official journal of Origin & Demise of the Educational Series LEGENDARY COLLECTIONS | LEGENDARY RESULTS | A LEGENDARY AUCTION FIRM Consign Your United States Currency by January 29, 2025! Artesia, California. $5 1902 Red Seal. Fr. 588. The First NB. Charter #8063. PMG Choice About Uncirculated 58 EPQ. Serial Number 1. Brawley, California. $5 1902 Date Back. Fr. 593. The First NB. Charter #9673. PMG Very Fine 30. Livermore, California. $5 1902 Red Seal. Fr. 588. The First NB. Charter #8002. PMG Very Fine 30 EPQ. Serial Number 2. Oakdale, California. $10 1902 Red Seal. Fr. 613. The First NB. Charter #7502. PMG Choice Very Fine 35 EPQ. Serial Number 1. Oakland, California. $20 1875. Fr. 1158. The First National Gold Bank. Charter #2248. PMG Choice Fine 15. Paso Robles, California. $20 1902 Plain Back. Fr. 653. The First NB. Charter #9844. PMG Choice Fine 15. Rodeo, California. $5 1902 Plain Back. Fr. 606. The First NB. Charter #11201. PMG Very Fine 30. San Francisco, California. $100 1882 Brown Back. Fr. 530. The Western NB. Charter #5688. PMG Very Fine 20. San Francisco, California. $5 1902 Red Seal. Fr. 587. The Germania NB. Charter #6592. PMG Very Fine 25. Serial Number 1. San Jose, California. $10 1874. Fr. 1148. The First National Gold Bank. Charter #2158. PMG Very Fine 20. Stockton, California. $20 1875. Fr. 434. The First NB. Charter #2412. PMG Very Fine 25. San Francisco, California. Imperial Government of Norton I. 1870s 50 Cents. PMG Very Fine 25. SBG PM Spring2025 HL 250101 Official Auction of the 2025 Whitman Spring Expo America’s Oldest and Most Accomplished Rare Coin Auctioneer 1550 Scenic Ave., Ste. 150, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 • 949.253.0916 • Info@StacksBowers.com 470 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022 • 212.582.2580 • NYC@stacksbowers.com Visit Us Online at StacksBowers.com California • New York • Boston • Philadelphia • New Hampshire • Oklahoma Sacramento • Virginia • Hong Kong • Copenhagen • Paris • Vancouver Contact Our Experts: Peter Treglia: 949.748.4828 • Michael Moczalla: 949.503.6244 • Consign@StacksBowers.com Highlights from the Eric Agnew Collection Part II Featured in the Spring 2025 Showcase Auction Auction: March 31-April 4, 2025 • Costa Mesa, CA 6 Origin & Demise of Educational Silver Certificates--Peter Huntoon 22 En trepreneurial Holt Family--Bill Gunther 28 Origin of Fr. 1192a--Peter Huntoon 33 Try This Over Your Piano--Terry Bryan 38 Inverted/Mirrored Plate Numbers on Fractional Currency Sheets--Rick Melamed 50 Fargo--Bob Laub 61 2024 Paper Money Index SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 1 Columns Advertisers SPMC Hall of Fame The SPMC Hall of Fame recognizes and honors those individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the society over the span of many years.  Charles Affleck Walter Allan Mark Anderson Doug Ball Hank Bieciuk Joseph Boling F.C.C. Boyd Michael Crabb Forrest Daniel Martin Delger William Donlon Roger Durand C. John Ferreri Milt Friedberg Robert Friedberg Len Glazer Nathan Gold Nathan Goldstein James Haxby John Herzog Gene Hessler John Hickman William Higgins Ruth Hill Peter Huntoon Brent Hughes Glenn Jackson Don Kelly Lyn Knight Chet Krause Allen Mincho Clifford Mishler Barbara Mueller Judith Murphy Dean Oakes Chuck O'Donnell Roy Pennell Albert Pick Fred Reed Matt Rothert John Rowe III From Your President Editor Sez New Members Uncoupled Chump Change Obsolete Corner Cherry Picker Corner Small Notes Quartermaster Robert Vandevender 3 Benny Bolin 4 Frank Clark 5 Joe Boling & Fred Schwan 44 Loren Gatch 47 Robert Gill 48 Robert Calderman 52 Jamie Yakes 54 Michael McNeil 56 Stacks Bowers Galleries IFC Pierre Fricke 1 Whatnot 21 World Banknote Auctions 27 PCGS-C 32 Fred Bart 36 Lyn Knight 37 FCCB 43 Greysheet 46 Higgins Museum 48 Bob Laub 51 Bill Litt 56 Whitman Publishing 60 PCDA IBC Heritage Auctions OBC Fred Schwan Neil Shafer Herb& Martha Schingoethe Austin Sheheen, Jr. Hugh Shull Glenn Smedley Raphael Thian Daniel Valentine Louis Van Belkum George Wait D.C. Wismer SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 2 Officers & Appointees ELECTED OFFICERS PRESIDENT Robert Vandevender II rvpaperman@aol.com VICE-PRES/SEC'Y Robert Calderman gacoins@earthlink.net TREASURER Robert Moon robertmoon@aol.com BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPOINTEES PUBLISHER-EDITOR smcbb@sbcglobal.net ADVERTISING MANAGER Benny Bolin smcbb@sbcglobal.net Megan Reginnitter mreginnitter@iowafirm.com LIBRARIAN Jeff Brueggeman MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Frank Clark frank_clark@yahoo.com IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Shawn Hewitt WISMER BOOk PROJECT COORDINATOR Pierre Fricke From Your President Robert Vandevender IIFrom Your President Shawn Hewitt Paper Money * July/August 2020 6 jeff@actioncurrency.com LEGAL COUNSEL Robert Calderman gacoins@earthlink.com Matt Drais stockpicker12@aol.com Mark Drengson markd@step1software.com Loren Gatch lgatch@uco.edu Shawn Hewitt Shawn@north-trek.com Derek Higgins derekhiggins219@gmail.com Raiden Honaker raidenhonaker8@gmail.com William Litt billitt@aol.com Cody Regennitter rman andrew.timmerman@aol.com cody.regenitter@gmail.com Andrew Timme Wendell Wolka purduenut@aol.com Once again, we are excited to start a new year of collecting. From my perspective, 2024 just flew by. I trust each of you had a nice holiday season. For Thanksgiving this year, we spent the weekend in Georgia visiting with my sister Elizabeth and her family. She took us on a nice day trip to Savannah for a tour, which included a stop at a very large candy store, just to add on a few extra pounds as if the meal wasn’t enough! We were surprised at how many fields were still full of cotton as we drove around the area. At Christmas time, Nancy and I were joined in California by my daughter Holly and her family. They helped us decorate the Odd Fellows Rose Parade Float this year. We all attended the parade on New Years Day. For those of you able to attend our annual breakfast event at the FUN Show this month, I would like to thank you for your participation and support. This year, we selected John and Nancy Wilson to appear on our annual breakfast ticket, as well as honoring them with the introduction into our Hall of Fame. They have both done so much over the years to support our breakfast with planning, ticket sales, and taking photographs. Years ago, John was even the printer of the tickets for the event. Other inductees into our Hall of Fame this year were Albert Grinnell and Bob Medlar. Last Fall, we learned that our SPMC website requires a significant upgrade due to some specific software we use becoming obsolete. We have board members helping to coordinate resolving that issue now. Sadly, this change will require a significant expenditure from our treasury, but it must be addressed to maintain the security of our site. Looking forward, I expect my job in California to end in April, at which time, I am going to try out being retired and see if I like it! That event should give me more time to attend shows and pay more attention to my collection. More to come on that topic. Nancy and I plan to attend the Long Beach Expo again in February and have an SPMC table set up to solicit memberships. If you attend that show, please stop by our table and say hello. In closing, I would like to remind our members that we would appreciate any new articles written for publication in our Paper Money magazine. If you have done some research, and think you have sufficient information to support an educational or informative article, our Editor Benny would love to hear from you. Benny can also help with constructing the article if you would like the assistance. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 3 Terms and Conditions  The Society  of  Paper Money  Collectors  (SPMC)  P.O.   Box 7055,  Gainesville, GA    30504, publishes    PAPER    MONEY (USPS   00‐ 3162)  every  other  month  beginning  in  January.  Periodical  postage  is  paid  at  Hanover,  PA.  Postmaster  send  address  changes  to  Secretary  Robert  Calderman,  Box  7055, Gainesville,  GA  30504. ©Society  of  Paper Money  Collectors, Inc.  2020.  All  rights  reserved.  Reproduction  of  any  article  in whole  or  part  without written approval  is prohibited.  Individual copies of  this  issue of PAPER MONEY are available  from the secretary  for $8  postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries concerning    non    ‐    delivery    and    requests    for    additional copies of this issue to  the secretary.  MANUSCRIPTS  Manuscripts     not     under      consideration      elsewhere and  publications  for  review should be sent  to  the editor. Accepted  manuscripts  will  be  published  as  soon  as  possible,  however  publication  in  a  specific  issue  cannot  be guaranteed. Opinions  expressed  by  authors  do  not necessarily  reflect those  of  the  SPMC.   Manuscripts should be  submitted  in WORD  format  via  email (smcbb@sbcglobal.net)  or  by  sending memory stick/disk  to  the  editor.  Scans  should  be  grayscale  or  color  JPEGs  at  300 dpi. Color  illustrations may be changed to grayscale at  the  discretion  of  the  editor.  Do  not  send  items  of  value.  Manuscripts are  submitted with copyright release of the author  to  the  editor  for  duplication  and  printing as needed.  ADVERTISING  All advertising on space available basis. Copy/correspondence  should be sent to editor.  All advertising is pay in advance.  Ads are on a “good faith”  basis.  Terms are “Until Forbid.”  Ads  are  Run  of  Press  (ROP)  unless  accepted  on  a  premium  contract basis. Limited premium space/rates available.  To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must be prepaid  according to the schedule below.  In exceptional cases where  special  artwork  or  additional  production  is  required,  the  advertiser  will be notified  and  billed accordingly.  Rates  are  not commissionable; proofs are not  supplied.  SPMC  does not  endorse any company, dealer,  or  auction  house.  Advertising  Deadline: Subject to space availability, copy must be received  by  the  editor  no  later  than  the  first  day  of  the  month  preceding  the  cover date  of  the  issue  (i.e.  Feb.  1  for  the  March/April  issue). Camera‐ready art or electronic ads  in pdf  format are required.  ADVERTISING RATES  Editor Sez Benny Bolin Required file    submission format    is    composite    PDF v1.3  (Acrobat 4.0   compatible).   If   possible, submitted files should  conform to ISO 15930‐1: 2001 PDF/X‐1a file format standard.  Non‐  standard,  application,  or  native  file  formats  are  not  acceptable. Page  size: must  conform to specified publication  trim  size.  Page  bleed:  must  extend minimum  1/8”  beyond  trim for page head, foot, and front.  Safety margin:  type  and  other  non‐bleed  content must  clear  trim by minimum 1/2”.   Advertising c o p y   shall be restricted to paper currency, allied  numismatic material, publications,   and   related   accessories.    The SPMC  does  not  guarantee advertisements,  but  accepts  copy  in good faith,  reserving  the right  to  reject objectionable  or  inappropriate  material  or  edit      copy.  The          SPMC   assumes      no      financial       responsibility for  typographical  errors  in  ads  but  agrees  to  reprint  that portion of an ad  in  which a typographical error occurs.  Benny (aka goompa) Space  Full color covers  1 Time  $1500  3 Times  $2600  6 Times $4900 B&W covers  500  1400  2500 Full page color  500  1500  3000 Full page B&W  360  1000  1800 Half‐page B&W  180  500  900 Quarter‐page B&W  90  250  450 Eighth‐page B&W  45  125  225 4 months old—ain’t she the cutest and most wonderful baby ever? Aren’t grandbabies wonderful? They brighten up your life, give you joy and the best thing is—you can give them back! If you said no, meet me in the parking lot at FUN and I will put a good ole Texas size whupping on ya! Welcome to 2025! I hope all of you are able to have a copy of this issue to read/refer to at FUN ’25. FUN has become the SPMC’s new Memphis, the show where we hold our meetings, SPMC breakfast and Tom Bain raffle along with the venue where we announce and bestow our yearly awards. If you are reading this before Saturday January 11, come join us in the fun (at FUN). I am able to attend only a couple of big shows a year and I always look forward to them. While I find very little in the way of the things I collect, I most value them for the camaraderie and getting back together with friends and catching up. It is so nice to make new acquaintances and meet old friends instead of interacting only via an electronic thingamajig. I also love exhibiting and usually do not have that opportunity anymore. However, I will be (hope to be) making the trifecta with my exhibits this year—FUN, TNA and ANA! But bad news for my peeps—my primary exhibit is round and copper and not made of paper. Oh well, the dark side has its high points also. Hopefully this will be a year that we can enjoy without having to worry about what is happening in the world and about things we cannot control or impact. I know that is going to be a hard adjustment, but just think how happy and less stressed you will be dreaming of holding a grand watermelon or a $1000 gold certificate. Who knows what you may find, just by looking. I recently found two paper store cards in an on-line auction that are payable in postage currency that we did not know existed in my collecting circles. Take the time you get back this year that you lost last year having to listen to all those campaign calls and write me an article. It is great to see your name in print. Write about your passion or anything that interests you. Not an author you say? Jot down some thoughts and send them to me and I will help you turn them into an article. Till next time! Stay safe and enjoy the upcomming year! SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 4 The Society of Paper Money Collectors was organized in 1961 and incorporated in 1964 as a non-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. It is affiliated with the ANA. The Annual Meeting of the SPMC is held in June at the International Paper Money Show. Information about the SPMC, including the by-laws and activities can be found at our website-- www.spmc.org. The SPMC does not does not endorse any dealer, company or auction house. MEMBERSHIP—REGULAR and LIFE. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character. Members of the ANA or other recognized numismatic 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. A parent or guardian must sign their application. 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 Society 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. WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS! BY FRANK CLARK SPMC MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR NEW MEMBERS 11/05/2024 Dues Remittal Process Send dues directly to Robert Moon SPMC Treasurer 403 Gatewood Dr. Greenwood, SC 29646 Refer to your mailing label for when your dues are due. You may also pay your dues online at www.spmc.org. 15776 Dan Roussin, Derek Higgins 15777 David Oppelt, C. John Ferreri 15778 Joel Podlaski, Website 15779 Jerome W. Hannigan, Frank Clark 15780 Paul R. Kavakko, Whitman Guide Book of US Currency 15781 Kevin Ford, Website 15782 Robert Redden, Website 15783 Derik Shambaugh, Website 15784 Roger Macon, Website 15785 Edward Gibbs, Website 15786 James Roberts, Website 15787 Mark Curtis, Website 15788 James Jordan, Website 15789 Evan Saltis, Robert Calderman 15790 Nikolay Lomtev, Website 15791 Mark Bosje, Paper Money Forum 15792 John Wrasse, Robert Calderman 15793 Randall Ockerman, Frank Clark REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS None NEW MEMBERS 12/05/2024 15769 Gary Foster, Website 15770 Michael Cheney, Robert Calderman 15771 Gary Johnston, A Guide Book of United States Paper Money 15772 David Davis, Website 15773 Lauren Etter, Website 15774 Karl Zakhia, Robert Calderman 15775 Douglas Mehr, Website REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS None SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 5 Origin and Sudden Demise of Series of 1896 Educational Silver Certificates “To most men the beauty of a United States note depends less on the artistic value of the picture engraved upon it than on the size of the plain number stamped upon its face.” Double entendre by a wag reporter, New York Herald, Jan 13, 1895 Series of 1896 Silver Certificates The new issue of silver certificates of 1896 have received universal commendation. These notes have demonstrated the possibility of fine art being utilized to advantage in the production of bank notes, and result in the most perfect security against counterfeiting. John G. Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury (1896, p. 569) Secretary Gage has determined to call in and destroy the new one, two and five-dollar silver certificates issued under the auspices of the last administration. These notes or certificates were considered triumphs of high art by Chief Johnson, of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and by his superior, Secretary Carlisle, but they have been decidedly unpopular with the general public and merchants. The notes are peculiarly liable to counterfeiting, most of the old-time checks having been removed in order to make the pictorial finish of the notes satisfactory. Engravers are at work on new designs for certificates to be issued in substitution for the current monstrosities. Philadelphia Enquirer (May 1, 1897) The designs of the Series of 1896 silver certificates were judged a failure in banking and commercial circles right out of the chute in 1896. It took two years for the incoming Treasury officials who served under newly elected President William McKinley beginning in March 1897 to replace the series with the more traditional looking but far less glamorous Series of 1899. This is the story of that failure. Authorization of the Series of 1896 The legal authority for the issuance of silver certificates originated with passage of the Bland- Allison Act of February 28, 1878. The act authorized the purchase of silver by the U.S. Treasury for minting into coin. The act also provided for the issuance of silver certificates of $10 and higher denominations against a like amount of silver dollars held on deposit by the Treasury for their redemption. This currency The Paper Column Peter Huntoon SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 6 was a convenience to the public who preferred not to carry the heavy dollars. An act passed August 5, 1886 authorized the addition of $1, $2 and $5 notes to the permissible dominations that could be issued. The small denomination notes came out in the Series of 1886, 1891, 1896, 1899 and 1923 (no 1923 $2) during the large-note era. The various series dates represented the adoption of new designs at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Seesaw at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Treasurer are patronage positions. So was the Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the 1800s. Consequently, partisan issues could seesaw within the Bureau. In fact, one contentious issue had been simmering since the 1870s; specifically, controversy over the quality of designs used for Federal currency. At issue when Democrat Grover Cleveland took office for his first term in March 1885 were so-called patchwork designs wherein the vignettes, counters, lettering, borders, etc., were laid into the plates as discrete items, often minimally stitched together by linking engraving. A flash point in this regard was the widespread use of patented lettering invented by BEP model designer George Casilear, later Chief Engraver and ultimately Superintendent of Engraving and Transferring. This work consisted of preparation of numerous alphabetic and numerical fonts wherein the individual letters were lifted to transfer rolls. The siderographers simply rolled the letters in one at a time to spell out needed text on plates. The lettering often was the visually dominant element on the notes (Huntoon, 2018). The issue was articulated in 1877 when upon taking office, then Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman appointed a committee to examine the operations of the Bureau. The chair of that committee was Edward O. Graves, a Treasury employee who periodically served as a Treasury trouble shooter. The committee reported “that the continual use of this alleged invention [patent lettering] rendered all work produced by its use stiff and inartistic, and made the silver certificates the ugliest notes issued” (Graves and others, 1877). Cleveland had campaigned as a reformer and specifically targeted the operations of the Treasury Department. Once in, Daniel Manning, his Secretary of the Treasury, demoted Casilear from his position as Chief Engraver and appointed Edward Graves as BEP Chief. Graves immediately discontinued the use of patented lettering. But, in March 1889 Cleveland was out and Republican President Benjimin Harrison was in. Casilear was rehabilitated as Superintendent of the Engraving Division, allowing his design influence to resume for another four years. Cleveland vanquished Harrison in the 1892 election, thus assuming his detached second term in March 1893. The Democrats were back in Treasury, but this time under new Secretary John Griffin Carlisle. Carlisle brought with him a new BEP Chief named Claude M. Johnson. Both were Kentucky pols, where Carlisle had gained national prominence having won terms in both the U.S. House and Senate, even serving Figure 2. John G. Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury during Grover Cleveland’s second term and creator of the Series of 1896 silver certificates. Wikipedia photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 7 as Speaker of the House. They came on board united in their opinion that currency design at the Bureau was in a poor state. Casilear was asked to resign and did so on October 30, 1893 (Senate, 1898, p. 298). The next day a fresh face for the Treasury Department named Thomas F. Morris assumed the office of Chief of the Engraving Division. Carlisle-Johnson Vision Congressional acts authorizing currency issues during the 19th century consistently delegated responsibility for their designs to the Secretary of the Treasury. Upon taking office, Secretary Carlisle quickly seized this authority to replace the then current silver certificates with an entirely new series that numismatists called the Educational Series. His vision was laid out in his 1894 annual report to Congress, followed by a more detailed account provided by BEP Chief Johnson in his annual report to Carlisle included in the same volume. Carlisle (1894, p. XLV): It has been deemed advisable to improve the designs adopted by the Department for the various bank-note issues of the Government, and to accomplish this end the best artists of the country have been invited to contribute, and are now submitting designs to supersede the defective and insecure forms used in the past. It is expected that the future notes and certificates issued by the Government, if this policy is continued, will be not only highly creditable from an artistic standpoint, but will be beyond the skill of counterfeiters to imitate to such an extent as to be at all dangerous to the public. Johnson (in Carlisle, 1894, p. 722-723): Artistic skill applicable to the production of bank notes, bonds, etc., has not advanced with time. Bank notes prepared twenty-five years ago are as finely engraved as those of to-day. The bank notes produced by this Bureau and by the bank-note companies of the country appear to have reached the highest standard of engraving and printing, but the designs, as a rule, are weak and meaningless. The conventional design for bank notes which has been used for many years appears to be wholly lacking in artistic merit, consisting as it does of a patchwork of engraving, including the portrait, the title, and the lathe-work counters, having no connection with each other, and a vast improvement can be made in designing the future issues of the Government. I consider the artistic beauty of a design for a bank note to be as essential to protection against counterfeiting as the manner in which either the engraving or printing is executed. In fact they must all be of the highest standard of excellence to afford perfect protection. To attain this standard of excellence I have secured the services of some of the best engravers and printers, and have received aid from some of the most talented artists in the country in preparing designs for a new issue of silver certificates, and the result, in my opinion, will be not only a creditable work from an artistic standpoint, but a series of notes which will be beyond the skill of counterfeiters to imitate in a way to be at all dangerous to commerce. Such talent commands a high price, and it is an item Figure 3. Silver certificate design dominated by Casilear’s patented lettering process deemed by a Treasury committee to be among the ugliest notes issued by the Treasury. Heritage Auction Archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 8 of expenditure which should have consideration in the making of appropriations for this Bureau. The numismatic moniker Educational Series obviously was derived from History Instructing Youth, the label for the vignette on the face of the $1. The earliest use of the term I am aware of was by Albert Grinnell (1937, p. 1007) in The Numismatist. Although catchy, education was not the intent of Secretary Carlisle and thus the label diminishes what he contemplated. Secretary Carlisle’s objective was a visual celebration of American prowess and genius, a jingoistic expression of our nation’s coming of age on par with heady notions of inventiveness, industrialization and manifest destiny, which pervaded the ether of that era. This comes through in the titles for the art on the faces of the $2 and $5; respectively, Science presenting Steam and Electricity to Commerce and Manufacture and Electricity, the Dominant Force of the World. New Series of Silver Certificates A priority for Thomas Morris, the newly hired Chief of the Engraving Division, was to shepherd the new silver certificates to completion. Morris was a meticulous diarist, which allowed his son Thomas Morris II to mine those journals to yield an invaluable insider’s view of the production of the new series of silver certificates, albeit a defense of his father’s role in the process. Thomas F. Morris, born September 12, 1852, died January 18, 1898, apprenticed at the American Bank Note Company beginning at age 16 in 1869. Ten years later he was head of the engraving department. He moved on to become Superintendent of Design and Engraving at the Homer Lee Bank Note Company in 1888. It was from that position that he was lured to the BEP in 1893. (Hessler, 1993, p. 221). Commissioning the Art In the first interview incoming BEP Chief Claude Johnon had with Secretary Carlisle, Carlisle told him that he understood that the work of the engraving division was not as good as that of the private corporations. In particular, Carlisle didn’t look favorably on the designs of the currency. Johnson suggested using outside artists to create improvements, an idea embraced by Carlisle (Senate, 1899, p. 326). Procurement of the art for the new silver certificate faces was a task Secretary Carlisle assigned to Johnson shortly after Morris arrived at the Bureau (Senate, 1899, p. 335). Johnson made trips to New York City to discuss the idea with prominent artists there and to solicit concepts. In due course, he commissioned the acceptable art through the BEP by means of single-source contracts with the individual artists. Shunning the acceptable normal routine of open competition * * * the Treasury Department commissioned prominent artists to do the work. The fee was $800 a design. * * * Will H. Low was assigned the drawing for the most widely circulated $1 and $2 denominations, Edwin Howland Blashfield the $50, and Walter Shirlaw received commissions for both the $5 and $10 certificates. The choice of Low and Blashfield was influenced by the fact that they were already engaged on decorative murals for the new Library of Congress, in the course of construction. Blashfield offered the additional recommendation of having exhibited his “Angel with the Flaming Sword” at the Chicago fair. Shirlaw was best known as an allegorist, but his painting “Sheep shearing In Scotland” was perhaps the Columbian Exposition’s most popular American work among rural visitors. * * * All the artists had studios in New York. (Morris,1968, p. 51). BEP Chief Johnson reassigned Blashfield’s $50 submission to the $2. Figure 4. Claude M. Johnson, Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a Gold Democrat who served through the entire Series of 1896 silver certificate production saga. Photo from BEP (2004). SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 9 Morris, a currency designer, was responsible for mediating issues between the artists and the engravers who committed the art to steel. His charge was to resolve presentation issues and render the whole into pieces of currency that could effectively serve the practical needs of commerce. This job was particularly challenging because for the first time in the history of the Bureau, the artists were muralists whose creations were filling the entire faces of the notes. Their submissions consisted of 3- x 6-foot paintings complete with their concepts for borders and counters. The artists had to endure back and forth criticism and suggestions before their works were accepted. Morris found himself modifying the border scroll work or even replacing it in order to move the designs forward. One interesting directive from BEP Chief Johnson was that traditional anti-counterfeiting lathe work was not to be used in the borders of the faces (Senate, 1899, p. 336). The work of the Bureau picture engravers required the utmost skill in transforming the art to engravings that covered the entire faces of the notes. Morris (1968), Hessler, (2004, p. 96-117) and Hellings (2021) treat the transformation of the art work to the master dies. Serious Production Delays The production of Carlisle’s silver certificates was scheduled to begin with the $5s, followed in succession by the $1s and $2s. The release date for the first of them was scheduled for 1895, thus the series was dated 1895. This schedule was thwarted by the discovery that the $5 faces came out too dark, a problem that also afflicted the $1s. The story of the $5s will serve to illuminate what happened. As was typical for new series, the back Figure 5. Comparison between the overly dark Series of 1895 and brightened Series of 1896 versions of the $5 faces. The preparation of the new $5 Series of 1896 die delayed the production of the series by seven months, which resulted in revision of the series date. National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution photos. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 10 plates for a given denomination generally began to be made first and were put into production before the face plates. This was consistent with the fact that backs were printed first. There is a run of 104 $5 Educational Tillman-Morgan silver certificate 4-subject face plate proofs among the BEP proofs in the National Numismatic Collection. The first three were not certified so those plates weren’t used. The proofs lifted from them have a distinctly darker appearance than those that follow. Also, the banners in the upper part of their left borders are labeled Series of 1895, not 1896. The fact that they were made reveals that the master die carrying their image had been hardened in order that a transfer roll—also hardened—could be lifted from it. Once hardened, alterations on the die could not be made. Thus, a new master die was called for. The die and roll ledgers coupled with the certification dates on the production proofs provide a timeline for what transpired. The first $5 back roll, number 7216, was logged in August 30, 1895, followed by the first two plates made from it that were certified September 14, 1895. The dark Series of 1895 $5 full-face roll, number 7222, was logged in September 14, 1895, and used to make face plates 5489, 5492 and 5496. These numbers are plate numbers from a set that threads through all the Treasury plates of that vintage, not to be confused with plate serial numbers that were assigned sequentially to like plates of a specific product that usually appear within each subject on the plate. Plates 5489, 5492 and 5496 were the ones that weren’t certified. However, they can be dated because plates 5488 and 5490, which sandwich 5489, were assigned to $1 Tillman-Morgan Series of 1891 silver certificate face plates respectively certified September 24 and October 9, 1895. The dark $5 plates were made then. At this point, production of the $5s was on target for an 1895 release. However, the darkness of the Figure 6. Details on the left from the $5 Series of 1895 and right from the Serries of 1896 engravings that illustrate how the image was lightened. Notice in the second pair down how the shading in the S at the right was removed from that letter. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 11 images sabotaged the schedule. The time-consuming preparation of a new master die with a brightened image was required. Roll 7310 lifted from it was logged in April 16, 1896 and carried a revised series date of 1896. The first light $5 face plate was 5770, certified April 29, 1896 and was sent to press that day (Morris, 1995, p. 71). The result had been a 7-month delay. The same dark affliction plagued proofs lifted from the $1 master face die. That dark die also carried an 1895 series date. However, no dark $1 production plates were made from it before a brightened $1 master was ordered. The new master carried a series date of 1896. The first $1 back plate was certified April 17, 1896. The first brightened $1 face plate was certified April 29th. Morris (1995, p. 71) states that printings of the faces commenced May 6, 1896. The overly dark problem didn’t occur with the face on the $2 master die. The first $2 back plate was certified May 18, 1896; the first face plate June 25th. No $10 or higher back or face plates were made for the series, although denominations through $1,000 were contemplated. Thomas Morris’ Design Work on the 1896 Series One unique characteristic of the 1896 silver certificates is that they were the first U.S. issue of currency to carry vignettes of Americans on their backs. As Chief of Engraving and thus chief designer, Thomas Morris undertook all the design work for the backs. This was carried out by safely employing without controversy vignettes of deceased icons Martha and George Washington on the $1, inventors Robert Fulton and Samuel Morris on the $2, and Civil War Generals Ulysses Grant and Philip Sheridan on the $5. Morris’ son (1968, p. 68) points out that the ornamental head that adorns the top center of the $5 back is an engraving of his mother. Another of Morris’ major efforts was to totally redesigned the borders, counters and scroll work for Walter Shirlaw’s submission for the $5 face (Morris, 1968, p. 63). Johnson-Morris-Smillie Triangle Thomas Morris was hired as Chief of the Engraving Division at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on November 1, 1893. He was 41 years old and an accomplished currency designer. Although he recognized that the use of mural art for currency posed serious challenges, Morris (1968, p. 54) wrote “father could not be otherwise but wholeheartedly sympathetic with Secretary Carlisle’s ambition to adorn government securities with the finest art the country could command.” Shortly after Morris arrived, portrait and vignette engraver Fred Smillie was hired as Chief Engraver on March 8, 1894. Morris was two years older than Smillie. The two had been professional colleagues at the American and Homer Lee bank note companies and shared a good friendship. Morris fully supported Smillie’s appointment. George Frederick Cumming Smillie—born New York City November 22, 1854, died Washington, DC, January 21, 1924—produced a lifetime output of some 450 portraits and vignettes. He studied at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design in New York City and under Alfred Jones and his uncle James Smillie. He was employed at American Bank Note Company 1871-1887. At 17 in October 1872, he completed his first engraving, The Reaper. On April 19, 1887 he joined the Canadian Bank Note Company; then returned to New York March 7, 1888 to work for the Homer Lee Bank Note Company. From May 1893 to March 1894, he engaged in freelance work for the Hamilton and Western bank note companies. He served at the BEP from 1894 to 1922, after which he returned to the American Bank Note Company for two years until his death. (Hessler 1993, p. 280). Smillie engraved the vignette on the face of the $5 Series of 1896 note, just one of the masterpieces the preeminent engraver turned out for the BEP. The chain of command at the BEP was Smillie reported to Morris and Morris reported to BEP Chief Johnson. Morris was the appropriate interface between the artists and the Bureau. As the work progressed, the dynamic that developed was that Johnson shunted aside Morris —the note designer—to consult directly with engraver Smillie on design issues. At issue was which should be visually dominant, the artists’ murals or the surrounding borders that encompassed scroll work, lettering and counters? Naturally, the artists felt that the border work was subordinate to their creations, a stance that Morris strenuously argued against. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 12 Morris insisted that sound currency design elevated the display of the counters to top priority. This pitted him against the artists, so they lobbied Johnson and Smillie directly to circumvent dealing with him. Smillie consistently sided with the artists and Johnson fell in line. Morris also found himself on the losing end of pleas for incorporation of two anti-counterfeiting devices on the faces; specifically, white-line lathe work in the borders and sufficient open spaces in the picture engravings to allow security threads in the paper to show. The lack of open space was particularly acute on the $1s and $5s. The situation placed Morris in an untenable position that simply could not come out well. The tensions reached the point that early on, as the groundwork was being laid for the new silver certificates, he seriously considered resigning (Morris, 1968, p. 56). Then Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage in league with the Senate commissioned an an investigation into the operation of the BEP in 1897 in which considerable attention was devoted to the failure of the Series of 1896 silver certificates. The following testimony by BEP Chief Johnson is telling. “There was pulling between the artists and Mr. Morris all the time, to such an extent that in several cases I started to recommend Mr. Morris’s dismissal. He aggravated me so.” (Senate, 1899, p. 327). At the end of Johnson’s testimony, the committee was questioning him about design flaws on the face of the $1. He stated “As I told you, Mr. Morris became an obstruction. He would not go in to see [picture engravers] Mr. Smillie or Mr. Schlecht at all.” (Senate, 1899, p. 332). Rollout, Reception and Fate The first of the Series of 1896 notes consisted of $1 sheets delivered from the BEP to the Treasurer’s office on July 14, 1896, where they were sealed before the notes were separated. The seals were an innovation, small like those on Series of 1950 and 1953 small-size notes ringed with the same small triangular spikes. The same day, Secretary Carlisle provided two impressions of the new seal that had been made at the BEP with authorization for the Treasurer to use it (Carlisle, 1896a). The New York Times (July 15, 1896), reporting on the delivery of the $1s to the Treasurer, added that the design of the notes is “a very beautiful change from the old conventional bank-note design * * * and has been universally pronounced one of the most beautifully executed notes ever issued by the Government, besides affording, on account of the fine and elaborately engraved work, the greatest security possible against counterfeiting.” “Aug. 14.—The new five dollar silver certificates were issued by the Treasury Department to-day. * * * The delivery of the new two-dollar certificates has been slower than was anticipated and they will not be ready for issue to the public for several days. The Treasurer desires to accumulate a good working supply before beginning their distribution to the public” (NYT, Aug 15, 1896, p. 4). Figure 7. The overly dark problem with the first $1 and $5 dies did not occur on the $2 die; however, Blashfield’s scantily clad females drew fire when the notes were released despite this aspect being toned down on the engraving. Heritage Auction Archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 13 The adulation heaped on the artistic Series of 1896 notes faded quickly after they entered circulation. “By the time the climax of the 1896 McKinley-Bryan campaign approached, commercial and banking circles were bringing great pressure on Secretary Carlisle to withdraw the issue. He set plans in motion to have the Bureau correct the major deficiencies of lack of easily read counters, overly-black faces and insufficient light and shadow contrast. Since [BEP Chief] Johnson had to absorb the brunt of the newspaper attack, Mr. Carlisle sidestepped an unpleasant personal chore by deciding to leave the fate of the series to McKinley’s incoming Secretary of the Treasury, Lyman J. Gage of Illinois” (Morris, 1968. p. 76). Thomas Morris wrote in his diary that Blashfield’s vignette for the $2 face had caused the Bureau the most concern from the start. At issue was nudity. For example, The New York World teased that Blashfield’s vignette “consists of five partly nude female figures in graceful poses” (Morris, 1968, p. 74). This early puritanical indignation dissolved into insignificance as practical concerns overtook criticism of the designs. Incoming Secretary Gage had no use for the series from the outset so early in his tenure he had to weigh a then-ongoing overhaul of the series or replace it entirely. He made the decision to cut Treasury’s losses on May 3, 1897 (BEP, 1990a). His solution was to move on to what would become the Series of 1899 silver certificates. “The next issue of new bills from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will be a radical departure from the style adopted a year ago as illustrated in the $1, $2 and $5 silver certificates. Secretary Gage discouraged the issuing of these bills as soon as he came into office and the engravers at the Bureau were set to work several months ago upon new designs” (NYT, Oct 22, 1896, p. 1). The following extensive note in the New York Times (Aug 15, 1897, p. 20) clearly articulates the practical complaints against the Series of 1896 silver certificates, early steps initiated by Secretary Carlisle to alter them, and finally Gage’s decision to discontinue them. Men who handle money like the notes * * * provided the denominations are clear and the individuality of the notes well marked. All judges of good designs and workmanship have admitted the superiority of the new notes to anything ever before produced by the Government. Bankers have generally denounced them as the most unsatisfactory notes ever issued. The chief objection to them has been that they all looked too much alike, and the second was that the denominations of the notes were not distinctly marked. Paying tellers depend upon the figures in the corners, particularly the figure in the upper left-hand corner, to guide the eye in counting bills rapidly handled. They attribute the success of the altered one—raise to a five—of the new series to the obscurity of the figures in the corners. Some months ago, when complaint was heard that the new notes became smudgy and suspicious- looking with a little use, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing set about improving them to meet this criticism, and that of the bankers that the designations were not distinctive enough. The engravers were put at work on new dies that eliminated much of the shading on the ones, exposing a great deal of white paper Figure 8 Republican President McKinley’s Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage inherited the Series of 1896 fiasco and killed the series, eventually replacing its notes with the more traditional looking Series of 1899 silver certificates. Wikipedia photo, SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 14 now covered by clouds and fancy work. The reclining figure was thus brought out upon a brighter background, the seal of the United States was to be printed upon a plain white surface instead of upon shading, and some important alterations of design were to appear in the border. Then the ‘one’ was to be converted into an unmistakable ‘one’ that could not [be] taken for a ‘five,’ and the expectations of counters of money were to be met as far as possible, without entirely departing from the idea of the artist that mere figures were to be subordinated to the effective general design. The fives were converted from the decidedly dark notes into bright ones having more of the brilliancy of appearance of the twos. When everything was about ready for this new edition of the artist series of silver certificates, Secretary Gage reached the conclusion that it was not worth while to try the experiment with the picture certificates any longer. When the next change is made it will be to return to the old style of notes—not necessarily to the old designs. But when the decision is reached to stop printing from the plates with the designs of Blashfield, Shirlaw & Low, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will probably return to the production of notes upon which the designs will be so distinctive that there will be little difficulty in telling a one from a five without close inspection. It ought to be said that there has been little or no complaint about the backs of the latest notes. They were difficult to imitate, they were distinctive and the designations of them were plain. The following perspectives from two bank cashiers are particularly informative. “The new certificates, said the cashier of a big bank downtown, ‘are an absolute nuisance when they get soiled from use. It is next to impossible to decipher the numerals when the certificates get rumpled and worn. It is a constant and bothersome eye strain where one has to count the worn ones by the thousands daily.’ Still another added ‘They are not nearly so durable as the former issues, and that they tear very readily after they have been folded up a number of times and carried in a pocketbook’” (New York Sun, Jan 23, 1897). In the meantime, the Series of 1896 was taking another damaging hit. “Dangerous and very interesting counterfeits of the five-dollar silver certificates of the new issue—series of 1896—exist. They are apparently the work of one man or one set of men. For each certificate a two-dollar silver certificate of the new issue is used. The operation is technically known as ‘raising.’ * * * George W. Marior, Deputy Assistant United States Treasurer, had two of these clever counterfeits at the Sub-Treasury yesterday. He said many of them were in circulation.” (NYT, Jul 28, 1897, p. 1). There are subtle considerations I have wondered about in the reception of the series. The advent of the series was hyped to the hilt from every angle by the Treasury Department through Treasury press releases and invited press scrutiny as the series moved from concept to distribution (Senate, 1899, p. 336). Public anticipation over an event as formula as the release of a new series of currency was stoked to the point that everyone was given license to be a critic. No aesthetic or technical nuance was missed once the notes hit the streets. Also, a contrarian segment of the public bridled at being force-fed someone else’s oversold elitist art. None of these factors played out well for reception of the series. Design Flaws Without piling on with every nitpicky complaint, the primary technical flaws in the designs of the 1896 notes were the following in decreasing order of importance. 1. The counters (numerals used to denote the denomination) in the corners on both the faces and backs were not large or plainly presented. 2. The faces lacked traditional anti-counterfeiting devices that were considered effective at the time; specifically, a. white line lathe work in the borders (negative images made from geometric lathe engraving machines), b. open spaces allowing a view of the colored fibers built into the paper, c. high-contrast scroll work in the borders. 3. The faces of the notes were entirely too busy, giving the different denominations a similar appearance. The poor presentation of the counters on the faces constituted the overwhelming complaint from people who had to sort the notes. Clearly, the $1 faces served as the lightning rod for this criticism. However, the problem with the counters applied to the other faces and all the backs as well. A practical issue dogged the notes once they reached circulation. They didn’t wear well. Handlers complained that they became increasingly difficult to sort as they became soiled. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 15 Figure 9. The backs of the Series of 1896 notes were designed by Thomas Morris. The engravings cover most of the paper. Although the backs did not receive the scorn heaped on the faces, all have small counters in the corners with none in the top corners of the $1, and the $1 and $2 are virtual look-a-likes. These made it difficult for handlers to count the notes from their backs, had they given up on doing so from their faces. The back borders did incorporate repetitive white line geometric lathe work that was a good counterfeit deterrent missing from the faces. Heritage Auction Archives photos. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 16 Figure 10. Prints from the redesigned silver certificate Series of 1896 master face dies as they appeared at the time work on them had ceased. The redesign focused on giving prominence to the counters in the corners and removing considerable shading to allow the security fibers in the paper to be seen. The plan was to issue these as a new Series of 1897, but the series was canceled by Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage. Photos from BEP (1990a,b,c). SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 17 Attempt To Salvage the Series The engravers at the BEP were in the process of hurriedly preparing new master face dies for the Series of 1896 at the time Secretary Gage assumed office in March 1897. Their redesign was to provide prominent counters in the corners and materially brighten the picture engravings by eliminating much shading to allow security fibers in the paper to be seen. The plan was to issue the replacements as a new Series of 1897. The work on the dies was incomplete when work on them ceased. The BEP released a series of three souvenir cards in 1990 that were made from the incomplete dies so we can see how far the work had progressed (BEP, 1990a,b,c). Fates of Johnson and Morris Sound money Republican William McKinley was elected President over silverite Democrat William Jennings Bryan. As the March 4, 1897 inauguration approached, it was assumed according to tradition that BEP Chief Claude Johnson would be replaced by a Republican. However, Johnson was a so- called Gold Democrat who wisely campaigned for McKinley in Johnson’s home state of Kentucky. Kentucky, a crucial swing state in the election, went Republican. Johnson’s loyalty could not be ignored. Ultimately, he was allowed by Secretary Gage to hang on for another four years, despite the Series of 1896 fiasco. At Johnson’s urging, the title of Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was changed by the Treasury Department to Director in order to distinguish the position from the subservient division chiefs in the organization. Upon leaving the Bureau, Johnson served as an Indian Agent in Arizona Territory and later headed a printing firm in England. He died at 66 in 1919 (BEP, 2004). Thomas Morris’ health was faltering during his tenure at the Bureau, His symptoms evolved into incapacitating, blinding headaches. By 1897, he was aware that he had an incurable malignant tumor behind his left eye. After a conference with Johnson on June 18, Johnson authorized a leave of absence with pay from June 19th to June 30, 1897. Unstated was that Morris was being discharged as Chief of the Engraving Department. A formal notice to that effect without explanation was sent to him by Secretary of the Treasury Gage (Morris, 1968, p. 89-90; Senate, 1899, p. 350)). Morris was called to testify by the committee investigating the BEP in which as part of the inquiry, the committee was attempting to fix the blame for the failure of the Series of 1896. His testimony was heard July 6, 1897, a week after he had been discharged from the Bureau. He died January 18, 1898 at age 45 Post-Mortem The Series of 1896 silver certificates foundered on technical grounds despite the sincerity and enthusiasm that Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle brought with him in his desire to revamp and elevate currency design. The face designs did not meet appropriate presentation standards essential for currency. The worst fault lay in the counters in the corners, which were not easy to read. Second was excess shading in the picture engravings that prevented a view of the security fibers in the paper. The design failure can be laid to BEP Director Johnson in so far as he preferentially deferred to the Table 1. Numbers of Series of 1896 Silver Certificates delivered from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing during the fiscal years ending June 30. $1 $2 $5 1897 19,728,000 5,676,000 8,160,000 1898 20,508,000 5,596,000 11,116,000 1899 17,108,000 7,464,000 7,368,000 1900 0 1,916,000 8,288,000 Totals 57,344,000 20,652,000 34,932,000 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 18 artists who argued against anything that detracted from visual focus on their work. This shift in emphasis from the denomination ran counter to the advice of Thomas Morris, his Chief of the Engraving Division. In retrospect, even the counters on the $5 faces didn’t pass muster although Morris totally redesigned them. The problem with them was too much shading and the one on the left was too busy with superposition of the Roman V over the 5. The backs of the notes also suffered but did not receive the attention of the faces. One principle in currency design at the time was to use radically different designs for the respective denominations so they easily could be distinguished from one another. The $1 and $2 backs had identical layouts much to the consternation of their handlers if they chose to sort the notes from their backs. Ironically, all the backs had been designed by Morris, who knew better. Secretary Gage made the decision to kill the series in 1897, a year after it was launched. However, this did not stop production of the notes. The unceasing appetite for currency required the presses to keep running. Production of the series continued through fiscal year 1900 as the employees of the BEP labored to develop and push to production the new Series of 1899 to replace the small denomination silver certificates. The output of the Series of 1896 notes is summarized on Table 1. There was turnover in the Treasury officials who served as Register and Treasurer during that interval. As a result, the following signature combinations appeared on the notes; respectively, Tillman-Morgan and Bruce-Roberts on the $1s, $2s and $5s with the addition of Lyons-Roberts to the list for the $5s. Work was progressing on a $10 face die in the series using art entitled Agriculture and Forestry submitted by Walter Shirlaw. Thomas Morris designed the lettering and borders. A die with Series of 1897 date was forthcoming before Secretary Gage killed the series but no plates were made from it. A souvenir card with its image was issued by the BEP at the 1974 American Numismatic Association convention. Morris submitted a design for the $10 back that was accepted and turned over to the engravers in October 1896. Nothing is known about it or its fate (Morris, 1968, p. 77). Secretary Gage, who inherited the Series of 1896, had little patience with the series. He quickly moved on to a larger currency issue. He took heart in the practical plight faced by currency handlers who had to contend with the heterogeneity of designs across the different classes of currency that they had to deal with daily. The following New York Times article (Oct 23, 1897, p. 10) spells out his initiative to standardize designs that was applauded but wasn’t realized during the large-note era. Its objective wasn’t fully implemented until small-size currency was introduced in 1928, a year after he died. Secretary Gage presented to the Cabinet to-day his proposition to change the designs of United States paper money. There are at present in current use three classes of Government paper money—silver certificates, Treasury notes of 1890, and United States notes or greenbacks. In each of these classes there are nine Figure 11. Image from the $10 master face die completed in 1897, thus it carried a Series of 1897 date. Photo from BEP (1974). SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 19 denominations, making twenty-seven in all, each being represented by a special design entirely dissimilar from the others. Secretary Gage’s plan is to have practically one design for the three one-dollar notes, another for the two-dollar notes, and so on up to $1,000. In order that the three classes of paper money may be distinguished readily the seals and the numerals in each class would be printed in distinctive colors. The numerals on each note would be made very prominent. The Secretary argued that the new designs would prevent in a great measure the raising of the notes, as the design of a bill at once would identify the denomination independent of the numerals. The Secretary had with him at the Cabinet meeting to-day samples of the new designs, and all of the Cabinet officers present expressed themselves as highly pleased with his scheme. Unless something unforeseen occurs to prevent, this plan will be carried out as soon as the plates can be prepared. Sources Cited and Sources of Data Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1875-1929, Certified proofs of national bank note face and back plates: National Numismatic Collection, Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1869-1898, Record of dies received for United States Notes and Miscellaneous Work, dies 5- 8033: Ledgers pertaining to Dies, Rolls, Altos, Plates and Serial Numbers, 1863-1960, Record Group 318, Entry P 1 (450/79/17/01), U.S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1897-1900, Reports of the operations of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the fiscal year: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1974, Series of 1897 $10 silver certificate master face die souvenir card: ANA August 1974 Bal Harbor, FL Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1990a, Series of 1897 $5 silver certificate unfinished master face die souvenir card: 1890’s an American Renaissance series, FUN 1990, Tampa, FL Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1990b, Series of 1897 $1 silver certificate unfinished master face die souvenir card: 1890’s an American Renaissance series, CSNS 1990, Milwaukee, WI. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1990c, Series of 1897 $2 silver certificate unfinished master face die souvenir card: 1890’s an American Renaissance series, ANA Midwinter 1990, San Diego, CA. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 2004, A brief history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: BEP Historical Resource Center, 30 p. Carlisle, John G., 1894, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year 1894: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Carlisle, John G., 1896, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year 1896: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Carlisle, John G., 1896a, Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to U.S. Treasurer Daniel Morgan transmitting new seals and authorization to use them for the Series of 1896 silver certificates: Record Group 53, Bureau of the Public Debt, Division of Loans and Currency, Letters Sent, Mar 2, 1861-Apr 12, 1915, NC-120, Entry 462, vol. 183, p. 347-348, (53/450/52/25-/2), 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. Grinnell, Albert A. Nov 1937, United States paper money from a collector’s perspective: The Numismatist, vol. L. p. 1005-1010. Hellings, Benjamin Dieter R, Feb 2021, Fatal flaws in the designs of 19th-century U.S. bank notes featuring world-class artistry caused their premature demise: The Numismatist, p. 37-40. Hessler, Gene, 1995, The Engravers Line: BNR Press, Port Clinton, OH, 457 p. Hessler, Gene, 2004, U. S. Essay, Proof and Specimen Notes, second edition: BNR Press, Portage, OH, 262 p. Huntoon, Peter, Mar-Apr 2018, Patented lettering on Bureau of Engraving and Printing products: Paper Money, v. 57, 93-107 Morris II, Thomas F., spring 1968, The life and work of Thomas F. Morris (1852-1898) designer of bank notes and stamps, an intimate account of the design, engraving and production of the U.S. Silver Certificates of 1896: Essay Proof Journal, v. 25, p. 51-93. New York Times, Jul 15, 1896, A new silver certificate, p. 2. New York Times, Aug 15, 1896, New silver certificate issued, p. 4. New York Times, Oct 22, 1896, New issue of small bills, p. 1. New York Times, Aug 15, 1897, National Capital Topics, proposed new edition of the artist series of silver certificates not to be issued, p. 20. New York Times, Oct 23, 1897, Changes in paper money, p. 10. Philadelphia Enquirer, May 1, 1897. Will Call in the Notes. U.S. Senate, February 3, 1899, Report of Committee to Investigate the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: 55th Congress, 3rd Session, Document 109, 594 p. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 20 Shop Live 24/7 Scan for $10 off your first purchase whatnot.com   The Entrepreneurial Holt Family: New York, Mobile and New Orleans By Bill Gunther I began my research for this article after noticing that a note, issued by Asa Holt of Mobile was redeemable at a location in New Orleans. It was not unusual for merchants who issued scrip to indicate redemption was available in another city or even in another state! They also limited redemption to multiples of the same denomination, e.g., $5 in $.10 notes (50 notes!) or $20 in $1 notes. Such actions reduced the demand on merchants for redemptions while effectively raising the price of merchandise that was sold to the holder of these notes. While the motives of many merchants were probably honorable, others saw these redemption clauses as part of their business model. Let’s learn more about this Asa Holt, his family, and the redemption location of his notes. The Holt Family: Some Background Nicholas Holt (1602-1685), at the age of 35, emigrated from Ramsey, Essex, England to the Massachusetts Colony.1 The family mainly remained in Massachusetts during the time of the American Revolution. Nicholas’s great-grandson, Thomas Holt (1712-1776) served as a “minute man” at the “Lexington Alarm,” Lexington, Massachusetts.2 Thomas’s son, Asa (1742-1793) served as a member of a company of volunteers at Lexington and at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.3 Asa’s son, Stephen Holt (1772-1852), moved from the family home in Salem, Massachusetts to New York City in 1808 where he opened a “small victualing house, managed by his wife.”4 Stephen Holt had married Mary Brown in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1803 when she was 22 and he was 21. They had 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls. Two of the boys were Asa (1807-1873) and George Washington (G. W.) Holt (1815- ?). By 1814, Stephen expanded his offerings and was operating a boarding house for army officers. After a fire destroyed that property, he opened the highly successful Holt hotel in 1832. An innovator as well as an entrepreneur, Holt installed a steam powered lift to move baggage to the upper floors. He also bored a well 370 feet that would “yield a constant supply of pure rock water, which by means of a steam engine is conveyed to every part of the building”.5 The hotel “…was, in its day, one of the wonders of the town. It was the largest and most magnificent hotel that had been erected up to that time, and its price of $1.50 a day was considered exorbitant.”6 The New York “Evening Post” ran an ad in 1838 that illustrate the involvement of the family in the Holt Hotel. The hotel was under the “superintendence of Stephen B. Holt” who was reportedly conversant in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian languages. The dining department was managed by Asa Holt (1807-1873), and the basement dining area was managed by the “senior” Stephen Holt (1782-1852). The hotel advertised that its “Refectory” (dining room) was open all night.7 G. W. Holt, at age 21 in 1838, was not mentioned in the ad, but most likely was involved in the operations of the hotel. Our numismatic Asa Holt (1807-1873), was the third child born in Massachusetts just before the family moved to New York and was named for his grandfather. A younger brother to Asa was George Washington Holt (1815-?), 8 years his junior.8 Both Asa and G. W. grew up in New York around their father’s business interests and they both apparently inherited their father’s entrepreneurial spirt, but it was Asa who first moved to the South. However, we will begin with the younger Holt (G. W.) first. *AO-316-$.25a. Train in Oval Vignette. Redeemable at 107 Gravier in sums of $10. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 22     George Washington Holt The earliest date that we find G. W. Holt in Alabama is June 3, 1845, where at age 30 he married Mary E. Gaylord in Mobile.9 Mary was two years older than George, a somewhat unusual fact for the time, and she was born in South Carolina. Presumably they met in Mobile and it is likely that George arrived between 1840 and before 1845. By 1850, George Holt remained in Mobile and his occupation was listed as a “hotel keeper”.10 We assume that George began his Alabama career in the hotel business, perhaps funded by his father with some “seed capital”. It is not clear whether George was the owner or an employee of the hotel, but his experience in New York with his father probably carried over into his own career choice. There are 14 non-family members listed in his hotel, suggesting that the hotel was small or medium sized. Another Holt listed in the hotel, a “S. C. Holt”, was possibly the son of George and Asa’s oldest brother, Stephen B. Holt, who’s first born was a “Saml B. Holt”, born in New York around 1835. (Mistakes in interpreting handwriting may explain the difference in middle initials.) The younger Holt in the hotel seems to be maintaining the family tradition of training for a career in the hotel business. By 1860, George and his wife had relocated from Mobile to New Orleans and were operating a coffee house.11 A New Orleans City Directory of 1861 lists George as living at 107 Gravier Street, which will be explained later. G. W. Holt issued a wide variety of scrip from this location in support of his coffee house and hotel. The Census record for 1860 lists four non- family member names in the hotel, none of whom were on the Mobile hotel list of residents. This record suggests that George and his wife were operating a small boarding house. Like many merchants in the early days of the Civil War, specie was horded and to facilitate trade, merchants issued their own “scrip” (sometimes also called ‘change tickets’). The denominations issued by G. W. Holt include two fractional issues, 25 and 50 cents, and four-dollar denominated issues, $1, $2, $3 and $5. While the fractional issues can be explained by activities in the coffee shop, the higher denomination suggest they were issued for the hotel activities. The earliest date of issue for the scrip of G. W. Holt is January 1, 1862. One issue, the $5, carries the date of January 15, 1862. It is interesting that the female ridding deer vignette appearing on some of G. W. Holt’s scrip is the same vignette appearing on a bogus Confederate note. According to a Heritage Auctions cataloger “George was one of the city’s most prolific issuers of scrip in 1862 and was noted for not redeeming his notes on more than one occasion.”12 His scrip stated that they were redeemable in “city currency” although a few indicated they were redeemable in “confederate currency.” Only the $5 note carried a printer imprint: Clark & Brisbin, Printers. The location of where the redemption of these notes was to take place is not listed, but was probably the same place where they were issued. When Union troops captured New Orleans in the Spring of 1862, George Holt and a daughter, Jennie Holt, returned to Mobile.13 After the war, the 1870 Census records indicate that George is the head of household with Jennie and George’s older brother Asa, as members of the household in Mobile.14 There is no mention of the wives of George (Mary E.) or Asa (Jerusha). George is listed as a “dealer in fruit,” and Asa is reported to be a “ret. Liq. Dealer.” Jennie is listed as “house keeper”. A man named J. T. Heldrum, also in the Holt household, is listed as a “bar keeper.” The Holt Hotel, Corner of Fulton & Water Steet, New York City, First published in 1831. Source: “Holt’s Hotel, Water Street” (Wikimedia Commons) SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 23   The possibility that Asa still owned a bar and Heldrum managed the bar for Asa. Asa Holt Asa was born on April 5, 1807 in Massachusetts but the family moved to New York the next year. At the age of 18, he married Jerusha Beeman, also age 18, in New York. They had three children between 1830 and 1835, all born in New York.15 It is assumed that Asa worked with his father in the hotel business in 1850 and was listed as a “wine importer”. That same year, Asa’s wife listed Real Estate valued at $8,000 while Asa listed no real estate, an unusual situation. Between 1850 and 1860, Asa relocated to Mobile and listed his 1860 occupation as “whiskey seller.” It is unclear if Asa was selling whiskey in a retail setting or by wholesale. By 1861 however, the Mobile City Directory clears that up when it states that he ran a “bar room” on North Royal Street.16 The 1870 City Directory indicated that he ran a “saloon” at the same address on North Royal and his residence was listed at the same address, suggesting that he may have lived above the saloon. He began to issue scrip on March 1, 1862 and apparently limited the issues to two denominations, 25 cent and a 50-cent note. (There are two different designs for the 25-cent note, one with a train in an oval, and the second with a steamship in an oval.) In addition, there are two color overprints, one green and one red. The 50 cent note also carries a train vignette in an oval and only comes with a red overprint. Asa’s redemption clause on his scrip lists his brother’s address in New Orleans, 107 Gravier Street. The 25 cent notes require that they be redeemed in lots of $10 (40 notes!) and the 50 cent notes redeemed in lots of 10 (20 notes). All redemptions were to be paid in Confederate currency. Given the low denominations and relatively large number of notes required, it seems unlikely that many individuals would accumulate the required number of notes and then travel to New Orleans for redemption in Confederate notes resulting in providing Asa Holt a source of profits for his saloon! None of Asa’s family (three children and wife) are listed as being with him in Mobile at this time. We do know that Asa’s son, Asa Holt Jr., enlisted in the Union army in 1862 in Connecticut as a Major and served until 1865 discharged as a Lt. Colonel.18 This suggests that the family left Alabama at the beginning of the war. His wife, Jerusha is listed as “widowed” in the 1880 Census and living with her son-in-law in Connecticut.19 Questions emerge on whether Asa’s family left over political differences related to the war, or did Asa remain Alabama only to protect his business interests? Asa died on September 11, 1873 at the age of 66 and Jerusha died in 1901 at the age of 90.20 S. B. Holt, Age 19 The name of a S. B. Holt appeared in the household of George W. Holt in 1850. At the time, he was listed as being 19 years old and born in New York. There is no specific link to the Holt family discussed here. There are two known denominations that were issued by S. B. Holt, both issued in 1862 in New Orleans (see below). In 1862, he was, at age 33 years old and old enough to be a merchant in his own right. There is speculation that he might be the grandson of the S. B. Holt discussed earlier. The S. B. Holt notes carry a redemption clause very similar to those of Asa Holt’s notes with the 50- cent note requiring $10 (20 notes) in total for redemption and the $3 note requiring $20 (7 notes) for redemption. The vignette on the 50-cent note is identical to the vignettes used on some of Asa’s notes (train in oval). The vignette on the $3 note is unique among the three Holt issuers. S. B. Holt was probably related to George or Asa, but is not definitive but seems possible. S. B. Holt & Co. $3. 1862 S. B. Holt & Co. 50 cents. 1862  SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 24   A Final Observation Asa Holt required holders of his scrip to redeem them at his brother’s coffee house in New Orleans but George did not have such a restrictive clause on his scrip. George would probably have been aware of the advantage of requiring redemption at some obscure location. However, if you did not intend to redeem your scrip, as was reported, it makes little difference where that occurs. Other Notes Issued by Asa Holt: AO-316-$.25b. Train in Oval. March 1, 1862. AO-316-$.25d. Steamboat in Oval. March 1, 1862. AO-316-$.50a. Train in Oval. March 1, 1862. Notes Issued by G. W. Holt G. W. Holt, 25 cents. Dog sitting by safe vignette. January 1, 1862. G. W. Holt. 50 cents. Indian (L) and horse (R) vignettes. January 1, 1862 G. W. Holt. $1. Female riding deer vignette. January 1, 1862. G. W. Holt. $2. Female ridding deer vignette. January 1, 1862. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 25   Acknowledgements With gratitude to Judy Haywood for her fantastic editorial skills. Images of scrip notes courtesy of Heritage Auctions archives. See www.ha.com. Footnotes *Catalog numbers for Asa Holt’s scrip are from Comprehensive Guide to Alabama Obsolete Notes, 1818-1885, by William Gunther and Charles Derby, 2020. Privately printed. 1See Stephen Holt at “A Century of Banking in New York,” Ancestry.com. 2The “Lexington Alarm” refers to the first battle of the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775. Paul Revere alerted the Americans of the coming British. See “The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut”, at www.colonialwarsct.org/1775_lex_alarm.htm. 3See Thomas and Asa Holt, “North American Family Histories, 1500-2000,” Ancestry.com. 4A victualing house was a “formal name given to a public house or an alternative name for a sutler who sells provisions to an army.” See Wikipedia.com. 5Fay, Theodore S. and Dakin, James H. Views of New York and its Environs from Accurate, Characteristic, and Picturesque Drawings on the Spot Expressly for this Work. (New York: Peabody & Co., 1831). 6“A Century of Banking,” Ancestry.com. 7d in The Evening Post (New York City), Friday, May 4, 1838, p. 1. 8See Stephen Holt, Public Family Tree, Ancestry.com. 9ee Mary E. Gaylord, Alabama Select Marriages, 1819-1942, Ancestry.com. 10ensus of 1850, Ancestry.com. 11Census of 1860, Ancesry.com. 12See auction results for G. W. Holt, September 27, 2016 at Heritage Auctions (HA.com). 13See “New Orleans” at www.americancivilwar.com. 14Census of 1870, Ancestry.com. 15Asa Holt, Public Family Tree, Ancestry.com. 16City Directory of New Orleans, 1861, Ancestry.com. 17Census of 1870, Ancestry.com. 18Asa Holt Jr., Public Family Trees, Ancestry.com. 19Census of 1880, Ancestry.com. 20See Find-a-grave for Asa Holt and Jerusha Holt at Ancestry.com.   G. W. Holt. $3. Female ridding deer vignette. January 1, 1862. G. W. Holt. $5. Indians (L), female (C) and Ship (R). January 15, 1862. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 26 WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE LIVE BIDDING ON OUR WEBSITE & MOBILE APPS DEDICATED CATALOGS & SALES FOR ADVANCED COLLECTIONS 0% COMMISSION FEE ON ALL CONSIGNMENTS WORLD BANKNOTE AUCTIONS SPECIALIZING IN US PAPER MONEY info@worldbanknoteauctions.com +1 (916)-701-5132 / (888)-707-1564 World Banknote Auctions P.O. Box 348144 Sacramento, CA 95834 United States www.worldbanknoteauctions.com Origin of Fr.1192a, the $50 1882 Gold Certificate with the wrong seal, Treasurer’s Replacement Note Purpose This article will explain how the Fr.1192a rarity was created. The $50 note pictured on Figure 1 is the only example of its type that has been reported. The peculiar thing about it is that it is a Rosecrans- Huston note printed and serial numbered in FY 1891 but carries a small scalloped Treasury seal first used on the Lyons-Roberts Department Series $50 gold certificates in FY 1900. We will reveal that the note was from a group of sheets that was set aside at the Treasurer’s office to replace misprinted sheets in the sealing operation there. Because the wrong Treasury seal for a Rosecrans- Huston note was printed on it, it emerged as the only currently known note that we can definitively identify as being a replacement note from the Treasurer’s operation. Normally, the replacement notes used in the Figure 1. Fr.1192a is the most enigmatic type note sealed at the Treasury Department. It was from a group of Rosecrans-Huston sheets set aside in the Treasurer’s sealing facility to be used to replace misprints in the sealing operation there. It was used during the Lyon-Roberts era so a small scalloped seal was printed on it instead of the large brown spiked seal normally used on Rosecrans-Huston notes. Heritage Auction archives photo. The Paper Column Peter Huntoon Doug Murray Shawn Hewitt SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 28 Treasurer’s sealing operation are invisible to us because the only difference between them and normal notes was that they carried an earlier serial number than the other notes in the pack in which they were inserted. Sealing in the Treasury Department – the Origin Story The sealing of all non-national bank Federal currency was carried out by the U.S. Treasurer’s office in the Treasury Building as the final printing step involved in monetizing the notes between 1885 and 1911. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing carried out all the other printing steps including numbering the notes and delivered them to the Treasurer’s office in sheet form. The Treasurer’s sealing operation overprinted the Treasury seals on the sheets and separated the notes from them. As in any printing operation, there was spoilage. In order to maintain counts, the Treasurer’s sealing operators maintained a stock of sheets drawn from the BEP deliveries for each of the different types of notes they handled. These were sheets without seals. When their inspectors found a mis-sealed sheet or even a misprint that had escaped from the BEP, they replaced it with one from this reserve stock. They had to add seals to those sheets. Notice that this protocol preserved the counts in the packs that the Treasurer’s office delivered into commerce. The replacement notes carried serial numbers that pre-dated the others in the pack. That was their only difference. In this operation, as well as at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, there are three realties that must be taken into account. First was that the Treasury placed great value on the intaglio work of the Bureau so employees did everything possible to minimize wasting it. Second, something often overlooked by collectors, is that these printing operations were industrial processes, not white-glove enterprises. The object was to get the job done without dithering. Third, misprints represented a nuisance bottleneck in production both at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Treasurer’s office. When a misprinted sheet was found during the final inspection at either facility, the procedure at the time was to replace it with a make-up sheet. At the BEP, they took an unnumbered sheet and stamped the same serial numbers on it as on the defective using a paging machine. At the Treasurer’s office, they took a sheet from the reserve stock that already was numbered and overprinted the necessary seals. No one in white gloves was going over the makeup sheets worrying about the Treasury signatures. Use of sheets with obsolete Treasury signatures honored a cost-saving protocol to simply use them up. In terms of Fr.1192a, the Treasurer’s operatives set aside a stock of unsealed sheets of $50 gold certificates received in from the BEP during FY 1891 that bore then-current Rosecrans-Huston Treasury signatures and serial numbers of FY 1891vintage. They slowly depleted this stock on an as-need basis. The stock had not been depleted when they finished deliveries of $50s in FY 1891. They stockpiled the remainders for future use. No orders came in for more of the notes until FY 1900. The new printings from the BEP bore Lyons-Roberts signatures. The old Rosecrans-Huston replacement stock with FY 1891 serial numbers was resurrected. Recall that the replacement sheets didn’t carry Treasury seals, so those had to be added. By then, the small scalloped red seals had been adopted so those were the seals that were affixed as the sheets were withdrawn from the replacement stockpile. That detail made no difference to those doing the work, Table 1. Characterization chart for Fr.1192a - the $50 1882 Department Series gold certificate with the wrong Treasury seal. Feature Date Printed Where Printed Rosecrans-Huston intaglio face FY 1891a Bureau of Engraving and Printing Serial C128690b FY 1891 Bureau of Engraving and Printing Small Scalloped Red Sealc FY 1900 or later Treasury Department a. FY 1891 = fiscal year 1891 = July 1, 1890-June 30, 1891. b. Serial number printed on a paging machine, which was how notes were numbered at the time. c. Seal centered under "gold coin" as on $500 and higher denomination notes instead of to right over "IN" in coin. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 29 and probably wasn’t even noticed let alone taken into consideration as they pushed the order forward. Upon withdrawing the sheet containing Fr.1192a from the stockpile to replace a defectively sealed sheet, the operative had to run it through a sealing press set up for the 1882 series. However, instead of using a press specifically configured for $50s where the seals were offset toward the right and higher, he apparently fed it through a press for $500s or performed a custom setup so the seals came out centered below Gold Coin. Compare the placement on Fr.1192a on Figure 1 with that on Fr.1193 on Figure 2. Final Considerations The small red scalloped seal found on Fr.1192a was adopted for use at the Treasurer’s office in FY 1891 and began to be employed on Rosecrans-Nebeker notes of all current classes at the time (Huntoon and Murray, 2020). The new seal supplanted the large brown spiked seals used on the early Rosecrans-Nebeker notes. By the time of this change, the last of the Rosecrans-Huston $50 departmental Series gold certificates printed in FY 1891 had ceased so they were unaffected. Use of the new seals on the $50s was delayed until FY 1900 when the Lyons-Roberts variety was being printed. The delay was the result of a lack of orders in the interim. Consequently, the appearance of Fr.1192a with its Rosecrans-Huston signatures and small scalloped red seal presented a conundrum when it was discovered. As for the Fr.1192a pictured on Figure 1, it is the only note of its kind that has been reported. It came about because it was from a group of Rosecrans-Huston sheets delivered to the Treasurer’s office in FY 1891 that was set aside to replace defectively sealed sheets in the Treasurer’s sealing operation. It was not consumed in FY 1891, instead being carried forward into the Lyons-Roberts era in FY 1900 when it was used and sealed with the out-of-character younger small scalloped red seal. It is the only replacement note from the Treasurer’s sealing facility that has been identified to date. Its identity was given away as such because it carries the wrong Treasury seal for a Rosecrans-Huston $50 Departmental Series gold certificate. It was one of 4 on the sheet. Was it the only sheet of its kind? Very, very doubtful. Other misprinted sheets of the same vintage were created at the Treasurer’s sealing operation so the same stock supplied the replacements until the stock was finally depleted. Notes from those other sheets circulated to oblivion alongside their Lyons-Roberts brethren with which they were mixed. If the replacement stockpile lasted long enough, Fr.1192a Rosecrans-Huston notes could have come in packs with younger Treasury signatures than Lyons-Roberts. Check your packs of the younger notes. The Fr.1192a shown here carries serial C128690. The serials delivered in FY 1891 were C40001- C140000, and represent all the Rosecrans-Huston $50s made in the Department Series. The particular group of sheets pulled for use as replacements that contained Fr.1192a was from one of the last deliveries of Figure 2. This is a Fr.1193 Lyons-Roberts note sealed at the Treasury Department. Compare the placement of the seal over the word Coin verses its placement on Fr.1192a on Figure 1. The placement on Fr.1193 is specific to the $50 that carry these small scalloped red seals in the series. Heritage Auction archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 30 Rosecrans-Huston $50s received from the BEP in FY 1891. The later that delivery, the better were the odds that the stockpile was not consumed in FY 1891. This allowed the remainders to be carried forward into the Lyons-Roberts era nine years later. Reference Cited Huntoon, Peter, and Doug Murray, May-Jun 2020, Treasury seal varieties when sealing was carried out at the Treasurer’s office between 1885 and 1919: Paper Money, v. 59, p. 179-187. Letter to the Editor--while we normally do not have letters, this one came and I thought it warranted publishing and a response. Joe Boling wrote about Lee Lofthus' article in the Nov/Dec issue, "What Time is on the $100 Bill?” Folks, no time is shown on the pre-2009 $100 bill. The clock is broken, and has been stopped in its impossible setting for over 95 years. Look at the hands. One points to the II and the other points between the IV and the V. There is no question which is the minute hand. With enough magnification, the lower one is clearly longer - it extends past the inner circle on the clock face. Yes, it’s only a small bump over the line, but it can only be representing the minute hand. With that hand being more than 1/3 of the way around the face, the hour hand should point well past the II - 1/3 of the way to the III. It remains stuck on the II. The clock is broken, and has been since series 1928. I can’t believe the Burean bigwigs did not acknowledge that in their response to Mrs. Canty. On the 2009 notes, it has been repaired. The minute hand points a bit to the left of the VI, and the hour hand is appropriately halfway between X and XI. I do not believe the attribution of the engraving of the new back belongs to the same man who engraved the earlier note (Joachim Benzing). The styles are radically different. Thomas Hipschen engraved the face of the new $100, and my impression has been that he was responsible for both sides, but I can find no definite support for that. Incidentally, the North Korean supernote $100 does not have the lower clock hand extending outside the inner circle. That diagnostic was first reported by Japanese