Paper Money - Vol. LIX - No. 2 - Whole #326 - Mar/Apr 2020

Paper Money Vol. LIX, No. 2, Whole No. 326 www.SPMC.org March/April 2020 Official Journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors The D. Brent Pogue Collection Part VI March 19, 2020 ? Baltimore, Maryland The sale of The D. Brent Pogue Collection Part VI will be held March 19, 2020, in Baltimore, Maryland as part of our Official Auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring Expo. This catalog, titled Masterpieces of United States Paper Money, will showcase over 200 banknotes which include many finest-known examples, special serial numbers, Star and replacement notes and other great rarities. 123 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 ? 800-566-2580 1231 East Dyer Road, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92705 ? 800-458-4646 Info@StacksBowers.com ? StacksBowers.com New York ? California ? New Hampshire ? Hong Kong ? Paris SBG PM Pogue VI HLs 200131 America?s Oldest and Most Accomplished Rare Coin Auctioneer LEGENDARY COLLECTIONS | LEGENDARY RESULTS | A LEGENDARY AUCTION FIRM For more information visit StacksBowers.com The D. Brent Pogue Collection Stack?s Bowers Galleries Presents Highlights from Fr. 1216b. 1882 $500 Gold Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Fr. 376. 1891 $50 Treasury Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ. Fr. 1219e. 1907 $1000 Gold Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ. Fr. 45. 1875 $2 Legal Tender Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 64. Serial Number 1. Fr. 1185. 1906 $20 Gold Certificate. PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ. Serial Number 1. Fr. 167a. 1863 $100 Legal Tender Note. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Fr. 328. 1880 $50 Silver Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Fr. 377. 1890 $100 Treasury Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 63 EPQ. Lincoln, Illinois. $100 1875. Fr. 462. The First NB. Charter #2126. PMG About Uncirculated 55. Serial Number 1. Fr. 151. 1869 $50 Legal Tender Note. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Fr. 306b. 1878 $20 Silver Certificate. PMG About Uncirculated 50. Fr. 342. 1880 $100 Silver Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326 PAPER MONEY ISSN?0031?1162? Official?Bimonthly?Publication?of?The?Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors? Vol.?LIX,?No.?1?January/February2020? 80 Cover Story Series of 1923 Porthole S.C. Doomed?Lee Lofthus The?Series?of?1923?$5??porthole??silver?certificates?may?appear?to?be?a?simple?one?and?done?type?note? from?a?numismatic?perspective, but the governmental story behind themwas hardly?simple.? 88 $1 Series of 1899 S.C. Signature Combinations--Peter Huntoon Identification?of?the?known?engraving?varieties?on?the?intaglio?face?and?back?plates?used?to?print?the?Series?of?1899?$1 silver?certificates and a timeline for when those plateswere on the presses?is?presented. 102 ? The Delaware & Hudson Canal & its Paper Money?Q. David Bowers Obsolete?banknotes?from?the Delaware&Hudson Canal that started in his hometown.? 111 WW2 British Military Authority Notes for Greece--Evangelos Fysikas Under?Law?18?of?9th?November?1944?it?was?decided?that?British?Military?Authority?banknotes?would?circulate?along?with?the?new?currency in Greece. 116 Commonwealth Edison?s Federal Dividend Coupon System?Loren Gatch A?part?of?ComEd?s?strategy?was?its?marketing?of?consumer?appliances?and?electrical?accessories?through?outlets?called??Edison?Electric?Shops.??One?aspect?was?its?use?of?the?Federal?Dividend?Coupon?System.? 122 Seal Varieties on Series 1928 FRNs?Peter HuntoonTreasury seals used on Series of 1928 plates used the FR district number in the FR seal.? 126 The County of Montgomery (AL) & Their Revenue Notes?Bill Gunther Immediately?after?the?Civil?War?states,?cities?and?counties?throughout?Alabama?found?themselves?bankrupt? and?without?a?major?source?of?revenue.?A?partial?solution,?adopted?by?many?cities?and?counties,?was???????? to?pay?their?obligations?with?post?dated?notes.? Departments Advertisers Uncoupled 134 Stacks-Bowers IFC Fred Bart 121 Obsolete Corner 144 Denly?s 101 ANA 125 Quartermaster Column 146 Vern Potter 109 CSNS 133 Cherry Pickers Corner 148 PMG 110 DBR Currency 143 Chump Change 150 Higgins Museum 115 Lyn Knight 152 Small Notes 151 FCCB 115 PCDA IBC Heritage Auctions OBC 77 Pierre?Fricke?Buying and Selling! 1861?1869?Large?Type,?Confederate?and?Obsolete?Money!? P.O. Box 33513, San Antonio, TX 78265; pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com; www.buyvintagemoney.com And many more CSA, Union and Obsolete Bank Notes for sale ranging from $10 to five figures Officers & Appointees ELECTED OFFICERS: PRESIDENT?Shawn Hewitt, shawn@shawnhewitt.com VICE-PRESIDENT? Robert Vandevender II rvpaperman@aol.com SECRETARY?Robert Calderman gacoins@earthlink.net TREASURER?Bob Moon robertmoon@aol.com BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Mark Anderson mbamba@aol.com Robert Calderman gacoins@earlthlink.net Gary J. Dobbins g.dobbins@sbcglobal.net Matt Drais Stockpicker12@aol.com Pierre Fricke pierrefricke@buyvintagemoney.com Loren Gatch lgatch@uco.edu Joshua T. Herbstman, jtherbstman@aol.com Steve Jennings sjennings@jisp.net J. Fred Maples maplesf@comcast.net Cody Regennitter cody.regennitter@gmail.com Wendell A. Wolka purduenut@aol.com APPOINTEES: PUBLISHER-EDITOR Benny Bolin, smcbb@sbcglobal.net ADVERTISING MANAGER Wendell A. Wolka LEGAL COUNSEL Robert Galiette LIBRARIAN--Jeff Brueggeman jeff@actioncurrency.com MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Frank Clark Frank_spmc@yahoo.org IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT-- Pierre Fricke WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR--Pierre Fricke From Your President Shawn Hewitt March/April 2020 Again, this year we had a club table at the Florida United Numismatics (FUN) convention in Orlando back in January. It?s good to have a home base at such a show, where we can catch up with our members and colleagues. The table was quite busy at times with youth participating in the Treasure Trivia stopping by. Our second annual speakers? forum was successful, and we thank all who were part of that effort. I was pleased that there was a lot of interest and appreciation for the Bank Note History Project that we launched on our website last year. Mark Drengson gave a nice presentation on the purpose and how to use it at our membership meeting. Over the last several months, our governors Cody Regennitter and Matt Draiss have been adding content to our Obsoletes Database Project, also on our website. In addition, the uploading of Tennessee data and images (thanks to Dennis Schafluetzel) has added thousands of Tennessee notes therein. In that same period of time, Loren Gatch has been hard at work to get our program of instructional and educational videos off the ground. We?ll see some of that come to the website this summer. As I think about what more we should do next to improve our organization, two things have been on my mind. The first is that I think it is about time we give our print journal Paper Money a new look. As the content of our journal is top notch, it is surely worth an investment of design enhancements. We are presently exploring how we can best undertake this project. At the same time, governor Joshua Herbstman has been a proponent of making our journal distributed digitally, and there may be opportunities to combine these efforts. Stay tuned for further details. The second is that I believe we should have a formal giving program. As my kids entered college, I noticed that their universities have very well crafted programs to encourage financial support, as do other not-for-profit organizations to which I belong. While the condition of SPMC?s finances is stable, there will be additional costs to fund video production, journal redesign, digital journal delivery, and other worthwhile projects and research programs that we would like to pursue. I should mention that the National Currency Foundation has been a great partner over the last several years to help fund the research we sponsor that eventually ends up in the journal. If you are in a position to give, there is no better time than the present, and you will be recognized on our Donor?s Wall (https://www.spmc.org/donors-wall). We will appreciate every gift. However, a wider base of participation is a good thing, so I hope to formalize this over the coming year. As always, we try to be prudent in the use of our treasury, which often means doing things on a shoestring budget and a lot of volunteer hours. If you feel you may have talents or information that can help us achieve our goals, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a note at shawn@shawnhewitt.com. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 78 Editor Sez By the time many of you are reading this, I will be lounging like a lizard on a beautiful sandy Waikiki beach! Yes, my job has all these uber negative requirements, like going to Italy with the choir and now to Hawaii for a week with a group (>400) of band students! Oh, woe is the life! But, never fear, I will be thinking of all of you whilst doing this incredibly taxing part of my job! Only bad part is, well, have not found it (the taxing) yet! But on to bigger and better things. The hobby seems to be doing well. The reports from F.U.N. were all positive and I saw an uptick in interest and prices in fractional that has not happened in a long while! The SPMC speaker series was well received. This seems to all be good omens for the future of the hobby. In the last issue, I raised some ?issues? about Paper Money and its distribution. While that was not what I intended, it did lead to a discussion and acceptance on my part that the journal needs a makeover! In this issue, you will see some of the pages (such as this one) with a new look. There will be more coming, until we have a more modern product. In this vein, we have done away with the Money Mart in the back and have placed the larger ads throughout the magazine. We encourage the smaller ads to be placed on the website. Don?t be alarmed?the magnificent content we have always had will not be impacted, just the overall look of the magazine. As we progress through the months, I hope you had time to stop by the club table at the different shows, like FUN, ANA mid-winter, Long Beach, etc. Plan now to attend the paper money premier event, the International Paper Money Show (IPMS) held once again in Kansas City, MO. It is a great time for anybody who loves and collects paper money. The SPMC will be having all of our normal events, including an induction(s) into the Hall of Fame, exhibit and service awards. We will also have our normal SPMC breakfast and Tom Bain raffle at which we will have actual, working sound and A/V this year! We hope to have a nice raffle with great prices and promise to ?Mix ?em Up? every change we get. This is where we will reveal the names of those selected for the Hall of Fame, and present our literary and service awards. Due to our incomparable emcee?Mr. Wolka, it is always a fun and entertaining event. You can soon buy your tickets on the website or at the SPMC table at the upcoming shows. Speaking of literary awards, it will soon be time to cast your vote for best article in Nationals, U.S. Large and Small size, Obsoletes, Confederate, World and Miscellaneous that were published in 2019 in Paper Money. We will also be voting on book of the year and favorite column. As usual, these will be done on-line via the web. So start looking for the notice and vote! This issue has some great content. Besides some of our normal authors, we welcome a new World contributor Evangelos Fyskias and an article about hometown notes from esteemed author Q. David Bowers. Benny Texting and Driving?It can wait! Terms?and?Conditions? The Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) 711 Signal Mt. Rd #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405, publishes PAPER MONEY (USPS 00- 3162) every other month beginning in January. Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Postmaster send address changes to Secretary Robert Calderman, Box 7022, Gainesville, GA 30504. ?Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article in whole or part without written approval is prohibited. Individual copies of this issue of PAPER MONEY are available from the secretary for $8 postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries concerning non - delivery and requests for additional copies of this issue to the secretary. MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere and publications for review should be sent to the Editor. Accepted manuscripts will be published as soon as possible, however publication in a specific issue cannot be guaranteed. Include an SASE if acknowledgement is desired. Opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect those of the SPMC. Manuscripts should be submitted in WORD format via email (smcbb@sbcglobal.net) or by sending memory stick/disk to the editor. Scans should be grayscale or color JPEGs at 300 dpi. Color illustrations may be changed to grayscale at the discretion of the editor. Do not send items of value. Manuscripts are submitted with copyright release of the author to the Editor for duplication and printing as needed. ADVERTISING All advertising on space available basis. Copy/correspondence should be sent to editor. All advertising is pay in advance. Ads are on a ?good faith? basis. Terms are ?Until Forbid.? Ads are Run of Press (ROP) unless accepted on a premium contract basis. Limited premium space/rates available. To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must be prepaid according to the schedule below. In exceptional cases where special artwork or additional production is required, the advertiser will be notified and billed accordingly. Rates are not commissionable; proofs are not supplied. SPMC does not endorse any company, dealer or auction house. Advertising Deadline: Subject to space availability, copy must be received by the editor no later than the first day of the month preceding the cover date of the issue (i.e. Feb. 1 for the March/April issue). Camera-ready art or electronic ads in pdf format are required. ADVERTISING RATES Space 1 Time 3 Times 6 Times Full color covers $1500 $2600 $4900 B&W covers 500 1400 2500 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 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 copy shall be restricted to paper currency, allied numismatic material, publications and related accessories. The SPMC does not guarantee advertisements, but accepts copy in good faith, reserving the right to reject objectionable o r inappropriate material or edit copy. The SPMC assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors in ads but agrees to reprint that portion of an ad in which a typographical error occurs upon prompt notification. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 79 Series 1923 $5 Porthole Silver Certificates Doomed by Treasury Policies by Lee Lofthus The Series of 1923 $5 ?porthole? silver certificates may appear to be a simple one-and-done type note from a numismatic perspective, but the governmental story behind them was hardly simple. The birth of the porthole notes came in 1923 from Treasury?s design modernization program, but their demise came barely three years later, caught in the crossfire of powerful policy changes that ultimately led to the changeover to small sized currency. Involving many of the key Treasury officials of the day, there is much more to the porthole story than meets the eye. Early 1920?s Modernization Program Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon?s Annual Report for 1921 noted that modernizing and standardizing the currency designs ?has been before the Department for more than a decade.? In fact, had World War I not intervened, efforts begun in 1912 and 1913 could have resulted in changes much earlier. After the war ended, in 1919 then-Secretary Carter Glass announced an effort to redesign and modernize the currency, and Mellon (right) picked up where Glass left off. Treasury officials felt the plethora of note designs and Figure 2. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon pushed the adoption of small size currency to fruition, partially at the expense of the $5 porthole notes. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 80 duplication of denominations among the different series was confusing to the public and expensive to produce. Now, with the war successfully over, Treasury was again looking to make improvements in its currency program. Over the next two years, Bureau of Engraving and Printing designers under direction of Treasury officials worked to eliminate the ornate allegorical designs used for decades on U.S. currency, including designs still in use in the Series of 1882, 1899, 1901, 1907, 1908, and 1917, among others. Treasury would adopt simplified standardized face designs for each denomination, regardless of the class of note. Back designs would be simplified and made uniform for each denomination. Designs for the $1 silver certificates and $1 legal tenders were produced early enough that proofs displayed Elliott-Burke signatures and were tentatively designated as the Series of 1920. The design program continued, and by summer 1923, Mellon declared that ?Plans for the revision of the paper currency designs, referred to in the previous annual report[s], have been completed.? On September 10, 1923, Treasury announced that its new designs had been authorized for production with the first new notes being the $1 denomination. The standard designs were to have Washington?s portrait on the $1 note; Lincoln on the $5; Jackson on the $10; Cleveland on the $20; Grant on the $50; and Franklin on the $100. Affected types were the Treasury currencies; specifically, silver certificates, gold certificates and legal tender notes. The new notes were designated Series of 1923. Bank Currency?Federal Reserve notes and national bank notes?would be addressed in due course. If it was decided to continue using $2 notes, they would be redesigned as well within the Treasury series; however, there were strong arguments for their discontinuance within Treasury circles. Face Plate Production and Usage It is worthwhile to examine the timing of face plate manufacture and usage because not all the portholes that were printed were released. The availability of the plates coupled with their on-press dates reveal which production runs yielded the notes that did reach circulation. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing made a total of 53 plates for the portholes (Table 1). Plates 1 through 52 were 8-subject head-to-head plates for use on 4-subject power presses. Plate 53 was a seemingly peculiar 4-subject plate made for a single-subject press. Plates 1 through 32 were begun during December 1923 and February 1924, 33-52 during June- July, 1924, and 53 very late on January 8, 1926. Plate 1 was certified December 21, 1923. Plates 2-25 and 36 were certified between January and June 1924, plates 26-35 and 37-38 in December 1924, and plate 53 last on January 19, 1926. The rest of the plates never were finished. Plates 1 through 4 were the first four sent to press as a set on February 14, 1924 for use on a power press, and they were used together until March 4th. They and sixteen others (5-7, 9-16, 18-22) were cycled through various periodic large-scale press runs on five power presses beginning in June 1924. The Figure 3. Porthole back. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 81 production from all were stockpiled without being numbered. The rest of the first 26 plates (8, 17, 23-25) were rotated onto the presses between August and November 1924. Observed notes have been found from all of the first 26 face plates that went to press (1-25, 36). All but one of the first 26 plates were on the press for at least three runs, and many served 4 to 5 different runs between early 1924 and early 1925. Two plates, 5 and 17, served long enough to be sent for re-entry and then returned to the press. For those of you looking for scarce plate numbers, only one stands out from this group. Plate 11 served only one run, June 11 to July 2, 1924, and was canceled on July 3, 1924. Plate 11 has been seen on an observed note. Other than the early demise of plate 11, the next to wear out were heavily used plates 1, 2 and 4, canceled on November 28, 1924. The second batch of plates (26-35, 37-38) certified December 2-5, 1924 sat unused for over a year in the BEP plate vault. Then, in January 1926, the BEP started printing a large run of porthole notes that Table 1. Series of 1923 $5 Silver Certificate Face Plates. Bolded face plate numbers were used on press. Bolded Plates Highlighted in green have been observed on known notes. All carry Speelman-White Treasury signatures. Treas. Plate Date Date Treas. Plate Date Date Pl. No. Ser. No. Certified Canceled Pl. No. Ser. No. Certified Canceled 91623 1 Dec 21, 1923 Nov 28, 1924 92384 28 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91624 2 Jan 14, 1924 Nov 28, 1924 92456 29 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91625 3 Jan 15, 1924 Dec 31, 1924 92457 30 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91626 4 Jan 24, 1924 Nov 28, 1924 92458 31 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91875 5 Feb 4, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 92459 32 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91876 6 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93549 33 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91877 7 Mar 31, 1924 Jun 24, 1925 93550 34 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 91878 8 Jun 19, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93551 35 Dec 4, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 92210 9 Jun 14, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93552 36 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 92211 10 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93623 37 Dec 5, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 92212 11 Mar 31, 1924 Jul 3, 1924 93624 38 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 92213 12 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93625 39 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92255 13 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93626 40 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92256 14 Jun 10, 1924 Feb 8, 1926 93656 41 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92257 15 Jun 11, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93657 42 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92258 16 Jun 11, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93658 43 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92315 17 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93659 44 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92316 18 Jun 9, 1924 Feb 4, 1926 93748 45 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92317 19 Jun 9, 1924 Jan 29, 1926 93749 46 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92318 20 Jun 11, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93750 47 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92353 21 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93751 48 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92354 22 Jun 18, 1924 Jan 30, 1926 93956 49 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92355 23 Jun 18, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93957 50 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92256 24 Jun 19, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93958 51 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92381 25 Jun 28, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 93959 52 not finished Sep 8, 1930 92382 26 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 102507 53 Jan 19, 1926 Sep 8, 1930 92383 27 Dec 2, 1924 Sep 8, 1930 Source: BEP Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault $5 S.C. Face Series 1923 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 82 continued until February 11. This run utilized many of the first 26 plates plus eleven of the twelve previously unused plates that had been completed in December 1924. Number 38 was never used. Not a single one of the plates finished in December 1924 has been observed on an issued note. The serial numbering runs are listed on Table 2. The notes from the press runs that were restricted to the first 26 plates were numbered through June 1925. The numbering runs that included the production from the plates finished in December 1924 were those carried out in February-March 1926. The notes in that group were the last 2,720,000 to be numbered. 