 1928E plate data in Table 3 discloses the GB and JB scarcity arose from different circumstances. 1928E GB Block Ton had observed just two GB block notes by 1977. Today, their rarity has been reinforced, with only eight known, fewer than the eleven 1928E star notes. The 1928E GB block is rare for the same reason the 1928C CB block is scarce: very few 1928E sheets reached the numbering division before the GB block was completed on May 2, 1934 (See Figure 2). ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 88 The GB block was numbered between March 9 and May 2, 1934. 1928E plate 1 was the earliest 1928E plate on the press, starting use on February 18 with the presentation sheet production that began with serial F72000001B. After the specially prepared FB block notes, the next 1928E notes appear in the GB block with serials in the G42xxxxxxB range. When GB block numbering started March 9, 1928E plate 1 had been in use just three weeks, and plate 4 just one week. Those two plates remained on the press through May, so sheets from these two early-use 1928E plates had the best potential to catch GB serial numbers. However, as seen in Table 3 and Figure 2, the other eight 1928E plates also started production in April, before the GB block numbering ended on May 2. Close analysis of the plate ledger reveals there was only a miniscule chance any sheets from these plates could have received GB serials. Finished sheets typically required about a week of “seasoning” to dry before going to the numbering division. Table 3 data indicates that mid-April plate 2 and 7 sheets could have only arrived in the numbering division with roughly two weeks left for GB block serial numbering. Four more 1928E plates went on the press in mid-April, and with seasoning time, at best they would have arrived in the numbering division with about a week left of GB serial numbering. Plates 9 and 11 went on the press on April 24, and only their first day or two of sheet production could have joined the millions of sheets already in the numbering division by the last day or two the GB serials were being applied. In sum, few 1928E sheets were printed in time to reach the numbering division while the GB block was being numbered. Seven of the eight known GB notes have G42xxxxxxB serials. This author has plate information for five of the notes in the GB census, and that data is revealing: four of the five are from plate 1, in use since February 18th, and thus most likely to have been available in the numbering division when GB serial numbering was underway. The lone non-plate 1 note, however, is a real surprise. 1928E note G99333569B breaks the mold in several ways. It is the only 1928E GB note outside the G42xxxxxxB cluster in the census. And, remarkably, it comes from plate 12. A close look at Table 3 discloses that plate 12 went on the press April 19, and served just two days before incurring some kind of defect that required it be pulled from the press and re-entered. Plate 12 did not return to the press until April 27, meaning none of those second-run sheets could have feasibly reached the numbering division ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 89 before GB serial numbering was over on May 2. Consequently, we know G99333569B came from the tiny two-day first press run for plate 12. Perhaps the April 19-20 sheets were grabbed as they arrived in the numbering division in order to add sufficient sheets to a large numbering run of other series sheets just as the GB block was ending. It appears very few plate 12 sheets were serially numbered in the G99xxxxxxB range. The author has recorded book-end notes to the 1928E GB99333569B note as follows: 1928D G99099968B 1928E G99333569B 1928A G99388413B 1928E JB With the passage of time since 1977, it appears the 1928E JB block is more available than Ton originally observed. It is still scarce compared to the FB, HB, and IB blocks, but it is not in the GB rarity class. The author has counted twenty JB examples by serial number, only a few of which are nice VF or better. Most are extensively circulated, often washed or with other problems. On the other hand, Ton’s high rarity assessment for AU/UNC JBs does appear to have withstood the test of time. Unlike the GB block, there is nothing exotic about why the 1928E JB block is scarce. It is scarce for the same reason 1928C JBs are rare. Numbering of the remaining 1928 sheets for 1928 series was drawing to a close in April/May 1935, and the JB serials were applied to whatever sheets were still left. Few 1928E sheets remained, although there were more 1928E sheets than 1928C sheets. 1928C, D, and E Stars The highly coveted *A blocks in all three series were great rarities in 1977 and remain so today. Their numbers have increased a little in forty years, but no groups have appeared to upset the marketplace or their relative rarity. The rarity of the stars for the series 1928C, D, and E follows the relative scarcity of the three series in general: the 1928D star is the most available, with just shy of two dozen known; the 1928C star has fifteen or so examples known; and the 1928E is the rarest with eleven known. A Tantalizing Changeover Pair Possibility A 1928C and E plate discussion should not conclude without noting a potential rarity that remains undiscovered – a 1928C-1928E changeover pair, or COP. The plate data shows that a 1928C/1928E changeover pair was possible, but chances are slim any were made. A changeover pair consists of two consecutively numbered notes of different series, e.g., a 1928B signature combination where the immediately following serial number is a 1928C or 1928D signature combination. 1928C changeover pairs have been found with 1928A, B, and D notes, but not 1928Es. Limiting the changeover potential is the fact that 1928C plates 1, 2, and 4 were pulled from production before the 1928E plates arrived, and 1928E plates 1 and 4 had only short February/March runs while 1928C plates were on the press. The meaningful period for 1928C/E overlap was during a five week window from late April through May 1934 when 1928C plates 3, 6, 8, and 9 served in the press room with as many as ten 1928E plates. However, the pairing likelihood remained small as nearly three hundred other Series of 1928 plates were also on the presses. (A changeover pair could also have been produced in the numbering division if a 1928C sheet was followed by a 1928E sheet or vice-versa, simply by happenstance). ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 90 Conclusion The Series 1928C and E notes constitute a numismatic Hat Trick: they’re legitimately scarce, they’re avidly collected, and they’ve got a fascinating history. Forty years of numismatic searching has brought a few more notes to the marketplace in certain blocks, but overall they remain the scarce and even rare notes and blocks they were when Graeme Ton published his rarity index in 1977. Anyone interested in block and plate data should have a field day with the tables and figures in this article, courtesy of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center and the National Archives. This analysis demonstrates the 1928C and 1928E series contain some very tough blocks that make for a collecting challenge. A few rare blocks challenge even their renowned star-note counterparts in rarity. The passage of time has confirmed that any original, unmolested 1928C or 1928E note in a high circulated grade is a scarce note and should be highly regarded for both its history and its scarcity. Acknowledgments Hallie Brooker of the BEP Historical Resource Center graciously provided copies of the 1928C and 1928E plate summaries for this article. Jamie Yakes provided welcome production insights and editorial suggestions. Selected note images courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Photographs of Treasury officials are courtesy of the Library of Congress. References Cited Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Historical Resource Center, $1 silver certificate plate summaries for 1928C & 1928E Silver Certificates. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault, $1 Silver Certificate Face Plate Histories for Series 1928C, D, and E. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Custodian of dies, rolls, and plates, undated, ledger and historical record of stock in miscellaneous vault, 4-8-12 subject silver certificates 1899-1935 series: Record Group 318, National Archives, College Park, MD. Hall, Alvin W., Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, May 15, 1934. Memorandum to Herbert Gaston, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury regarding the status of printing plates and signatures in production. Bureau of the Public Debt files, Record Group 53, Box 1, National Archives, College Park, MD. Heritage Auction Archives, Heritage, Dallas, TX. 2017. Hickman, John; and Oakes, Dean, 23rd Auction Sale, March 27, 1984. Iowa City, Iowa. 1984. Knight, Lyn. Auction Archives, Lenexa, KS. 2017. Lofthus, Lee; Huntoon, Peter; and Yakes, Jamie, May/June 2016, Launch of the Series of 1928E $1 Silver Certificates: Paper Money, v. LV, pp. 162-168. Oakes, Dean. 5th Issue Currency FPL 1978, and 23rd Issue Currency FPL March 1996. Iowa City, Iowa. 1978, 1996. Schwartz, John; Lindquist, Scott, Standard Guide to U.S. Small Size Paper Money, 10th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola WI. 2011. Ton, Graeme M. Jr., Jul-Aug 1977, A Rarity Index - Depression Notes 1928-C-D-E: Paper Money, v. 41, pp. 216-219. Treasury Department, History of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 100 Years, 1862-1962. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. 1962. Pp-158-159.+ Yakes, Jamie, Jul-Aug 2015, First serials on legal tender 1928 United States notes: Paper Money, v. 54, pp. 190-193. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 91 Central States Numismatic Society 78th Anniversary Convention April 25-28, 2018 (Bourse Hours – April 25 – 12 noon-6pm Early Birds: $125 Registration Fee) Schaumburg, IL Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center Visit our website: www.centralstates.info Bourse Information: Patricia Foley (414) 698-6498 • foleylawoffice@gmail.com Hotel Reservations: 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. • 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 • Complimentary Public Admission: Thursday-Friday-Saturday No Pesky Sales Tax in Illinois Patented Lettering on Bureau of Engraving and Printing products The Big Picture George Washington Casilear was awarded two patents on May 6, 1873 for processes that streamlined how engraved lettering could be added to intaglio printing plates in order to form words. The essence of his approach was that complete character sets of a given style and size were engraved once on a steel die. The characters were then taken up individually on a transfer roll so that they could be transferred one at a time to construct text on a printing plate or another die. This approach contrasted with the prevailing costly and time-consuming practice of engraving text from scratch each time it was needed wherein an engraver cut the same letters in the same style and size over and over again. The process was immediately adopted at the BEP under his direction in 1873 and widely used to make intaglio plates thereafter. Casilear was employed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at the time, having entered service on December 1, 1862 with its forerunner printing operation in the Treasury Department as an assistant in model design. He became Superintendent of the Plate Vault and next Chief Engraver. He was billed as Superintendent of Engraving and Transferring on a series of specimen books made in 1883. The first appearance of letters made by his patented process on currency plates wholly designed and engraved at the BEP were those on the faces of the $10 Series of 1873 circulating notes. Those notes had been called for in a surprise rider to an appropriation act passed March 3, 1873. The legislation allocated $600,000 for replacing national bank notes that had been counterfeited. Casilear’s patented lettering process arrived at the BEP at what turned out to be an inopportune time. Progressively more intaglio designing, engraving and printing work was being assigned to the BEP for Treasury items of all types—currency, bonds, revenue stamps—instead of being contracted out to the bank note companies. The bank note company management responded by waging all–out war on the quality of the BEP work through lobbying efforts, in the press and by means of letter–writing campaigns to Congressmen and Treasury officials in an attempt to regain their lost contracts. They specifically excoriated Figure 1. The large letters and charter numbers on the faces of the unadopted $10 Series of 1873 circulating notes were laid–in one character at a time using the process patented by George W. Casilear. The Paper Column by  Peter Huntoon  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 93 Casilear in general as Chief Engraver and in particular by mounting an unrelenting attack on his patented lettering technology. The Patents Casilear was awarded several patents pertaining to securities printing during his career, the two of interest here being 138,614 and 138,613 filed March 29, 1873. The awarding of the numbers happened to be reversed because patent 138,613 built on 138,614. Both patents involved dies and rolls. A die is a flat piece of steel into which an engraver cut lines that were designed to hold ink. This created an intaglio image where intaglio means that the image to be printed consisted of recesses cut into the surface of the die. The lettering on dies was reverse–reading. A roll is a solid steel cylinder that was rocked back and forth over a die under sufficient force that the steel on its surface flowed into the recesses cut into the die. The resulting raised image on the surface of the roll was a mold of the image on the die. Once hardened, the roll could be used to transfer the image to other dies or to printing plates where once again the image would be intaglio and reverse–reading. The concept embodied in patent 138,614 was that an engraver engraved a complete alphabet of some given style and size onto a die. The die was hardened and then, through the use of a transfer press, the letters were picked up individually around the circumference of a transfer roll as shown on Figure 2. The transfer roll was then hardened and used to lay–in the individual letters as required to form words on a printing plate or another die. The benefit was that the engraver had only to engrave a given letter once in a particular size and style. Of course, the same could be done with numbers or symbols. A given alphabet could consist of plain–looking letters that after being laid–in were shaded as a separate operation using a ruling machine or another technique. More efficiently, though, the alphabet could consist of completed highly ornamented letters, even those superimposed on a common background such as a rosette or similar device, that required no additional work once laid–in. Patent 138,613 was an embellishment on the concept but required a host of transfer rolls. The idea here was to make 26 transfer rolls—one roll for each letter in the alphabet—each containing pairs of letters around their circumferences as illustrated on Figure 3. Notice that the left letter in all the pairs on a roll is the same, whereas the right letters cycle through the alphabet. To spell out Washington, the siderographer would first select the W–roll and dial in the WA pair and transfer that pair to the plate. Next, he would select the A-roll and dial in the AS pair. Using the A already on the plate from the WA pair as a guide, he would insert the A from the AS pair into the existing Figure 2. Roll with all the letters of an alphabet of the same size and style that was used to lay–in individual letters one at a time to compose text on a plate or die. Figure 3. The first two of 26 rolls—one for each letter of the alphabet—used to lay–in pairs of letters. The letter on the right side in a pair served as a guide upon which the same letter from the left side on the succeeding roll was placed as the text was walked from left to right across the plate or die. The result was perfect horizontal spacing between the letters. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 94 A from the WA pair and roll in the S. In like manner, successive letters would be walked across the plate with the guarantee that all would be perfectly spaced and aligned. The downside of using the paired letter rolls was that the poor siderographer was forced to continually switch rolls as he composed text. Even so, the cost savings were considerable compared to paying an engraver to cut the text from scratch. Figure 4. Transfer press used to transfer intaglio images from dies to rolls or from rolls to dies and plates. The beam above the roll is lowered which presses the roll against the die. The large handwheel allows the siderographer to move the bed back and forth causing the roll to turn against the die in order to pick up the image engraved on it or to lay an image from a roll onto a die or plate. The force exerted through the roll is a few tons per square inch. Modified from Dickinson (1895, Fig. 6). Figure 5. A vignette on a die that is being picked up on a roll on a modern transfer press. BEP photo. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 95 Casilear’s patented letters did not have to stand alone on an open field. They could be superimposed onto previously entered engraved objects. For example, the letters could be rolled into tombstones when used to build national bank note title blocks. In practice, if lines of text had to be repeated, even to make only three or four subjects on a given currency plate, the lettering typically was laid–in on dies, then lifted on new transfer rolls, which then allowed that text to be reused as often as needed. Entire title blocks were handled this way on $5 nationals. Use Probably the first use of patented letters on issued currency occurred in the fall of 1875 when the BEP began making Series of 1875 national bank note face plates. A sundry civil appropriation bill dated March 3, 1875 required “the final printing and finishing to be executed in the Treasury Department.” In August 1875, Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow directed that faces of nationals be printed at the Bureau (Comptroller of the Currency, 1875, p. LVII). The first Series of 1875 shipment from a face plate made at, or at least completed at, the Bureau arrived at the Comptroller of the Currency’s office November 6th from a 5-5-5-5 plate for The Metropolitan National Bank of Boston (2289). The Series of 1878 silver certificates were designed by George Casilear as Chief Engraver and utilized his patented lettering process on both the faces and backs. Virtually all the lettering on them except the items written in script were thus made. The same can be said for the Series of 1882 gold certificates. The golden era for the patented letters came with the Series of 1882 brown backs, especially on the $5s, the face design of which was wholly produced by BEP personnel led by Casilear. The majority of $5 title blocks made between 1882 and mid-1885 sported patented lettering, and their quaint appearance causes them to be among the most avidly sought notes in the series. Of course, patented lettering was used on the higher denomination brown backs of the same vintage as well. The laying–out of national bank note title blocks was an ideal application for the technique. Figure 6. The Series of 1875 plate for the Keene bank was among the first made by the BEP. Keene was laid-in using patented letters. Those same distinctive ornamented and shaded letters were used on several plates including these $5s, which were made years apart. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 96 Figure 7. Virtually all the lettering on the faces and backs of the Series of 1878 and 1880 silver certificates except the script items were laid–in using Casilear’s patented lettering process, even the bold silver dollars on the faces and United States, silver and certificate across the backs. Heritage Auction Archives photo. Figure 8. Aside from the script items, the lettering on the faces of Series of 1882 gold certificates has the obvious look of Casilear’s patented lettering. Compare Gold Coin with Denton on Figure 9. Heritage Auction Archives photo. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 97 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 98 Although Casilear was employed by the government, the patents were in his name and he retained ownership of them. Besides the two pertaining to the patented lettering process, he also held others that were used by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He did not patent his ideas for his health, but did not receive royalty payments for their use. Instead, he was compensated with an unusually high salary as Chief Engraver, which in 1885 was reported to be $5,000 per year. In contrast “The highest salary given to any of the other engravers is $8.75 per day so that the best among them cannot make more than $2,600 a year if constantly employed” (New York Times, Apr 18, 1885). The Firestorm The roof fell in on George Casilear in 1885 with the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland to his first term, which began March 4, 1885. This was when the festering criticisms leveled at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing by the bank note companies in retaliation for their lost contracts overtook the Bureau. But the fuse wasn’t lit by the bank note companies; instead, the match was struck inside Treasury. Upon taking office in March 1877, Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman appointed a committee of three to examine the operations of the Bureau. It was the Cleveland administration that implemented some of the tougher reforms recommended by the committee. A key player in this drama was long–term Treasury employee Edward O. Graves who was first appointed to a clerical position in 1864, and who had worked his way up to Assistant Treasurer by 1883. Through his various positions, he proved to be a tireless champion of civil service reform with its goal to supplant spoils appointments with a merit-based system. Along the way, he was repeatedly called upon to examine and report upon potential problems in the Treasury Department. The New York Times reported on May 10, 1885: When, in 1881, Mr. Casilear, the late chief engraver of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, preferred a claim against the department for the use of certain patented devices employed in the preparation of the Government notes, Mr. Graves made a report on that subject severely criticizing the inartistic results of the employment of designs for which Mr. Casilear asked payment. * * * His most interesting report is that made in 1877 on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Mr. Graves was Chairman of a committee consisting of Edward Wolcutt, E. R. Chapman, and E. O. Graves. These gentlemen were directed to pursue their examination with reference to ascertaining the efficiency of the service, the number, character and compensation of its employees, the comparative cost of work done in the bureau and in private establishments, as well as to inquire into any matter affecting its management and means of promoting its economy and efficiency. The report was unfavorable to the bureau. “The looseness and extravagances which have marked its management, and the scandals to which it has given rise,” said the report, “furnish the strongest possible argument against the engagement of the Government in branches of industry which are ordinarily left to private enterprise.” The committee suggested that a better system of appointment, the exclusion of political influence, and the exercise of closer supervision over the management of the bureau might go far to redeem its reputation, but it was still of the opinion that bank- note engraving and printing was essentially a private industry of a peculiar and technical nature, to which Figure 9. Preceding page. The poster child for the application of patent lettering came in the form of the title blocks used on the Series of 1882 national bank note faces produced from the start of the series until mid-1885. These are but a few of the plethora of varieties that resulted. Figure 10. George W. Casilear. Photo from Hessler (1993, p. 80). ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 99 the ordinary methods of public administration were not applicable. It declared it to be its judgement that it would be a wise measure to relegate to private hands the printing of public securities, confining the functions of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to imprinting upon Government securities and money the seal of the department and the final authentication of genuineness. Graves’ star was about to rise with Cleveland’s election. President Cleveland appointed Daniel Manning as his Secretary of the Treasury on March 8, 1885, four days after taking office. Manning worked his way up from modest means to become president of the Albany Argus newspaper and president of The National Commercial Bank of Albany. He was a close friend and supporter of Samuel J. Tilden, New York’s former Democratic governor and 1876 presidential candidate, whom he worked with in opposition to the corruption of New York City’s Tammany Hall politicians. Cleveland appointed Manning to the Secretary post as a reformer on Tilden’s recommendation, consistent with Cleveland’s platform pledge for government reform. Thereafter, Manning developed into one of Cleveland’s most trusted advisors (MillerCenter and New Your Times, Dec 25, 1887). It is apparent that agitation by the bank note companies coupled with Grave’s reports had made Manning weary of the BEP. On April 16, he replaced Casilear as Chief Engraver with John A. O’Neil, a picture engraver and former Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, at a salary of $3,600 (New York Times, Apr 17, 1885). Casilear was not fired but rather demoted. Information provided to the New York Times (Apr 18, 1885) justifying the change led to the following reporting. The assertion has been made to-day that Mr. Casilear never touched a graver or plate in the production of a Government note. Although an engraver he has devoted himself almost exclusively to designing, and the silver certificates, the bonds and the later national bank notes are of his designing. Some years ago he arranged and patented a series of alphabets for use in making plates, and this contrivance, although not a novel one to the business, was bought by an increase of compensation, and has since been kept in use by Mr. Casilear. A report made upon the management of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing by a commission, of which Mr. E. O. Graves was a member, found that the continual use of this alleged invention rendered all work produced by its use stiff and inartistic, and made the silver certificates the ugliest notes issued. Secretary Manning has long had notions of his own about the work produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and he was determined that if a change of the head of the engraving division was necessary to secure more satisfactory and pleasing results, it should be made. * * * J. E. Currier, Assistant Secretary of the American Bank Note Company, said he had inquired among the members of the company, and they knew absolutely nothing about John A. O’Neil, newly appointed Superintendent of Engraving in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He thought anything he might say would not affect the reputation of George W. Casilear, retiring incumbent, as it was generally known that he had not filled the position satisfactorily. * * * According to Mr. Lee’s opinion [Homer Lee, of the Homer Lee Bank Note Company], Casilear was far from an efficient officer. “He’s not a practical engraver,” he said, “but he’s more what you might call a political engraver. I believe he went into the department first as a plate cleaner, and he was afterward a vault keeper, which would go to show that he never actually did any work with the tools.” Figure 11. Daniel Manning, Secretary of the Treasury, 1885-7. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 100 Secretary Manning next appointed Conrad N. Jorden to succeed A. U. Wyman as U. S. Treasurer on May 1st. Jordan was an accomplished New York banker with a solid reputation for creating order out of the chaos of the failure of the Gold Exchange Bank in 1869. He later served as Treasurer of the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad, where it was said he looked after the interests of Samuel Tilden, former governor of New York, in that corporation (New York Times, Apr 23, 1885). Jordan was a reformer who helped the Cleveland campaign to draw up plans to clean up the Treasury Department. It was Manning’s objective that Jordan bring business acumen to the Treasury Department upon his appointment. Edward Graves was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on May 9th by Manning “to carry out his intention to have sound business methods have something to do with the administration of a bureau which needs improvement” (New York Times, May 10, 1885). The New York Times (May 14, 1885) then reported: A published report that the appointment of Assistant Treasurer Graves as Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is in accordance with a plan for the abolition of that bureau and a return to the method of having United States notes and securities printed by contract with private companies is unfounded and preposterous in the opinion of all Treasury officials and others capable of judging. * * * His aim of recent years has been to increase its efficiency and importance as a branch of the Government, and decrease the expense of its operations. He is strongly in favor of the continuance of all the essential features of the bureau and the extension of its operations to other branches of Government. Cleveland’s Treasury reform team was now in place. Patent Lettering Discontinued BEP Chief Edward Graves immediately implemented steps to discontinue the use of patented lettering. In his first annual report dated November 16, 1885, he stated (Graves, 1885, p. 8-9): The artistic quality of much of the work produced by the Bureau is unsatisfactory. Most of the securities engraved of late years have been largely made up of a patented lettering, which is stiff, inartistic, and unsuited to work of the quality required for the securities of the Government. A great amount of money has been expended in the preparation of alphabets and numerals by the patented process. * * * It will be the aim hereafter to discard as rapidly as possible these inferior processes, Figure 13. Edward O. Graves, Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1885-9. BEP photo. Figure 12. Conrad N. Jordan, U. S. Treasurer, 1885-7. From Harper’s Weekly, May 2, 1885. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 101 and to replace the securities produced by them with work of the first quality from new and artistic designs. Graves reported in 1886 (Graves, 1886, p. 4): Plates for the one-dollar [Series of 1886 silver] certificate were completed on September 6, 1886, and the first delivery of the certificates was made to the Treasurer of the United States on the 20th of that month less than seven weeks after the passage of the act authorizing their issue. * * * The plates for the two-dollar certificates are nearly finished, and the certificates will be ready for issue during the month of November. Work has been begun, also, upon the plates for the five–dollar certificate, the only other denomination authorized. In this and all other new work engraved by the Bureau the use of the so–called patent lettering has been discarded. This change has not only led to better and more artistic results, but has greatly reduced the expenses of the engraving branch. It is the purpose to gradually replace the plates produced by this method with new plates engraved by hand. Changing of the Guard President Cleveland’s first term expired on March 4, 1889, when Republican Benjamin Harrison took office. Secretary of the Treasury Daniel Manning and U. S. Treasurer Conrad Jorden were long gone from Treasury by then. Manning effectively ceased working at the end of March 1886 owing to poor health, and was replaced by Charles S. Fairchild in April 1887. James W. Hyatt succeeded Jordan in May 1887. When Harrison swept into office, the top seats went to Republicans; specifically, William Windom as Secretary of the Treasury and J. N. Houston as Treasurer. BEP reformer Chief Graves also left, being replaced by William Meredith. Figure 14. The fabulous patented lettering font used to spell out GOLD CERTIFICATE was too good not to be used elsewhere. Both of these plates were laid–in during 1882. What a legacy for George Washington Casilear! ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 102 Casilear was rehabilitated and elevated to Superintendent of the Engraving Division. He had waited out the storm and seemed vindicated. However, revival of the use of his patented lettering process was severely curtailed. But then Cleveland won a second term in 1893 and the Democrats were back. Casilear was 68 at the time so he retired from the Bureau on October 30, 1893. He died in 1912 in Charlottesville, Virginia (Hessler, 1993, p. 80). Context There is a lot embodied in this tale and it is worth drawing some of it out. Secretary Manning, Treasurer Jordan and BEP Chief Graves were reformers who rode in on the coattails of President Cleveland in 1885, a fiscally conservative Democrat who in part came in on a pledge to shake up the bureaucracy and streamline things. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing made for an easy target because it was a large operation with a bloated work force, most of which was not covered by the Civil Service Act of 1883. Now that the reformers were in the driver’s seat, they could carry out their perceived mandate to operate the BEP on a business–like basis. BEP Chief Graves was a Treasury insider who knew the system and its ills. Much of his career had been devoted to moving the government workforce out from under the political spoils system and into civil service classifications, so he pursued that objective at the Bureau. He actively sought out redundancies and inefficiencies in processing and attempted to modernize or eliminate them. To this end, he aggressively attempted to mechanize Bureau operations wherever possible. One prime example was replacing hand-operated printing presses with 4-plate Milligan steam–powered intaglio presses. Generally, reformer is code for cutting employment rolls. Graves (1886, p. 7) proudly advised that between March 1, 1885 and October 1, 1886, the number of employees in the Bureau had been cut from 1,145 to 817, “accomplished only by taking advantage of every opportunity to simplify the methods of doing the work and to dispense with unnecessary employees.” On June 29, 1888, President Cleveland ordered that virtually all of the positions in the Bureau be covered by the Civil Service Act (BEP, 1959, p. 55). These were cost-saving measures but, from the perspective of labor, they translated into lost jobs and plenty of them. Graves’ mechanization of the printing presses ultimately ran into interference in the form of Congressional tinkering with appropriation bills as the howls of the workforce reached sympathetic ears on Capitol Hill. The fleet of Milligan presses, which accounted for more than a third of the work of the Bureau in 1888, were stilled in 1889. It would take until World War I for the Bureau to fully transition back to the unrestricted use of state–of–the–art mechanized 4-plate intaglio printing presses for currency production. The Bureau wasn’t a business; it was a government agency. Graves’ 1877 committee understood and agreed with the initial purpose for the printing operation that was housed in the Treasury Building early in the Civil War. Specifically, it received incomplete currency from the bank note companies and overprinted the Treasury seals on it in order to monetize the notes. Thus, actual monetization resided with the Treasurer’s office. By 1877, the Civil War Treasury printing operation had evolved into the BEP, which was carrying out all the printing operations for the nation’s currency, and was soon to occupy its own building. The committee felt that it was inappropriate for the Bureau to be turning out fully functional money, so as a safeguard against fraud, it recommended that sealing be transferred to the Treasurer’s office. Upon assuming office, Treasurer Jordan agitated for its return to his office, which was authorized by Secretary Manning, and accomplished by July 16, 1885. This definitely was not efficient, but it lodged the responsibility for monetizing the notes with the appropriate Treasury official. It would take until 1910 for sealing of type notes to return to the BEP— justified in 1910 as a cost–cutting measure (Huntoon and Lofthus, 2014, p. 402-406)! Secretary Manning and Chief Graves were not enamored with Casilear’s currency designs. How much either was influenced by the industry smear campaign against the Federally produced currency cannot be known fully; however, that campaign provided technical talking points that were convenient for Graves and his committee to use in their 1877 report, and for Manning to use once in office. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 103 Manning had demoted Casilear before Graves arrived at the helm of the BEP, but Graves followed through by shutting down the patented lettering process, which had been so disparaged by the securities printing industry. Another focal point for industry vitriol were the backs of the Series of 1882 brown backs that Casilear designed. Graves had no use for them either and by 1888 was all for getting rid of them entirely. He wrote the following to Comptroller of the Currency William L. Trendolm on January 11th. In the backs of the series of 1882 the old borders have been retained, but the beautiful black vignettes have been dropped, and the space formerly occupied by them has been filled in with geometric lathe-work of a cheap and open design. This lathe-work affords little protection against counterfeiting, inasmuch as it is cut directly on the bed-piece so as to print the dark lines, while, in order to insure the best protection from this class of work it should be reversed, so as to show the white lines. These backs are printed in brown ink, and over the lathe-work covering the center of the plate the charter number of the bank is printed in green ink from brass dies on an ordinary power press. The combination of the two printings is ugly in the extreme. It does not furnish adequate security against counterfeiting, and it is greatly inferior to the backs of the series of 1875 which it replaced. I therefore earnestly urge that, if the necessary appropriation can be obtained, the two plate printings of the old design be restored. If necessary, in order to distinguish the backs of the notes issued under this proposition from those of the series of 1875, the color of the border may be changed from green to some other appropriate color. If we objectively view the faces of Series of 1878 silver certificates and 1882 gold certificates that Casilear designed, they come across as rather plain looking. They are in fact visually overwhelmed by text rather than vignettes. Although the individual lines of patented lettering used on them often are very distinctive, the mix of different fonts comes across as busy. Graves replaced the silver certificates with the Series of 1886, and those designs were an improvement. Manning and Jordan organized The Western National Bank of the City of New York, charter 3700, on February 9, 1887, before both had officially left their Federal offices. The bank was chartered May 9th with Manning as president, but he was not in good health (New York Times, Oct 17, 1897). Former Secretary of the Treasury Daniel Manning died December 24, 1887. His portrait, reproduced here as Figure 11, was used on the $20 Series of 1886 and 1891 silver certificates. Having his portrait on a Series of 1886 note may appear paradoxical because an act passed April 7, 1866 forbade the use of portraits of living people on currency and bonds. However, the first 1,000 sheets of $20 Series of 1886 notes weren’t delivered to the Treasurer until fiscal year 1888 (Fairchild, 1888, p. 9), because they were still printing $20 Series of 1880 silver certificates in fiscal year 1887. Figure 15. BEP Chief Edward Graves stated in 1888 that the centers of the banks of the Series of 1882 national bank notes consisted of “geometric lathe-work of a cheap and open design” and that they should be discontinued. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 104 The Broad View When collectors view the work of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they tend to see it through the prism of their specialty. For example, currency collectors and philatelists put on their respective blinders and begin to think that the BEP was there solely to create objects for their particular constituency. Of course, this is nonsense. The BEP was the government’s securities printer, first taking on the work of the Treasury Department but then accepting work from other departments and agencies, most notably the Post Office Department. The BEP used the same technologies, the same personnel and the same machines for all of this work. Use of Casilear’s patent letting process transcended these boundaries as well. Once available, the various intaglio character sets that were created by Casilear’s engravers and siderographers found themselves used on all sorts of BEP products during the Casilear era. A readily identifiable example is the widely used character set used to spell out GOLD COIN on the Gold Certificate illustrated on Figure 8 and DENTON on National Bank Note title block on Figure 9. This character set was created as shown on Figure 17 by superimposing the individual characters onto a rosette that was created on a geometric lathe. The conjoined elements were picked up one at a time onto a transfer roll. Siderographers composed the text on title block dies, plates or whatever, by laying in the elements one at a time. Figure 16. The title block on the $5 Series of 1882 plate made in 1887 for Manning’s and Jordan’s Western National in 1887 was not made using Casilear’s patented lettering process! It would be a coup to find one of the early notes from the bank with Jordan’s signature as president mated with his engraved signature as U. S. Treasurer after he succeeded Manning. Figure 17. Character set made by superimposing letters and numbers onto a common rosette made on a geometric lathe. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 105 Figure 18 illustrates the use of this same character set on large-format revenue tax stamps. Once you begin to recognize character strings made using the patented lettering process, you find them on all sorts of Bureau products. Figure 18. Large-format tax stamps utilizing the same character set illustrated in Figure 17 to build FIVE on the top stamp and ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS on the bottom. Photos courtesy of Bob Kvederas Jr. Figure 19. With the possible exception of the line of script lettering at the top, all the lettering on the back of this Series of 1878 Silver Certificate was made from character sets laid-in using Casilear’s patented lettering process. Does the character set used to lay out 100 in the left border look familiar? ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 106 Sources and References Cited Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1863-1929, Certified proofs lifted from currency plates: National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1888, Correspondence to and from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Record Group 318, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1962, History of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1862-1962: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 199 p. Casilear, George W., May 6, 1873, Improvement in the methods of engraving bank–note plates, case A: U. S. patent Office, Patent number 138,613 (from the files of the BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC). Casilear, George W., May 6, 1873, Improvement in the methods of engraving bank–note plates, case B: U. S. Patent Office, Patent number 138,612 (from the files of the BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC). Comptroller of the Currency, 1875, Annual report of the Comptroller of the Currency to the First Session of the Forty Fourth Congress of the United States: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, LXVI p. plus appendices. Dickinson, C. W., Mar 1895, Copper, steel, and bank-note engraving: The Popular Science Monthly, v. 46, p. 597-613. Fairchild, Charles S., 1888, Report on the operations of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the fiscal year 1888: U. S. Government Printing Office, 18 p. Graves, Edward O., 1886, Report on the operations of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the fiscal year 1885: U. S. Government Printing Office, 19 p. Graves, Edward O., 1887, Report on the operations of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the fiscal year 1886: U. S. Government Printing Office, 18 p. Graves, Edward O., Jan 11, 1888, Letter to Comptroller of the Currency William L. Trenholm pertaining to the brown backs used on the Series of 1882 national bank notes: Correspondence from the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Record Group 318, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Graves, Edward O., Edward Wolcott and E. R. Chapman, June 10, 1877, Report on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing made by the Committee of Investigations appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 52 p. with 10-page supplement consisting of an exchange of letters written by Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman and Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Edward McPherson. Hessler, Gene, 1993, The Engraver’s Line: BNR Press, Port Clinton, OH, 437 p. Huntoon, Peter, and Lee Lofthus, Nov-Dec, 2014, The birth of star notes, the back story: Paper Money, v. 53, p. 400-411. New York Times, Apr 17, 1885, Notes from the Capital. New York Times, Apr 18, 1885, The new chief engraver; Mr. Casilear’s removal considered a good thing. New York Times, Apr 23, 1885, A new Treasurer chosen; Mr. Wyman resigns; and Mr. Jordan is appointed. New York Times, May 10, 1885, Promotion for merit; a proof of sincerity in civil service reform; the appointment of Edward O. Graves as Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. New York Times, May 14, 1885, MR. Graves and his new office. New York Times, Dec 25, 1887, Mr. Manning’s career; outline of the life of one who made himself. New York Times, Oct 17, 1897, Conrad N. Jordan. United States Statutes, March 3, 1875, An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, and for other purposes: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. http://millercenter.org/president/essays/manning-1885-secretary-of-the-treasury Figure 20. All these letters are from the same character set laid-in using Casilear’s patented lettering process. The fine shading on the top two was scribed in after the letters were laid in. The letters were superimposed onto the tombstone on the bottom example. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 107 Unusual Confederate Printed Backs by Michael McNeil “Ray” and “Bar” Designs Confederate Type-39, Type-40, and Type-41 notes are sometimes seen with printed backs. But they are rare and also problematic because the original types as issued by the Treasury Department had no backs. The question often arises as to the origin of these printed backs. Were they experimental backs applied by the Treasury-note Bureau, or were they of later origin and made in the 1880s as “stage money” for use in the production of plays, or were they made by entrepreneurs after the Civil War to sell to collectors as rare and valuable varieties? The answer is, we don’t know, but some new evidence may shed a bit of light. A large collection of Type-39 and Type-40 Train notes with printed backs was submitted to the publication firm of Currency Conservation & Attribution (CC&A) in 2007 by Ron Herzfeld, a specialist in these rare printed back varieties. He had worked out a description of the types and varieties of these printed backs and supplied CC&A with 76 examples out of the total of 84 such notes analyzed for this article. The CC&A database was mined to produce some data on the number of examples of these types and varieties, and work was performed by CC&A to determine the relative position of the inks, which in turn would help date the printed backs relative to the dates of the Interest Paid stamps on the notes.1 It will be helpful to review Herzfeld’s new descriptions of the two types and their sub- varieties. Type 1 is called a Ray Design. Rays emanate from the corners of the design, and an intricately-figured bar may appear in two different locations in the design, creating Variety 1, Bar below “Dollars,” and Variety 2, Bar above “Dollars,” seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2, respectively. Type 2 is called a Bar Design, where the entire design consists of intricate bars. The two varieties consist of design flourishes which rotate in different directions. The varieties are distinguished by the longest member of the flourish, where the longest member of the right- hand flourish is counter-clockwise for Variety 1, and clockwise for Variety 2. See Figs 3 and 4. Fig. 1 Ray Design, Variety 1, Bar below “Dollars” Fig. 2 Ray Design, Variety 2, Bar above “ Dollars” Fig. 3 Bar Design, Variety 1, counterclockwise right flourish ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 108 These printed backs were printed in various colors. The CC&A database contained printed backs in green, olive green, maroon, red, and orange. Here are the observed quantities: Ray Design, Variety 1: 20 total notes. 8 in orange, 6 in red, 6 in green. Ray Design, Variety 2: 10 total notes. 6 in olive green, 4 in green. Bar Design, Variety 1: 25 total notes. 12 in green, 10 in maroon, 3 in red. Bar Design, Variety 2: 29 total notes. 29 in green. The locations of issue of the Interest Paid stamps were randomly distributed among the types and colors. Here are the noted locations: Augusta, Georgia: 11 notes Charleston, South Carolina: 5 notes Columbia, South Carolina: 20 notes Macon, Georgia: 1 note Richmond, Virginia: 1 note Raleigh, North Carolina: 29 notes Savannah, Georgia: 25 notes Wilmington, North Carolina: 1 note Although no information exists on the source or date of these printed backs, we might be able to establish whether they were printed prior to any of the Interest Paid stamps by determining whether the ink of the Interest Paid stamp overlays or underlies the printed back design. The inks are very thin and establishing this is difficult by eye, even with the aid of a magnifying glass, and there was no consensus of opinion by those with experience in the field. We can make two hypotheses: Hypothesis #1: If the printed back design underlies the Interest Paid stamps we might conclude that the printed back design predates the Interest Paid stamps, implying that the design is contemporary with the Civil War. Interest Paid stamps appear on nearly all of the notes and bear dates of January 1st, 1863, 1864, and 1865; this spread of dates might allow us to pinpoint the year of the printed backs. This hypothesis has led to speculation that these printed backs were experimental designs by the printers, or that they represented an effort by the Treasury Department to re-issue Type-39, Type- 40, and Type-41 notes late in the war. Hypothesis #2: If the printed back design overlays the January 1st, 1865, Interest Paid stamps, we might conclude that the printed back designs postdate the Interest Paid stamps, suggesting that these backs were printed at the very earliest after January 1st, 1865, or more likely after the Civil War. The Method: To resolve this issue the author, previously an engineer at Cornice Corporation, arranged to use a high resolution microscope in the Cornice development lab. This microscope, costing well over $30,000, had high-quality optics and high magnifications suitable for determining which inks lay on top of other inks. At very high magnifications, in this case 1000x, optics will have a very shallow depth of focus, so shallow at this magnification that while one ink is in focus the other ink will be out of focus. Finding which ink focused above the other would help us select the correct hypothesis. A large group of the printed backs were examined. The process started with the January 1st, 1863 Interest Paid stamps to see if the printed backs pre-dated 1863 and might have been the experimental backs mentioned in the correspondence of the Treasury-note Bureau. If the printed backs overlaid the 1863 Interest Paid stamps, then the process would look at the position of the printed back inks relative to the inks on the January 1st, 1864, and January 1st, 1865 Interest Paid stamps. The Data: All of the Interest Paid stamps, regardless of date, when placed under the microscope underlie the printed backs, regardless of design type or the color of the ink of the printed back. Figure 5 shows images of the green ink of a printed back overlaying the black ink of a January 1st, 1863 Interest Paid stamp, and these images are representative of all of the notes and Interest Paid stamps investigated, including Interest Paid stamps dated January 1st, 1865. Fig. 4 Bar Design, Variety 2, clockwise right flourish ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 109 The Conclusions: The data support Hypothesis #2. The printed back Ray and Bar designs clearly post-date the January 1st, 1865, Interest Paid stamps. It has been speculated that these printed backs were a late effort by the Treasury- note Bureau to re-issue notes. There was a very narrow time window of opportunity between the application of the January 1st, 1865, Interest Paid stamps and the destruction of the Bureau. General Sherman arrived at Columbia, South Carolina, on February 15th, 1865, shelled the train station on the 16th, burning the last car in the train which was evacuating the Bureau on that day, and burned the city on the 17th. After arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 21st, Bureau Chief S. G. Jamison wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Trenholm stating that the last car in the train which was burned at the station in Columbia on the day of the evacuation had contained nearly all of the printing inks.2 It is questionable whether the Bureau had the resources to issue notes with experimental printed backs while fleeing the advancing Union troops who eventually seized what was left of the Bureau at Andersonville, South Carolina on May 2nd, 1865.3 Another group has speculated that these notes are the product of later, post-Civil War entrepreneurs in the numismatic field who created fake varieties for collectors of Confederate Treasury notes. The author subscribes to the latter scenario as more likely and a natural product of human greed. These conclusions do not make these printed backs uninteresting; quite the contrary, they are well-executed artistic designs, they are rare, and the story of their origin is still clouded in mystery. They are also very old, but as Fricke has pointed out, “there are no records of these two [Ray and Bar design] backs appearing at auction in the years following the War until the 1880s or later. This would support [a theory of] of a post-war effort to create new types for collectors to be sold at a premium. Today, increased interest in these bogus or printed backs has pushed the price up to an average of $300 to $500 per note in XF to Unc.”4 An example of the Ray Design in red ink from the Newman collection recently sold on a Heritage auction for more than $1000. “Bogus Back” Designs The “Bogus Back” designs appear on a range of Confederate types of all denominations and are generally considered to have been produced in the 1880s as “stage money” for use in the theatre. The Type-1 design appears with a denomination, and the Type-2 design appears without a denomination, but when it appears with a denomination, it is misspelled “One Thousand Dollas.” It is often seen printed over the genuine backs of notes of the February 17th, 1864, issue and it is less rare than the “Ray” and “Bar” designs. See Figures 6 and 7. “Fancy Back” Design The “Fancy Back” design illustrated in Figure 8a is perhaps the most elegant and certainly the rarest of the printed backs. Its artistic merit alone would seem to make it a candidate for a proposed reverse plate mentioned in Thian’s correspondence of the Fig. 6 Bogus Back Design, Type 1, “One Thousand Dollas” Fig. 7 Bogus Back Design, Type 2, no denomination ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 110 Treasury Department, and its first appearance was in the early 1870s.5 But the suggestion that this was an effort by the Treasury Department is problematic simply because all of the known examples are printed on the backs of counterfeit T-39 notes. The inclusion of the wording “3d Series” on the Fancy Back raises more questions than it answers. These are the rarest of all the printed backs and bring high prices at auction. Fricke notes that “one of [the fancy] backed CT- 39s sold for double the price of a high grade Montgomery note in a Bangs auction in the late 1800s.”6 Figure 8b shows the front of the note, a CT- 39 Tr-290, Upham counterfeit with an interesting stamp reading “Fiat this is 100 Dollars.” According to Randy Shipley, who spent years in the legal field, “fiat” is a legal term derived from Latin meaning “Let it be done.” It is usually appended to “a short order or warrant by a judge or magistrate directing some act to be done; an authority issuing from some competent source for the doing of some legal act.” This represents a statement by the counterfeiters, saying in essence, “By lawful decree, this really is $100.”7 The reverse image of the CT-39 Fancy Back illustrated in Figure 8a has a red advertising stamp which is very rare and is dated 1876. Figure 8c shows a detail of this advertising stamp with the date “July, 1876.” The mystery of the origins of these printed backs leads to much speculation, and we have no answers. Perhaps the secrecy surrounding the origins of these designs is evidence itself of unscrupulous attempts to make money at the expense of unwary collectors. But we now have data to show that the rare Ray and Bar designs were printed after January 1st, 1865. Notes: All images are in the collection of the author, with the exception of the Fancy Back Design in Figures 8a, 8b, and 8c, all of which are courtesy of Randy Shipley. 1. The author is the General Manager of CC&A, LLC. Operations in the holdering of notes were discontinued in 2016. 2. Thian, Raphael Prosper. Correspondence of the Treasury Department, letter: S. G. Jamison internal memorandum to G. A. Trenholm, February 21st, 1865, Washington, Volume 5, 1863-’65, 1880, p. 556. 3. Carson, Tom; Tremmel, George; Williams, Crutchfield. Quest for the Stones, Part 4, Paper Money, July-August, 2011, p. 284. 4. Fricke, Pierre. Collecting Confederate Paper Money, Field Edition 2014, published by Pierre Fricke, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 2014, p. 49. 5. Ibid, p. 49. 6. Ibid, p. 48. 