investigative news researchers who bought supernotes at the China-Korea border some years ago and studied them closely. Joseph E Boling Author Lofthus' response Thank you for sharing Joe Boling’s letter regarding my article “What time is it on the $100 bill? With the benefit of Joe’s magnification, I can see why he believes the clock is broken and the hour hand is stuck on the II position. Given Treasury’s own uncertainty over the time, Treasury too may have welcomed Joe’s enlarged image. Regarding the engraving on the 2009 $100, I’ve seen one source with a general reference to Thomas Hipschen engraving the vignettes, but a story in the September 2013 issue of Esquire magazine, “A Hundred Bucks Says You Won’t Read This Story,” by Chris Jones, provided an in-depth profile of the new bill and attributed the engraving to BEP engraver Will Fleishell. Jones pointed out “The engravings on the new hundred-dollar bill are, in fact, old engravings. The Franklin portrait is the same one used on the current hundred, created by Thomas Hipschen in 1992; * * * The vignette of Independence Hall on the back of the bill was made by Joachim Benzing in 1929.” The article further explained Fleishell “painstakingly revised the vignette of Independence Hall,” and that “Fleishell digitally [italics in original] touched up Benzing's engraving, making the windows crisper and changing the look of the sky.” I’m not surprised that someone with Joe’s eye to detail would have noticed the changes and questioned the identity of the engraver because of it. The Esquire story is a helpful addition to the discussion. My original interest was not in naming the engraver but pointing out the use of a different source image of Independence Hall, i.e., the north side image, was what occasioned the change to the clock time. Lee Lofthus SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 31 You Collect. We Protect. Learn more at: www.PCGS.com/Banknote PCGS.COM | THE STANDARD FOR THE RARE COIN INDUSTRY | FOLLOW @PCGSCOIN | ©2021 PROFESSIONAL COIN GRADING SERVICE | A DIVISION OF COLLECTORS UNIVERSE, INC. PCGS Banknote is the premier third-party certification service for paper currency. All banknotes graded and encapsulated by PCGS feature revolutionary Near-Field Communication (NFC) Anti-Counterfeiting Technology that enables collectors and dealers to instantly verify every holder and banknote within. VERIFY YOUR BANKNOTE WITH THE PCGS CERT VERIFICATION APP Try This Over on Your Piano By Terry A. Bryan Music publishers often included a few lines of songs on back covers of sheet music, hoping that the buyer would be hooked into buying other songs after sampling the ads. “Try this over” urges the player to check out what else the publisher has to offer. Money was no less central to life in the 19th century than it is today. Composers are still writing songs about it. People have always been interested in the doings of the rich. Robber Barons, the stock market, war bonds, taxes, banks and money itself were, and are, newsworthy and song-worthy. The familiar form of piano/lyrics sheet music became common in the 1830s. The rise of a middle class in the industrial United States, increased leisure time, interest in live concerts and theater, widespread music literacy, cheaper printing methods and cheaper domestic piano manufacturing were all factors. Sheet music, although relatively expensive, grew to be a significant percentage of the music business by the 1860s. Songs heard in live performance could be performed in your parlor. Musicianship was a desirable skill among daughters in the family. Social singing was once a common phenomenon. Today, it is rare for a party to converge on the piano for a sing- along. Sheet music is a negligible part of the industry today. Guitar lessons have overtaken piano lessons for young musicians. There is still the lure of musical “standards”. Modern vocalists cover old songs, and dated melodies play in old movies on TV. Old sheet music is quite collectible. Perhaps 3 million songs have been written in the U.S. Even the least distinguished music might be found with a beautiful front cover. Cover artists from the classic era of illustration, songs from musical theater, celebrities on covers, nineteenth century color lithographs, and popular composers are all common topics of collections. The field is so large and varied that no comprehensive guidebooks are available. This has limited the value of collectible sheets. Judging rarity is entirely a result of experience after looking at thousands of pieces, hundreds of dealers’ lists. A musician and money collector might fall naturally into collecting music on the topic of Money and Finance. While old music does not start as a costly hobby, it adds up after 40 years and thousands of pieces. Money Music is not largely numismatic, of course. Wealth and poverty are common themes. Songs not related to the topic might have money illustrated on the cover. Financiers, stocks, coins, gold, bonds, theft, real estate, business, gambling, auctions, millionaires…all are keywords for the topic. Gene Hessler and others have written about musical images on coins and paper money. The variation on this theme is music about money, or music illustrating money. For us, Joel and Liza sang, “Money Makes the World Go ‘Round…a Mark or Yen, a buck or a Pound” in Cabaret (Kander-Ebb, 1972). Songs or music covers are found for many categories of paper money collecting. Paper money is illustrated on many music sheets. Photos of actual money are rare. Publishers are wary of laws against pictures of currency. Such things were much more enforced in the nineteenth century. Cover illustrations of money are still usually cartoonish drawings. The currency used as models for the artists are sometimes identifiable as to type and contemporary with the music, but most resemble money drawn by a child. The most obvious piece is often seen at dealers’ bourse tables: Save Your Confederate Money, Boys/The South Shall Rise Again (Markes-Fort-Stone, 1948). The Lovin’ Spoonful quartette recorded Money picturing the singers’ portraits over Jeff Davis’s on CSA T-16 fifties of 1861.  The composers can have paper money significance. Charles Gates Dawes (1865-1951) wrote It’s All in the Game in 1912; it was a big hit for Tommy Edwards in 1951. The single record is the only song written by a Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate that made #1 on the Pop Chart. Young Dawes became rich in industry and banking and influential in Republican politics. He became an important part of McKinley’s Presidential election campaign, and he innovated mass mailing of fact sheets and voter education materials. A general in WWI, he followed up with U.S. Budget Committee and European recovery efforts. Dawes was Vice President during the Coolidge administration, and afterward Ambassador to Great Britain. As Treasury’s Comptroller of the Currency (1898-1901), Dawes wrote banking regulation speeding the recovery from the Panic of 1893. The Gold Standard, National Banking system and paper currency issues of the Confederate $50s appear on Money, credit the Lovin’ Spoonful, not Jeff Davis. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 33 1890s were much influenced by Dawes’ political circles. Franklin Roosevelt’s friend and first Treasury Secretary William H. Woodin served for only 21 months during the depths of the Depression. He presided over the Bank Holiday and the United States abandoning the gold standard. He signed short series of U.S. currency: (Woods-Woodin): 1928C $1 Silver Certificate, 1928 $1 United States Note, 1928D $5 Federal Reserve Note. (Julian-Woodin): 1928D $1 Silver Certificate and 1933 $10 Silver Certificate. Because of his poor health, his signature on currency is scarce. Woodin was a considerable musician, and he co-wrote (with Irving Caesar) The Franklin D. Roosevelt March in tribute to his friend in 1933 and composed many other pieces. The Civil War brought on a spate of patriotic songs. Keep in mind that a song that you liked in a live music hall performance could only be reproduced in another stage venue or performed at home. Comical, current topical and sad songs were turned out by the hundreds in the 1860s. The occasional numismatic auction will include How Are You, Greenbacks! (Powers-Glover, 1863) The cover features fantasy money look-alikes enhanced with vivid green. This 1863 song was performed by the famous minstrel Dan Bryant. Notes are signed by Bryant as Register and William Pond (publisher) as Treasurer. Sets of decorative stationery and envelopes were sold, encouraging mail to the soldiers. A sheet of CW writing paper from Magnus Printing has an image of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase above the 1863 lyrics. Chase was instrumental in the release of Federal Greenbacks, National Bank Notes and Treasury Notes, as well as founding the Bureau of Internal Revenue. How Are You Greenbacks! has a lithographed vignette pirated from a F.O.C. Darley bank note vignette.  Similar CW money imitations are found on covers for Greenbacks! by Emmitt and Secretary Chase’s Grand March by Mack, both 1863. The March has a nice mockup of a $50 Greenback with Chase’s portrait. Cartoon 1899 $1 SC, $2 SC, $5 SC, 1907 $5 LT, and 1901 $10 LT notes decorate quite a few music covers. Unidentifiable notes show up elsewhere with no obvious models for an artist, although laid out like genuine notes. Good-bye Mister Greenback (Allen, 1906) has a sad man contemplating a $1 Black Eagle note while many other winged notes fly away. The Man with a Jingle (Friedlander-Mullen, 1905) holds a fistful of $100 Gold Certificates.   Afloat On a Five-Dollar Note, (Lamb-Helf, 1906) features a couple sailing toward an amusement park on a bill. The lyrics suggest that J. P. Morgan couldn’t top the fun that they have on their date with their five dollars. The cartoon could be taken from the reverse of the 1899 $5 SC. Another Black Eagle plays the title role in Every Dollar Carries Trouble of its Own (Leighton-Leighton, 1908). Nice fantasy Greenbacks sell this comic satire from Bryant’s Minstrels. Dan Bryant, appears on this Ten. The inspiration was the song How Are You, Conscript!, which referred to the large numbers of drafted men, rather than the large number of Greenbacks released from the Treasury. Greenbacks! features more fantasy currency. Two green backs of notes are shown, along with a $10 and $20. The music hall comedy lyrics use the line, “Now Chase he is a clever laddy/But father Abra’m is his daddy.” It also mentions that the $300 bounty to avoid the draft is nothing to the rich fellow with “pockets lined with Greenbacks”. Secretary Chase gets a dedicatory Grand March, along with some nice fantasy Greenbacks. The public was accustomed to a wild variety of designs; these may not have seemed quite so strange as they appear today. “Black Eagle” 1899 silver certificates fly away from a tearful guy on Good-bye Mister Greenback. Another Black Eagle note carries TROUBLE on this 1905 cover. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 34 Coupons, ration points, trading stamps and War Savings Stamps have all been featured in Paper Money magazine. These items have not been neglected in music. Cigar store premium coupons are parodied in I’m Saving Up Coupons to Get One of These (Weston-Wilsky, 1914). A cute baby is pictured for a vast number of coupons. Extra verses detail the guy’s wife has 7,000 saved up, and she needs 6 million more to get a new hat. The poor man won’t live long enough to get what he wants, because of the number of cigars he needs to smoke. They knew the dangers of tobacco in 1914. For contrast, a baby is described as Worth More Than Money (Ladd-Van Sickle, 1950) on a music cover decorated with play money. If I Had Lots of Coupons, I’d Be a Millionaire (Ritter, 1943) refers to Britain’s war rationing quotas. Actual photos of money are not often seen. Just For Money (Hardcastle, 1985) shows corners of FRN $10 and $50. Similarly, I’d Rather Be Rich (Calloway-Gentry, 1989) has photos of $20 series of 1985 FRN from several districts, overlapped to conceal most of the faces. Paying the Cost to Be the Boss (King, 1968) has photo of a $1 FRN. Some modern music uses paper money themes. Across 110th Street (Womack-Johnson, 1973) shows a movie scene with stage money piled on the robbers’ table. The late Fred Reed might have been able to identify what issue of movie money was used. The Kingston Trio sang about a Greenback Dollar (Axton-Ramsey, 1963) and sold a million albums and single records worldwide. National Bank Note collectors are not left out. I Am Not a Second National Bank, nor a Walking United States Mint (Leh-Sherman, 1909) is the complaint of a guy constantly hit up by friends and relatives for dough. Sallie’s First National Bank/Poor Sallie (Semans, 1914) tells the sad story of a girl who goes dancing with her worldly goods concealed, um, on her person. Scrip is represented with Major Upham’s Coupon March (Kingsbury, 1894) referring to store scrip from the Wisconsin lumber industry. This subject is covered in Paper Money #338, March/April, 2022. U.S. Fractional Currency is the subject of O Father, Dear Father, Come Down with the Stamps (Wilder, 1867). The lyrics describe Dad needing to cover daughter’s shopping when a bill collector comes to the door. Postage Currency in the story’s context is abbreviated as “stamps” in the girl’s plea to daddy. Shin Plaster Jig (Benson, 1864) has a good representation of a second issue 25 cent U.S. Fractional Currency note including a bronze oval. Foreign-language songs are not as common as American productions. The U.S. and England are responsible for most popular music. Wekselek (Harrymana-Teski, 1927) “bill of exchange” in Polish, shows a guy with a large check for 2,000 zlotys. The song is described as a shimmy: world music being influenced by American trends. The shimmy dance was popularized by a Polish dancer performing in New York in the 1920s. It is labeled “a song about hard times”. Foreign currency appears on the covers of Five Pound Polka (Glover, 1852) and Billets Bleus (Popy, 1900). The Bank of England fives of 1852 and French 1,000 francs of 1895 are rendered accurately by the artists.   Obsolete notes appear occasionally. My Counterfeit Bill (Sterling-Von Tilzer, 1911) clearly illustrates an 1863 Georgia Savings Bank $20 from Macon. A shifty man glances through a hole in the bill at the lady. A Dollar or Two (Pease, 1859) pictures Bust Dollars and full size $1 and $2 mockups. “The President, Directors & Company will pay the bearer twenty-five cents in notes of crochets and quavers. Cashier and President are C. Sharp and B. Flat. When our main collection slows down, many of us find new things to look for. No harm in whistling a little tune in the process. A good cartoon of a Fractional Currency 25 cent note is decorated with an oval of metallic ink on Shin Plaster Jig from 1864. Image: Levy Collection, Johns Hopkins University. Five Pound Polka shows a montage of 1852 Bank of England notes. Billets Bleus music cover has faithful images of French 1,000 franc notes highlighted by gold metallic ink lettering. A beautiful cover. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 35 Songs for common hobby situations: “I’m worried about this auction”: If I Had a Dollar Bill Tree (Curtis, 1955) “Hey, guys! Look at this odd denomination.”: Three Dollar Bill, Y’all (Durst-rivers, 1997) “Honey, I know it was expensive, but…”: Worth More Than Money (Ladd-Vansickel, 1950) “Why didn’t they grade this higher?”: The Dirty Little Dollar (McCosh-Emmert, 1900) “I finally got an 1862 Legal Tender deuce.”: The Great $2.00 Bill Song (Bryan-Von Tilzer 1910) “One last payment, and it will be mine.”: I Owe $10.00 to O’Grady (Kennedy, 1897) “I guess I’ll never own a Territorial Note.”: If Money Grew on Trees (Line, 1941) “This 1878 Woodchopper is really cool.”: I’ve Got Five Dollars (Rodgers-Hart, 1931) “I intend to obtain what I want from this auction!”: Get the Money (Bivens, 1904) “Yuck! Why are they doing this?”: Foldin’ Money (Felton-Bradley, 1947) “I don’t get it. What’s a fin, fiver, half a sawbuck, a Lincoln?”: Five Dollar Bill (Axton, 1966) “What do you call this Continental #87?”: A Good Old Dollar Bill (Mahoney-Morse, 1909) “I didn’t bid enough for this Friedberg #6.”: Good-Bye Mister Greenback (Allen, 1905) “What is this odd smell around the bourse?”: Money Musk (Dow, 1786) “Who spilled this white powder all over my notes?”: Cocaine (Cale, 1976) A real Georgia Savings Bank note from 1863 illustrates My Counterfeit Bill. It’s the boyfriend who is the fake.  A reasonable design for an 1859 bank note is the $1 on A Dollar or Two. How many of these were cut out and passed among the illiterate public?  A Dollar or Two also has a Musical Bank $2 note, life-size, convenient for the opportunist. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 36 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 INVERTED/MIRRORED PLATE NUMBERS ON FRACTIONAL CURRENCY: FIFTEEN NEW EXAMPLES UNCOVERED AT THE SMITHSONIAN By Rick Melamed In previous issues of SPMC Paper Money (Jan./Feb. 2003 and Jan./Feb. 2006) I had written about inverted and mirrored plate numbers on Fractionals. Back then, the population of known examples was limited to what was publicly observed. However, with the relatively recent release of the BEP Fractional sheet archives to the Smithsonian Institution (BEP/SI) a stunning fifteen new examples have surfaced which have altered the landscape of known engraving plate number errors. The archives contain most of the BEP produced Fractional sheets categorized by Treasury seal and sheet plate numbers. Additionally, the BEP/SI archives have revealed the blue ended 4 th issue notes (10¢ Fr. 1259, 15¢ Fr. 1271, and 25¢ Fr.1303) which displayed inverted plate numbers are not actually engraving errors (see Jerry Fochtman/Rick Melamed article in the Sept./Oct. 2023 issue of PM). They are a result of the tête-bêche layout. The notes in the left of the 16 subject sheets are right side up and the notes on the right are upside down – sharing the blue fibers running down the center. Two seal plate numbers were engraved - in the center top and bottom, one inverted the other non-inverted. When the tête-bêche (French: head to tail) sheet was cut into individual notes sometimes the inverted seal plate number would find its way on a right-side up note. A stunning visual, but not a plate number engraving error. The fifteen new examples are all from the 2 nd and 3 rd issue; most have a pink BEP stamp and none of the notes have any bronze surcharges. They were all digitally cut from the sheet for this article. Unfortunately, the resolution of the images is not optimal. When enlarging the plate number, the images are legible, but soft. 2 nd Issue None of the previous research revealed any mirrored or inverted plate numbers on regular 2 nd issue Fractionals. However, the BEP/SI archives uncovered six examples. It is puzzling that in more than two decades of searching, no regular issue 2 nd issue Fractional notes with an inverted or mirrored plate number had surfaced. Left: Mirrored plate #199 in the upper left corner on a 10¢ note. Right: Inverted plate #71 in the bottom left corner on a 10¢ note. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 38 Many of the BEP/SI archival scans are in black and white. Left: Mirror #222 in the upper left corner on a 25¢ back. Right: Inverted #234 in the lower left corner on a 25¢ back. Left: In a dyslexic oversight, just the “9” in plate #219 is mirrored on the 25¢ back. Right: Plate #151 is mirrored on the 50¢ face. The plate number, usually found in the corner (it is in the intersection of the lower left quadrant of the uncut sheet), is haphazardly engraved in the center bottom. 3rd Issue A trio of plate number engraving errors on the 3rd issue 3¢ Fractionals (Fr. 1226/27). Left: An inverted #2 in the bottom right corner on a regular issue. Center: Mirrored #9 on the bottom left of a BEP/SI archive note. Right: Inverted #24 on the bottom left of a BEP/SI archival note. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 39 Left: Inverted plate #21 in the lower left corner on a BEP/SI archival 3rd issue 10¢ note (Fr. 1255/56). Right: Inverted plate #22 located in the bottom left corner. Left: Mirrored plate #130 in the lower left corner on a BEP/SI archival 3 rd issue 10¢ note. Right: Inverted plate #85 in the left corner on a BEP/SI archival 3 rd issue 10¢ note. Left: Inverted plate #83 on a regular issue note (Fr. 1255). Note that this includes the “10” bronze surcharge, something you will not observe on the BEP/SI Fractionals. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 40 In the BEP/SI archives, there are quite a few sheets of an alternative but unused design of the Fessenden 3 rd issue 25¢ reverse. This is the first time they are being shown in a numismatic publication. On the top is an inverted plate #18 and #20. Bottom Left: The 25¢ design above has the same design elements of the 15¢ Grant/Sherman Specimen. The note shown has a 90º rotated plate #1; the result of favorable positioning when the sheet of 5 horizontal, 3 vertical layout was cut into individual notes. Left: A BEP/SI archival (Fr. 1294-1300) Fessenden back with inverted plate #22 in the upper right corner. This is the reverse design used for regular issue Fractionals and the only known Fessenden, with the final design, displaying an inverted plate number. The 3 rd Issue 50¢ Type 1 reverses were used on the Spinner and Justice notes on both the red and green backs. All eight of the notes shown below were regular issue examples as evidenced by the bronze surcharges. A perusal of the BEP/SI archives yielded no new inverted/mirrored plate numbers. Left: Inverted plate #12 in the bottom left of a 50¢ Type 1 reverse. Right: Inverted plate #20 in the lower right corner. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 41 Left: Mirrored plate #21 in the lower left corner. This is the most common inverted/mirrored plate number with about two dozen known. Right: Inverted plate #29 in the upper left corner. Left: Inverted plate #32 in the bottom right corner. Right: Inverted plate #41 in the bottom right corner. This note pedigrees from the John Ford sale from a Stack’s 2007 auction. Left: Inverted #44 in the upper left corner. Right: Inverted plate #52. This could be unique; no other examples have surfaced. This Fractional also pedigrees to the John Ford sale. 4th Issue Left: The 4 th issue 15¢ Columbia note displays a mirrored seal plate #5. This is the only known seal plate number engraving error on 4 th issue Fractionals. As stated above, all the inverted 4 th issue inverted seal plate numbers were the result of the tête-bêche sheet layout; and not engraving errors. Right: Mirrored sheet plate #6 in the center top of a regular 4 th issue 25¢ (Fr. 1301) Fractional. The back was engraved by the American Banknote Company and is not part of the BEP/SI archives. The mirrored 6 was the result of an untrimmed top selvedge. No other examples of any sheet plate number on 4 th issue backs are known to exist. This pedigrees from the Tom O’Mara 2005 Heritage auction. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 42 5th Issue For the record, there are 230 examples of 5 th issue Fractionals with mirrored plate numbers on the BEP/SI proofs - all on 10¢ Meredith and 25¢ Walker backs. On the 10¢ note, 143 out of 263 sheets in the archives have mirrored plate numbers. On the 25¢ note, 87 out of 194 sheets have mirrored plate numbers. However, they appear in the top selvedge of the sheet, well distanced from the note’s design portion – never appearing on a regular issued note, though one may eventually surface. Shown at left from the BEP/SI archives is a 5 th issue 10¢ Meredith tête- bêche pair with a mirrored plate # 122G. This pair was digitally cut from the top of the sheet of 14 (7x2) in the archives. All the sheets have a plate number followed by a single letter. Shown at left is a 5th issue 25¢ Walker back with mirrored plate #64E; also, digitally cut from the top of a sheet of 14 (7x2). The 50¢ 5th issue Crawford backs were not made by the Treasury; the plates were outsourced to the printing firm of Joseph R. Carpenter in Philadelphia and no archival sheets are known to exist. Please keep your eyes open for regular issue examples of the BEP/SI notes contained in this article. It would be great to find one in public hands. Thanks must be extended to the Smithsonian for the proof images contained in this article. Also, a great deal of gratitude must be extended to Jerry Fochtman, former long-time editor of the FCCB Fractional Newsletter and member of the SPMC Board of Governors. There are literally thousands of sheets in the archives, but they are not organized and finding any specific sheet was literally hunting for a needle in the haystack. Jerry spent hundreds of hours compiling a coherent and organized list of all the BEP/SI Fractional proof sheets. Sadly, Jerry passed away a short time ago. All of us in the Fractional community miss him very much. His enthusiasm and tireless research on all things Fractional have left a wonderful legacy. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 43 U N C O U P L E D : PAPER MONEY’S ODD COUPLE Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan More on the Okinawa Reversion Cash Recall that in the last number of Paper Money last year (Nov-Dec 2023), I wrote about the yen notes paid out during the dollars-to-yen currency conversion in association with Okinawa being returned to Japanese control in 1972. The Ryukyu Islands had been a US trusteeship from the time of the 1952 post-WWII peace treaty, and US currency had been circulating there since 1958. Kazuya Fujita’s article on this currency conversion was published in the IBNS Journal earlier this year, and I can now say more about the specific serial blocks that were used for the yen notes involved. All of them were printed by only one of the four print plants used for Japanese notes in that period—the Odawara plant. Each plant had a series of alphabetic letters assigned for its use in serial number suffixes. For the Odawara plant those letters were J-R, except O. Prefix letters were used sequentially starting with AA, AB, AC etc, also skipping O. Only 900,000 notes were printed in each block, so they never had to deal with the pesky seventh digit when a serial block ran out at one million. Four denominations of notes were prepared for the reversion—¥500, ¥1000, ¥5000, and ¥10000. More than 900,000 notes were needed for each denomination, so multiple blocks were needed. For reasons not found in the literature, the Bank of Japan did not use the same system for advancing serial blocks for all denominations. For the two low denominations, the prefix would remain static while the suffix changed. For the two high denominations, the suffix would remain static while the prefix changed. See Boling page Christmas Part Two   We looked at a variety of Christmas items last time. When Editor Bolin gave us the assignment for that issue I started digging around in my stuff for Christmas items. At the same time I wrote to Jim Downey and asked him if he had any images that we could use. I knew that he would have some interesting Christmas items. I was right about that, but his response was a few days late for inclusion in the Christmas issue. That left the question of using the images now or saving them for next year. There was no real choice. I want to share Jim’s items with you now. If I tried to hold the images for next Christmas, there is a very good chance that I would misplace them. In addition, Jim told me that he has more, so next year I will ask him for some of those. Let’s look at Jim’s items. The three notes are all similar. Each is a wartime issue with an English language Christmas message. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 44 The other item is particularly interesting to me. It is a rather routine United States Series E war bond. The great part is that the bond is dated on Christmas Day, December 25, 1944! It is actually quite common to find bonds that were sold in December during the war, but sales on Christmas Day are rare. The sale took place at the facilities of Hoffmann- La Roche in Nutley, NJ. During the war it was common for companies to have bond sale offices on their campuses. Often these were part of or collocated with the company payroll office. Hoffmann-La Roche was a Swiss-owned pharmaceutical company. The company still exists, usually known as Roche. The company campus in Nutley, NJ where this sale took place continued in operation until 2016, when it was sold. The bond was purchased by (or possibly for) Agnes Eckstein from Belleville, NJ. According to Google that is only 1.9 miles from the company headquarters in Nutley. That is really not surprising, but it is tempting to think that we should be able to find some additional connection between Eckstein and Hoffmann-La Roche. Now for a short commercial. It is time to think about MPC Fest 2025. It will be held on the April 5 weekend. If you have ever thought about attending, there is no better time. Want to talk about it? Contact Joe or me (fredschwan@yahoo.com). We are expecting another great event. Boling continued Not many ¥500 and ¥5000 notes were printed, so not many blocks were needed. In the ¥500 printing, three full blocks of 900,000 notes resulted in a printing of 2.7 million using blocks ZZ-P, ZZ-Q, and ZZ-R. The rest of the ZZ block was used later, so not all ZZ notes from Odawara are reversion cash. No ZZ notes from other print plants were, either. For the ¥5000 notes, only one million were printed—one full block and only 100,000 from a second block. Those were ZZ-R (complete) and ZY-R (only 100,000). The ¥1000 and ¥10,000 notes were the workhorses of this operation. The former used thirteen complete blocks—ZZ-J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,R (these used all the available plant-code letters available for Odawara), and YZ-M,N,P,Q,R. Figure 1 is the note I found at the Pittsburgh ANA in August 2023, believed to be from the last block printed. (The total numbers required were established before printing started, and it is believed that the blocks were used in reverse alpha order—thus the L,K,J suffix letters in the YZ block remained unused at that time.) Remember that these are black serial numbers—when all black numbers had been used (including blocks adjacent to the Okinawa blocks, but printed years later), the ¥1000 serials were changed to blue. None of those existed at the time of the reversion. Eight complete blocks of ¥10000 yen notes were printed, but the suffix was fixed at R. For these blocks, the second letter of the prefix rotated from Z down to S. Thus if you are watching for a ¥10k note from these issues, the serials must end with R and start with Z, with the second letter somewhere on the S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z ladder. Figure 1 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 45 Here is this data in tabular format. All data from the website of SUZUKI Wasaburō, as accessed 2023.05.09. Good luck finding any of these. This whole series was withdrawn starting in 1984 (1982 for the ¥500, which was replaced by a coin), and there have been two more series in 2004 and 2024. My opinion is that airmen and marines serving on Okinawa during the reversion will be the best sources, as their life holdings enter the market in the US. The high denominations will be especially tough. Their face values were higher than any MPC of the period, and they likely did not have the same souvenir quality that MPC had, so it was even less likely that they would be set aside intentionally. Which brings me to a happy find in my unaccessioned hoard recently—a ¥5000 note, serial ZZ875179R (figure 2). I have no accession data with it, and no recall of where I acquired it—but several years ago when the yen was strong and dealers had not yet marked up their stocks of circulated yen, I was buying yen at under face value, and it may have come from one of those transactions. As I said, notes that trickled into the US when service members and their families came home from Okinawa. Watch for them. ¥500 ZZ-R ZZ-Q ZZ-P ¥1000 black only ZZ-R YZ-R ZZ-Q YZ-Q ZZ-P YZ-P ZZ-N YZ-N ZZ-M YZ-M ZZ-L ZZ-K ZZ-J ¥5000 ZZ-R ZY-R ¥10000 ZZ-R ZY-R ZX-R ZW-R ZV-R ZU-R ZT-R ZS-R Figure 2 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 46 When I began paying serious attention to paper money some two decades ago, my interest was first drawn towards emergency monies, particularly depression scrip of the 1930s. In turn, within that historical niche was an even smaller niche, the issues of barter and self-help groups that have always fascinated me. Going by names like the “Organized Unemployed” (Minneapolis), the “Shirtsleeves Exchange” (Oklahoma City), or the “Put Cleveland to Work Society”, hundreds of these local groups sought to help people get by in a collapsing national economy. While the federal government’s policies towards these groups were not terribly encouraging, it did document their operations in some detail. During the early 1930s, the pages of the Monthly Labor Review, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, regularly featured accounts of these groups’ activities under the general series title “Production by Self-Help Cooperatives of the Unemployed.” Given that many of the groups came and went quickly and left few traces, these BLS reports have come to represent the main (and sometimes the only) documentation of how these groups operated. Not all groups issued scrip currency; for those that did, the mechanics of its use varied. With just a few exceptions, most of this emergency money was denominated in dollars and cents and was issued against the promise of labor (or of labor’s products) in a way that made it acceptable in trade. For instance, on the face of the Put Cleveland to Work scrip the promise reads “this is to certify that merchandise or labor contracts to the face value of this note have been deposited with the Society for its redemption.” While there is something exotic about the utterly local extent of its validity, the Cleveland scrip (and others like it) was issued in the same way that a bank creates credit by discounting a bill of exchange. Both involve taking some promise about the future and turning it into a present useable value. Reading about this happening on the smallest and most concrete level raised two, related questions in my mind. First, did these barter groups amount to social experiments that, because of their small scale, illuminated the nature of money? And second, is this how money arose historically, as a human institution? Giving a good answer to the second question is well beyond my pay grade. As a rule, economists tend to favor the view that money originates by solving the problem that two people can barter directly only when each has exactly what the other wants. Money relaxes that restriction. A variant of this view sees money’s origins in being a stable store of value in a world where the things we really do value are continually rotting and spoiling. Whether as a means of exchange or store of value, this view sees money as a social convention created through human choices. Another view, more common among historians and anthropologists, looks to money’s origins in debts and other relations of obligation that give rise to a unit of account that clarifies who owes what to whom. In this view, money arises not to solve some problem of social coordination but is an expression of hierarchy and power. Pharaoh needed a way of measuring his grain requisitions, so that’s how money came about. Explaining money’s origins isn’t the same thing as describing its nature, which in the conditions of our modern world may be very different. As with the barter groups of the Great Depression, incarceration also creates tiny experiments in money creation. Inmates can’t bring official money to prison but, once there, they still have a need to trade so a kind of ersatz money arises, whether cigarettes or ramen noodle packets or tins of mackerel. There’s nothing inherent about those things that predispose them to becoming money. What makes them useful as money is just the mutual agreement that something has to do money’s job. The scrip issued by the Organized Unemployed in Minneapolis was nicknamed “Sauerkraut Money” because the group spent time putting up sauerkraut in jars. Obviously, people didn’t try to literally spend those shards of pickled cabbage; but the labor and the product gave backing to the little pieces of paper that did circulate. By treating sauerkraut in this way, the Organized Unemployed was making it liquid in the way that money is liquid: something that passes hand to hand without losing the value that people have agreed it should have. The liquidity—the moneyness—of anything is a valuable privilege that, politically, powerful interests fight will for. The recent presidential election represents a resounding victory for crypto assets like Bitcoin. With friendly regulation, Bitcoin and the like may finally become the currencies that their promoters have always claimed they are: less like tulip bulbs, more like sauerkraut. Chump Change Loren Gatch From Barter to Paper Money SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 47 The Obsolete Corner The Tallahassee Rail Road Company by Robert Gill Happy New Year paper money lovers, we have made it through another year. It’s been quite a year, especially politically speaking. By the time you read this the new Presidential Administration will be about to take office. We can all hope that campaign intentions will come to fruition. We are very fortunate to be living it the greatest country in the world, but we still have a lot of problems. But with the integrity of American people, we can get everything straightened out. And now, let’s look at the Obsolete sheet from my collection that I’ve chosen to share with you, that being The Tallahassee Rail Road Company. These notes are by no means rare in either sheet or single note format, but they are a good representation of the quality and beauty that the American Bank Note Company came to be known for printing. Now for the history that I’ve been able to find during my research. Aggressive railroad development began in the United States during the 1820s and 1830s. Initially, development was concentrated in industrialized areas like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Although not being a major industrial area, it was only a few years before the railroad arrived in Florida. The first railroad line in the State ran between Tallahassee to Port Leon and was approved in 1834. The Tallahassee Rail Road Company, later to become known as The Tallahassee St. Marks Rail Road Company, was incorporated by an act of the Territorial Legislature on February 10th, 1834. The Legislation gave the Company half a million acres of land and broad authority to take whatever land, lumber or stones it needed along the route, provided the owners received just compensation. As time went on, it prospered and expanded. This Rail Road was conceived and financed by leading cotton planters who needed a way to get their crops to textile mills in the New England area. It was also used by Naval Store merchants and timber interests of the area to transport their goods to East Coast ports. In 1835, it received the first Federal Land Grant given to a railroad. Also, that same year, construction began. The Rail Road was completed in 1837, and began operation that year. It was a mule- drawn operation that connected Tallahassee, Florida, then the Territorial Capital, with the Gulf port of St. Marks - a distance of twenty miles. By 1838, the Rail Road extended three miles further South to Port Leon. In 1843, Port Leon was destroyed by a massive hurricane, and the railroad terminal there was moved back to St. Marks. In 1856, the wooden rails were replaced by steel rails, and mules were replaced by locomotives. During the Civil War, the Confederate Army used the Rail Road extensively to move troops, artillery, and supplies in defense of Tallahassee. In March of 1865, the Rail Road achieved its highest military significance when it was used to deploy Confederate troops quickly South from Tallahassee in the face of an advance by Union troops. That enabled the Confederacy to put enough men in place to defeat the Union at the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 6th, 1865. Operations continued to run successful for many years. And almost one hundred fifty years after it came into being, in 1983, petitions were filed to have the Rail Road abandoned between Capital Circle in Tallahassee and St. Marks. In 1984, the Florida Department of Transportation purchased the abandoned right-of-way. The Tallahassee St. Marks Rail Road has the distinction of being the longest operating railroad in Florida, and served the area for a hundred and forty-seven years. So, there’s the history that I’ve been able to put together on this beautiful sheet of notes. As I always do, I invite any comments to my personal email address robertdalegill@gmail.com or my cell number (580) 221-0898. Until next time, HAPPY COLLECTING. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 48 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 49 “Fargo” Dakota Territory vs North Dakota By Bob Laub Dakota Territory: This area was created on March 2, 1861 and consisted of present-day North Dakota, South Dakota, most of Montana, and Wyoming. The region remained a territory until both North Dakota, and South Dakota became the 39th, and 40th states on November 2, 1889. It was rumored a simple coin toss was the deciding factor as to which state entered the Union first. The city of Fargo, originally called Centralia, was eventually changed to Fargo in honor of William F. Fargo who was the Director of the Wells Fargo Express Company. Fargo actually began as a rough-and-tumble railroad community. By 1880 the town’s population was 2,693, but by 1890 the town had doubled in size to 5,664 inhabitants. These two decades are specific to the year’s postal notes were being issued. U.S. censuses are officially recorded every ten years which is an excellent means of determining a town, or cities growth. The Postal Note Years: Postal Notes were basically a one-time usage document allowing the populous an ability to forward more securely, small amounts of money (under $5.00) through the mail. This was even more useful in more rural parts of the country, especially where certain areas were completely devoid of any credible banking institutions. The series commenced on Monday September 3, 1883, and had a long successful continuous run until June 30, 1894. During that time more than 70 million postal notes were issued, with over $126 million forwarded through the U.S. Mail. These staggering numbers are a true testament to the wanton needs of the American people. Private Postal Note Census: About 40 years ago a postal note collector/writer/ researcher by the name of Jim Noll started compiling census related information about series 1883-1894 Postal Notes. Over time Jim’s quest for related statistics eventually led him to do periodically updated lists with his last of seven editions coming on June 7, 2004. Over the years Jim was very generous with his findings and for the cost of postage, and printing (15 double sided pages’) he would forward one of his painstaking works. Of the more than 70 million notes sold by the U.S. Postal Service, his census which took all souses into account, (private collections, auction sales, eBay) only comprised a list of 1460 examples. According to Jim’s data, Dakota Territory was represented by only six notes. Even more rare, the state of North Dakota, with only three notes known. (South Dakota, though not represented in this article, had only seven examples). A new generation making reference to census numbers came in the form of the 22-edition (2021) of Paper Money of the United States, by Arthur, and Ira Friedberg. I was contacted through mutual friends to see if I would be interested in contributing to a new chapter on Postal Notes. Once completed the short chapter consisted of only four-pages with the last page showing the number of notes issued, and how many are still known from all States, Territories, and Districts. Dakota Territory has now doubled to 12, while North Dakota has increased by one to four. (South Dakota is currently up to 12 recorded). A number of years ago, after Jim Noll sadly passed away in 2012, two writers/ researchers/collectors of postal notes took over the census challenge, Kent Halland and Charles Surasky. Their combined efforts have seen an increase in the number of notes which continue to be uncovered at a rate of close to 50 new notes annually. Dakota Territory issued 605,967 Postal Notes while North Dakota remains low geographic region at 203,379. (South Dakota, 396,230 notes) These numbers of current known, compared to original numbers issued, are being presented to show a direct correlation of rarity connected with this area. Current census numbers show the entire region being represented by only a very miniscule number of survivors. Factoring in Fargo: What might the overall odds be of having a Fargo, Dakota Territorial Postal Note, and a Fargo North Dakota Postal Note both surviving especially given the low numbers presented? The answer most certainly would have to be astronomical. A sole surviving Fargo Dakota Territory Type I, printed on yellow paper while the remaining type’s (II-V) were all printed on an off-white paper. This serial number 5 was issued for 1-cent, and as such is a likely keep-sake candidate. This particular note also has an unusual issuing cancelation which reads “Money Order Department.”, September 3, 1883, which in turn was the first official day of issue. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 50 Fargo, North Dakota, is also represented by a single surviving note. A Type V, serial number 31180, issued May 11, 1894, for 2-cents and also considered to be of a souvenir denomination. This is also evidenced by a three- cent administrative fee which was applied to each issued note. The question now arises as to why one would pay this three-cent fee to only purchase a five-cent, or less, postal note? The overall general consensus shared by most collector’s likely places these acquired notes as souvenirs. These fragile paper documents were never intended to last 130 years, more like 130 days, also given this region of the country was still notoriously considered to be the “Wild West”. Now take into account natural disasters such as tornados, floods, and one devastating fire which broke out on June 7th, 1893, and it’s a wonder any postal notes ever survived. That one fire destroyed 31 blocks of the downtown area of Fargo, but thankfully the towns people were resilient. They set out after the last of the flames were extinguished, rebuilding 246 buildings, mostly out of brick, and were all completed within a year of the fire. The intensity of the fire must have been horrifying, and the loss of property devastating. In Conclusion: My goal is to show, from a postal note perspective, a brief historical look at the town of Fargo, not only as a Territory, but also eventually from the state of North Dakota. A quick recap of statistics reviewed: Only two notes from Fargo have survived, a Dakota Territory, and a North Dakota. That’s two examples from 2,315 notes thus far recorded, (April/2024) which are all that remains of the over 70 million initially issued. I hope you enjoyed the true rarity of this series. “Fargo / Dakota Territory vs. North Dakota. Any comments can be directed to me at briveadus2012@yahoo.com. I would also enjoy hearing about any Postal Notes you may own. Many thanks. A Ty. I, serial number 5 issued from Fargo Dakota Territory on the “First Day of Issue”, Sept. 3, 1883 in the souvenir amount of 1-cent. A Ty. V issued for 2-cents from Fargo, North Dakota which became the 39th state Nov. 2, 1889. Prior to that date any postal notes issued from that area would have been territorial issued. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 51 Robert Calderman Collecting the Nearly Impossible! Amazing notes buried in collections can surface randomly and often without warning. Are you paying attention? Just a few days before Halloween an incredible rarity sold on eBay for a price that can only be described as the gift of a lifetime! While the actual price of admission being “a steal” can be argued about at length, there are no questions whatsoever as to the rarity and importance of this note and its legendary status as a coveted small size variety. Here we have a 1934B Five Dollar Federal Reserve Star Note. It is in very fine condition with nice enough centering. Being a star note alone makes this a collectible specimen, add to it the popular and short lived Vinson signature, and the feverishly hoarded five dollar Lincoln denomination, and it falls into a cult like following of collectible treasures. The note is on the New York District which seems commonplace and is generally printed in high quantities when compared to the likes of a typical Minneapolis or Dallas District note. Dallas specifically was not even printed for this particular series and denomination! There is more to the story here, and if you are already in the know then there is no question in your mind right now as to why this note is so incredibly spectacular. If you are caught up on your study of Cherry Picker’s Corner, then you may recall the recent installment “When Size Matters” that appeared back in: Paper Money – Vol. LXII – No.5 – Whole #347 –Sep./Oct. 2023. There we discussed an outrageous newly discovered changeover pair on this very popular variety! The specialized variety featured here is none other than the ever so popular intermediate face plate size variety #212!!! Sometimes referred to as an error, this printing face plate serial number is not the earlier small “Micro” variety, nor is it the later revamped large “Macro” variety of type size numerals. It instead falls in-between and makes for a very exciting collectible annomoly! The 1934B $5 FRN NY District is the only place you can find SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 52 this intermediate size plate serial number. No other district and no other series of five dollar issues feature this great variety! To date, PMG has only graded a total of nineteen non-star examples in all grades combined. This includes the wild changeover pair we discussed here back during fall 2023. Now unless you somehow missed it, the note featured here is a star note!!! PMG has graded just one example of this star Fp.212 monster, and surprisingly it is not the note featured here. What is even more surprising, and very entertaining, is the fact that the PMG graded example and the note featured here, have both been published before! Even though this trophy variety was for a very long time thought to be unique! In the nearly 100-year-old small size guide… cough- cough, oh, I’m sorry. I meant to say nearly 14yr old book! If you look at page #116 under the lowest observed serial number for a regular issue 1934B $5 FRN Star Note, you will see serial number B02162784*. Now look at the bottom of the page, and under the Fp.212 variety the star note serial number listed there is B02335987*. The two notes have a gap between them of only 173,203 notes. Remember that up to four different printing plates can be on the press during the era these notes were printed. Just because these two examples both feature Fp.212 in no way means that when they were numbered, the other notes that fall between these two also feature this epic variety. Out of these two serial numbers, how do we know the serial number that is not pictured here is also a Fp.212 star note? Check eBay right now! As I type this article right this exact moment, there is a Fp.212 star note for sale graded PMG VF35!!! The lone example currently graded by PMG. The only reason yours truly has not scooped up this note is due to the current price listed and what appears to be a washed out cleaned appearance to the note. Regardless, it is a trophy worthy of any advanced small size collection. Wild that the serial number was already reported and published, but it is possible that the note had not been observed at the time as a Fp.212 star note by its previous owners! The note we have featured here is an all-original gorgeous example that has not been modified to appear “supposedly” more attractive in an attempt to squeeze a couple extra points on the Sheldon scale and subsequently entombed into a plastic slab. What is even lovelier is the old school sleeve and hand written label listing the note as previously unknown at an asking price tag of $9500.00 wow! This note is the infamous original discovery example of this outrageous star note Fp.212 variety! To my knowledge, there has yet to be a major national auction appearance of a Fp.212 star note, making this an even more exciting survivor! (eBay marketplace doesn’t count) So what did this featured note actually sell for just a few short months ago? Did it exceed the $5499 of the other currently listed eBay example, or match the hand written $9500 stickered asking price pictured here? Incredibly, this trophy note sold for nowhere near these lofty sums! The note featured here sold for the absolute bargain sum of just $1,276.00!!! Now that we have regular issue 1934B $5 NY FRN Fp.212 notes to collect, and two incredible star examples known, and even a new changeover pair that has surfaced earlier this year… the only thing collectors have left to dream about now is the possibility of a Bp.637 Mule featuring Fp.212!!! Based on the plate data, this is a 100% possibility, but it is unfortunately not a 100% guarantee… Whether we actually see one of these in the future or not, the possibility exists for an example to appear in the form of either a regular issue or star note. I know what I will be asking Santa for this year! Happy hunting my friends and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are having a very Happy New Year! Do you have a great Cherry Pick story that you’d like to share? Your note might be featured here in a future article and you can remain anonymous if desired! Email scans of your note with a brief description of what you paid and where it was found to: gacoins@earthlink.net Recommended reading:  When Size Matters by Robert Calderman Paper Money *Sep/Oct 2023* Whole No. 347  $5 1934B New York Intermediate Size Plate Number 212 by Peter Huntoon Paper Money *March/April 1984 * Whole No. 110 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 53 $MALL NOTE$ By Jamie Yakes “Press Record” Card for $5 Back Plate 629 Five-dollar back plate 629 was certified on December 29, 1933, as one of the last old gauge $5 backs made by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). It wouldn’t be used for more than a decade, and when it was created some of the most desirable $5 mules. Gauge refers to the width of the gutters between each column of subjects on a printing plate. Small-size plates had narrow gutters (i.e., old gauge) from the onset of small-size production in 1928. But the narrow gutters had caused high spoilage rates during sheet printing when press operators mated printed back sheets onto face plates. The BEP increased the gutters on small-size plates starting with new gauge $1 faces in July 1934, and moved forward to making plates for other denominations. The wider gutters on those plates yielded more tolerance when mating back sheets onto face plates and led to reduced sheet spoilage. The BEP started certifying all $5 back plates as new gauge with back 630 on January 31, 1935. They typically rushed new gauge plates to press and canceled unused old gauge plates, a fate that met backs 575-628. They saved back 629 as a model of the old gauge design. In 1938 the BEP began salvaging master plates and finished them into production plates. These salvaged plates, also known as late-finished plates, included varieties such as $1 back 470 and $5 back 637.1 To finish them as production plates, plate technicians etched plate serial numbers into each of the twelve subjects on the plates, certified them, and sent them to the plate vault. Because salvaged plates were finished years after they were made, they carried plate serials that were out of sequence with contemporary plates. In some cases the plate serials were etched in the micro style that was current when the plates had been produced. Back 629, though, was not a true salvaged plate. All other salvaged plates were new gauge plates, but 629 was simply an unused old gauge production plate. As seen in the press record card2 (above), back 629 was sent to press on November 24, 1947—fourteen years after it was finished. It spent the next ten weeks in the press room, and in that time press operators lifted 35,225 sheets from it. A press operator SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 54 dropped it for repairs on February 2, 1948, for a “K note worn,” and returned, or “reentered,” the plate to the engraving division to have the K position subject refurbished. That occurred the next day. Someone subsequently noticed that 629 had an obsolete design that hadn’t been used for $5 plates for a decade. Was it the same person who scrawled the directive “Do not send to press” at the top of the plate ledger page for back 6293 (see below)? We may never know. But it was enough that production from the plate was immediately ceased to not further pollute production of new gauge sheets with sheets from a single old gauge plate. The BEP canceled back 629 on February 17, 1948. Back 629 sheets already printed were moved on to face printing and then serial numbering to produce a plethora of mules with $5 Julian-Snyder faces: Series of 1934C Silver Certificates, Series of 1928E United States Notes, and Series of 1934C Federal Reserve Notes. Very few star notes with back plate 629 are known. Regardless of the variety, all 629s are rare. Sources: 1 For more information on salvaged plates see: (a) Huntoon, P., and Yakes, J. “Salvaged Plates: Late-Finished and other Exotic Plates Explained.” Paper Money 52, no. 6 (2013, Nov/Dec): 427-437; and (b) Huntoon, P. “The Enduring Allure of $5 Micro Back Plates 629 and 637.” Paper Money 54, no. 5 (2015, Sep/Oct): 304-326. 2 Press record card for $5 back plate 629 provided by Peter Huntoon, courtesy of the B.E.P. Historical Research Center, Washington, D.C. 3 U.S. Treasury. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Ledgers Pertaining to Plates, Rolls and Dies, 1870s-1960s. Entry P1, Container 42. Record Group 318: Records of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 55 The front of the Type-39 Treasury note endorsed by Capt. Joseph N. Brown, Co. E, 14th S. C. Regiment Image: Larry Jones Capt. Joseph N. Brown 14th South Carolina Infantry he Quartermaster Column is a venue for new discoveries and deeper biographies of those who endorsed and issued interest-bearing Confederate Treasury notes, but it also gives me the opportunity to correct previous errors and omissions. My book on this subject has stood the test of time fairly well, but in the process of writing a more detailed biography of Joseph N. Brown, I realized that my book had attributed the title of AQM to him, and there is no basis for this.1 Brown served as a infantry officer, rising from company Captain to the rank of full Colonel; he was never assigned the duties of an Assistant Quarter Master. Mea culpa. The discovery note from Larry Jones is still unique after more than a decade of searching by many collectors for these endorsements. The obvious reason that his endorsement remains rare is simply that it was not his job to issue these notes ― he was an infantry officer. This is now obvious when we look carefully at the wording in the endorsement: “In payment for serving as Captain Co “E” 14th S(outh). C(arolina). Vol(unteer)s in 1862. J. N. B.” There is no specific date mentioned here, and this is an excellent example of an endorsement, not a statement of issue. This endorsement, however, is rare in its wealth of information. A careful examination of Brown’s 107 documents in the National Archives files for South Carolina, Fourteenth Infantry, Brown, Joseph N., on Fold3.com showed that Brown served only as an infantry officer. Life before and after the Civil War Joseph Newton Brown was born on December 16th, 1832 in Anderson, South Carolina, the son of Samuel Brown and Helen Turley Vandiver. Samuel Brown was a merchant and a planter who owned slaves.2 He was a member of his maternal T The Quartermaster Column No. 40 by Michael McNeil Image: Larry Jones SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 56 Joseph N. Brown, Image from the book Men of Mark in South Carolina, see note 4. grandfather’s Baptist Church, and served there for 49 years as a deacon. Brown studied law in Laurens, South Carolina, and practiced law there from 1858 to 1860.3 Brown married Lizzie Bruce in February 1866, and in a nod to their Confederate sympathies they named their only child and daughter Varina Davis Brown. Brown supported the public education system in Anderson by buying nearly all the bonds that financed it, carrying many of them to maturity.4 Brown practiced law for the rest of his life, both alone and in partnerships, and “acquired a large, lucrative practice.” He “virtually retired” from the practice of law in 1888, having directed his efforts to his duties as a member of the Lower House of the South Carolina Legislature in 1886 and 1887. He gave ten thousand dollars to help fund the public library in Anderson, adding to and enabling the amount offered by Andrew Carnegie. Brown was very active in the financial sector as a director of the Anderson Cotton Mills. He participated in the organization of the State Savings and Insurance Bank of Anderson in 1872 and the National Bank of Anderson in 1873, the latter of which he was a president for many years.5 Brown’s only child, Varina Davis Brown (1867- 1947), never married and wrote a biography of her father’s life which contains many details of the battles at Spotsylvania and Gettysburg.6 1861 At the age of 26, Joseph N. Brown traveled 97 miles to enroll and report for duty on August 16th at Lightwood Knot Springs (today Lightwood Knot Creek). He joined for the duration of the war and was elected on September 10th as Captain of the Enoree Mosquitoes (later Company E), reporting to the 14th Regiment of the South Carolina Infantry. Muster rolls reported him at this location until February 1862. An infantry Captain was paid $130.00 per month. 1862 The 14th South Carolina Regiment participated in the Seven Days Battles, 2nd Manassas, VA., Chantilly, VA., Sharpsburg, VA., Shepherdstown Ford, and Fredericksburg, VA.7 The endorsement on the Treasury note reflects a part of his pay for this time. The Treasury Department was hard-pressed to print notes at this time and many officers and troops received payment months after it was due. It is not known to what purpose Brown felt compelled to endorse his Treasury note. 1863 The 14th South Carolina Regiment participated in the battles at Chancellorsville (May 1st to 4th), Gettysburg (July 1st to 3rd), Falling Waters (July 14th), Bristoe Campaign (October 9th to 22nd), Mine Run Campaign, VA., (November to December).8 Brown was promoted to Major on February 4th, reporting to the 14th South Carolina Regiment. He was appointed and confirmed as Lt. Colonel on April 2nd, taking rank retroactively to February 20th. The promotion was delivered by Gen’l R. E. Lee. Brown was appointed to a full Colonel on October 7th, taking rank on September 10th. The appointment was delivered by Gen’l R. E. Lee and confirmed by Congress on February 16th, 1864. A muster roll dated May & June noted that Brown was a Lt. Colonel and commander of the Regiment, while also serving as Inspector and Mustering Officer. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 57 “Capitol Prison” by War Department, Office of the Chief Signal Officer. Brown was first imprisoned here in early 1864. Image licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. “Fort Delaware,” painted by Seth Eastman ca. 1870-1875. After his capture at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and his incarceration at the Capitol Prison, Brown arrived here on June 17th, 1864. Image licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 1864 The 14th South Carolina Regiment participated in the battles of Wilderness, VA, (May 5th to 6th), Spotsylvania Court House, VA (May 8th to 21st), Cold Harbor, VA, (June 1st to 3rd), and the Petersburg Siege, VA, (June 1864 to April 1865).9 Brown’s regiment defended the “bloody angle” at Spotsylvania, one of the most brutal battles in the war. Brown was captured on May 23rd and sent to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., which served as a temporary capitol of the United States from 1815 to 1819. It was razed in 1929 and is now the site of the Supreme Court. On June 15th Brown was sent to Fort Delaware and on June 25th later transferred via the “Dragoon” to Hilton Head, South Carolina in an exchange of prisoners. An inspection report of September 27th located Brown “near Petersburg, Va,” and other rolls showed him and his regiment at this location through the end of 1864 as a part of McGowan’s Brigade of South Carolina troops, Wilcox’s Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. 