4-Subject Plate 53 Plate 53?a 4-subject plate made for use on a 1-plate press?has an important story to tell. All the rest of the porthole plates, both back and face, were 8-subject plates used on power presses. Plate 53 was a production clean-up plate used to apply faces to salvageable halves of misprinted 8-subject backs and residual 8-subject leftover backs once the big face runs on the power presses had ceased. Its use demonstrates the lengths to which the BEP went to minimize waste. Work on plate 53 was begun January 8, 1926, meaning that 53 was assigned to the plate then. (The BEP Plate Summary Card shows January 8, 1925, but the Face Plate Ledger lists the year as 1926). Plate 53 was certified for use January 19, 1926. Power press production was in full swing then but was scheduled to cease February 11. Plate 53 was sent to press as soon as it was certified on February 19, 1926, eight days after power plate production ceased. It served continuously until March 4. Its work was finished just in time for the production from it to be streamed into the last porthole serial numbering run of February 11-March 12th. Here is how it worked. It is very likely that salvaged good halves of otherwise misprinted 8-subject backs culled by inspectors prior to the power press face runs were accumulated and constituted feed stock for plate 53. See Huntoon and Yakes (2015). Also, leftover 8-subject backs were cut in half and used as feed stock. The press that held plate 53 was a relatively slow, low-volume producer but sufficient to churn through these residuals. Obviously, there were plenty of them because it took a month to work through them. Serial numbering of all the large size notes other than nationals was carried out on 4-subject rotary Harris numbering machines at that time. The 8-subject production from the power presses was cut in half and used as the fed stock for the Harris presses. The half sheets were numbered, the notes cut apart, and the notes collated in serial number order by these mechanical wonders. The fact that the Harris presses used 4- subject feed stock means that the 4-subject production from plate 53 could be handled without a hitch. The fact that plate 53 was consuming residuals reveals why the ending serial number in the porthole series was A6316000B instead of some larger round number as would be expected solely from production from power presses. This is the second time an end-of-series 4-subject cleanup plate has been observed in the plate history records. Peter Huntoon has documented an identical situation at the termination of $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate production. A last, lone 4-subject 1899 plate?in that case Speelman-White face 2922 completed January 8, 1925, two years after the Series of 1923 had started?was used to clean up the residual 1899 back stock. Policy Changes Impact Production The porthole $5 notes were the third of the Series of 1923 designs to reach circulation. The first two were the 1923 $1 silver certificates and $1 legal tenders, released in December 1923 and January 1924, Table 2. Series 1923 $5 Silver Certificate Serial Numbering Runs. Serial No. Range Dates A1B to A1216000B Aug 7 to Aug 30, 1924 A1216001B to A1968000B Sept 2 to Nov 16, 1924 A1968001B to A2600000B Nov 20 to Dec 2, 1924 A2600001B to A3596000B June 9 to June 27, 1925 A3596001B to A6316000B Feb 11 to Mar 12, 1926 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 83 respectively. The first 2.6 million portholes were delivered to the Treasurer between August 7 and December 2, 1924. But, after this initial launch, events developing within the Treasury began to foil their production and ultimate use. Andrew Mellon announced the formation of the Treasury Currency Board on January 8, 1925, in response to ongoing currency supply problems. The board quickly became known as the currency committee within the Treasury. Its charge was to review currency printing, supply and distribution issues, and to implement steps to reduce the size of the currency. Assistant Fiscal Secretary Charles S. Dewey chaired the committee. William S. Broughton, the influential Commissioner of the Public Debt, and Walter L. Eddy, Federal Reserve Board Secretary, were the other members. W. J. Collins of the Division of Loans and Currency served as recording secretary. Early on, the committee worked to solve a pressing shortage of $1 notes. They then worked on simplifying the production process and finally on reducing the size of currency. The Board moved quickly to reduce the numbers of different classes and denominations in circulation. On February 21, 1925, Dewey (right) wrote to BEP Director Alvin W. Hall to advise that the Board had decided to ?eliminate, as far as possible, duplicates of kinds in the smaller denominations, by placing our future issues of $1 notes in silver certificates, $2 notes to be divided between U.S. notes and silver certificates, $5 U.S. Notes, and $10 in U.S. Notes and gold certificates. This will eliminate $1 U.S. Notes and $5 silver certificates, as is to become effective as soon as the plates for these kinds are worn out.? Dewey also asked Hall to survey his incomplete plates in order to determine whether it was more cost-effective to complete and use them or simply leave them unfinished. Hall had just certified another dozen porthole?plates, faces 26 to 35, plus plates 37 and 38?in early December, so a decision had to be made to send them to press or not. Hall, for the time-being, withheld the December plates from use, consistent with the committee?s decision to end production of $5 silver certificates. Hall also sidelined plates 39 to 52 from being completed. Clearly the production and use of the porthole notes was caught in the crosshairs of changing policies at the Treasury level. In December 1925, the Currency Board?s legal subcommittee was debating whether the Treasury Department had the authority to eliminate $5 silver certificates entirely. The law (31 U.S.C. 406) stated that ?Silver Certificates shall be issued only of denominations $10 and under.? Did this mean that all silver certificate denominations of $10 and under must be issued? They concluded that the Secretary of the Treasury had discretion over the denominations provided they were $10s or smaller. Consequently, $2 and $5 silver certificates could be totally eliminated without violating the statute. By 1926, the Currency Board began the planning required to implement the changeover to small size currency. Hall, a longtime champion of efficiency, favored the change and was eager to begin the retooling necessary at the BEP to do the job. Nonetheless, he had to continue the production of the large size notes and the portholes were still in that mix if needed. Figure 4. Charles S. Dewey was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury by Andrew Mellon in 1924. In 1925, Dewey chaired the Currency Committee as it pursued the standardized of currency designs. One of his responsibilities was to ensure that there would be an adequate supply of small denomination notes, especially $1s. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 84 Porthole Notes in Circulation Although Table 2 lists the porthole serial number runs, those runs don?t correlate with the timing of the release of the notes into circulation. A fortunate find in the National Archives a few years ago sheds light on the actual release pattern. Thomas Desmond, a New York City resident living on Park Avenue, sent a letter to the Treasury Department on April 3, 1929, stating ?In recent months, there has come into circulation in the New York City vicinity a $5.00 bill, with a likeness of Abraham Lincoln on one of its sides. Although the bill has on its face Series of 1923, I have only observed it in recent months.? Desmond disliked the bills because the ornate Roman number ?V? on the upper left of the face appeared to be a ?1? at first glance. His letter was routed to William Broughton at the Public Debt Service to provide information for a response. Broughton advised the Secretary?s office that ?The Treasurer has had in reserve for many years about $20,000,000 of these certificates [out of the original $31,580,000 printed]. They had not been issued because of the demand for the $1 denomination. It was found possible recently to start liquidation of this stock?hence the appearance of these certificates in New York.? This reveals that since their inception, porthole use was being squeezed out in favor of meeting the need for $1s. Silver certificate circulation was limited to the number of silver dollars held by the Treasury for their backing, so $1s were pushed out at the expense of $5s. Undersecretary of the Treasury Ogden Mills replied to Mr. Desmond on April 6, saying ?The design in question was adopted in 1923 in connection with the general revision of designs for paper currency then undertaken. However, very few of these certificates were issued as the $1 denomination exhausted practically all the authorized silver certificate circulation. Recently, it has been found possible to issue into circulation the printed stock of this denomination in anticipation of the issue of the reduced sized currency next July. This accounts for the present appearance of this bill in circulation. * * * the new reduced-sized $5 bill [will have] the Arabic number 5 prominently displayed in each corner.? The internal Treasury documents and accompanying reply to Desmond tell us what really happened to the porthole notes. Roughly $10 million of them, about one-third of the total printed, were released when they first became available in 1924/25. This represented most of the notes printed during 1924. Two-thirds were not released and went into inventory with the Treasurer. This stock suddenly became useful in 1929 when a shortage of $5s developed in New York City prior to the arrival of the small size notes. Combining our knowledge of the known serial numbers with the information from the Broughton memo, it is evident that the first $10 million or so in porthole notes went out in 1924/25, and another $10 million or so were released in early 1929 in New York. The reported high serial number in the Gengerke census is A4286409B, indicating the last $10 million worth of portholes never left the Treasury. This last group of two million or so harbored the entire press runs of face plates 26 through 35, and plates 37, 38, and 53. Figure 5. Alvin W. Hall, the longest serving Director of the BEP (1924-1954) was new to the job and largely cut his teeth seeing the Bureau through the transition to small size currency production. While his engravers and printers produced the Series of 1923 designs that included the Porthole notes, by 1926 his focus was on the massive push to launch the small size notes. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 85 Numismatic Highlights Martin Gengerke?s census reveals that the first two dozen porthole notes were saved. The number 1 note revealed itself at the American Numismatic Association World?s Fair of Money at Rosemont, Illinois, in August, 2019, a find that was profiled by Huntoon in the Bank Note Reporter (Nov, 2019). After originally being delivered to the Treasurer on August 7, 1924, serial A1B sold 95 years later in Lyn Knight?s November 7, 2019 currency auction. Acknowledgments Hallie Booker of the BEP graciously provided the plate summary cards for the Series 1923 $5 notes. Photo of the A1B porthole note is courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions. The photographs of the Treasury officials are courtesy of the Library of Congress except for William S. Broughton, which was provided courtesy of the U. S. Treasury Library. Doug Murray and Martin Gengerke provided census information. Peter Huntoon made welcome editorial suggestions and supplied insights on the 4-subject plate analysis. Sources Broughton, William S. Commissioner of the Public Debt, Letter to Charles S. Dewey, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, April 24, 1924 [Delivery Schedules for May 1925, redistribution of $1 notes between Federal Reserve banks, authorization for BEP to utilize Series 1917 $1 plates]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, unnumbered files (2) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Broughton, William S. Commissioner of the Public Debt, Letter to Ogden Mills, Undersecretary of the Treasury, April 1929. [Discussing design defect in Series 1923 $5 silver certificate, holding of 1923 $5 silver certificates in vault until release in Spring 1929 to address demand for $5 notes before introduction of new small size currency]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2 Currency Design, Silver Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1928, Final receipts for notes and certificates: Vols NC01-NC09 split between the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Records of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Record Group 318, entry P1, ledgers 268 and 269, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault, 4-8-12 subject faces, Silver Certificate Series 1899-1935. Record Group 450, UD1 Entry 1, 450/79/17/02 Container 41. U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Ledger and Historical Record of Stock in Miscellaneous Vault, 4-8-12 subject backs, Silver Certificate Series 1899-1935. Record Group 450, UD1 Entry 1, 450/79/17/02 Container 42. U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Plate Summary Cards for Series 1923 Faces, 3 pages, Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1924 Currency models: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Collins, W. J. Secretary to the Currency Board, Department of the Treasury, Memoranda to Currency Board Members Charles S. Dewey, William S. Broughton, and Walter L. Eddy. [March 18, 1925 re currency stocks and production schedules; April 16, 1925, re sheet inventories, production by kinds and denominations, status of $1 notes; November 10, 1925, re currency transactions for October, distribution of $1 notes; December 11, 1925, re elimination of $2 and $5 silver certificates, elimination of $10 U.S. notes, distribution of $1 notes]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Desmond, Thomas. Letter to Treasury Department, April 3, 1929. [Questioning the appearance of unusual 1923 $5 silver certificates in the New York City vicinity, and asserting the design led to confusion with $1 notes]. Records of the Bureau Figure 6. William S. Broughton, head of the Bureau of the Public Debt, was one of the most influential behind-the-scenes policy makers in the Treasury. It was a 1929 memo of Broughton?s found in the National Archives that revealed the release pattern for the porthole silver certificates. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 86 Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326 of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2 Currency Design, Silver Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Dewey, Charles S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury. Letter to Alvin W. Hall, Director, BEP, February 21, 1925. [Currency Board policies; production of Series of 1923 notes; elimination of duplicative currency types and denominations; status of incomplete plates]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Dolan, P. E. Division of Loans and Currency, Public Debt Service. Memorandum to Currency Board Members Charles S. Dewey, William S. Broughton, and Walter L. Eddy, April 12, 1926. [Currency stocks, production schedules, $1 note distribution]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Glass, Carter. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for fiscal year 1919. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 1920. Gengerke, Martin. Census of U.S. Large Size Currency. 2019. Hall, Alvin W. Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. BEP Annual Report. Table 5, Statement showing bonds, notes, and certificates delivered during the fiscal year 1925, p. 10; Table 5, Statement showing the United States notes and certificates, national-bank currency, and Federal-reserve notes delivered during the fiscal year 1926, p. 27. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 1925; 1926. Hall, Alvin W. Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Letter to Treasury Assistant Secretary Charles S. Dewey, January 19, 1925. [BEP currency deliveries, by class, series, and denominations, July 1 to December 31, 1924]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/02/01, Box 17, files one and two (unnumbered) labeled ?Currency Control.? National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Hessler, Gene. U.S. Essay, Proof, and Specimen Notes. Portage, OH: BNR Press, 1979. Huntoon, Peter. ?Number 1 Porthole Comes In.? Bank Note Reporter, Vol. 68, No. 11, November 2019. Active Interest Media, Stevens Point, WI. 2019. Huntoon, Peter, and Jamie Yakes, ?Partlys, Salvaged Notes.? Paper Money, Mar-Apr 2015, v. 54, pp. 80-88. Lofthus, Lee. ?Why $5 Porthole Silver Certificates are Scarce.? Paper Money, Mar-Apr 2014, v.53, pp. 102-3. Lofthus, Lee. ?Why So Few Series 1923 $10 Legal Tenders Were Issued.? Paper Money, Nov/Dec 2009, v.48, pp. 442-450. Mellon, Andrew W. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for fiscal years 1921 through 1926. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 1921-1927. Mills, Ogden, Undersecretary of the Treasury. Letter to Thomas Desmond, NY City, April 6, 1929. [Responding to Desmond?s letter of April 3, explaining the original circulation of the 1923 $5 notes, explaining few were issued at the time because of the need for $1 notes, indicating their release in 1929 was to address demand for $5 notes before introduction of the reduced-size currency, and explaining the new currency designs would have clear Arabic numerals displayed in each corner]. Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt, Record Group 53, Entry 53-87-101; 53/450/54/01/03, Box 2, file711.2 Currency Design, Silver Certificates]. National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD. Murray, Doug. Email to author re high serial number, January 4, 2012; updated via Huntoon, BNR, November 2019. Book Review Thian?s Masterpiece and the Early Literature of Confederate Paper Money by David Fanning In his 40-page book, Thian's Masterpiece and the Early Literature of Confederate Paper Money, David Fanning begins with a descriptive history of the early literature of Confederate paper money during the late 19th century. Thomas Addis Emmet?s listing of notes and Dr. William Lee?s books are discussed before Fanning goes into a history of Raphael Prosper Thian?s life and work which culminated in the Adjunct-General?s office of the U.S. Army as well as Thian?s writings prior to his book. Fanning related how other works and activities were intertwined with Thian?s and how they were different with very little mention in any of Thian?s work. Sales of Confederate paper money as well as dealers and Thian?s possible work as a dealer are discussed. He then talks about Thian?s ?The Currency of the Confederated States of America? and the importance of that publication today. He ends with seven pages of endnotes, acknowledgments and an appendix which will aid future researchers. Only 100 copies of the book were printed with the first twenty-four issued in a custom-made portfolio containing a leaf from an imperfect copy of Thian?s book. The books with the leaves or the seventy-six without can be purchased from the Kolbe-Fanning website, www.numislit.com. 87 $1 Series of 1899 Silver Certificate Signature Combinations and Plate Varieties Overview and Purpose The purpose of this article to identify the known engraving varieties on the intaglio face and back plates used to print the Series of 1899 $1 silver certificates and to present a timeline for when those plates were on the presses. Particular attention will be paid to how signature changes where handled. $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate production began December 1898 and continued through January 1925. Almost 3.5 billion were printed from 21,743 face and 9,575 back plates assigned to the design. More of them were made than any other large size U. S. type note. The 1899 $1s experienced every technological and processing innovation that occurred while they were in production. Some of those innovations were directly responsible for changes that appeared on the notes. Consequently, you can readily apply that knowledge to the timing of identical changes that transcended other Treasury currency during the same period. Treasury currency at the time consisted of legal tender notes, gold certificates and silver certificates. Intaglio Plate Varieties Table 1 is a list of every intaglio plate variety found on the 1899 $1s along with when those plates were in production. The on-press ranges are displayed graphically on Figure 1. Table 1. Inclusive on-press dates for plates used to print the $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate signature combinations and intaglio plate varieties. Range of Plate Serial Nos. Range of Treasury Plate Nos. Inclusive On-Press Dates Treasury Signature Combinations Lyons-Roberts 1 2949 8618 20612 Dec 6, 1898 Nov 14, 1905 Lyons-Treat 2950 3617 20621 22956 Oct 12, 1905 Dec 1, 1906 Vernon-Treat 3618 5578 22959 31088 Oct 18, 1906 Dec 28, 1909 Vernon-McClung 5544 6881 30893 35648 Nov 3, 1909 Sep 23, 1911 Napier-McClung 6882 9879 35655 42356 May 26, 1911 Jan 14, 1914 Napier-Thompson 8594 9034 39698 40683 Dec 2, 1912 May 21, 1913 Napier-Burke none Parker-Burke 1 1859 42365 47387 Oct 25, 1913 Oct 13, 1915 Teehee-Burke 1860 7412 47396 68018 Jul 14, 1915 Feb 27, 1920 Elliott-Burke 1 291 68377 75446 Jan 22, 1920 Mar 2, 1923 (There was no Elliott-Burke production inclusive of Dec 18, 1921-Aug 1, 1922) Elliott-White 1 1239 75578 80948 Jul 20, 1921 Aug 11, 1922 Speelman-White 1 2922 81012 95927 Apr 1, 1922 Jan 8, 1925 Series date placement varieties on face plates (LR = Lyons-Roberts, VM = Vernon-McClung, SW = Speelman-White) horizontal series above serial number LR 1 LR 509 8618 12408 Dec 6, 1898 Jun 28, 1901 horizontal series below serial no. at 9.5 mm LR 508 VM 5677 12405 31647 Jun 28, 1901 Apr 19, 1910 horizontal series below serial no. at 10.5 mm VM 5672 VM 5678 31621 31652 Dec 3, 1909 Feb 8, 1910 horizontal series below serial no. at 12 mm VM 5544 VM 6803 30893 35373 Dec 15, 1910 Jun 21, 1911 vertical series at right end VM 6734 SW 2922 35226 95927 Mar 29, 1911 Jan 8, 1925 Plate serial number varieties on face plates (LR=Lyons-Roberts, TB = Teehee-Burke, SW = Speelman-White) type 1 LR 1 TB 3955 8618 52019 Dec 6, 1898 Dec 18, 1916 type 2 TB 3956 SW 2922 52026 95927 Oct 8, 1916 Jan 8, 1925 Plate serial number placement varieties on back plates number at lower center-right 1 6136 8514 75508 Nov 7, 1898 Jun 20, 1923 number at lower far right 1 3439 75529 93878 Jun 23, 1921 Nov 4, 1924 The Paper Column Peter Huntoon ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 88 Some definitions are in order. The plates used to print currency carried two kinds of plate numbers: Treasury plate numbers and plate serial numbers. Treasury plate numbers were from an omnibus set begun in 1886 that threaded chronologically through most of the intaglio plates made for the Department of the Treasury including Treasury currency, bonds, revenue stamps and other items. The Treasury plate number was unique to a given plate and appeared in the margin of the plate. It was trimmed away when the selvage was cut from the sheets. BEP personnel formally called this set of numbers ?U. S. Notes and Miscellaneous Work.? In contrast, plate serial numbers are variety numbers. In currency there was a separate sequential set of numbers beginning at 1 for the plates for each denomination in each class and series. There were Figure 2. Spectacular bookend pair from the $1 Series of 1899 EE serial number block. Figure 1. Graph showing the periods when $1 Silver Certificate Series of 1899 plates with various Treasury signature combinations and other intaglio varieties were on the presses. 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 Treasury Signature Combinations Lyons-Roberts Lyons-Treat Vernon-Treat Vernon-McClung Napier-McClung Napier-Thompson Napier-Burke Parker-Burke Teehee-Burke Elliott-Burke Elliott-White Speelman-White Series date placement varieties on face plates horizontal series above serial number horizontal series below serial number at 9.5 mm horizontal series below serial number at 10.5 mm horizontal series below serial number at 12 mm vertical series at right end Plate serial number varieties on face plates type 1 type 2 Plate serial number placement varieties on back plates number at lower center-right number at lower far right 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 89 separate sets of numbers for the face and back plates. As revealed on Table 1, plate serial numbering on the face plates usually restarted at 1 with the advent of a new Treasury signature combination beginning in 1913. All the subjects on a given plate carry the same plate serial number and it appears inside the border of each subject. Treasury Signature Combinations The primary variable features on large size type notes were the Treasury signatures. The signature combinations that were current when the $1 Series of 1899 note were in production are listed on Table 2. Table 2. Treasury signature combinations, dates when current and serial number block letters used for them on $1 Series of 1899 silver certificates. Register Treasurer Period when Current SC 1899 $1 Block Letters Judson W. Lyons Ellis H. Roberts Apr 7, 1898-Jun 30, 1905 no letter A B D E Judson W. Lyons Charles H. Treat Jul 1, 1905-Jun 11, 1906 H K William T. Vernon Charles H. Treat Jun 12, 1906-Oct 31, 1909 M N R T William T. Vernon Lee McClung Nov 1, 1909-May 17, 1911 V X Y *B James C. Napier Lee McClung May 18, 1911-Nov 21, 1912 Y Z AA BB EE HH *B James C. Napier Carmi A. Thompson Nov 22, 1912-Mar 31, 1913 DD James C. Napier John Burke Apr 1, 1913-Oct 1, 1913 none printed Gabe E. Parker John Burke Oct 1, 1913-Mar 23, 1915 KK MM NN RR *B Houston B. Teehee John Burke Mar 24, 1915-Nov 20, 1919 RR TT UU VV XX YY ZZ BA DA *B William S. Elliott John Burke Nov 21, 1919-May 1, 1921 DA EA HA MA NA RA *B William S. Elliott Frank White May 2, 1921-Jan 24, 1922 DA EA HA KA MA NA *B Harley V. Speelman Frank White Jan 25, 1922-Sep 30, 1927 HA KA MA NA RA TA VA XA *B There were a number of fascinating interplays between the Treasury signature combinations on the $1 1899s and the serial numbering of the series. Those that are known will be profiled. The Bureau could not suddenly stop production when a signature change came along while everyone sat around waiting for plates with the new signature to come on line. They had no option but to continue printing. A comparison between the official starting dates for the various signature combinations on Table 2 and the first use of plates with those combinations on Table 1 reveals that it could take up to a few months before plates bearing a new combination were made and sent to press. Figure 1 illustrates that plates Figure 1. Graph showing the periods when $1 Silver Certificate Series of 1899 plates with various Treasury signature combinations and other intaglio varieties were on the presses. 