7. Shipley, Randy. Personal communication to the author, 7 February 2017. Fig. 8a “Fancy Back” Design, reverse image courtesy Randy Shipley Fig. 8b “Fancy Back” Design, counterfeit obverse image courtesy Randy Shipley Fig. 8c Detail of the “Fancy Back” Design, image courtesy of Randy Shipley ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 111 PMGnotes.com | 877-PMG-5570 United States | Switzerland | Germany | Hong Kong | China | South Korea | Singapore | Taiwan | Japan THE CHOICE IS CLEAR Introducing the New PMG Holder PMG’s new holder provides museum-quality display, crystal-clear optics and long-term preservation. Enhance the eye appeal of your notes with the superior clarity of the PMG holder, and enjoy peace of mind knowing that your priceless rarities have the best protection. Learn more at PMGnotes.com 16-CCGPA-2889_PMG_Ad_NewHolder_PaperMoney_JulyAug2016.indd 1 5/27/16 8:12 AM Lyn Knight Currency Auct ions If you are buying notes... You’ll find a spectacular selection of rare and unusual currency offered for sale in each and every auction presented by Lyn Knight Currency Auctions. Our auctions are conducted throughout the year on a quarterly basis and each auction is supported by a beautiful “grand format” catalog, featuring lavish descriptions and high quality photography of the lots. Annual Catalog Subscription (4 catalogs) $50 Call today to order your subscription! 800-243-5211 If you are selling notes... Lyn Knight Currency Auctions has handled virtually every great United States currency rarity. We can sell all of your notes! Colonial Currency... Obsolete Currency... Fractional Currency... Encased Postage... Confederate Currency... United States Large and Small Size Currency... National Bank Notes... Error Notes... Military Payment Certificates (MPC)... as well as Canadian Bank Notes and scarce Foreign Bank Notes. We offer: Great Commission Rates Cash Advances Expert Cataloging Beautiful Catalogs Call or send your notes today! If your collection warrants, we will be happy to travel to your location and review your notes. 800-243-5211 Mail notes to: Lyn Knight Currency Auctions P.O. Box 7364, Overland Park, KS 66207-0364 We strongly recommend that you send your material via USPS Registered Mail insured for its full value. Prior to mailing material, please make a complete listing, including photocopies of the note(s), for your records. We will acknowledge receipt of your material upon its arrival. If you have a question about currency, call Lyn Knight. He looks forward to assisting you. 800-243-5211 - 913-338-3779 - Fax 913-338-4754 Email: lyn@lynknight.com - support@lynknight.c om Whether you’re buying or selling, visit our website: www.lynknight.com Fr. 379a $1,000 1890 T.N. Grand Watermelon Sold for $1,092,500 Fr. 183c $500 1863 L.T. Sold for $621,000 Fr. 328 $50 1880 S.C. Sold for $287,500 Lyn Knight Currency Auctions Deal with the Leading Auction Company in United States Currency The Stockyards National Bank of North Fort Worth by Frank Clark North Fort Worth is where the Fort Worth Stockyards are located. The Stockyards were built in the 1870s near several railroads. The Stockyards was the largest in Texas, one of the largest south of Kansas City, and one of the top four in the nation. North Fort Worth business leaders were able to entice both Armour and Company and Swift & Company to construct two large meat packing plants next to the Stockyards in 1902. All this activity created a need for banks in the North Fort Worth area. Two national banks answered the call. One bank was the Exchange National Bank with charter number 8287. It was chartered in July 1906 with a capital of $50,000 and it voluntarily liquidated on May 6, 1914. It was succeeded by the Exchange State Bank of Fort Worth. There is only one note enumerated on the Exchange National Bank. It is a Series 1902 $10 Plain Back with serial number 951-D. This note has never appeared at auction. The other bank in town and the subject of this article was the Stockyards National Bank. It was chartered in June 1903 with number 6822 and a capital of $100,000. There is only one note documented on this bank. It is a Series 1902 $5 Date Back with serial 54-B. It has crossed the auction block twice. The first time was at the Lyn Knight auction of the J.L. Irish Collection in Dallas in August 1997. The second offering was at the paper money auction held by Lyn Knight in conjunction with the International Paper Money Show in June 2016. I have always liked the symmetry of "North Fort Worth" in the tombstone. The bank officers on this note are Cashier Jno. N. Sparks and President J.S. Bull. The latter was the first president of this bank and he certainly had an approproiate last name for a "stockyards" bank. Included with this article is a letter on this bank with a September 4, 1906 date. The bank officers are listed and Cashier Sparks remains in office. However, President Bull has moved on and he has been replaced by George W. Armstrong. He was a former Tarrant County judge. In fact, he was always called "Judge" thereafter. His Texas banking resume includes the First National Bank of Sour Lake, charter number 6810. This bank opened in June 1903 and voluntarily liquidated on January 10, 1905. He moved on to the Stockyards National Bank later in 1905. There were also two privately owned banks that were under the George W. Armstrong and Company umbrella. Later, Armstrong would be opposed to the Federal Reserve System. Armstrong also had a political career as a Democrat that included unsuccessful runs for Congress in 1902 and for nomination for Texas governor in 1932. He died in 1954. The bank's letterhead includes the head of a snarling panther and below it is "Panther City." This is one of Fort Worth's many nicknames. This is one of the stories told on how Fort Worth received this nickname. A Dallas lawyer was visiting Fort Worth in 1875. He was a former resident of Fort Worth and was not too fond of the city. He noticed that Fort Worth was so sleepy one afternoon that there was even a panther sleeping on Main Street. This was meant as an insult, but the citizens of Fort Worth embraced the panther as a symbol of hope and strength. The panther remains today as part of Fort Worth’s history. The bank changed its name to the Stockyards National Bank of Fort Worth on January 23, 1911. It would go on to issue Series 1902 Date Backs and Plain Backs plus Series 1929 Type 1 notes under this title. The large size notes are pretty elusive under this bank title, but small size nationals are certainly more abundant. The bank went into voluntary liquidation on December 31, 1934. It was absorbed by the Fort Worth National Bank, charter number 3131. Series 1902 $5 Date Back Serial 54-B ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 114 Stockyards National Bank of North Fort Worth Letter September 4, 1906 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 115 Seaton Grantland Tinsley, Clerk for the Confederate Treasury Department and Signer of Confederate Notes by Charles Derby Confederate treasury notes required two signatures, those of the Register and Treasurer. Robert Tyler as Register and E. C. Elmore as Treasurer signed only the early notes, the Montgomery issues, T1 through T4, and the first two Richmond issues, T5 and T6. Thereafter, notes were signed by CSA clerks for the Register and Treasurer. In all, 368 men and women signed Confederate notes, for the Register, the Treasurer, or, for 22 of them, both the Register and Treasurer though never on the same note 1. It was a prodigious job in which they were expected to sign at least 3,200 notes per working day 2. Although the names of these signers are known from the work of McNeil 1, Thian 3, Fricke 4, and others, little is known about these men and women, with a few exceptions, such as McNeil’s great-great-grandmother, Sarah Pelot 2. This chapter is about one Confederate treasury clerk whose signature, “S. G. Tinsley,” is present on 18 type notes from the first two years of the war. He was Seaton Grantland Tinsley (Fig. 1). A Privileged Background Seaton Grantland Tinsley was born to Thomas Garland Tinsley and Harriet Washington Bryan Tinsley on August 13, 1836, in Hanover County, Virginia, at the family homestead and plantation, Totomoi (Fig. 2), located ten miles from Richmond 5. Seaton was named after his uncle, Seaton Grantland, who was also born in Virginia but later moved to Georgia and was a U.S. Representative from Georgia at the time of Seaton’s birth 6,7. The Virginia Tinsley’s were a landed family, descended from Thomas Tinsley who arrived in Virginia ca. 1650, from Yorkshire, England. Thomas had received a land grant from the British Crown, which he developed into the Totomoi plantation and which remains in the Tinsley family to this day. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 116 Seaton married Frances 'Fannie' William Gaines (b. 1836, d. 1921) on May 2, 1860. Fannie’s father was Dr. William Fleming Gaines, a physician and plantation owner from a notable family in northern Virginia. William owned Gaines’s Mill in Hanover County (Fig. 3), which on June 27, 1862,was the site of the Battle of Gaines's Mill (also called the First Battle of Cold Harbor or the Battle of Chickahominy River) representing the third of the Seven Days Battles in the Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War. Fannie reminisced about the battle and other incidents of the war 8. Seaton and Fannie had seven children during their marriage. 5,6 As a young man before the war, Seaton was a businessman in Richmond, working at Richardson & Co., a carpet merchant, and with Burton & Greenhow, grocer and commission and forwarding merchants 7. When the Civil War began, Seaton put his business experience and knowledge of the Richmond area to good use as an agent in the Quartermaster Department of the Confederate government, serving in the Virginia Peninsula 8. But when the Confederate troops evacuated the Peninsula, Seaton got a job as clerk in the Treasury Department in Richmond 8. It is during 1861 and 1862 that Seaton put his “S. G. Tinsley” on Confederate notes. Seaton served as corporal and later sergeant in the Virginia Infantry, Company F, 3rd Battalion, Richmond Local Defense Troops 7. He mustered into the unit in June 1863, but because of the essential nature of his work as clerk in the Treasury, his active service in the military was exempted. This exemption was not always easy to obtain and required considerable political backing at times, especially toward the end of the war: For example, documents from December 28, 1864 7, show that John W. Hall, Chief Clerk of the Confederate Treasury Department, requested a continuance of the military service exemption for Tinsley and 21 other Treasury clerks because their work was “absolutely indispensable…They are engaged on work of the most urgent importance, and compose only a skeleton organization of the Department, and their absence would so obstruct its business as to interfere materially with the business of the other Departments of the government both civil and military.” The request was initially rejected because this number of men constituted more than half of the Local force. So Chief Clerk Hall had to get written support from the Secretary of Treasury George Trenholm and the Secretary of War James Seddon, and together they were able to make a case that was approved but only after consideration by the top commander of the garrison at the Department of Richmond, General Richard S. Ewell. During the latter part of the war, Seaton served directly with General Robert E. Lee, since, as explained by Fannie in her memoires 8, “Mr. Tinsley knew the country [around Richmond and the Virginia Peninsula] so well that General Lee had taken him from the Treasury Department to act as a guide.” In fact, Seaton Tinsley was present with General Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox 8,9. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 117 Tinsley’s Confederate Notes Records from Thian 3 show that Seaton Tinsley signed 18 different type notes, all in 1861 and 1862, from T13 to T52. These are listed in Table 1, and three examples are shown in Figure 4. Tinsley signed a total of 635,253 notes, with a total value of $13,048,020 3. He signed for the Register, with six other men who signed for the Treasurer. These were, in decreasing frequency of signing with Tinsley: F. W. (Francis Westwood) Ashby, (Dr.) A. (Albert) W. Gray, W. (William) L. Harvey, J. (John) W. Jones, H. Kepler, and C. S. Maurice. His most common signing partner was Ashby, who signed 80% of the notes signed by Tinsley. Kepler and Maurice signed the fewest with Tinsley, only 3,357 (T18) and 592 (T37), respectively. Tinsley’s name is on five Confederate type notes that were counterfeited, according to Tremmel 10 and other available data. Table 2 lists these: CT13, CT14, SF20, CT28, and CT29 10. All are 1861 notes and co-signed by Jones or Gray. Two examples are shown in Figure 5: CT14 and CT29 notes. Some counterfeit notes had printed signatures for Tinsley (e.g. CT14 in Fig. 5) and some had handwritten forged signatures (e.g. CT29 in Fig. 5). The CT13 and CT14 counterfeits, both printed by Hoyer and Ludwig in Richmond, were especially numerous and infamous: many are easy to detect because they had “J. W. Jones” as the co-signer, when in fact Jones did not sign any of the genuine T13 and T14 notes (see Table 1). The SF-20 notes were genuine notes printed by B. Duncan but stolen and forged with Tinsley and Gray signatures 10 – and these too were easy to detect since genuine T20 notes were co-signed only by Ashby. CT29 notes are distinct in having the mistake of the imprint reading “R. Duncan” rather than “B. Duncan” for the actual printer Blanton Duncan. Accounts in contemporary Richmond newspapers 11,12 and elsewhere 2 tell the story of the Hoyer counterfeit and stolen-and- forged notes. Louis Hoyer, S.G. Tinsley, and F.W. Ashby, among others, gave testimony before the Confederate Commissioner at Richmond about events at the Treasury in February 1862 related to $100 and $10 notes, which must have been the $100 T13 and the $10 T28 or T46 notes since these are the only $100 and $10 notes printed by Hoyer & Ludwig before March 1862. The account follows11: Note Type Date Denomination No. of Notes Value Signer for Treasurer (# notes signed by each) T13 September 2, 1861 $100 56,800 $5,680,000 F. W. Ashby T14 September 2, 1861 $50 8,800 $440,000 F.W. Ashby (800), A.W. Gray (8,000) T15 September 2, 1861 $50 1,260 $63,000 A.W. Gray T18 September 2, 1861 $20 86,201 $1,724,020 F.W. Ashby (44,800), A.W. Gray (38,044), H. Kepler (3,357) T19 September 2, 1861 $20 800 $16,000 A.W. Gray T20 September 2, 1861 $20 21,000 $420,000 F.W. Ashby T22 September 2, 1861 $10 2,400 $24,000 F.W. Ashby (1,600), A.W. Gray (800) T26 September 2, 1861 $10 78,400 $784,000 F. W. Ashby T28 September 2, 1861 $10 32,800 $328,000 F.W. Ashby (18,400), A. W. Gray (12,800), J.W. Jones (1,600) T29 September 2, 1861 $10 33,008 $330,080 F.W. Ashby (6,608), J.W. Jones (26,400) T30 September 2, 1861 $10 13,600 $136,000 F.W. Ashby T31 September 2, 1861 $5 1,600 $8,000 F.W. Ashby (800), A.W. Gray (800) T34 September 2, 1861 $5 9,600 $48,000 FW. Ashby T36 September 2, 1861 $5 171,200 $856,000 F.W. Ashby T37 September 2, 1861 $5 34,984 $174,920 F. W.Ashby (34,392), C.S. Maurice (592) T46 September 2, 1861 $10 20,800 $208,000 F.W. Ashby T49 December 2nd, 1862 $100 13,200 $1,320,000 W.L. Harvey T52 December 2nd, 1862 $10 48,800 $488,000 F.W. Ashby (30,400), W.L. Harvey (18,400) TOTAL 635,253 $13,048,020 Table 1. Confederate Notes Signed by S. G. Tinsley for Register ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 118 Figure 4. Genuine Confederate notes signed by S.G. Tinsley as clerk for the Register, each signed by a different clerk for the Treasurer. Top, T15, signed by W.L. Harvey; middle, T26, signed by A.W. Gray; bottom, T49, signed by F.W. Ashby. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 119 Figure 5. Two examples of counterfeit Confederate notes with S.G. Tinsley’s name. Top, CT14 75I with printed signatures. Bottom, CT29 237A with handwritten signatures. Imprint is with “R. Duncan” instead of the correct “B. Duncan.” Note Type Date Denomination Signer for Treasurer CT-13 September 2, 1861 $100 J.W. Jones CT-14 September 2, 1861 $50 J. W. Jones, A.W. Gray SF-20 September 2, 1861 $20 A.W. Gray CT-28 September 2, 1861 $10 A.W. Gray CT-29 September 2, 1861 $10 J.W. Jones Table 2. Counterfeit Confederate Notes With Name of S. G. Tinsley for Register ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 120 "Mr. LEWIS [sic] HOYER, lithographist, and Messrs. TINSLEY and ASHBY, clerks in the Treasury Department, were sent for and sworn. Messrs. S.G. TINSLEY and F.W. ASHBY deposed severally, that it was their business to sign Treasury notes, and that the signatures on the $100 note before the Commission were forgeries. The forgery of Mr. TINSLEY's name was admirably well executed, but Mr. ASHBY's signature was a botch. Mr. Hoyer deposed -- I am one of the proprietors of the lithographic establishment where the Treasury notes are printed; early Tuesday morning one of the boys came from the office to my house, and told me the office had been broken open and the stones tampered with; that someone had been printing with the ten and hundred dollar stone during the night; when I got to the office I found that the gum and ink, in which it is the practice to roll the stones before leaving them at night, had been removed, and that one of the piles of paper or blank notes had been disturbed; it is the practice to keep the unprinted paper loose in the room: there were in that room, but under the screws, which were locked, about two millions of dollars in printed notes; an unsuccessful effort had evidently been made to get at these notes; this note is not well printed; it bears the marks of having been done in haste; without an inventory, which Mr. Slocum intends taking, we can't tell how many notes have been stolen; there is but one key to the office, which used to be kept by Emil Thume, a boy, who stays at Geese's, the foreman -- but as Emil got to the office too late, Wm. H. Beal, one of the printers, has for the last two weeks been keeping the key; Beal resides on Broad-Street; I don't know where he keeps the key. Commissioner -- That's a bad arrangement about the key; the office was entered by cutting out the sash in the door, and unbarring the door on the inside and then breaking the lock. The Prisoner's Statement [James Tyrer, according to 12] -- I am a member of Capt. Hiram Dickinson's company, the Jackson Guard; I arrived in Richmond at half-past eleven o'clock, from Roanoke Island; Wednesday evening I met a member of the McCulloch Rangers, who belongs to the same regiment I do, and asked him to lend me some money; he handed me a hundred dollar note and told me if I would get it changed he would lend or give me fifteen dollars till I should get paid off; I took the note in to Mr. Guvernator and he changed it, and I gave Pridget his money, retaining fifteen dollars; I was surprised when arrested by Goodrick. The Commissioner adjourned the case until tomorrow (Saturday) morning, at 10 o'clock, and the prisoner was remanded to jail. From Mr. [B. F.] SLOCUM, the clerk who has charge of the lithographic establishment, we learned that a first-rate workman might, with one lithographic stone, print 700 notes in a day, while an ordinary workman would not print more than 400. Mr. SLOCUM also informed us that the man who made use of the stones and presses Monday night must have had some knowledge of the lithographic art; and said that, although he had no actual proof, he was morally convinced that he knew who the men were who had perpetrated the robbery and the forgeries. Subsequent testimony 2,12 showed that an Italian named John Richardson and George Elam were responsible. According to Richardson, he and Elam broke into the unguarded printing facility during the last week of February 1862, printed $1,600 of $100 notes and stole eight sheets of unsigned $10 notes which they then forged signatures. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 121 After he was caught and convicted, Richardson, who was called a “doubly-dyed scoundrel” because not only did he counterfeit Confederate notes but he avoided service in the Confederate army because of his Italian citizenship, was sentenced to be hanged, and after twice receiving reprieves from Jefferson Davis, his sentence was carried out on August 22, 1862. Elam, on the other hand, was released without penalty. The Richmond Dispatch opined about Richardson that “in losing his life he has paid a penalty, the examples of which may deter many others from treading in his footsteps.”12 Tinsley After the War Seaton, like other Southerners, had to formally request amnesty and pardon from the U.S. government. Tinsley required a special pardon from President Andrew Johnson, since he met the 1st exception to the ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 122 general pardon: “All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate Government.” Figure 6 shows documentation for Tinsley’s pardon and amnesty for his participation in the war, including his Amnesty Oath taken on June 15, his letter requesting a special pardon signed July 15, and the special pardon that was granted on July 22, 1865 7. For four years after the war, Seaton “devoted himself to agricultural pursuits” 9. He was then appointed by Samuel C. Greenhow, who was Treasurer for the City of Richmond and the same Greenhow of Burton & Greenhow for whom he worked before the War, as Assistant and later Deputy Treasurer of the City of Richmond. Seaton served in that capacity for 18 years, until 1887, when Greenhow lost favor and his office, and Seaton also lost his job 9. He then worked for the Virginia Car Service Association (involved in the business of railroad cars) until his death on January 1, 1901, of heart disease, at the age of 64 8. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. The Tinsleys, a Family of Signers of Southern Currency Seaton Tinsley had three relatives that were also signers of Southern currency during the war. William Bowe Tinsley was Seaton’s cousin (Seaton’s father, Thomas .G. Tinsley, and William’s mother, Anne Tinsley, were siblings) and signed as Cashier for The Bank of Savannah from 1851 to 1864, using “W. B. Tinsley.” Theodosius Davies Tinsley, William Bowe’s son and thus Seaton’s first cousin once removed, was an 18-year old who signed as “T. D. Tinsley” nearly 800,000 notes with a face value of over $7 million for the state of Georgia in 1864. Augustus Merritt, who was married to Sarah Augusta Tinsley, William Bowe Tinsley’s daughter and T. D. Tinsley’s sister, in 1862 signed his own merchant notes in Griffin, Georgia, and several denominations of notes for the treasurer of the Inferior Court of the County of Spalding, Georgia. Each of these Tinsley relatives has their own interesting story. Acknowledgments I thank Bill Gunther for reading and commenting on a draft of the manuscript, and Mike McNeil for his foundational work on signers of Confederate notes and his encouragement for pursuing this project. References 1 McNeil, Michael. 2003. The Signers of Confederate Treasury Notes, 1861-65: A Catalog of Their Signatures with a Catalog of the Notes Signed by Sarah Pelot. Michael McNeil, Nederland, Colorado. 2 McCabe, Bob. 2016. Counterfeiting and Technology. A History of the Long Struggle Between Paper-Money Counterfeiters and Security Printing. Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia. 3 Thian, Raphael P. 1972. Register of the Confederate Debt. Quarterman Publications, Inc., Lincoln, Massachusetts. 4 Fricke, Pierre. 2014. Collecting Confederate Paper Money. 3rd edition. Pierre Fricke. 5 Records in Ancestry.com. 6 U.S. Census Records, accessed through Ancestry.com. 7 U.S. National Archives, accessed through Fold3.com. 8 Tinsley, Fanny. “Mrs. Tinsley's War Recollections, 1862- 1865.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct., 1927), pp. 393-404. 9 Richmond Times Dispatch, January 12, 1901, “Obituary of Mr. Seaton Grantland Tinsley.” 10 Tremmel, George B. 2007. A Guide Book of Counterfeit Confederate Currency. History, Rarity, and Values. Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia. 11 Richmond Examiner, March 8, 1862, reprinted in the New York Times, March 8, 1862, “Clippings from Rebel Papers.” http://www.nytimes.com/1862/03/08/news/clippings-rebel- papers-richmond-under-martial-law-tobacco-cotton- question-appeal.html?pagewanted=all. 12 Benner, Judith Ann. 1970. Fraudulent Finance: Counterfeiting and the Confederate States: 1861-1865. A Hill Junior College Monograph. Hillsboro, Texas. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 123 John Jay Knox and the Central Bank of New Ulm by R. Shawn Hewitt Antebellum banking in the Midwest almost always had its roots in the east coast. Jay and Henry Knox, sons of banker John J. Knox of New York, followed in the same career path as their father. They, like many others in the 1850s, saw the wealth of opportunities available in the new territories of the United States, and could not resist the allure of moving westward to build their families and fortune. This is the story of the John Jay Knox and his adventure in Minnesota banking before moving to Washington, D.C., where he climbed through the political system to bring his unique experience to the office of Comptroller of the Currency. John Jay Knox, Jr. – known to his close friends and family members as Jay – was born on March 19, 1828 to John Jay Knox, Sr. and Sarah Ann Curtis in Knoxboro, Oneida County, New York. The senior Knox was a successful merchant and in 1839 organized and became president of the Bank of Vernon, a note-issuing bank organized under the free banking law of New York, not far from their home. Oneida County sits in the Mohawk Valley between the Catskill Mountains to the south and the Adirondack Mountains to the north, in central upstate New York. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, was constructed through this natural pathway and made this region a highway for transportation between New England and the Great Lakes. This location undoubtedly afforded the Bank of Vernon to thrive, and the young Knox brothers to learn the banking business directly from their father. Jay would take ready advantage of this resource early in his career. Figure 1. Note from the Bank of Vernon signed by John J. Knox. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Jay received his early education at the Augusta Academy and the Watertown Classical Institute. In 1845, he left home to attend Hamilton College just west of Clinton, New York. It was a practical choice. Hamilton was not only the closest college near the family home, but it also was well respected as a place to gain the foundational skills for a professional career. Upon graduation in 1849, he went to live with his sister Elizabeth and their family in Vernon, and gratefully accepted a position of teller at his father’s bank with a salary of $300 per year. He stayed there for only two years, however. In 1852 he leaned on his father’s experience, packed his bags, and left for Syracuse to help organize the Burnett Bank. This was another note-issuing bank, and Jay may have his first opportunity to sign notes while custodian of this institution. His involvement at Syracuse was to last nearly four years, and in 1855 he moved south near the Pennsylvania border to start up the Susquehanna Valley Bank of Binghamton, New York. He was named cashier and signed its earliest banknotes. Not long after, Jay was ready to heed the call of adventure. In 1856 he set his sights westward and moved to Saint Paul, a rapidly growing settlement in Minnesota Territory. As Minnesota explicitly forbade the issuance of banknotes, he could not organize the kind of bank with which he was familiar, so had he to adapt. One of his first financial activities was to ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 125 sponsor the running of the first steamboat on the Red River of the North. He was one of a few financial supporters to pay for the transportation of a steamboat overland from Sauk Rapids to Breckenridge, in the midst of winter. The following year he founded J. Jay Knox & Co., a private banking house created with the financial backing of his father. His brother Henry yielded to Jay’s call to move west and joined him in Saint Paul. Although forbidden from issuing banknotes, the Knox brothers observed from other private bankers that there was an easy workaround for that constraint, and they, too, joined the party. Bankers in Minnesota Territory routinely obtained quantities of notes from spurious or failed banks at little cost, and used them as their own media by simply writing an endorsement on them. It was a technicality that was frowned upon in the local newspapers, but there was not enough political interest to strengthen the laws. Besides, work was underway to organize Minnesota as a state, and among the proposed statutes was one for legal free banking, with the authority for banks to issue notes. In May 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state, and the rush was on for local banks to organize under the new law. A critical failing of Minnesota’s free banking act was that the state auditor was authorized to accept the newly issued Minnesota 7s as security for note issue. These were the Railroad Bonds, used to finance the construction of railroads in the new state. The problem was that these bonds were thinly traded, and accepted by the auditor at a rate well in excess of their market value. Banks obtained them at steep discounts, deposited them with the auditor, and issued banknotes against them for up to 95% of the nominal value of the bonds. Some of these banks were actually organized by the railroad contractors, thereby giving themselves a ready outlet for bonds received from the state for railroad construction. The Knox brothers did not immediately jump into the legal note-issuing business right away, however. It may have been a matter of not having enough financial or political capital to get going. Being relatively new to the city, they were cautious against partnering with those whom they knew little about. The cost of entry to Minnesota’s free banking system was to fall dramatically as the market for Minnesota 7s crashed over the next couple years. The natural fallout from this was that some banks did not shore up their security and allowed their banks to fail, leaving note-holders with substantially depreciated banknotes. The worst of these left notes worth only about 16 cents on the dollar. The Central Bank of New Ulm, a German community located about 100 miles southwest of Saint Paul on the Minnesota River, was one of the poorly capitalized free banks. It is apparent that the remote location was deliberately chosen so as to reduce the likelihood that notes would find their way to the home office for redemption. It was organized in May 1859 by John W. Northfield and Franklin Steele, more or less players in the market for junk bonds, but not so much bankers. They hired August H. Wagner, a merchant in New Ulm, to serve as vice president, and Albert H. Merrick, a bookkeeper in Saint Paul, to be the cashier. These men signed some $23,000 in notes of the Central Bank and pressed them into circulation through making loans. Figure 2. View of New Ulm in 1860. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society. Right away the organizers of the bank were dealt a financial setback, as just a month after the bank received its circulating notes in June from the auditor, the circulation/bond ratio requirement was reduced to 60%. If it was to remain solvent, the Central Bank had the option to deposit more bonds or reduce its circulation. Whereas at this time many bank owners walked away and let their banks fail, Northfield and Steele opted to return $6,800 in notes, leaving the ratio exactly at the minimum requirement. With 27 $1000 bonds on deposit with state auditor, the new valuation fixed the worth of the bank at $16,200 less the value ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 126 of banknotes outstanding. They just had to maintain an office where they could redeem their notes on demand at par. As the opportunity for arbitrage dwindled, the operation became nothing more than a hassle. Perhaps with some optimism that the Minnesota 7s were undervalued, the Knox brothers purchased the Central Bank in October 1859 from Northfield and Steele. It was really a bet on the future of Minnesota 7s and the cost of this investment had limited downside, for they, too, could walk away should the investment sour. The outright purchase price was likely not very costly, but they assumed the liability of notes outstanding. They already had an office where they could tend to note redemption, and in many ways this was similar to their previous practice of endorsing notes. The market for Minnesota 7s was stable for the time being; however, the worst of its tortuous fall was still to come. The banking business was good into 1860 and that spilled into the personal lives of the Knox brothers. Jay and Henry built a new house at 26 Irving Park in Saint Paul, in an exclusive neighborhood for the city’s elite. By this time Henry had married and Jay lived with his sister-in-law Charlotte, his young niece Carrie, and two female servants from Ireland. It appears that notes of the Central Bank actually did enjoy acceptance and heavy circulation within the Saint Paul community. They probably traded close to par, being that they could be redeemed at any time by walking into the Knox banking house. Indeed, most of those notes that have survived to this day show heavy wear. In December 1860 the Knox brothers returned two groups on notes totaling $1,832 to the auditor’s office, and immediately received a like amount of new bills to replace them. In all likelihood, they were well worn and not fit for continued use. These new notes were eventually signed and released by the Knox’s in late February 1861. Table 1. Serial numbers and amounts of banknotes issued by the Central Bank. Signers Merrick & Wagner Knox & Knox Denomination Serials Notes Serials Notes Total Issue $1 1-2600 2,600 2601-2832 232 $2,832 $2 1-2200 2,200 2201-2700 500 $5,400 $5 1-1800 1,800 1801-1920 120 $9,600 $10 1-700 700 None 0 $7,000 Total Notes 7,300 852 8,152 Total Amount $23,000 $1,832 $24,832 Figure 3. $1 Note from the Central Bank signed by H. M. Knox and J. Jay Knox. Author’s collection. Optimism faded as the battles of the Civil War greatly pressured bonds of the northern states in the early summer of 1861. Even the mainstay bonds used in the security of banknotes issued elsewhere, like Ohio 6s, suffered serious losses and forced the failure of banks nationwide. This, too, was the tipping point for free banking in Minnesota. Any hope that Minnesota 7s would eventually find their footing was extinguished. The Knox brothers recognized this and gave up their campaign of issuing notes and supporting the circulation of the Central Bank. J. Jay Knox & Co. closed its doors in June 1861 under the weight of the financial crisis, forcing the closure of the Central Bank. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 127 As bond values tumbled, Jay accumulated $10,800 worth of his bank’s notes and returned them to the auditor’s office in exchange for 18 Minnesota 7s, and hurried to sell them as quickly as possible. His instincts were correct, as about a year later the bonds traded in New York at just 18 cents on the dollar. At this point the Knox brothers did walk away, and cut further losses from their failed investment. The state eventually forced the bank into liquidation, and the state auditor sold the $7,000 of bonds remaining on deposit for a deep discount, leaving only enough hard money to pay bill holders 30 cents on the dollar to cover the $4,200 in banknotes that were outstanding.1 The Knox’s were sued by noteholders suffering alleged losses over the next few years. Jay’s personal experience in state banking provided ample background for essays he wrote that appeared in the February 1862 and January 1863 editions of the Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, a widely read trade publication, which supported Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase’s vision of a national banking system. He owned and operated his bank under the kind of system that he criticized in his writings in support of national banking – one with weak protections for note holders. Knox later would write about the history of banking in the United States detailing many state banking experiments, but never again would he or his colleagues ever mention his disastrous experience with the Central Bank. Despite his failure in state banking, Jay’s article was noticed by the Treasury Secretary, who made him an offer to serve in the Treasury Department as a disbursing clerk. Jay accepted the position in 1863 and moved to Washington. He was more than pleased to leave his problems behind in Minnesota, but Henry opted to stay and later served in the public sector. Jay’s years of service were rewarded by being appointed Comptroller of the Currency, the top official who oversaw the regulation of national banks throughout the country, in 1872. He held this position until 1884, when he returned to the private sector. It is interesting to note that Jay wrote his pre- Washington signature as J. Jay Knox. His signature on New Ulm banknotes match that found on contemporary letters, court documents and records 1 Two bonds were already exchanged for banknotes by other Saint Paul bankers. from the auditor’s office, so there is no question about the authenticity of his autograph. However, the 1861 signature is stunningly different in appearance compared to later known examples of his autograph found twenty years hence on Comptroller documents. What caused such a radical change? We may never know, but Jay may have taken a page from Francis Spinner’s playbook and developed a new, authoritative signature for his administrative career. After all, Jay was good at adapting to his environment, even in the little things that may have provided him an edge. Figure 5. Cabinet card of John Jay Knox with his new vanity signature below. Author’s collection. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 128 Figure 4. Letter from J. Jay Knox to President Elect Lincoln, endorsing a local citizen for a political appointment. This letter and other contemporary documents like it serve to confirm the authenticity of his signature on notes of the Central Bank. Courtesy of the National Archives. Figure 6. $100 Third Charter National Bank Note, with portrait of John J. Knox. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Sources Berndt, Gez. V. J. Ansicht von New Ulm, Minnesota. Cincinnati, O.: Lith. von Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co., [1860]. (imagelink: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10443166) Dana, William B. Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review. New York: William B. Dana, 1862-1863. Evans, George G. Illustrated History of the United States Mint. Philadelphia: George G. Evans, 1885. Heritage Auctions Hewitt, R. Shawn. A History & Catalog of Minnesota Obsolete Bank Notes & Scrip. New York: R. M. Smythe & Co., 2006. Knox, John Jay. A History of Banking in the United States. New York: Bradford Rhodes & Company, 1900. Minnesota, 1860 Federal Census: Population Schedules. Washington: National Archives & Records Administration, 1964. Minnesota Historical Society. Auditor’s Records. Archives of the Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul, Minnesota. New York, 1850 Federal Census: Population Schedules. Washington: National Archives & Records Administration, 1964. National Archives. Letter from John Jay Knox to Abraham Lincoln, 1861. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Images from the National Archives and Library of Congress. (imagelink: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/papersofabrahamlincoln/PAL_Images/ PAL_PubMan/1861/02/238107.pdf) ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 129 CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC ENVELOPE WITH POSTAGE  CURRENCY NOTE  by Rick Melamed  Shown below is interesting piece of ephemera affixed with a 5¢ postage currency note.  