1865 After the collapse of Gen’l Lee’s army at Petersburg, Col. Brown was captured on April 2nd at the South Side Rail Road, Virginia, sent again to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., on April 6th. He was transferred to Johnson’s Island in Sandusky, Ohio, arriving on April 11th. This prison had one of the lowest mortality rates of any prison during the Civil War, and it was built exclusively for officers. Brown was paroled and released on July 25th. Brown enlisted the services of a lawyer to draft his oath of loyalty to the United States, and it is a remarkable document which makes a specific reference to the rejection of slavery. Here is the text: I Joseph N. Brown late Colonel of the fourteenth (14th) Regiment South Carolina Volunteers in the Confederate States Army by profession a lawyer and formerly a resident of Laurens Court House in the State of South Carolina do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States & the Union of the States thereunder and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existence of the rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God. Joseph N. Brown Subscribed and sworn to before me the 6th of July 1865 at Johnson’s Island Chas. W. Hill, Col Comdg Post United States Military Prison Johnson’s Island Ohio Brown’s parole document of July 25th stated that “The Union Quarter Master’s Department will furnish him with transportation to the point nearest accessible to his home by rail or steamboat.” The SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 58 The “bloody angle” at the Battle of Spotsylvania, May 8th to 21st, 1864. Image courtesy of the National Park Service, NPS.gov document stated that Brown was 32 years old, had a dark complexion, dark hair, grey eyes, and stood 5 feet 10 inches tall. Brown returned to Anderson, the city to which the Confederate Treasury-note Bureau had fled after Sherman razed Columbia, and it was here that the Treasury-note Bureau met its end. Reflections on the lessons of history Joseph N. Brown was a complex man who embraced public education but at the same time fought to defend slavery and later became wealthy in a Jim Crow economy. He was a lawyer who engaged another lawyer to draft his oath of allegiance, rejecting slavery, but was it a true conversion of belief or a device to enhance the chances of his release? The name given his daughter is a clue. Why did responsible, intelligent, educated, and accomplished citizens support the institution of slavery? The great political philospher, Hannah Arendt, came to the conclusion that evils like the Nazi persecution of Jews were the result of the “banality of evil,” the idea that evil is accepted when it is commonplace. In the Old South, slavery was the engine of its economy and it was commonplace. After the Civil War the South used Jim Crow laws to economically re-enslave its Black citizens. In our time the passage of NAFTA and the subsequent opening of our borders have done much to reproduce the conditions created by Jim Crow laws in our current society, and the attitudes of the Old South are commonplace today in those who ask, “Who will do the work nobody wants?” Why do some societies accept slavery? One clue is that you won’t find economic slavery in societies which strongly regulate their capital markets for the Common Good. Carpe diem “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ― George Santayana, 1906 References: 1. Michael McNeil, 2016. Confederate Quartermasters, Commissaries, and Agents, published by Pierre Fricke, 907 pages. See pages 131-133. 2. James Calvin Hemphill, 1907. Men of Mark in South Carolina, Vol. 1, Men of Mark Publishing Company, Washington, D.C. Researched by Charles Derby. 3. An obituary from the State Paper, January 25th, 1921, provided by Anna O’Quinn Richter. Researched by Charles Derby. 4. ibid. 5. Hemphill, 1907. 6. Varina Davis Brown, 1931. A Colonel at Gettysburg and Spotsylvania, The State Company, Columbia, SC. This book can be accessed online at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89059484600&seq=7 Researched by Charles Derby. 7. researchonline.net/sccw/unit146.htm, accessed 10 April 2024. 8. ibid. 9. ibid. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 59 8TH EDITION • 20,000+ market valuations • 650+ full-color images • Friedberg numbering system • All federal series • Fractional Currency, Treasury Notes of the War of 1812, encased postage stamps, error notes, and uncut sheets • Top 100 auction prices realized, 2022-23 • Detailed grading guide If you enjoy paper money, visit greysheet.com for up-to-date news, pricing, and research on U.S. and world-wide bank notes. An Index to Paper Money, Volume 63, 2024; Whole Numbers 349-354 Compiled by Terry A. Bryan Yr. Vol. No. Pg. Allen, Richard Some Additional Odd Denomination Discoveries ........................................ 24 63 354 425 BANKS, BANKERS & BANKING Picture This: The American Banker, Loren Gatch (Bankers’ faces) ............ 24 63 351 226 Bolin, Benny Demas Barnes-Patent Medicine Man ............................................................ 24 63 349 34 Santa Claus on U.S. Obsolete Notes ............................................................. 24 63 354 386 Boling, Joseph E., Schwan, Fred (Uncoupled Column) Bernhard Refresher (Cft.Pound Notes) ......................................................... 24 63 349 46 Foreign Trade Payment Certificates (Japan) ................................................. 24 63 351 214 French Central Africa .................................................................................... 24 63 350 133 Holiday Greetings (Short Snorters, Asia) ..................................................... 24 63 354 430 Iran At War, .................................................................................................. 24 63 353 362 Patriotic Aviation Bonds-1941 ...................................................................... 24 63 352 291 Bryan, Terry A. Damn the Shin Plasters ................................................................................. 24 63 354 397 Calderman, Robert, (Cherry Picker’s Corner column) Are You “Pack”ing? (Market forces, SC packs) ........................................... 24 63 353 366 Number One Notes in Disguise! (1950-B $5 FRN) ...................................... 24 63 350 142 Number One Notes in Disguise! (1950-B $5 FRN) ...................................... 24 63 351 222 Spilled Milk & Sour Grapes, (Face plate 307 $5SC) .................................... 24 63 349 56 Taming the Little Lion! ($10 1934C KC FRN Narrow Face, Star Variety) . 24 63 352 303 What a Difference a Decade Makes) (Back plate 204 $20 FRN) ................. 24 63 354 431 Chibbaro, Tony It’s Not Just About the Vignettes: Steamer Etiwan, Silent Witness to Good Times & Bad ................................................................................................... 24 63 349 38 It’s Not Just About the Vignettes: William T. Smithson, Confederate Spy .. 24 63 350 120 Portraits on Parade: Miss Blackey, the Most Beautiful Woman in Virginia. 24 63 353 342 Clark, Frank Kelsey Harris Douglass--Texas Merchant, Soldier, & Paper Money Issuer. 24 63 349 41 CONFEDERATE AND SOUTHERN STATES CURRENCY Important New Information: The T-64 CSA $500 Note Survey, Steve Feller, Mark Coughlan ................................................................................................... 24 63 354 414 John Douglas, N.O. Engraver, Mark Coughlan (CSA notes & bonds) ......... 24 63 353 324 A Numismatic Stroll in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Steve Feller ... 24 63 350 121 The Tishomingo Hotel, James C. Ehrhardt (Mississippi) ............................. 24 63 353 359 Coughlan, Mark & Steve Feller Important New Information on the T-64 CSA $500 Note Survey) ............... 24 63 354 414 John Douglas, New Orleans Engraver (CSA notes and bonds) .................... 24 63 353 324 Ehrhardt, James C. The Tishomingo Hotel (Mississippi) ............................................................ 24 63 353 359 ENGRAVERS & ENGRAVING AND PRINTING A Failed Partnership: The Security Bank Note Co. &d Cuba, R. Menchaca 24 63 350 109 Feller, Ray, Katherine Ameku Money Used in Japanese American Internment Camps of WWII, Part I ..... 24 63 352 255 Money Used in Japanese American Internment Camps of WWII, Part II, .. 24 63 353 352 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 61 Gatch, Loren (Chump Change column) Back to the Future with the “Bocade” (Argentina) ....................................... 24 63 354 443 Book Review—The Ruble: A Political History by Ekaterina Pravilova ...... 24 63 353 379 The Long Life of the “Death Tax” ................................................................ 24 63 349 55 A Noteworthy Note ...................................................................................... 24 63 352 296 Picture This: The American Banker (Bankers’ pictures) .............................. 24 63 351 226 A Requiem for the Bank Check. (Poor check security) ............................... 24 63 350 139 Gill, Robert (Obsolete Corner) The Bank of Kensington, Michigan .............................................................. 24 63 350 144 The City Bank of New Haven, Connecticut, ................................................. 24 63 352 299 The City of Lynchburg, (Virginia) ................................................................ 24 63 354 435 The Florida Atlantic & Gulf Coast Railroad Co., ......................................... 24 63 351 224 The Fontenelle Bank of Bellevue, Nebraska, ............................................... 24 63 353 371 Treasurer of Ramsey County ........................................................................ 24 63 349 51 Gunther, Bill Tuscaloosa’s Taliaferro F. Samuel: Jack-of-all-trades or Renaissance Man 24 63 350 114 Huntoon, Peter 1882 NBN Value Bank Face Plates without “or other securities .................. 24 63 349 27 $50 Legal Tender, Series 1874,’75,’78’;80. Intaglio Face Plate Varieties ... 24 63 354 401 The FNB of Boston Issued Only 1929 Glass-Borah Amendment Notes ...... 24 63 350 103 In God We Trust on U.S. Currency............................................................... 24 63 352 269 New High & Low Series of 1928C Mule Serial Number Discovery, $2L ... 24 63 352 253 Uncirculated $5 #1 Brown Back, Ketchum, Idaho Territory ........................ 24 63 353 317 Unissued Series of 1899 Treasury Notes, .................................................... 24 63 352 247 Huntoon, Peter, Hewitt, Shawn, Murray, Doug Large-Size Treasury Currency Pre-Star Replacements, New Insights,......... 24 63 349 16 Huntoon, Peter, Lofthus, Lee Evidence for the Issuance of a $10 Series 1933A SC Sheet ........................ 24 63 350 80 National Bank Note Circulation Hit with a Forced 8% Decline by Redemption Of the Loan of 1925 ............................................................................... 24 63 353 332 Huntoon, Peter, Murray, Doug Treasury Sealing Assigned to the Treasurer’s Office in 1885 ..................... 24 63 351 202 Huntoon, Peter, Lofthus, Lee, Moffitt, Derek Evidence for the Issuance of a $10 Series 1933A SC Sheet, w/Serial Nos. . 24 63 351 191 Huntoon, Peter, Lofthus, Lee, Stroup, Adam Sherman, Texas Bank ................................................................................... 24 63 354 393 Laub, Bob “Eighteen Ninety-Four” (printings of Postal Notes) ..................................... 24 63 353 369 The Intriguing Postal Notes of Spokane, Washington ................................. 24 63 354 444 A Link Between Specimen Postal Notes-Johnson, VT & Arkama, PA ........ 24 63 349 44 Postmaster Marshall: Left Holding the Bag! (PA Postal Note) ................. 24 63 351 220 The Sole-Surviving Postal Note from La Grange, Ohio ............................... 24 63 350 140 Lofthus, Lee Aldrich-Vreeland Emergency Currency ....................................................... 24 63 351 159 Evidence for the Issuance of a $10 Series 1933A SC Sheet ......................... 24 63 350 80 Evidence for the Issuance of a $10 Series 1933A SC Sheet, w/ Serial Nos. 24 63 351 191 National Bank Note Circulation Hit with a Forced 8% Decline by Redemption Of the Loan of 1925 ............................................................................... 24 63 353 332 Series of 1933 Silver Certificates, Ten-Year Census Update ....................... 24 63 349 6 Sherman, Texas Bank ................................................................................... 24 63 354 393 What Time is it on the $100 Bill? ................................................................. 24 63 354 421 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 62 McNeil, Michael (Quartermaster Column) Capt. Joseph B. Briggs .................................................................................. 24 63 349 58 Maj. William H. Thomas, Shreveport, LA .................................................... 24 63 350 150 Maj A. H. McLaws ....................................................................................... 24 63 351 227 Maj. Julian Agustus Mitchell, C. S. .............................................................. 24 63 352 301 Maj. John Lucien Brown, C.S. ...................................................................... 24 63 353 371 Harrisburg, Texas .......................................................................................... 24 63 354 441 Menchaca, Roberto A Failed Partnership: The Security Bank Note Co. and Cuba ...................... 24 63 350 109 The Real Story Behind the CIA’s Counterfeit Cuban Banknotes of 1961 .... 24 63 353 344 Melamed, Rick Benjamin Franklin’s Image on American Currency ..................................... 24 63 352 237 New Fractional Discovery-Second Issue 25 cents (Fr1286a) Slate Back with Inverted “S” Surcharge ........................................................................... 24 63 352 289 Moffitt, Derek Evidence for the Issuance of a $10 Series 1933A SC Sheet, with Serial Numbers, (with Lee Lofthus, Peter Huntoon) ......................................................... 24 63 351 191 Murray, Doug Large-Size Treasury Currency Pre-Star Replacements, New Insights, (with Shawn Hewitt and Peter Huntoon) (The Paper Column) .............. 24 63 349 16 Treasury Sealing Assigned to the Treasurer’s Office in 1885 ...................... 24 63 351 202 Nyholm, Douglas, Hur Dave The Kirtland Safety Society Bank Ceremonial Bank First Signings ............ 24 63 352 279 OBSOLETE NOTES & SCRIP Benjamin Franklin’s Image on American Currency, Rick Melamed ............ 24 63 352 237 Damn the Shin Plasters, Terry A. Bryan ....................................................... 24 63 354 397 Demas Barnes-Patent Medicine Man, Benny Bolin ..................................... 24 63 349 34 It’s Not Just About the Vignettes: William T. Smithson, Confederate Spy, Tony Chibbaro (District of Columbia, Virginia, Confederacy) ............. 24 63 350 120 The Kirtland Safety Society Bank Ceremonial Bank First Signings, Douglas Nyholm (with Dave Hur research) ........................................... 24 63 352 279 Kelsey Harris Douglass--Texas Merchant, Soldier, and Paper Money Issuer, Frank Clark ............................................................................................. 24 63 349 41 A Numismatic Stroll in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Steve Feller ... 24 63 350 121 Santa Claus on U.S. Obsolete Notes, Benny Bolin ....................................... 24 63 354 386 Some Additional Odd Denomination Discoveries, Richard Allen ............... 24 63 354 425 Steamer Etiwan, Silent Witness to Good Times & Bad, Tony Chibbaro .... 24 63 349 38 The Tishomingo Hotel, James C. Ehrhardt (Mississippi) ............................. 24 63 353 359 Tuscaloosa’s Taliaferro F. Samuel: Jack-of-all-trades or Renaissance Man? Bill Gunther (Alabama scrip) ................................................................. 24 63 350 114 Patrick, John S. The 1963 $5 Legal Tender Series: A Study .................................................. 24 63 354 409 Rollins, Roland UNESCO World Heritage Sites Depicted on Bank Notes—Antigua ........... 24 63 349 64 UNESCO World Heritage Sites Depicted on Bank Notes—Argentina ........ 24 63 350 144 UNESCO World Heritage Sites Depicted on Bank Notes—Armenia .......... 24 63 351 230 Saharian, Michael The Lumbermens/Northern NB of Bemidji, Minnesota, Charter #8241 ...... 24 63 350 124 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 63 Book Reviews Engravers & Printers of Confederate Paper Money by Mark A. Coughlin (Review by Michael McNeil) .................................................... 24 63 352 305 Interest Paid by Roger Adamek (Review by Michael McNeil) .................... 24 63 352 307 Coal Mine Company Obsolete Notes and Scrip by David Schenkman (Review by Wendall Wolka) ..................................................... 24 63 352 311 The Signers and Issuers of Confederate Bonds by Charles Derby & Michel McNeil (Review by David Crenshaw ..................................................... 24 63 353 376 The Ruble: A Political History by Ekaterina Pravilova (Loren Gatch) ......... 24 63 353 379 Stroup, Adam Sherman, Texas Bank ................................................................................... 24 63 354 393 U.S. NATIONAL BANK NOTES Aldrich-Vreeland Emergency Currency, Lee Lofthus. ................................. 24 63 351 159 1882 NBN Value Bank Face Plates without “or other securities”, Huntoon 24 63 349 27 The FNB of Boston Issued Only 1929 Glass-Borah Amendment Notes, Peter Huntoon ........................................................................................ 24 63 350 103 The Hastings, Nebraska National Bank Robbery (author not recorded) ....... 24 63 353 349 The Lumbermen’s/Northern NB of Bemidji, Minnesota, Charter #8241, Michael Saharian. ................................................................................... 24 63 350 124 National Bank Note Circulation Hit with a Forced 8% Decline by Redemption Of the Loan of 1925, Peter Huntoon, Lee Lofthus) ................................ 24 63 353 332 Aldrich-Vreeland Emergency Currency, Peter Huntoon, et al. .................... 24 63 354 393 Uncirculated $5 #1 Brown Back, Ketchum, Idaho Territory, Peter Huntoon 24 63 353 317 U.S. LARGE and SMALL SIZE NOTES Benjamin Franklin’s Image on American Currency, Rick Melamed ............ 24 63 352 237 “Eighteen Ninety-Four”, Bob Laub (printings of Postal Notes) ................... 24 63 353 369 The Intriguing Postal Notes of Spokane, Washington .................................. 24 63 354 444 $50 Legal Tender, Series 1874,’75,’78’;80. Intaglio Face Plate Varieties, Peter Huntoon) ........................................................................................ 24 63 354 401 In God We Trust on U.S. Currency, Peter Huntoon ..................................... 24 63 352 269 New Fractional Discovery-Second Issue 25 cents (Fr1286a) Slate Back with Inverted “S” Surcharge, Rick Melamed ................................................. 24 63 352 289 The 1963 $5 Legal Tender Series: A Study, John S. Patrick ........................ 24 63 354 409 Postmaster Marshall: Left Holding the Bag! , Bob Laub (PA Postal Note) 24 63 351 220 The Sole-Surviving Postal Note from La Grange, Ohio. Bob Laub24 ... 63 350 140 Treasury Sealing Assigned to the Treasurer’s Office in 1885, Peter Huntoon, Doug Murray ................................................................. 24 63 351 202 What Time is it on the $100 Bill? Lee Lofthus ............................................. 24 63 354 421 FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES $5 San Francisco FRN Face 52 Changeover Pair, Jamie Yakes ................... 24 63 352 297 New Back Plate 204 Discoveries & Undiscovered, Jamie Yakes ................. 24 63 350 148 Secret Marks on $10 1928B FRN, Jamie Yakes ........................................... 24 63 353 378 Series of 1934! $5 Cleveland FRNs, Jamie Yakes ....................................... 24 63 349 62 Yakes, Jamie Changed Redemption Clauses on Small Size Silver Certificates ................. 24 63 354 429 $5 San Francisco FRN Face 52 Changeover Pair Discovered ...................... 24 63 352 297 New Back Plate 204 Discoveries & Undiscovered ($20 FRN) .................... 24 63 350 148 The New Deal’s Silver Inflation (Small Notes column) ............................... 24 63 351 231 Secret Marks on $10 1928B FRN (Small Notes column) ............................. 24 63 353 378 Series of 1934! $5 Cleveland FRNs, (Small Notes column) ......................... 24 63 349 62 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Jan/Feb 2025 * Whole Number 355 64 OUR MEMBERS SPECIALIZE IN LARGE SIZE TYPE NOTES They also specialize in National Currency, Small Size Currency, Obsolete Currency, Colonial and Continental Currency, Fractionals, Error Notes, MPCs, 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 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 further information, please contact: The Professional Currency Dealers Association PCDA • Holds its annual National Currency Convention in conjunction with the Central States Numis- matic Society’s Anniversary Convention. Please visit our Web Site pcda.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 year, 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 on our Web Site. • Is a proud supporter of the Society of Paper Money Collectors. Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcda.com Susan Bremer – Secretary 16 Regents Park • Bedford, TX 76022 (214) 409-1830 • email: susanb@ha.com For a free appraisal, or to consign to an upcoming auction, contact a Heritage Expert today. 800.872.6467, Ext. 1001, Currency@HA.com or HA.com/Currency DALLAS  |  NEW YORK  |  BEVERLY HILLS  |  CHICAGO  |  PALM BEACH LONDON  |  PARIS  |  GENEVA  |  BRUSSELS  |  AMSTERDAM  |  MUNICH  |  HONG KONG  |  TOKYO Always Accepting Quality Consignments in 50+ Categories Immediate Cash Advances Available 1.75 Million+ Online Bidder-Members Paul R. Minshull #16591. BP 20%; see HA.com.  79459 PLATINUM SESSION® & SIGNATURE® AUCTION FUN 2025  |  January 15-17 View All Lots & Bid at HA.com/3597 Fr. 2003-D★ $10 1928C Light Green Seal Federal Reserve Star Note PMG Choice Uncirculated 63 EPQ From The Ronald R. Gustafson Collection Serial Number 1 Fr. 2050-K $20 1928 Federal Reserve Note PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ From The Ronald R. Gustafson Collection Fr. 1502★ $2 1928A Legal Tender Star Note PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ From The Highland Park Collection of Small Size Legal Tenders Fr. 1528* $5 1928C Mule Legal Tender Note PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ From The Highland Park Collection of Small Size Legal Tenders Fr. 1072a $100 1914 Federal Reserve Note Red Seal PMG Superb Gem Unc 67 EPQ From the Charlton Buckley Collection Fr. 1132-J $500 1918 Federal Reserve Note PCGS Banknote About Unc 55 From the Charlton Buckley Collection