The envelope is  from the Civil War era (1861‐1865) with the Great Seal of New Jersey.  To the left of the image is the company  that  made  the  envelope…’NEW  YORK  UNION  ENVELOPE  DEPOT,  144  BROADWAY’.    On  the  right  is  an  FR1230/31 5¢ postage currency note.  It is impossible to know when the note was glued onto the envelope but  considering  the very emotional  sentiments of  the era,  it  is  likely  that  the note was placed on  the envelope  during the Civil War to reinforce patriotic beliefs.  Without saying anything overtly, there is no doubt a strong  undercurrent at play.  Research  into  patriotic  envelopes made  during  the  Civil War  show  that  there was  a  cottage  industry  appealing  to people’s patriotism.   There were quite a  few examples made during  the Civil War era  that are  unabashedly pro‐Union.  New York Union Envelope printed many envelopes in support of the Union.  In the NY  Historical Society archives, they have over 3,000 patriotic envelopes in their collection from various makers.    Shown are some with expressed sentiments are powerful reminders of the explosive emotions of the era.  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 130 The context of these patriotic envelopes reminds us of the very volatile and emotional subtext of the Civil War. A postage currency note in and of itself illicit very little emotional response today. But take that postage note and affix it to a jingoistic themed envelope and the meaning becomes much deeper and visceral. We need to remind ourselves the enormous toll the Civil War wrought. Not just of the 650,000+ lives lost1, but the deeply divided feelings that ran through the hearts and souls of every citizen in our great country; both southerners and northerners. A special thanks to the New York Historical Society and their accessible archive made freely available in the pursuit of education and to Ronn Palm for the image of postage currency envelope. For more information on the Civil War era envelopes, please check out the NY Historical website. They have a fascinating collection that is well displayed, organized with high quality images. http://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/ 1 Ronn Palm, owner of the Civil War themed Ronn Palm Museum in Gettysburg and FCCB member, indicated that new information reveals that as many as 750,000 were lost. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 131 U n c o u p l e d : Paper Money’s Odd Couple Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan More on Federal Reserve Notes This issue I will not be dealing with my usual topic. In the January-February 2018 Paper Money we were treated to another of Carlson Chambliss’s comprehensive articles on some series or another. This one was on US Federal Reserve notes of series 1996 and following. When I finished reading it, I realized that Carlson had left out some features of these series that have never gotten any attention that I am aware of. When I obtained by first series 1996 $100 note, I immediately checked the watermark—a new feature for US paper that had received a lot of publicity. The second thing I saw as I held the note up to the overhead lighting in the bank was a visible screen pattern in the paper. If genuine, this was also a new feature in US paper—and it had received exactly zero publicity leading up to the release of the new notes. Being of a suspicious mind, I immediately wondered if the note was genuine—it was not fresh out of a strap. But everything else seemed OK. My trusty 20x glass showed normal intaglio and letterpress printing, and the polymer strip with the denomination was present (I was not yet carrying a UV light everywhere I went, so I could not check for the red UV reaction until I got home). As the months went by all the other Benjamins that came my way looked the same, so I accepted the new paper and gave it no further thought. Some years later I was conversing with a Secret Service agent at the ANA summer seminar. He was teaching the counterfeit US paper course, and had brought some supernotes with him. The first two years he taught, he would not even talk about them. This third year he had some, but I was not in his course—we were looking at them standing under a tree during the lunch break. [I immediately resolved to take his course again the next year, so I could give the supernotes some closer attention, but he never returned.] Boling continued on page 135 MPC Replacements As usual, I had difficulty deciding about what to write for this issue. It is usually harder to make that decision than to write the column. This time the problem was compounded, because Joe finished his submission well before I did. I really dislike that. It took me a while, but in reviewing Joe’s submission, the thing that stood out was the tables of serial numbers and ranges. Finally, those tables made me think about the work that I have been doing recently with MPC (military payment certificate) replacements. We expect to know how many pieces were printed and issued for the objects of our desire. For many of the World War II emergency issues that I collect, we have little or no information regarding quantities issued. For MPC though, we are fortunate to have very robust data on how many regular issue certificates were printed. We assume that a high proportion of those printed were issued, but big questions remain. We do not have such good data (in fact, hardly any official data) on how many replacements were printed. It is because of this dearth of data that we have worked so hard over the decades to record and analyze serial numbers in collections. We have found some new documents that will help us with these matters. “Found” is an interesting word. These documents were found in my office (aka black hole). I believe that the document in question today was available for the fourth edition of the MPC book. I am not sure if I had misplaced it, not even read it, or did not understand its significance in 2002 when that edition was published. Nevertheless, we now have the opportunity to study and use it. The document is a letter dated August 21, 1951 from Forbes Lithograph Mfg. Co. to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. You have guessed that the letter relates to MPC production and you are correct. Forbes was the contractor that had been selected to print MPC at the time. The subject of the ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 133 letter is the numbering for replacements for the third printing of Series 481, based on the experience factor for the second printing. I am sorry that the quality of my copy is not suitable for use as an illustration. Mr. Eugene G. Shreve Bureau of Engraving & Printing Chief Office of Planning Treasury Department Washington 25, D. C. Dear Mr. Shreve: The numbering charts for the new order of Military Payment Certificates have been received. We call to your attention the fact on the Replacement Notes there will be a gap in the sequence following contract TEP 4687 on your order #2304 and the new order. This was due to running only as much stock as was necessary for replacements which, in no instance, was up to the 8000 sheets allowed within the range of each chart for each denomination. Experience Record of Numbering Replacements TEP 4687. [second printing] Denom Notes/ allowed sheets Sheet printed $10 50 8000 1500 $ 5 50 8000 500 $ 1 70 8000 1000 .50 84 8000 300 .25 84 8000 400 .10 84 8000 700 .05 84 8000 700 We shall follow the new numbering charts as established and furnished. Very truly yours, FORBES LITHOGRAPH MFG. COMPANY //signed// E. E. Peterson I am sure that you recognize the importance of this information. I am downright excited about it. Forbes was concerned that there would be a gap in the numbering sequence for replacements! That in itself is surprising to me. The assumption of 8000 sheets being allocated for routine replacement printings is confirmed. We now know how many replacements were actually printed for the second printing of Series 481 and can make better estimates for the other printings and even other series. Of course we want to be careful about making assumptions. Fortunately (even excitedly), we have some other data to compare—the replacement survey! As you might know, from the serial number we can calculate the sheet number whence the replacement came, and we have been recording MPC replacement serial numbers for more than thirty years. It has been fun if a bit tedious, but now we have a real use for the data. It was little noted, but for the fourth edition of the MPC book we calculated the respective sheet numbers for every reported replacement (more than 2000) and listed the sheet number with the respective serial number. The number of sheets based upon observed serial numbers compared to the number of sheets reported by Forbes is remarkable. I am sure that you will agree. Denom Sheets Sheets % SNs reported indicated reported .05 700 618 88% 8 .10 700 596 85% 6 .25 400 376 94% 3 .50 300 184 61% 3 $1 1000 374 37% 5 $5 1500 none reported $10 500 none reported The comparisons for the three smallest denominations are stunning. The survey and letter support each other. The comparisons for the 50 cents and dollar denominations are much less impressive, but the average comparison of 73% is impressive. MPC were printed in units of 8000 sheets. For the fractional denominations that meant 672,000 certificates (regular or replacement) printed per unit (560,000 for $1 and 400,000 for $5 and $10). For replacement cataloging purposes, our best estimates of quantities of replacements printed has been to assume a full unit of 8000 sheets was printed for each printing of each denomination. This assumption was supported by the survey results, in that replacements for a first printing of regular issues came from the first unit of replacements; second printing regulars with second unit of replacements, etc. But we had no way to know how many replacements were actually inserted into production printings of regular notes. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 134 The listings for the second printing of Series 481 as they appeared in the 2002 catalog are: issue quantity replacements printed 5 cents 4,032,000 672,000 10 cents 4,032,000 672,000 25 cents 2,688,000 672,000 50 cents 2,016,000 672,000 $1 6,160,000 560,000 $5 2,000,000 400,000 $10 6,000,000 400,000 Now we can upgrade the listings for the second printing of Series 481 to the following: issue quantity replacements printed 5 cents 4,032,000 58,800 10 cents 4,032,000 58,800 25 cents 2,688,000 33,600 50 cents 2,016,000 25,200 $1 6,160,000 70,000 $5 2,000,000 25,000 $10 6,000,000 75,000 These are certainly different. It seems clear to me that we can and should adjust the listings using the Forbes letter data as shown above. The bigger question is: what do we do about the other listings? Certainly we can and probably should upgrade the listings for the third and fourth printings of Series 481 by scaling the second printing numbers reported by Forbes and tempering the results with data from the replacement survey. Those changes seem very reasonable, but what of the other series? This is a much more difficult (and interesting!) question. I have an opinion, but I do not want to share it now in the hope of receiving other opinions first. I think that with your help, we can learn more from the letter and the survey. I suspect that there are some opportunities for statistical analysis and likely things that I have not even thought of. I look forward to your thoughts. (contact 419-349-1872; fredschwan@yahoo.com). Boling continued… He handed me a $100 note and said that it had a problem in the clock face. I began to look at that, but then noticed something else—the paper was wrong. When I mentioned that, he said “Ahh, but you can’t go by that,” and told the following story. Sometime earlier, his office in DC had received a call from their office in Los Angeles. Somebody was passing $20 supernotes out there. That seemed odd, but a couple of agents flew to LA and looked at the notes and decided that they were genuine— but the paper was indeed not right. So off they went to Crane in Dalton, Massachusetts, and learned there that the screen on the line for the watermarked paper had been changed—and that Crane had never told them. The notes found by the agents in LA were genuine, on the new paper. Second Printing Replacements 5¢-$1 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 135 So there are two papers for some series 1996 Feds and most 1999s (it took a while for the old paper to be used up). The two are usually easily distinguishable—only occasionally is the screen pattern so weak that it’s hard to tell which screen was used for the paper in a note. I call them “screen door” and “checkerboard.” See figures 1 and 2. In figure 1 the screen is a series of squares running vertically and horizontally, just like the screens your grandmother had at her front and back doors and in all of the windows—to keep the flies and mosquitos out (no air conditioning back then). In figure 2 the screen is composed of alternating dark and light spots, like a checkerboard, with diagonal lines running at 45-degree angles. If you cannot see these two patterns in the illustrations, look at some FRNs from your collection (you probably won’t find the early screen in your wallet any more). Both screens were used at both BEP plants. I immediately began recording serial numbers, district by district, to try to determine the cutovers between the papers. In a couple of cases I found that both plants were not practicing first-in first-out paper management, as the new paper was used for some serials lower than the high one I saw for the old paper in a given district. The tables following are my findings on serials for these varieties. The series are in order of initial printing. The screen door serials are the highest observed for that paper in a district; the checkerboard serials are the lowest observed for the new paper. Comments: $1 and $2 notes have neither of these papers. Their paper continues to be made on a screen that leaves no discernable pattern in the paper. Only the watermarked notes show an easily visible screen pattern. You can see that the 1996 $20s were the first to use the new paper—these would be the notes that the agents in Los Angeles first inquired about. You can also see that not all districts’ notes passed through my hands during the years I was compiling this table—there are plenty of holes here to be filled by others. I cannot guarantee that the five observations of old paper for the $10 and $5 notes are not errors of identification. It seems reasonable to assume that the old screen was not used for the watermarked paper for these denominations, which were the last to receive “large-head” faces, watermarks, and UV-reactive polymer threads. Sometimes the screen pattern is ambiguous, and the paucity of finds for the two late series 1999 denominations suggests that they are errors on my part. Somebody who collects these by printing will have to identify the paper used for the earliest $10 and $5 notes to see if the screen door pattern can be verified for them. If it cannot be confirmed, then two instances of old paper being used after new paper was introduced will go away. FIRST PAPER SECOND PAPER SCREEN DOOR CHECKERBOARD 1996 $100 Only this paper observed This paper not seen 1996 $50 Only this paper observed This paper not seen 1996 $20 AA48941717Fdc AA31738448Gdc AA06572235*dc AA09977912*dc AB29648341Idc AB39128659I dc AC72914478Edc AC02504091*dc AC03002646*dc AD11842642Ddc AD00830988*dc AD03752486*dc AE15715505Adc AE02088040*fw AE70129335Dfw AF95341071D fw AF25304254G dc AF25299906Hdc AF02083440*fw AG40092634Lfw AG00680161*dc AG12385597*fw ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 136 AH55722847Cfw AH00395771*fw AI02308362Bfw AJ92917872Bfw AK25151875Cfw AK00530681*dc AL80797142Kfw AL03498155*dc AL06260446*fw 1999 $20 BB15433818Bdc BB08320289*fw BD08968201*fw BE67854756Ddc BF50687204Bfw BF57792829Bfw BF31013213Cfw (old paper still in FW) BG17966355Bfw BG06474235*fw BH02255851A BL01924753*fw 1999 $100 BA45252498Adc BA02884169*dc BB19336312Adc BB30293782Adc BD09041440Adc BE38028125Adc BE47514342Adc BF00661863Adc BG27531300Adc BG34842461Adc BH01710074Adc BI26638656Adc BK09568379Adc BK16239443Adc 1999 $10 BA00102849*fw BB73829493Cdc BB01089506*fw BC20082850Adc BC11541467Adc (reversed) BD25289225Adc BE62473903Adc BF04492368*fw BG19093999Afw BH05343665Adc BJ07337630Afw BJ62307121Afw BK83349566Afw BK01715813*fw BL31442273Adc BL12042744Adc (reversed) BL29384434Adc (reversed) BL58747744Afw 1999 $5 BB06396671Cfw BC08222438Afw BE85881368Bfw BF95801015Afw BF06553760*fw BG34276129Bfw BG00189747*fw BI03473935Afw BK33177898Afw 2001 $100 Screen door paper not seen Checkerboard paper only 2001 $50 (series 1999 skipped by this denomination) CD04470242Adc CD09686209Adc CF11500234Adc CF19093395Adc CL02839405Adc Next issue I will take up another feature that first appeared in series 1996 Feds - inks that are transparent or opaque to infrared light. Stay tuned. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 137 Series of 1934B FRNs Carried New Bank Seals By Jamie Yakes Many collectors associate the Series of 1934B notes with showing Treasury Secretary Fred Vinson’s signature and being the scarcest of the 1934-series issues. However, for Federal Reserve notes the series also introduced a revamped Federal Reserve Bank seal with the article “The” removed to make the bank titles comply with the 1913 Federal Reserve Act (see Figure 1). The Bureau of Engraving and Printing used the new seals on 1934B, 1934C, and 1934D plates. A paramount function of the Federal Reserve Act was to establish a system of banks in selected cities throughout the United States. It created the Reserve Bank Organization Committee to “supervise the organization in each of the cities designated of a Federal reserve bank, which shall include in its title the name of the city in which it is situated, as ‘Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.’”1 As cited in the act, the official titles of banks didn’t include “The” before “Federal.” In agreement, bank titles were properly listed on the banks’ charters (see Fig. 2). Federal Reserve Notes were another matter. Bank names in the seals used on Series of 1914 and 1918 Federal Reserve Notes were shown as “The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri [emphasis added],” for instance (see Fig. 3). Although the size and design of the seals were changed in 1928 for small-size notes, the bank names remained the same. In addition, intaglio plates for Series of 1915 and 1918 Federal Reserve Bank Notes included “The” as part of the bank name engraved in the center of the plates. Even the logotypes used to apply the bank titles on Series of 1929 Federal Reserve Bank Notes carried the same names. Officials at the Comptroller’s office and Bureau of Engraving and Printing carefully matched bank titles on national bank notes to the titles on the banks’ charters. They seemingly never heeded a similar concern with the titles on Federal Reserve notes! Figure 1. Redesigned Federal Reserve Bank seals (right) used from 1945 on small‐size notes  omit the word “The.” (Courtesy National Numismatic Collection.)  Figure 3. Bank seals for 1914 and  1918 Federal Reserve Notes  included “The” in the bank titles.  138 Government Concerns Finally, in 1945, Allan Sproul, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, broached the matter of the inaccurate bank titles to government officials. On July 11, he sent a memo to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors whereby he pointed out the name of the New York bank as it appeared in the seals on Federal Reserve Notes didn’t conform to the bank’s corporate title because it included “the” before the bank name.2 The same was true for all Federal Reserve Banks, and Sproul suggested the titles in the seals be corrected as soon as possible. Alvin Hall, Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, became aware of Sproul’s concern. In a response nine days later,3 Hall promised to consider incorporating the change coincident to the production of new plates bearing the signature of the new treasury secretary, Fred Vinson. The BEP proceeded immediately to prepare intaglio dies of the new seals for each district (see Fig. 4). They reconstructed the seals by dropping the word “The,” and adding two flourishes to the outer ring of letters. They used the series designation Series of 1934B because the change constituted a minor change to the face design. On July 20 Alvin Hall circulated a model of a 1934B $5 with the new bank seal to Public Debt Commissioner William Broughton, who voiced his approval.4 Figure 2. Charter authorizing operation of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. (https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/scribd/?title_id=1150 &filepath=/files/docs/historical/frbsl_history/chart er_frbsl_19141114.pdf) ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 139 The BEP’s changes satisfied not only Sproul, but also Edward Leon Smead, Director of the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Banking Operations. Along with Sproul, Smead considered “the” not to be part of the corporate title of the banks, and advocated for properly displaying the bank titles to conform to the law.5 New Plate Production The BEP began making steel master plates for $5s, $10s, and $20s in July. They certified the first production plate, $10 New York 479, on November 6 (see Fig. 5), and the next day, logged the first 1934B plates to the press room, $5 plates 209, 211 and 212, and the aforementioned $10. They sent to press the first $20 faces (New York 10 and Atlanta 42) on November 16, and the first $50 faces (Philadelphia 9 and Richmond 7) and $100 face (Atlanta 7) in June the following year. Production of 1934B plates continued in earnest over the next few years for $5s to $100s for all districts.5 For the most part, the transition to the new faces proceeded normally: 1934Bs typically were the first plates with new seals for a particular type to go to press and be serial numbered, and gradually replaced 1934A pates in the plate vault and press room. There were notable exceptions. For four types, the BEP finished 1934B plates but never used them: Dallas $5s, Boston and New York $50s, and San Francisco $100s. For those types, Series of 1934C faces became the initial types with the new seals to go to press and be numbered. The first 1934C plates made for each type were: $5 Dallas 46, $50 Boston 12, $50 New York 25, and $100 San Francisco 11.6 The situation was more convoluted for New York $100s. Between 1945-1950, the BEP certified 1934B, 1934C, and 1934D faces, but never sent any to press. They printed and numbered that type only as Figure 4. Ledger page showing entries for dies of new Federal Reserve Bank seals. (RG 318, Entry P1, “Ledgers  Pertaining to Plates, Rolls and Dies, 1870s‐1960s,” Container 147. National Archives and Records  Administration, College Park, Maryland.)   Figure 5. 1934B New York $10 face 479. (Courtesy of National  Numismatic Collection.)  Figure 6. 1934D New York $100 face 47. The BEP printed no  1934‐series New York notes with the new seal. (Courtesy of  National Numismatic Collection.)  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 140 Series of 1934 and 1934A, which have the old-style seals. They had sufficient stocks of 1934 and 1934A sheets to be used until the end of 1934-series numbering in 1951, and that precluded production of new sheets after 1944. New York $100s are the only $100 or less not printed with new seals (see Fig. 6).7 Kansas City $5s present a great story. The BEP made eight 1934B faces in early 1946, but sent none to press over the following year. In January 1947 they finished five 1934C faces and logged them to press on the 23rd. They dropped one of them, serial 38, on February 3 and replaced it with 1934B plate 25 the next day. Plate 25 spent the next 19 days on press until swapped for 38 on February 24. It was the only 1934B $5 Kansas City face plate used, and that type note is one the rarest small-size Federal Reserve notes. It wasn’t the first new-seal plate certified for the type, however: it was beat by 1934Cs by 10 days!8 Although the BEP produced $500, $1000, $5000, and $10,000 1934B or 1934C for many districts, they only used a pair of 1934C New York $500 and $1000 faces for a few days in May 1951 and never numbered any sheets (see Figs. 7a and 7b).9 They printed and numbered those high denominations only as 1934s or 1934As. Specimens of some 1934B and 1934C types exist and are the only option if you want an example with the new seal. Sources Cited 1. Federal Reserve Act. 2. Sproul, Alan, President, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, July 11, 1945 letter to Federal Reserve Board of Governors, regarding official titles for Federal Reserve Banks. Record Group 53-Bureau of the Public Debt: Entry UD-UP 13, “Historical Files, 1913-1960,” Box 3, File 230. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. 3. Carpenter, Samuel, Secretary, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, July 20, 1945 letter to Alan Sproul, President, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, regarding official titles for Federal Reserve Banks: “Historical Files, 1913-1960,” Box 3, File 230. 4.Hall, Alvin, Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, July 20, 1945 letter to William Broughton, Public Debt Service Commissioner, regarding official titles for Federal Reserve Banks: “Historical Files, 1913-1960,” Box 3, File 230. 5. Ibid. 5. Record Group 318-Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Entry P1, “Ledgers Pertaining to Plates, Rolls and Dies, 1870s-1960s,” Container 147. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. Figures 7a and 7b. $500 and $1000 1934B notes with revised seals. (Photo courtesy Narional Numismatic Collection.) ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 141 INTERESTING MINING NOTES by David E. Schenkman More Indiana Mining Notes  The  topic of my previous  column was a note  issued in 1889 by the Island Coal Company of Island  City,  Indiana.  This month  I’ll  discuss  three  other  notes  from  Indiana  that relate  to mining, and one  that possibly does.  INDIANA STATE MINING AND MANUFACTURING  COMPANY    One dollar, two dollar, and five dollar notes  from this company are listed in the Indiana catalog,  as 496‐1, 2, and 3 respectively;  they are all rare.  I  have  been  unable  to  learn  much  about  this  business, although the notes are  included on a  list  of shinplasters published  in 1858. Michigan City  is  located  on  Lake  Michigan  in  LaPorte  County,  Indiana, at  the northwest  corner of  the  state and  about fifty miles east of Chicago. My letters to the  local  historical  society  have  gone  unanswered.  However,  I did  receive  an  informative  email  from  the Reference Librarian at the Michigan City Public  Library, who  informed me  that  the only mining  in  Michigan  City  was  sand mining,  and  that  wasn’t  started until  long after the 1850s. The only person  named Oliver she had record of was a  John Oliver  who was born in 1834 in England and came to this  country in 1853, where he resided in Michigan City.  Oliver worked as a blacksmith. He also served on the  city  council  for  four  years,  and  as  a  police  commissioner  for  five  years.  Evidently,  he  prospered, because he owned two store buildings in  town.  A  letter  in  the November 1, 1854  issue of  the Evansville Daily Journal (Indiana) reported that  “pursuant to my promise in your paper of yesterday,  I  proceed  to  lay  before  the  public  the  evidence  under my control, of the character and condition of  The  Indiana  State  Mining  and  Manufacturing  Company  and  Conant’s  Coal  Bank,  as  banking  corporations,  which  character  they  have  both  assumed, by the issue of notes payable to bearer to  be used as money.” It goes on to say that the two  companies mentioned  above  “were  organized  as  banking  corporations,  and  have  proceeded  to  exercise  banking  privileges  in  fraud  and  open  defiance of both  the Constitution and  the general  banking  law  of  the  State.” Based  on  this, we  can  assume  that  this  company  never  engaged  in  any  mining activities.  ROCKPORT MINING AND MANUFACTURING  COMPANY    Although  the  name  would  indicate  otherwise, as in the case of the business discussed  above it is very likely that this company had nothing  to do with either mining or manufacture. According  to  an 1885 history of Warrick,  Spencer  and Perry  Counties,  in  a  discussion  of  the  1850s,  “another  banking  enterprise  during  this  decade  was  the  private  one  known  as  the  Rockport  Mining  and  Manufacturing Company, of which  John Crawford  was President and James D. Allen, Cashier. This bank  flourished  for  a  short  period,  doing  a  general  banking business,  including the  insurance (sic) of a  limited amount of ‘shinplasters.’ It was, and now is,  popularly known as Allen's Bank.” The company was  included  in a  list of “shinplasters” published  in the  June  10,  1858  issue  of  the  Winchester,  Indiana  Randolph Journal newspaper.  A one dollar note dated 1854  is  illustrated  in  the  Indiana  catalog  and  a  two  dollar  denomination  is  listed also (724‐1 and 2). The one  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 142 dollar note  illustrated herein  is dated 1859, so the  notes were  issued during a period of at  least  five  years.  They  were  printed  by  the  Cincinnati  Bank  Note  Company  and  signed  by  J.  D.  Allen  as  president.    When  the  cornerstone  for  the  Rockport  Academy, or Collegiate Institute was laid in 1859, a  large  crowd  assembled  at  the  site  to witness  the  event. The  tin box which was placed  in  the  stone  contained  a  variety  of  items,  including  “various  United  States  coins,  bills  of  the  Mining  and  Manufacturing  Bank  of  Rockport,  and  copies  of  several  newspapers.”  Interestingly,  the  business  was  referred  to  as  “bank”  rather  than  as  “company.”  SOUTHERN INDIANA COAL AND IRON COMPANY    An 1872 geological survey  reported  that a  new  furnace  had  just  been  completed  by  this  company on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, near  Shoals. An article by Howard L. Balsley, in an article  titled  “Indiana  Iron  from  Native  Ore”  which  was  published  in  a 1949  issue of  Indiana Magazine of  History, gives the year as “about 1870,” but 1872 is  probably  correct  since  it  comes  from  a  more  contemporary and official source. From a news item  in  the  June  26,  1872  issue  of  The  Indiana Herald  newspaper we learn that “Ironton is to be the name  of  the  place  selected  for  the  erection  of  iron  furnaces  by  the  Southern  Indiana  Coal  and  Iron  Company, in Martin County.”    The company was possibly short‐lived; the  April 23, 1875  issue of The  Jasper Weekly Courier  informed  readers  that  “the  furnace  and  other  property  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Coal  and  Iron  Company, at Shoals, have been purchased by a new  company for $147,000.” However, the 1876 edition  of  the United  States  Industrial Directory  reported  that the company “recently purchased a large tract  of timber  land for the purpose of making charcoal  iron,  but  they  ran  on  bituminous  coal  in  1873.”  I  haven’t determined whether the company changed  names  in 1875, or continued to operate under the  original name, but by the early 1880s it was out of  business.  The  only  note  I’ve  encountered  from  this  company is the five‐dollar piece illustrated herein. It  bears the imprint of the Louisville Steam Lith. Co. I  feel sure other denominations were issued.   E. Adamson; a possible mining note    I have been unable to learn anything about  this note, which is unlisted, but decided to include it  in  the  hope  that  a  reader  might  have  some  information  concerning  its  use.  As  the  note  indicates,  Elisha  Adamson,  who  is  listed  as  a  businessman  in  a  history  of  Clay  County,  was  located  in  Carbon,  a  small  town  that was  named  after  the  Carbon  Block  Coal  Company.  Unfortunately, the history doesn’t specify the type  of business he operated.  Adamson was born on January 17, 1803 and  died on May 31, 1879. The town’s post office was  established  in  1870  or  1871,  and  Carbon  was  incorporated  in  1875;  at  that  time,  it  had  a  population of five hundred. It seems very likely that  any  business  in  the  town  during  that  time would  have been associated with the coal company.  Comments,  questions,  suggestions  (even  criticisms) concerning this column may be emailed  to dave@turtlehillbanjo.com or mailed to P.O. Box  2866, La Plata, MD 20646.  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 143 The Obsolete Corner The City Bank of Leavenworth, Kansas by Robert Gill Several years ago, I was contacted by my good friend / Obsolete dealer, Hugh Shull, about a sheet that he had recently acquired. And what a sheet it was! After making a deal on it, I added to my collection a piece that I had always thought I'd never be able to obtain. And that was on The City Bank, of Leavenworth, Kansas. It is an incredible sheet from a tough state for a sheet collector like myself. Steve Whitfield, in his excellent book, Kansas Paper Money, tells us The City Bank, of Leavenworth, Kansas, was organized in November of 1856, which is the printed date that appears on existing bank notes. It may not have opened for business until the spring or summer of 1857, because advertisements for the Bank began to appear in local newspapers about that time. Business was done on the south side of Delaware Street, between Second and Third Streets, where # 213 stands today. Henry J. Adams, who served as the first "free state" mayor of Leavenworth in 1857, was President, and A.C. Swift served as Cashier. Swift would later become Cashier of The Kansas Valley Bank at Atchison, in 1858, thereby linking the short-lived City Bank with the banking history of Atchison. The City Bank organized and issued paper money without authority of the Kansas Territorial Legislature. Ironically, the Legislature may have authorized this Bank and its issue of currency by the Act of February 11th, 1858, after the Bank had failed. The act to charter a bank in Leavenworth listed as incorporators, Henry J. Adams, William H. Russell, I.W. Morris, and several others. Because Adams' name was included, it is possible that the intent was to charter The City Bank. The City Bank issued large amounts of unsecured paper money just prior to the nationwide banking crisis of October 1857. The crisis was particularly hard on western banks, and brought down this Bank along with many others. As people demanded coin, this institution was unable to redeem its notes, and consequently failed with heavy losses. It was reported that the Bank owed $15,000 at its closure. It was probably the only note-issuing bank in early Kansas that met the traditional definition of a "broken bank". This fabulous piece of history was printed by W.L. Ormsby, New York. During Obsolete Currency times, counterfeiting / note value raising was rampant. But Mr. Ormsby had a way of designing notes that was very successful in combating this illegal activity. Notice in the scan of the face of this sheet, the One Dollar Note has a central vignette of one man, with one dial on each side of him, with the denomination. And notice the Two Dollar Note has two men as the central vignette, with two denominational dials on each side. And also, the Three Dollar note, with three men and accompanying three dials. Unlike most Obsolete notes being uniface (one printed side only), The City Bank went to the added expense of having a printed back side. Notice in the second scan, that Mr. Ormsby employed the same anti-counterfeiting tactics. The top two notes, being One Dollar Notes, have just one large, circular figure on it. The third note, being a Two Dollar Note, has two figures. And the bottom note, being a Three Dollar Note, has three figures. And if you look closely, the circular figures consist of the appropriate letters or numbers (denomination) that form them. Some "paper professionals" during that time were very crafted in "raising" the value of a note. But these engraving efforts of Mr. Ormsby were very valuable in deterring the crafty scoundrels. So, there you have it. A sheet with a great history, and the actions by the engraver / printer to try to keep its notes legitimate. What a sheet! As I always do, I invite any comments to my cell phone number (580) 221-0898, or my personal email address robertgill@cableone.net Until next time... HAPPY COLLECTING. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 144 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 145 Who Grades the Graders?   and Other Quirks of Counterfeiting  Collector complaints about third-party graders are perpetual, but late last year one online discussion in particular caught my eye. An IBNS forum thread entitled “Who Grades the Graders?” discussed notes being slabbed and sold by a Chinese outfit, the “Jin Quan Rating Service.” Given that country’s fondness for fakery, the very notion of a Chinese numismatic certification service with any credibility is simply risible. And indeed, as one IBNS discussant pointed out, the Jin Quan Rating service had itself counterfeited its own look and feel: “their logo, font type, font size and colour scheme are all stolen wholesale from PMG “[!]. The discussant continued, plaintively: “Can a company like this be trusted? When even grading companies are fake (as I have no choice but to take this one to be) the need for oversight has become acute.” This is a real problem that is getting worse. For at least a decade, collectors on the coin side of the hobby have grappled with the bane of Chinese-sourced counterfeits, allegedly slabbed by outfits like NGC and PCGS. Now this is spreading to paper currency as well. Indeed, the success of counterfeiters in imitating numismatic packaging has prompted the grading services to up their game, resorting to technological fixes that prevent the authority which their holders represent from being compromised. While this particular threat is new, the underlying problem is an older and very interesting one. Counterfeiting is most successful when fakery extends beyond the items themselves to include the contexts that people believe make them genuine. Perversely even, measures taken against counterfeiting may contribute to the very problem they seek to fight. In 1806, an early American banknote reporter published by Gilbert & Dean noted that “the errors in the counterfeits, pointed out in our former advertisement, are completely remedied in those now in circulation, and are evidently executed by a master workman.” In 1799, the great Jacob Perkins had patented his “check plate protector” that sought to increase banknote security by creating standardized, interchangeable parts of a banknote plate’s elements. Perkins’ bitter rival, Abel Brewster, retorted that this interchangeability would only facilitate counterfeiting as these plate pieces accumulated, allowing unscrupulous printers to combine them in ways that created fake banknotes on fictitious banks. In much the same way, Charles Ulrich in 1870s took advantage of the very standardization of national banknotes to execute his counterfeits. Armed with skeleton plates lacking the names and locations of banks, Ulrich simply inserted and switched these details to his advantage. Thus, when the public’s attention was drawn to counterfeits on one bank, Ulrich simply changed his plates to produce fake notes on another. These sundry references illustrate a larger challenge that I’ve alluded to in previous columns: to recognize fakes we need to know what the standard for genuineness is. If that standard is esoteric with respect to our ordinary sense perceptions, if it can be corrupted, or if it even does not exist, then counterfeiting can flourish. For instance, William Dillistin noted that, during the glory days of antebellum banking, fake banknote reporters themselves were published to manufacture reputations for dodgy circulations. More recently, the Mormon forger Mark Hofmann exploited both his knowledge of his Church’s history and its leadership’s psychological vulnerabilities to perpetrate ingenious frauds. Crucially, for Hofmann’s schemes to succeed, experts had to be complicit in the sense that they were motivated to believe in the authenticity of Hofmann’s handiwork because it fit their preconceptions. Thus, the numismatic authority Alvin Rust paid Hofmann such a vast sum for hitherto unknown denominations of Deseret Currency not despite his having never seen them before, but precisely because of it. In his own testimony, Rust averred that he wouldn’t have paid so much for the notes had he known that Hofmann’s fakes weren’t unique! More broadly, Hofmann essentially extorted the LDS Church by conjuring up documents like the notorious “Salamander Letter” that threatened its foundational narratives, prompting the Church to purchase his forgeries to control their dissemination. In a nice touch, Hofmann even took care to forge the very sample of handwriting that would be used establish the authenticity of that forged letter. Mark Hofmann remains behind bars for his crimes. But, like the painter Han van Meegeren, who forged fantasy Vermeers that connoisseurs believed had to exist, Hofmann’s successes straddled the gulf between the genuine and the fake. The reality both men exploited wasn’t simply that human beings like Alvin Rust can be gullible. It’s that all of us possess a will to believe that can be activated under the right circumstances. Nobody is going to fall for something like the Jin Quan Rating Service anytime soon. But sometime someday we will, and only because we want to. Chump Change Loren Gatch ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 147 President’s Column Sep/Oct 2017 I’m excited to tell you about the progress we’ve been making in our various projects and initiatives since my last report. But before I do that, I’m very pleased to announce that Robert Calderman has become the newest addition to our board of governors. In January, at our SPMC membership meeting at the FUN show, Robert offered his assistance to help with our recruitment efforts at regional shows. The first step in becoming a board member is to obtain the signatures of ten members supporting the candidate. Within a few days, he successfully obtained not less than 25 glowing letters of recommendation! Our board eagerly voted him into an open seat, as his enthusiasm and love for the hobby is contagious. We are confident that Robert will do great things as he takes an SPMC table at some of the larger shows, particularly in the southeast. He is planning to host the first SPMC table at Long Beach as well. Robert, welcome to the board, and thank you for your service! Let me first talk about the FUN show in January. We had a table in the club area that was staffed at various times by Mark Anderson, Joshua Herbstman, Bob Moon, Wendell Wolka and me. We were able to chat with several folks walking by, but it struck me that we can still do better. I was able to talk with FUN president Randy Campbell for a few moments, and we agreed to have a conversation this summer about scheduling paper money speakers at FUN 2019, perhaps in the fashion of the speakers’ series at the International Paper Money Show, but targeted for a more entry-level audience. There was also a treasure hunt at FUN for youngsters that I think we should be participate in next year. Being in the club area brought a few ideas to mind as to how we can make a better appearance at future shows, so with that we have since procured a nice new banner and updated table cover. These are all small things in themselves, but together they help the cause. Adding to that, Governor Gary Dobbins is making appearances at shows in Texas. He shared a table with Jerry Fochtman representing the Fractional Currency Collectors Board at the Houston Money Show, and will take a table at the ANA National Money Show in Irving in March. Shifting gears, our new website has finally come online, and we’re very proud of it. It has taken several months to bring it from concept to production, but it was worth the wait. Thanks to our developer Akshay Patel and his partners at Webrmedia, LLC for their hard work. Please check it out at www.spmc.org. Our Education, Research and Outreach (ERO) coordinator Loren Gatch and fellow board members have been busy finalizing our revised grant application process and form. This needed to be brought up to date as we want to help fund researchers and bring their studies to print in Paper Money. If you have thought about learning more about your favorite notes and sharing that with others, let us help you. Please go to the website to download the application form and submit it for our review. Our ERO efforts recently got a boost from two generous donations of $5,000 each from the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society and the National Currency Foundation. Both institutions are dedicated to research and education, and we are pleased to partner with them. NCF has long been a financial supporter of SPMC. EPNNES’s greatest initiative has been the Newman Numismatic Portal (https://nnp.wustl.edu/), a virtual library for numismatic research. NCF sponsors the National Banknote Census (https://nbncensus.com/), an invaluable tool for those who study and collect U.S. National Currency. I’ve used both extensively and highly recommend them. Thank you EPNNES and NCF! Looking forward, the International Paper Money Show is the highly anticipated event coming in June at Kansas City. Last year’s show, moved from 40 years previously in Memphis, was the first year in Kansas City and was hugely successful. For me personally, it was the single best show I’ve attended in over ten years, adding several notes to my collection. If you have not been there before, do yourself a big favor, get away from your computer screen, and meet with fellow collectors and dealers. The collecting experience is so much more fulfilling when you have the chance to spend time with great people. You’ll find a great many dealers with whom to shop, another great auction by Lyn Knight, presentations by several currency experts on a variety of interesting topics, a fantastic assembly of exhibits, and new this year is a tour of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. Check out our website as the time approaches for more detailed information. Finally, I want to call those interested in U.S. obsoletes to make their registry sets in the SPMC Obsoletes Database Project (https://www.spmc.org/obs/). This is the first year we’re having a competition and I think this will be fun and educational. Instructions can be found online in the FAQ section, and also in the previous edition of Paper Money, where I wrote an article about it. Voting for the entries will begin soon, so watch our website for details. Winners will be announced at the IPMS. With that, I’ll close my report to you. I hope you’ve been able to use your winter months building your collection and spending time with family and friends. Shawn ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 148 Editor Sez 2018 is certainly off to a blazing start—in more ways than one. FUN was a resounding success and we are anxiously awaiting the second KC IPMS. This year has also already had its share of controversy and tragedy—AND THE FLU! Two of these have really hit home to me— the school shootings and they flu. As a school nurse in the largest high school in Texas (over 5,000 students), I am concerned about safety. I don’t really dwell on it and won’t go into a discussion here, but just want to encourage all the parents out there to hug your kids, tell them how much you love them and teach them not only respect, good manners, but common sense as well. On the flu front, we had record setting numbers at the school, but I was fortunate not to get it (35 years in ER and schools— my immune system seems to be impenetrable)! But back to our hobby! All signs seem to be pointing to a great year and a resurging market. I want to congratulate and say welcome to Robert Calderman, our newest governor. For the first time in a long time, all our governor positions are full. He will serve for the next three years even though his spot is up for election. We do have three other seats up for election, so if you want to join us, contact any of the board members or officers for more information. And we are off to starting many wonderful initiatives, with the database related to obsoletes (I have found if you say obsolete database, many wonder why we just don’t modernize it)! We also have a renewed push for more educational grants. Mike Scacci is heading this up. More can be found in President Hewitt’s column. I also want to say Get Well Soon to one of our more prolific authors, Carlson Chambliss. Many of you know he had a rough year last year with the theft of much of his collection (thankfully most was recovered) and some other health issues. He called me in January and he recently fell and fractured his hip and an arm, which makes recovery more difficult. Keep him in mind and we all hope he can make it to KC. Speaking of KC, it is shaping up to be great again! Do plan to attend and think about presenting at one of the speaker series that Peter Huntoon is in charge of. Speaking not for you? How about placing an exhibit? Due to his health, long-time exhibit chair Martin Delger has retired that position and his very able assistant Robert Moon is taking over. Check with him for an exhibit application. The rules are essentially the same. All exhibits that are to be considered for an SPMC award can be no larger than seven cases. If space permits, an exhibitor may be able to place a second exhibit—just contact Mr. Moon. Benny Texting and Driving—It can wait! ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 149 W_l]om_ to Our N_w M_m\_rs! \y Fr[nk Cl[rk—SPMC M_m\_rship Dir_]tor NEW MEMBERS 01/05/2018 14716 Nico Ribbens, Website 14717 Randy Colen, Website 14718 Nyle C. Monday, China 14719 Paul Moeller, Jason Bradford 14720 Sewall Hodges, Website 14721 David Brady, Jason Bradford 14722 James McCloskey, Jason Bradford 14723 Dennis Kyro, Website 14724 Steven Shuster, Website 14725 Katrina King, Website REINSTATEMENTS None Life Memberships None NEW MEMBERS 02/05/2018 14726 Kirk Edwards, Website 14727 Larry Hassler, ANA Ad 14728 Justin Meuner, Website 14729 Brent Gordon, Jason Bradford 14730 Marvin Dudek, Website 14731 Matthew Smorto, Library of Congress 14732 Tomas Huszagh, Website 14733 M. Shallow, A Coin Shop LLC, Website REINSTATEMENTS None Life Memberships None   SPMC Governor Elections Each year, four of the SPMC governor positions are up for election. This year, due to filling a vacant position with Mr. Calderman, only three will be up for election. The following seats are up for election this year and are currently held by; Pierre Fricke, Michael Scacci and Wendell Wolka All three have decided to run for re-election. If any member is interested in running for one of the seats, contact President Hewitt or any board member by May 25, 2018 For Membership questions, dues and contact information go to our website www.spmc.org ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 150 Florida Paper Money Ron Benice “I collect all kinds of Florida paper money” 4452 Deer Trail Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34238 941 927 8765 Benice@Prodigy.net Books available mcfarlandpub.com, Fractional Currency Collectors Join the Fractional Currency Collectors Board (FCCB) today and join with other collectors who study, collect and commiserate about these fascinating notes. New members get a copy of Milt Friedberg’s updated version of the Encyclopedia of United States Postage and Fractional Currency as well as a copy of the S implified copy of the same which is aimed at new collectors. Come join a group dedicated to the are fractional fanatics! New Membership is $30 or $22 for the Simplified edition only To join, contact Dave Stitely, membership chair Box 136, Gradyville, PA 19039. SIZE INCHES 50 100 500 1000 Fractional 43/4 X 21/4 $28.40 $51.00 $228.00 $400.00 Colonial 51/2 X 31/16 $25.20 $45.00 $208.00 $364.00 Small Currency 65/8 X 27/8 $25.45 $47.00 $212.00 $380.00 Large Currency 77/8 X 31/2 $31.10 $55.00 $258.00 $504.00 Auction 9 X 33/4 $31.10 $55.00 $258.00 $504.00 Foreign Currency 8 X 5 $38.00 $68.50 $310.00 $537.00 Checks 95/8 X 41/4 $40.00 $72.50 $330.00 $577.00 SHEET HOLDERS    10 50 100 250 Obsolete Sheet--end open 83/4 X 141/2 $23.00 $101.00 $177.00 $412.00 National Sheet--side open 81/2 X 171/2 $24.00 $108.00 $190.00 $421.00 Stock Certificate--end open 91/2 X 121/2 $21.50 $95.00 $165.00 $390.00 Map & Bond--end open 181/2 X 241/2 $91.00 $405.00 $738.00 $1,698.00 Photo 51/4 X 71/4 $12.00 $46.00 $80.00 $186.00 Foreign Oversize 10 X 6 $23.00 $89.00 $150.00 $320.00 Foreign Jumbo 10 X 8 $30.00 $118.00 $199.00 $425.00 DBR Currency We Pay top dollar for *National Bank notes *Large size notes *Large size FRNs and FBNs www.DBRCurrency.com P.O. Box 28339 San Diego, CA 92198 Phone: 858-679-3350 Fax: 858-679-7505 See out eBay auctions under user ID DBRcurrency 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 MYLAR-D® CURRENCY HOLDERS BANK NOTE AND CHECK HOLDERS You may assort note holders for best price (min. 50 pcs. one size). You may assort sheet holders for best price (min. 10 pcs. one size). SHIPPING IN THE U.S. (PARCEL POST) FREE OF CHARGE Out of Country sent Registered Mail at Your Cost Mylar D® is a Registered Trademark of the Dupont Corporation. This also applies to uncoated archival quality Mylar® Type D by the Dupont Corp. or the equivalent material by ICI Industries Corp. Melinex Type 516. DENLY’S OF BOSTON P.O. Box 29, Dedham, MA 02027 • 781-326-9481 ORDERS: 800-HI-DENLY • FAX-781-326-9484 WWW.DENLY’S.COM ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 151 United States Paper Money specialselectionsfordiscriminatingcollectors Buying and Selling the finest in U.S. paper money Individual Rarities: Large, Small National Serial Number One Notes Large Size Type ErrorNotes Small Size Type National Currency StarorReplacementNotes Specimens, Proofs,Experimentals FrederickJ. Bart Bart,Inc. website: www.executivecurrency.com (586) 979-3400 POBox2• Roseville,MI 48066 e-mail: Bart@executivecurrency.com Buying & Selling • Obsolete • Confederate • Colonial & Continental • Fractional • Large & Small U.S. Type Notes Vern Potter Currency & Collectibles Please visit our Website at www.VernPotter.com Hundreds of Quality Notes Scanned, Attributed & Priced P.O. Box 10040 Torrance, CA 90505-0740 Phone: 310-326-0406 Email: Vern@VernPotter.com Member •PCDA •SPMC •FUN •ANA WANTED: 1778 NORTH CAROLINA COLONIAL $40. (Free Speech Motto). Kenneth Casebeer, (828) 277- 1779; Casebeer@law.miami.edu TRADE MY DUPLICATE, circulated FRN $1 star notes for yours I need. Have many in the low printings. Free list. Ken Kooistra, PO Box 71, Perkiomenville, PA 18074. kmk050652@verizon.net WANTED: Notes from the State Bank of Indiana, Bank of the State of Indiana, and related documents, reports, and other items. Write with description (include photocopy if possible) first. Wendell Wolka, PO Box 1211, Greenwood, IN 46142 FOR SALE: College Currency/advertising notes/ 1907 depression scrip/Michigan Obsoletes/Michigan Nationals/stock certificates. Other interests? please advise. Lawrence Falater.Box 81, Allen, MI. 49227 WANTED: Any type Nationals containing the name “LAWRENCE” (i.e. bank of LAWRENCE). Send photo/price/description to LFM@LARRYM.com WANTED: Republic of Texas “Star” (1st issue) notes. Also “Medallion” (3rd issue) notes. VF+. Serious Collector. reptexpaper@gmail.com. BUYING ONLY $1 HAWAII OVERPRINTS. White, no stains, ink, rust or rubber stamping, only EF or AU. Pay Ask. Craig Watanabe. 808-531- 2702. Captaincookcoin@aol.com Vermont National Bank Notes for sale. For list contact. granitecutter@bellsouth.net. WANTED: Any type Nationals from Charter #10444 Forestville, NY. Contact with price. Leo Duliba, 469 Willard St., Jamestown, NY 14701-4129. "Collecting Paper Money with Confidence". All 27 grading factors explained clearly and in detail. Now available Amazon.com . AhlKayn@gmail.com Stamford CT Nationals For Sale or Trade. Have some duplicate notes, prefer trade for other Stamford notes, will consider cash. dombongo@earthlink.net Wanted Railroad scrip Wills Valley; Western & Atlantic 1840s; East Tennessee & Georgia; Memphis and Charleston. Dennis Schafluetzel 1900 Red Fox Lane; Hixson, TN 37343. Call 423-842-5527 or email dennis@schafluetzel $ MoneyMart $  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2018 * Whole No. 314_____________________________________________________________ 152 OUR MEMBERS SPECIALIZE IN NATIONAL CURRENCY They also specialize in Large Size Type Notes, Small Size Currency, Obsolete Currency, Colonial and Continental Currency, Fractionals, Error Notes, MPC’s, Confederate Currency, Encased Postage, Stocks and Bonds, Autographs and Documents, World Paper Money . . . and numerous other areas. THE PROFESSIONAL CURRENCY DEALERS ASSOCIATION is the leading organization of OVER 100 DEALERS in Currency, Stocks and Bonds, Fiscal Documents and related paper items. PCDA To be assured of knowledgeable, professional, and ethical dealings when buying or selling currency, look for dealers who proudly display the PCDA emblem. For a FREE copy of the PCDA Membership Directory listing names, addresses and specialties of all members, send your request to: The Professional Currency Dealers Association PCDA • Hosts the annual National Currency & Coin Convention during March in Rosemont, Illinois. Please visit our Web Site pcdaonline.com for dates and location. • Encourages public awareness and education regarding the hobby of Paper Money Collecting. • Sponsors the John Hickman National Currency Exhibit Award each summer at the International Paper Money Convention, as well as Paper Money classes and scholarships at the A.N.A.’s Summer Seminar series. • Publishes several “How to Collect” booklets regarding currency and related paper items. Availability of these booklets can be found in the Membership Directory or on our Web Site. Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcdaonline.com James A. Simek – Secretary P.O. Box 7157 • Westchester, IL 60154 (630) 889-8207 • Email: nge3@comcast.net Paul R. Minshull IL #441002067; Heritage Auctions #444000370. BP 20%; see HA.com. 48406 DALLAS  |  NEW YORK  |  BEVERLY HILLS  |  SAN FRANCISCO  |  CHICAGO  |  PALM BEACH LONDON  |  PARIS  |  GENEVA  |  AMSTERDAM  |  HONG KONG Always Accepting Quality Consignments in 40 Categories Immediate Cash Advances Available 1 Million+ Online Bidder-Members PLATINUM NIGHT® & SIGNATURE® AUCTIONS April 25-30, 2018 | Chicago | Live & Online Selections from The C.R. Chambliss Collection Offered in our upcoming Official Central States Auction Fr. 167a $100 1863 Legal Tender PMG Choice Very Fine 35 Fr. 148 $50 1862 Legal Tender PCGS Very Fine 30 Fr. 151 $50 1869 Legal Tender PMG Very Fine 30 Fr. 327 $50 1880 Silver Certificate PMG Very Fine 20 Fr. 1217 $500 1922 Gold Certificate PCGS About New 53 Fr. 1220 $1,000 1922 Gold Certificate PMG Choice Very Fine 35 Carlson R. Chambliss is the co-Author of The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Federal Large-Size Notes, 1861-1929, and many of the notes in his collection are the plate notes in this must-have currency reference. For a complimentary copy, contact Dustin Johnston 214-409-1302.