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 none 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 90 carrying both the former and new combinations were on the presses simultaneously following appointments. Treasury Signature Combinations and Serial Numbering During Transitions The protocol changed as to how notes with new and old signature combinations were to be numbered following the startup of a new combination. At first, the notes with the different combinations were rigorously segregated into two streams and numbered independently. Then, beginning in 1920, they were comingled into a single stream and numbered together. This significantly impacts how to make use of Figure 1. For example, if you are interested in signature changeover pairs, look for overlaps between the different combinations. However, because the notes with different combinations were segregated before 1920, there was no mixing so changeover pairs were not being made. However, beginning in 1920 the sheets with the different combinations were commingled so overlaps reveal changeover opportunities from then on. Late-Numbered Notes The notes were printed on flatbed presses that held one 4-subject plate when the Series of 1899 commenced so it was easy to segregate production by signature combination. Consequently, when plates with a new combination came on line, they were numbered using a new dedicated serial number block. The production from the old continued to be numbered within its current block until the last of those plates wore out. This protocol was followed for the 1899 $1s between 1899 and 1920 with the exception of the Vernon-McClung/Napier-McClung and Parker-Burke/Teehee-Burke transitions. In those cases, numbering was sequential from the old combination to the new within the current serial number block. See Table 2. In these two instances, the sheets printed from plates with the obsolete combination were isolated from the production from the plates with the new once the new came along. The sheets with the old combination were accumulated instead of being forwarded to the numbering division. Once the last of the obsolete plates was taken out of service, that stockpile was fed en masse through the numbering presses as one large consecutive late-numbered batch. Two of these late-number batches were created, one in the Y block for the Vernon-McClung combination and the other in the RR block for the Parker-Burke combination, each with characteristic late out-of-range serials. See Table 3. These cases are treated in detail in Huntoon (2019b). Table 3. Recognized occurrences of pre-1920 late-numbered $1 Series of 1899 silver certificates with obsolete signatures. High Serial Fr. Number at Observed Serials from Number No. Obsolete Combination New Combination Changeover Late-Numbered Group Reported 229 & 229a Vernon-McClung Napier-McClung Y51404000 Y68426490-Y68955387 7 232 Parker-Burke Teehee-Burke R49660000R R68736001R-R73344000R1 37 1. Official range from delivery ledger. Napier-Thompson and Napier-Burke Signature Combinations The scarcest signature combination to appear on $1 1899 notes was that of Napier-Thompson. Republican President Taft?s Treasurer Lee McClung found himself at odds with Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh near the end of Taft?s term so he resigned in November of 1922. Taft appointed Carmi Thompson, his personal secretary, to fill the vacancy until incoming Democrat Woodrow Wilson could appoint a successor. As a result, Thompson was a short-termer who served from November 22, 1912 to March 31, 1913. The last thing BEP Director Joseph E. Ralph wanted to deal with was a full-blown signature changeover involving an official whom it was clear was going to be out of office in a few months. He finagled a memo from the Secretary of the Treasury?s office with language that he used as license to make a token number of Napier-Thompson plates for a small number of the Treasury type notes that were then current. This subset included the 1899 $1s. The production of forty-three $1 Napier-Thompson plates was interspersed among the ongoing ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 91 flood of Napier-McClung plates. As was the custom at that time, the sheets printed from those plates were segregated by signature combination, and the Napier-Thompson notes were assigned a new serial number block; specifically, DD. When the smoke cleared, the Napier-Thompson $1 1899 plates had been certified between November 30, 1912 and March 25, 1913. However, 398 Napier-McClung plates were made during that same interval. More startling is that another 845 Napier-McClung plates were made after March 25th. As shown on Figure 1, the Napier-McClung $1 plates were on the presses continuously from May 26, 1911, until January 14, 1914. The Napier-Thompson plates saw service only between December 2, 1912 and May 21, 1913. Production from the Napier-McClung plates totaled 469,200,000 notes in contrast to a mere 6,740,000 Napier-Thompson notes. A list of the $1 Series of 1899 Napier-Thompson plates is appended to this article as Table 5. President Wilson appointed John Burke as his Treasurer shortly after taking office in 1913, but it was clear that Register of the Treasury James C. Napier, a Republican appointee, would be pushed out shortly. Once again BEP Director Ralph was looking at another short-term combination. This time he got permission from the new Secretary?s office to stall putting Burke?s signature on notes until a new Register was appointed. He never used the Napier-Burke combination on any small denomination Treasury type note plates, which were his biggest headache. However, Wilson dallied in appointing a new Register until October 1913, so Ralph caved?at virtually no inconvenience to the Bureau?and had the Napier-Burke combination placed on some little used plates beginning in July; specifically, Series of 1882 $100 and $10,000 and Series of 1907 $1,000 gold certificate plates. The full Napier-Thompson and Napier-Burke story is chronicled in Huntoon (2019c). Changeover Pairs and Rare Blocks It was decided during the Teehee-Burke/Elliott-Burke transition, which began in late 1919, that maximum efficiency could be achieved if production was mixed in one stream without regard to signatures and simply numbered consecutively. The incentive to make the change was driven not only for efficiency by largely by machinery. That story began in 1917 when Congress lifted the prohibition against the use of 4-plate power presses for the printing of faces at the Bureau. Bureau management moved aggressively to begin phasing Figure 3. Elliott-Burke/Teehee-Burke backward changeover pair created after production from both types of plates was fed into a single stream and numbered consecutively beginning in January 1920. Heritage Auction Archives photo. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 92 in the modern presses. Power press plate size was increased to 8-subjects, so 8-subject face plates began to be used in August 1918. All the $1 1899 plates in service at that time carried Teehee-Burke signatures. The 8-subject sheets coming off the power presses were cut in half and fed through 4-subject Harris numbering and sealing machines along with the 4-subject sheets from the flatbed presses. Elliott-Burke plates began reaching the presses in January 22, 1920 and started to displace Teehee- Burke plates on both the flatbed and power presses. In fact, both combinations were mixed on the same power press. All of this production was fed into one stream that was numbered consecutively. This new protocol greatly simplified processing but it gave rise to changeover pairs?both forward and backward?comprised of notes with different signature combinations that were consecutively numbered. See Figure 3. The first mixed stock to be numbered arrived midway through the DA serial number block on January 30, 1920 when serial D44712001A was printed. Teehee-Burke and Elliott-Burke notes were mixed within the next 6 million numbers or so. The DA block was still in use when the first Elliott-White plates arrived at the end of July 1921, so mixed Elliott-Burke/Elliott-White production rounded out the last 4 million numbers in the block. A few peculiar situations arose after the commingling practice became established. Occasionally production from plates with an obsolete signature combination overwhelmed that from current combination. The simpler of these tales involved Elliott-White plates, of which a large inventory had been made. When Speelman-White plates came along on April 1, 1922 and began to be numbered in the latter part of the HA block, so many Elliott-White plates remained in the plate inventory, they preferentially were sent to press. As a result, most of the notes printed in the HA and succeeded KA blocks carry Elliott-White rather than Speelman-White signatures. However, some Elliott-White/Speelman-White changeover pairs were printed then. More unusual was the fact that a large inventory of even older Elliott-Burke plates remained in inventory at the start of Speelman-White era. Some were still serviceable, others never used. They hadn?t been consumed during the previous Elliott-White era but instead had been dropped from service on December 17, 1921. They began to be fed into the mix of plates on the presses on August 2, 1922, just 10 days before the last of the obsolete Elliott-White plates were finally used up. Elliott-Burke, Elliott-White and Speelman-White plates found themselves in concurrent production for the next ten days. Elliott- Burke/Elliott-White, Elliott-White/Speelman-White and Elliott-Burke/Speelman-White changeover pairs were all possible from this 10-day interval. Then the older Elliott-Burke plates continued to serve until March 2, 1923 alongside the Speelman-White plates with more production of the highly unusual Elliott- Burke/Speelman-White changeover pairs. Figure 4. Use of plates with obsolete Treasury signatures until they wore out resulted in production of Elliott-White notes well into the Speelman-White era. The last of the Elliott- White notes was numbered in the NA block. Doug Murray photo. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 93 Scarce and Rare Serial Number Blocks The usage patterns illustrated on Figure 1 had interesting consequences for serial number block collectors. You will find from Table 2 that there was numbering of Elliott-Burke, Elliott-White and Speelman-White notes within the HA, MA and NA blocks. Notice, however, that the eight-month hiatus in Elliott-Burke production from December 1921 to August 1922 precluded production of Elliott-Burke KA notes. The gap between the earlier and later Elliott-Burke groups has been narrowed to H40797764A- M42098443A based on reported specimens. This range will narrow further but there is no point in looking for KA Elliott-Burke notes because they just weren?t around to be numbered then. When Elliott-Burke production resumed in August 1922, the plates lasted well beyond the last of the Elliott-White plates. This created the rare Elliott-Burke RA block. In contrast, Elliott-White numbering ceased in the NA block. Series Date Placement Varieties Outside of the Treasury signature combinations, the most visible varieties on the 1899 $1s involve the placement of the right series date on the faces. Ultimately there were five different positions as illustrated on Figures 5 and 6. The date was moved to accommodate the numbering of the notes as numbering technology evolved. Believe it or not, until 1903 all serial numbers at the BEP were printed one number at a time on the sheets of currency by women operating paging machines. The machines held a single numbering head that they used to stamp the serials into place. The women used the right series date as a guide for the placement of the right serial number. As illustrated on Figure 5, the series date was situated above the right serial number on the first Lyons-Roberts plates at the startup of the series. It quickly became apparent that the womens view of the date was obscured by the numbering head, so the date was dropped into full view and the serial number printed above it. This change was made abruptly in June 1903 after the first 100,000,000 notes were numbered. Those notes had no block letters. If you examine Tables 1 and Figure 1, you will discover that this was the only design change in the entire series where there was no overlap in either the production of the plates or printing of the faces. The right series date was not on the generic master die or the rolls lifted from it that were used to lay in the face plates. Consequently, the date was rolled in separately on each subject from a component roll. The last face with the date above the serial bore plate serial number 509, which was certified May 8, 1901. The first with the date below was 508 certified June 3, 1901. The out-of-order numbering resulted simply because 508 happened to be finished after 509. No Treasury seals were printed on the notes at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That monetization step was carried out within the Treasury building in the Treasurer?s Division of Issue, and had Figure 5. The right series date was moved from above the right serial number at 4 mm (left) to below at 9.5 mm (right) during the Lyons-Roberts era. The distance is measured from the base of the I in ?America? to the base of ?Series of 1899.? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 94 been since 1885. The personnel in the Division of Issue also separated the notes. Four-subject rotary presses manufactured by the Potter Printing Press Company were introduced at the BEP in 1903 that numbered but did not seal the notes. A problem became evident that was caused by differential shrinkage of the wetted paper each time it was dried following the printing of the backs and faces. Some of the serials landed on the right series date and spoiled the notes. Finally, in 1909, the series date was lowered from 9.5 to 10.5 cm on Vernon-McClung face plates 5672, 5674, 5675, 5676 and 5678, which were certified between November 20 and 24, 1909. That was better, but since they were lowering the date, why not drop it ever further to 12 mm. This was done thereafter, which helped immensely. A new generation of machines made by the Harris Automated Press Company went into production in 1910. These machines not only numbered the notes, but also sealed, separated and collated them in numerical order. The sealing operation was transferred from the Treasurer?s Division of Issue to the Bureau upon their arrival. Also, star notes began to be used with the introduction of the new machines. See Murray (1996) and Huntoon and Lofthus (2014). Some of the serial numbers were still landing on the series date, which was an annoyance. However, an opportunity for a permanent fix presented itself. The 1899 $1 master die was worn out and a new one was prepared. Director Ralph took that opportunity to have the series date moved to a vertical position against the right border. The series date was placed in the new position on the new die, so the siderographer?s didn?t have to be bothered with entering it from a component roll each time they laid-in a new plate. The first plate with the vertical placement was Vernon-McClung face 6734, which was certified March 28, 1911. Both horizontal and vertical variety plates were made concurrently until 6803 was certified April 27, 1911, which was the last with the horizontal variety. The change came near the end of the Vernon- McClung era so Vernon-McClung notes with the vertical variety are scarce and avidly sought. Considerably more information is available on the $1 1899 series date placement varieties in Huntoon (2019a). Plate Serial Number Varieties Two types of plate serial number varieties occur on the $1 1899s. First, the layout of the face plate letter and accompanying plate serial number was altered in 1916 on Teehee-Burke plates by aligning the bases of the plate position letter and plate serial number as illustrated on Figure 7. Next, the back plate serial number was relocated from the lower right center to lower right corner in 1921 (Figure 8). The new rendering of the face plate serial numbers was a stylistic change that made its way across all the Treasury currency face plates at that time. The last 1899 $1 plate with a type 1 number was 52019- 3955, and the last plate of its kind was certified October 14, 1916. The first with a type 2 number was Figure 6. Illustration of the four placements of ?Series of 1899? on the right side of Vernon-McClung notes that began with the 9.5 mm spacing inherited from the Lyons-Treat era, a small group at 10.5 mm, followed by a large group at 12 mm. The distance is measured from the base of the I in ?America? to the base of ?Series of 1899. Finally, the series was turned on end and pushed against the right border.? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 95 52026-3956, and the first of that variety was certified October 7. The move of the back plate serial number was implemented on both 4- and 8-subject plates. The last back plate with a number in the lower right center was 75508-6136 certified July 13, 1921. The first with the number in the lower right corner was 75529-1 certified June 17. Numbering was restarted at 1 with the change. Invisible Occurrences The fascinating feature of the $1 Series of 1899 $1 notes to a researcher such as me is that virtually every innovation that occurred in the production of currency at the BEP was tested first on these notes because they were by far and away the biggest currency production item at the BEP. The same can be said for all the $1 silver certificates that followed regardless of series or size. It has been pointed out in this article that some of the varieties that showed up on the notes were driven by changes in the machinery. An example is the placement of the series date on the right side of the 1899 $1s. It is my opinion that you can?t fully appreciate the notes without knowing about some of these technological innovations. To that end, I am including Table 4, which is a chronological listing of the important innovations made during the production of the 1899 $1s. For example, when George U. Rose was inventing the electrolytic procedure for duplicating intaglio printing plates at the BEP, the first that he attempted to replicate was a $1 1899 face in the form of a one-subject plate (Huntoon, 2016). The first electrolytic production plates were Series of 1899 backs, which came on line at the end of 1921. No electrolytic faces were used in the series. When the power presses began to be used to print currency after Congress began to lift their restrictions on such use, the first such use made of them was to print 1899 $1s. Then when the plate size was increased from 4- to 8-subjects in August 1918, the first of those plates was made for the 1899 $1s. In no time after using the 8-subject plates, they figured out that they could eliminate inverted back Figure 7. The format of the Series of 1899 $1 face plate serial numbers was altered in 1916 on Teehee-Burke notes by aligning the bases of the plate position letter and number. Type 1 is on the left, type 2 on the right. Figure 8. The back plate serial number on the Series of 1899 $1 silver certificates was relocated to the lower right corner in 1916. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 96 errors through the use of toe-to-head plates (Figure 9). The toe-to-head plates came along in October 1918, the first of which were made for the 1899 $1s. The fact is, they only made eight head-to-head back plates and thirty-two face plates for the 1899 $1s before the toe-to-head arrangement dawned on them. They didn?t waste those head-to-head plates, but while using them they had to take care to keep the production from them separated from that of the toe-to-heads! As revealed on Table 4, four-subject plates were still being made as late as November 1923. However, production for all the high-volume Treasury currency was being moved to 4-plate power presses by then. Organized labor had been resisting the use of power presses at the Bureau since 1878 when the first steam press was tested at the Bureau, and in due course Congressional allies passed legislation prohibiting their use to print currency. Restrictions on the use of the presses for currency were lifted starting with backs and eventually faces with acquiescence of the printer?s union during World War I. An Act of Congress dated January 3, 1923, formally cleared all impediments. It stated: ?Hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to print from plates of more than four subjects each upon power presses the fronts and backs of any paper money, bonds, or other printed matter now or hereafter authorized to be executed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.? The 4-subject plates were designed for use on single plate flatbed presses, although four of them could be mounted on the 4-plate power presses. However, the power presses worked optimally with four 8-subject plates. Once the gloves were off in 1923, Bureau management under Director Louis A. Hill ramped up production of 8-subject plates, which consisted of steel plates made by traditional roll-transfer technology because Hill had disbanded the electrolytic unit. However, at that time, the Bureau still possessed a large inventory of almost 900 unused or lightly used 4-subject steel back plates of several types, including 575 $1 1899 backs, as well as 40 $1 1899 faces. They quickly seized upon altering pairs of the 4-subject plates to create 8-subject forms that could be used on the power presses (Murray and Huntoon, 2019). The respective plates within each pair were machined so that one served on the left and the other on the right side of the 8-subject form. The two halves were arranged in toe-to-head fashion for faces and head-to-toe for the backs. Lettering on the face plates remained A-B-C-D/A-B-C-D. The more plentiful 4-subject back plates were the first to be altered in this fashion with the first 8- subject form being certified April 14, 1923 consisting of conjoined 4-subject backs 2238 and 2239. Figure 9. Upper-right corner from a proof of the first 8-subject $1 1899 toe-to-head face plate certified on October 1, 1918, a month after the first 8-subject head-to-head plate was made. It didn?t take long for them to figure out that this configuration eliminated production of inverted back notes on power presses. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 97 Speelman-White faces followed, with 2689/2688 certified January 15, 1924, and the last consisting of 2670/2669 certified February 11, 1924. The last four pairs of backs were certified September 5, 1924. These hybrid plates were interspersed on the power presses with conventional newly manufactured 8-subject plates. The beginning and ending back and face plates involved in this innovation are not listed on Table 4 because the order in which the plates were altered was not systematic and there where gaps in the affected plate serial numbers. The very last Series of 1899 $1 face plate was 95927/2922, a 4-subject Speelman-White face plate that was certified November 10, 1924 almost six months after the last 8-subject production face plate had been made. The Bureau had been making $1 Series of 1923 face plates for 13 months by then. This lone 1899 face plate was sent to press from November 14, 1924 to January 8, 1925. It was used as a cleanup plate to put faces on the remaining stock of preprinted backs after the last of the other 1899 face plates had worn out. Probably much of that feed stock consisted of 8-subject backs that had to be cut in half before the faces could be printed. Even minor occurrences that you would never think of first appeared on the 1899 $1 plates. For example, to help track accountability, management decided that the siderographers should put their initials on the plates that they made beginning in 1906. This was such a good idea, they had the plate finishers initial the plates they worked on as well beginning in 1909. In due course, the Treasury plate number was moved from the bottom to the top margin of the plates in 1911 in order to facilitate handling them. The last delivery of $1 Series of 1899 notes was sent to the Treasury on January 26, 1925. More $1 Series of 1899 notes were printed than any other large size type note. Table 4. Firsts, lasts and production innovations that occurred during the life of the Series of 1899 $1 silver certificates. In the case of plates, the dates are when the plate listed was certified. Treas. Pl. Ser. Dates Event Pl. No. No.1 Treasury Sigs. 1899 Mar 3 use of power presses for currency production outlawed at BEP 1903 mid use of Potter 4-subject rotary serial numbering presses without seals began 1906 May 16 first sideographer initial used on a plate 22068 3363 Lyons-Treat 1909 Apr 5 first plate finisher initial used on a plate 29481 5201 Vernon-Treat 1910 Apr use of Harris 4-subject numbering, sealing, separating and collating presses began 1910 Jun 12 use of star notes began 1911 Jan 16 successful experimental 1-subject electrolytic plate 34910 none none 1911 Dec 6 first Treasury plate number in top margin 36933 7406 Vernon-McClung 1911 Nov 29 prototype 8-subject face plate lettered A-B-C-D/A-B-C-D 37036 7419/7420 Napier-McClung 1912 Aug 24 currency backs and tints began to be printed on power presses 1917 Oct 6 all restrictions on use of power presses lifted 1918 Aug 9 first 8-subject steel head-to-head back plate 60932 5583 rc 1918 Aug 29 last 8-subject steel head-to-head back plate 61065 5618 rc 1918 Sep 3 first 8-subject steel head-to-head face plate 61111 6794 Teehee-Burke 1918 Oct 1 first 8-subject steel toe-to-head face plate 61261 6820 Teehee-Burke 1918 Oct 3 last 8-subject steel head-to-head face plate 61371 6831 Teehee-Burke 1918 Oct 3 first 8-subject steel head-to-toe back plate 61413 5619 rc 1921 Dec 152 first 8-subject electrolytic head-to-toe back plate 74741 5922 rc 1923 Mar 27 last 4-subject steel back plate 86038 3062 lr 1923 Jul 11 last 8-subject electrolytic head-to-toe back plate 89393 3321 lr 1923 May 27 last 8-subject steel toe-to-head face plate 93155 2921 Speelman-White 1923 Dec 22 last regular 4-subject steel face plate 91504 2689 Speelman-White 1924 Jul 23 last 8-subject steel head-to-toe back plate 93878 3439 lr 1924 Nov 10 lone cleanup 4-subject steel face plate made 95927 2922 Speelman-White 1925 Jan 26 last delivery of 1899 $1s to the Treasury Department 1. Plate serial number locations: rc = right center, lr = lower right. 2. Electrolytic backs 5997, 6015, 6064, 6065 certified May 24, 1921 before 5922. No electrolytic production face plates were made for the $1 1899 silver certificates. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 98 Conclusion Good grief, you waded through this article and arrived at the end without any checklist, without a rarity listing and worst of all without a price guide! What good was it! What you have is a guide that you can use to determine the varieties that are possible from each signature combination as you decide the scope of how you wish to collect from this great series. Go to Figure 1. Drop vertical lines from any signature combination that interests you to determine the different series date placements, face plate serial number varieties, and back plate serial number placements that are possible on those notes. Merge this information with the block letters data on Table 2. It won?t take long to discover what is and what isn?t possible, and best of all you can identify the short-lived combinations. Now you know the scope of your chase. Beginning in 1920, use your vertical lines to determine all the overlapping signature combinations and start looking for changeover pairs that are possible. Some of the possible pairs haven?t been discovered yet. There is no end of the use that you can make of Figure 1 and the tables presented here. Mules have been very popular among small size collectors for decades. A mule is a note where one side is printed from a plate bearing a current design element, such as the most recent Treasury signature combination or style of plate letter, that is mated on the other side with a plate bearing a design element that was being phased out. The Series of 1899 $1s offer up a plethora of mule varieties that type note pioneer Doug Murray spent a lifetime chasing with great delight. An easy mule to understand is a Speelman-White note with a back plate number that occurs in the lower right center. Plates with back plate numbers in the lower right center were being used up alongside those with the number on the lower right corner after the latter came on line. Figure 1 reveals that those mules were in production from mid-1921 to mid-1923. Try for a serial number block letter set of those mules, including a star note. There is no end to the mule varieties that can be assembled for the 1899 $1s, especially if you combine going after all the serial number block letter combinations that go with them. All of a sudden, this type note with the largest production of all the large size type notes starts to offer innumerable stiff challenges. Collecting one of each signature combination just doesn?t cut it. There are varieties galore. And, as large size type notes go, these 1899 $1s are plentiful and cheap, so the cherry picker can have a field day with them. Yes, there are plenty of discoveries to be made, virtually all hidden in plain sight! When you get serious, obtain Gengerke?s large size type note census. You quickly can see what has been discovered and what is scarce, rare or undiscovered. If you make the effort to understand how the production of the $1 Series of 1899 notes changed during their 1898 to 1925 life span, you will find parallels in the production of the other large size Treasury currency produced during the same era. The consumption of plates with obsolete signature combinations or other obsolete design elements alongside current plates coupled with the practice begun in 1920 of merging all that production into a single stream for serial numbering established a precedence for how currency was printed for the next 33 years. New innovations and machinery brought an end to these practices when the 12-subject small size currency plates were phased out in the 1950s. References Citied and Sources of Data Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1899-1925, Certified proofs listed from $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate face and back plates: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1910-1928, Final receipts for notes and certificates: ledgers NC01-NC09 split between the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Record Group 318, entry P1, ledgers 268 and 269, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1917-1953, Record of plates in the United States and Miscellaneous vault: ledgers split between the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Historical Resource Center, Washington, DC, and Record Group 318, entry P1, U. S. National Archives, College Park, MD. Gengerke, Martin, 2014, U. S. paper money records, a census of U. S. large size type notes: privately produced on demand by gengerke@aol.com. Huntoon, Peter, Jan-Feb 2016, Invention and evolution of electrolytic plate making at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Paper Money, v. 55, p. 4-17. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 99 Huntoon, Peter, Sep-Oct 2019a, $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate series date placement layout varieties: Paper Money, v. 58, p. 307-314. Huntoon, Peter, Sep-Oct 2019b, Large size type note signature protocols created scarce serial number varieties: Paper Money, v. 58, p. 347-355. Huntoon, Peter, Nov-Dec 2019c, Napier-Thompson Napier-Burke Treasury signature rarities: Paper Money, v. 58, p. 392-405. Huntoon, Peter, and Lee Lofthus, Nov-Dec 2014, The birth of star notes, the back story: Paper Money, v. 53, p. 400-411. Murray, Douglas D., 1996, The comprehensive catalog of United States large size star notes, 1910-1929: BNR Press, Port Clington, OH,128 p. Murray, Doug, and Peter Huntoon, Jul-Aug 2019, 4-subject large-size plates altered into 8-subject forms during 1923-1925: Paper Money, v. 58, p. 231-237. Table 5. Certification and on-press dates for the 43 Napier-Thompson $1 Series of 1899 silver certificate plates. The intervening plate serial numbers were used on Napier-McClung plates. Treas. Pl. Ser. Pl. No. No. Certified Inclusive On-Press Dates 39698 8594 Dec 4, 1912 Dec 5, 1912-Jan 11, 1913 39699 8595 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Feb 6, 1913 39724 8601 Dec 5, 1912 Dec 6, 1912-Mar 18, 1913 39732 8604 Dec 6, 1912 Dec 20, 1912-Feb 12, 1913 39733 8605 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Jan 29, 1913 39736 8606 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Jan 3, 1913 39781 8613 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Jan 27, 1913 39788 8614 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 5, 1913 39789 8615 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 10, 1913 39802 8618 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Feb 5, 1913 39809 8619 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Jan 11, 1913 39810 8620 Dec 5, 1912 Jan 9, 1913-Feb 20, 1913 39817 8621 Nov 30, 1912 Dec 2, 1912-Jan 10, 1913 39818 8622 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Feb 3, 1913 39824 8623 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Feb 27, 1913 39825 8624 Dec 4, 1912 Dec 5, 1912-Feb 10, 1913 39826 8625 Dec 7, 1912 Jan 10, 1912-Feb 7, 1913 39827 8626 Dec 2, 1912 Dec 3, 1912-Mar 31, 1913 39836 8627 Dec 3, 1912 Dec 4, 1912-Jan 23, 1913 Figure 10. Napier-Thompson Series of 1899 $1s were produced in a token quantity of 6,740,000 notes assigned to the DD serial number block. The notes were produced concurrently with and in the midst of a flood of on-going production of Napier-McClung notes. No Napier-Thompson star notes have been reported so it is likely that none were printed. Heritage Auction Archives photo. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 100 Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326 39837? 8628? Dec?2,?1912? Dec?4,?1912?Jan?23,?1913? 39855? 8629? Dec?3,?1912 Dec?4,?1912?Jan?16,?1913? 39856? 8630? Dec?2,?1912 Dec?3,?1912?Jan?18,?1913? 39863? 8633? Dec?4,?1912 Dec?5,?1912?Jan?11,?1913? 39864? 8634? Dec?4,?1912 Dec?5,?1912?Mar?11,?1913? 39865? 8635? Dec?2,?1912 Jan?10,?1913?Feb?13,?1913? 40036? 8733? Jan 6, 1913 Jan 15, 1913?Mar 10, 1913? 40037? 8734? Jan 6, 1913 Jan 17, 1913?Mar 13, 1913? 40038? 8735? Jan 10, 1913 Jan 22, 1913?Mar 18, 1913? 40039? 8736? Jan 11, 1913 Jan 25, 1913?Mar 3, 1913? 40040? 8737? Jan 28, 1913 Feb 1, 1913?Apr 4, 1913? 40041? 8738? Jan 20, 1913 Jan 27, 1913?Mar 14, 1913? 40042? 8739? Jan 18, 1913 Jan 28, 1913?Apr?10, 1913? 40043? 8740? Jan 22, 1913 Feb 4, 1913?Apr 14, 1913? 40044? 8741? Jan 24, 1913 Feb 6, 1913?Mar 1, 1913? 40045? 8742? Jan 24, 1913 Feb 7, 1913?Apr 4, 1913? 40239? 8845? Feb 1, 1913 Feb 4, 1913?Mar 31, 1913? 40240? 8846? Jan 29, 1913 Feb 5, 1913?Apr 10, 1913? 40650? 9021? Mar?21,?1913 Mar?23,?1913?Apr?28,?1913? 40651? 9022? Mar?22,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?10,?1913? 40670? 9025? Mar?24,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?5,?1913? 40671? 9026? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?10,?1913? 40682? 9033? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?7,?1913? 40683? 9034? Mar?25,?1913 Mar?26,?1913?May?21,?1913? 101 MYLAR-D? CURRENCY HOLDERS BANK NOTE AND CHECK HOLDERS SIZE INCHES 50 100 500 1000 Fractional 43/4 X 21/4 $33.00 $60.00 $273.00 $490.00 Colonial 51/2 X 31/16 $30.00 $54.00 $253.00 $454.00 Small Currency 65/8 X 27/8 $30.00 $56.00 $257.00 $470.00 Large Currency 77/8 X 31/2 $36.00 $64.00 $303.00 $594.00 Auction 9 X 33/4 $36.00 $64.00 $303.00 $594.00 Foreign Currency 8 X 5 $43.00 $78.00 $355.00 $627.00 Checks 95/8 X 41/4 $44.00 $81.00 $375.00 $667.00 SHEET HOLDERS ?? 10 50 100 250 Obsolete Sheet--end open 83/4 X 141/2 $25.00 $110.00 $191.00 $447.00 National Sheet--side open Note?to be discontinued when sold out 81/2 X 171/2 $26.50 $120.00 $205.00 $459.00 Stock Certificate--end open 91/2 X 121/2 $23.00 $110.00 $182.00 $415.00 Map & Bond--end open 181/2 X 241/2 $104.00 $470.00 $863.00 $2011.00 Foreign Oversize 10 X 6 $28.00 $107.00 $180.00 $384.00 Foreign Jumbo 10 X 8 $36.00 $142.00 $239.00 $510.00 You may assort note holders for best price (min. 50 pcs. one size). You may assort sheet holders for best price (min. 10 pcs. one size). SHIPPING IN THE U.S. Orders Under $100.00 total add 10.00 Orders Over $100.00 (parcel post) free of charge Mylar D? is a Registered Trademark of the Dupont Corporation. This also applies to uncoated archival quality Mylar? Type D by the Dupont Corp. or the equivalent material by ICI Industries Corp. Melinex Type 516. DENLY?S OF BOSTON P.O. Box 29, Dedham, MA 02027 ? 781-326-9481 ORDERS: 800-HI-DENLY ? FAX-781-326-9484 WWW.DENLY?S.COM The Delaware and Hudson Canal AND ITS PAPER MONEY ISSUES by Q. David Bowers Introduction ?A great place to visit, a better place to live? is today?s motto for Honesdale?a sentiment that most people will share. I was born there in 1938 and lived there on 914 Church Street for much of my early life. Growing up in a Victorian mansion must have had a good influence on my love for history and tradition. The red-brick mansion at 914 Church Street. In the annals of numismatics, the town has a rich heritage, including paper money from the 1830s through the National Bank note era. Contemplating bank notes of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company piqued my interest when I realized that the canal started in Honesdale, where I was born. Based in Honesdale, the route connected the settlement with the Hudson River. I was determined to learn more. Bird?s eye view of Honesdale, 1890. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 102 About Honesdale Honesdale, slightly more than four square miles in area, was named for Philip Hone, one-term mayor in New York City 1825-1826, when it was laid out as a village at the confluence of the Lackawaxen River and Dyberry Creek in 1826. Hone was president of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1831.1 Artist?s conception of the Stourbridge Lion in its 1829 run. The D&H coal storage area is in the distance. One of the town?s claims to fame is the first commercial steam locomotive run on rails in the United States. On August 8, 1829, the Stourbridge Lion, owned by the Delaware and Hudson Canal, left Honesdale, ran three miles west to Seelyville, and then returned to its starting point. Years later the Stourbridge elementary school preserved the name. In the early days boats on the canal carried anthracite coal by a gravity railroad from mines near Carbondale to New York City on a route that ran to Kingston, New York on the Hudson River, from which point it was shipped to New York City on barges. Two horses could tow a barge with 100 tons of coal?much more efficiently than coal could be moved on land in wagons. Speed on the canal averaged about three miles per hour. The waves eroded the banks of the canal, necessitating constant maintenance. Philip Hone was an avid coin collector in that era and assembled an important cabinet.2 The sale of the Hone Collection was conducted by New York City auctioneer E.H. Ludlow on April 28, 1852. A 26-page listing offered paintings, statuary, medals, and other items and described 292 lots, of which coins and medals realized $837.88, and numismatic books $166.50. A much larger sum was realized for paintings, $5,910.00.3 The Hone event is important historically as the first significant auction offering of numismatic items in Manhattan.4 The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, April 24, 1823, included this description of the canal project, an enterprise that had been introduced into the Pennsylvania State Legislature in April 1822: Philip Hone. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 103 Another Canal The New York papers contain the outline of a bill which is now before the legislature of that state, entitled, ?An act to incorporate the president, managers and company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company..? The preamble sets forth the importance of having a channel opened through which the city of New York and other parts of the state may receive a supply of stone coal which is found in the interior of the state of Pennsylvania; that there is a large body of this valuable article, belonging to Maurice Wurts of Pennsylvania, situated near the head waters of the river Lackawaxen, which empties into the river Delaware opposite the county of Sullivan, and the legislature of that state has recently passed an act authorizing the above named individual to improve the navigation of said river; that it is represented that a water communication can be formed between the rivers Delaware and Hudson, through the counties of Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster, or some one or more of them, so that a supply of this coal may be had from the source aforesaid; and that a number of the citizens of the state of New York have petitioned the legislature to incorporate a company for the purpose of making such a communication between the said rivers. On March 13, 1823, the Pennsylvania State Legislature passed a bill providing that ?Said company shall hold and enjoy the same, as fully as effectively as the same Maurice Wurts, his heirs, or assigns might, or could do, &c.; and it shall be lawful for the company to purchase and hold any quantity of lands situate within ten miles of the Lackawaxen, not exceeding five thousand acres.? A subsequent bill declared that ?The toll on stone coal shall not, in the whole, exceed the sum of once cent and one half per ton per mile, on the ascertained burthen or capacity of any ark, boat, or craft.? The canal route. In November 1824 the State of New York passed a supplemental bill to allow the company to use $500,000 in the business of banking and to establish a banking house in New York City.5 In January 1825 capital stock in the amount of $1,500,000 was authorized and immediately sold. Soon afterward the company became a legal entity. Following the pattern of related paper money, notes issued by the canal were probably used mainly along the route of the waterway and would have not been accepted elsewhere except at a deep discount. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 104 Delaware and Hudson Canal $2 note. Delaware and Hudson Canal $3 note. Delaware and Hudson Canal $10 proof note. Delaware and Hudson Canal $500 proof note. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 105 The Wurtses tapped Benjamin Wright and John Jervis, architects and engineers of the Erie Canal, to lay out the route of the new canal from Honesdale to Eddyville on Rondout Creek near Kingston, New York on the Hudson River. From that point coal could be sent upriver to connect with a route to Canada or downriver to New York City. To attract workers, advertisements were placed over a wide area, such as this in the Vermont Gazette, March 7, 1826: Three Thousand Men Will find employment at good wages on that part of the Delaware and Hudson Canal which is now under contract, commencing at the Hudson River near the Village of Kingston, 60 miles below the city of Albany and about 80 miles above New York, extending through the counties of Ulster, Sullivan and Orange, in the State of New York. To the Delaware River. A line of 65 miles of canal, together with all locks, aqueducts, culverts, bridges, and fencing, is to be completed during the present year. Laborers and mechanics will find employment on application to contractors on the line as soon as the spring opens. The country is remarkable healthy; in this respect it offers greater inducements than any other work of the kind in the United States, to all persons wishing steady employment throughout the season. Maurice Wurts Agent for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company Kingston, Feb. 2, 1826. The Delaware and Hudson Canal was 32 feet wide and 4 feet deep, with 108 locks, 137 bridges, and 26 dams and basins. To raise capital the Wurtses set up a meeting at the Tontine Coffee House on Wall Street, New York City, and demonstrated the utility of anthracite coal. The needed funds were raised quickly. At each of the 108 locks, water could be raised or lowered 8 to 12 feet. The highest point on the canal was what became the town of Summitville. There were two aqueducts to carry the canal over the Neversink River and Rondout Creek. Years later from 1847 to 1851 four new aqueducts were designed by John A. Roebling, who would later become famous for engineering the Brooklyn Bridge (opened in 1883) and other projects. The waterway was closed during the deepest months of winter and usually reopened in April. The History of Wayne County, Phineas G. Goodrich, 1880, added this Maurice and William Wurts, Quakers of Philadelphia, men with far-seeing and prophetic vision, devised the plan of constructing a canal from the Lackawaxen, the site of Honesdale, to the Hudson river at Kingston, a distance of one hundred and eight miles; and of making a railroad with inclined planes from the Lackawanna to the Lackawaxen, a distance of sixteen miles, which railroad would ascend the Moosic mountain at an elevation of two thousand feet above tidewater. With a determination and perseverance equaled only by that of Field in the laying down of the Atlantic cables, Maurice and William Wurts carried out their plans, being aided by many enterprising capitalists.6 The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company was organized and the proposed canal and railroad made and put in operation in the year 1829. By way of experiment one or two boats were run up the canal in the autumn of 1828. Many difficulties, almost insurmountable, were encountered in building the canal. At a point between Paupack Eddy and the Narrows was a sharp bend in the Lackawaxen called "the pulpit," where it was found indispensable to use the river for the canal, consequently a new channel was dug around "the pulpit" for the river to run in. A great flood in the spring of 1829 broke away the embankments between "the pulpit" and the new channel, and part of the river resumed its old course. The repairs were very costly and were not completed until midsummer, and heavy damages were paid to lumbermen. This misfortune happening in the very commencement of the enterprise was very disheartening, and this was the most critical period in the existence of the Company. James Archibald, then its general superintendent, counseled perseverance, and his salutary advice was heeded. When the canal was repaired there was but little coal to be found at Honesdale; none had been brought over by the railroad. Men had been employed the previous winter to haul coal from Carbondale to Honesdale, but there was but little snow that season, and consequently but little coal was drawn, so that the Company delivered only seven hundred tons at Rondout in 1829. Since that time its advance has been steadily progressive with constant rapidity of advancing step until, wonderful to tell, in 1879, by said Delaware & Hudson Canal Company there were mined and sold of coal shipped from Honesdale via canal and railroad one million, nine hundred and thirty three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four tons. The upper part of Honesdale was owned by Jason Torrey, and the lower part was bought by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company of Samuel Kimble for a slight consideration. One of its chief patrons was Philip Hone, a wealthy merchant of the city of New York, and, out of respect to him, the place at the head of canal navigation was named Honesdale. It was first laid out in 1826, and was incorporated as a borough January 26th, 1831. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 106 On April 5, 1826, the State Legislature authorized the canal company ?to construct a railway or railways from the coal beds owned by the company, on the forks of the Dyberrry on the river Lackawaxen? and to collect and receive by toll on said rail road a sum not exceeding sum of twelve per centum per annum? on the coal transported. In 1829, 7,000 tons of coal were shipped by rail. In the summer of 1841, Hone organized a party of prominent New Yorkers interested in the canal to visit Honesdale. The entourage included author Washington Irving, who wrote from there to his sister, Mrs. Van Wart, on August 1: I write from among the mountains in the upper part of Pennsylvania, from a pretty village which has recently sprung into existence as the deposit of a great coal region, and which is called after our friend, Philip Hone, who was extremely efficient in directing Rev. Mr. Richardson, who, in 1841, had a school enterprise into this quarter. I came here along the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which extends from the Hudson River, near the Catskill Mountains, upward of a hundred miles into the interior, traversing some of the of the most beautiful parts (as to scenery) of the state. I accompanied the directors of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in their annual visit of examination. Among the directors are Philip Hone and my friend [Henry] Brevoort. I do not know when I have made a more gratifying excursion with respect to natural scenery, or more interesting from the stupendous works of art. The canal is laid a great part of the way along romantic valleys, watered by the Rondout, the Lackawaxen, &c. For many miles it is built up along the face of perpendicular precipices rising into stupendous cliffs with overhanging forests, or jutting out into vast promontories, while on the other side you look down upon the Delaware, foaming and roaring below you at the foot of an immense wall or embankment which supports the canal. Altogether it is one of the most daring undertakings I have ever witnessed, to carry an artificial river over rocky mountains, and up the most savage and almost impracticable defiles; and all this, too, has been achieved by the funds of an association composed of a handful of individuals. For upward of ninety miles I went through a constant succession of scenery that would have been famous had it existed in any part of Europe; the Catskill Mountains to the north, the Shawangunk Mountains to the south, and between them lovely valleys, with the most luxuriant woodlands and picturesque streams. All this is a region about which I had heard nothing?a region entirely unknown to fame; but so it is in our country. We have some main routes for the fashionable traveler, along which he is hurried in steamboats and railroad cars; while on every side extend regions of beauty, about which he hears and knows nothing. Some of the most enchanting scenes I have beheld since my return to the United States have been in out-of-the-way places into which I have been accidentally led.7 The canal proved to be profitable and gave a nice return to its stockholders. It remained in service well into the twentieth century. Over a period of time its business was transferred to the Delaware and Hudson Railway, which became prominent in the Northeast, extending into Canada. The Delaware and Hudson Canal basin as depicted on a stereograph card. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 107 The basin in Honesdale in the early twentieth century. The Delaware and Hudson Canal railroad system in 1886 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 108 The town of Honesdale continued to achieve success and prominence. Today with a population of nearly 4,500 it has many activities and business enterprises and is also a tourist center. In later years of the nineteenth century, extending into the early twentieth, there were many other paper money issues, including of the Honesdale Bank, the Honesdale National Bank, and various scrip bills. Endnotes 1 Hone was a client of John Allan, a New York City accountant who was America?s first rare coin dealer. 2 American Journal of Numismatics, April 1874. 3 George Parish, Jr., American Journal of Numismatics, August 1866. In the April 1884 sale of his own collection, Lot 3312, W. Elliot Woodward stated that ?only two or three copies are known? of the Hone sale catalogue. The manuscript catalogue of his collection survived and was exhibited by Elisha Y. Ten Eyck at the April 9, 1868, meeting of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society. ?They [the coins and medals] were gathered together at a time when a collection of this sort, or of any sort, was an extremely unusual thing; and they were sold and dispersed after their proprietor?s death, which occurred in May 1851. The printed catalogue of this collection is one of the rarest known. It is valued at $10 by Mr. Woodward, according to whom only three are ascertained to exist.? 4 Years later Hone?s diary was published in two volumes and gave detailed insights on the city during the era 1828-1851, but did not discuss numismatics, even in passing. Hone lived at 235 Broadway opposite the Park, moving to the corner of Great Jones Street and Broadway in October 1837 (the New York Tribune, April 18, 1868, contained a description of the residence). The auction catalog can be viewed on the Newman Numismatic Portal on the internet. 5 Historical retrospective in The Wyoming Herald, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1830. 6 In the book Wurts was consistently misspelled as Wurtz. This is corrected in the present citation. 7 The Life and Letters of Washington Irving edited by his nephew, Pierre M. Irving, Vol. III. London, 1863, pp. 132, 133. Also, History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania, Alfred Mathews, 1886, p. 347, with more information about the visit. Some other histories have Irving incorrectly visiting in 1844 and the entourage including John Jacob Astor. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 109 HONG KONG SHANGHAI LONDONMUNICH SARASOTA Collect With Confidence Worldwide For more information, visit: NGCcoin.com PMGnotes.com NGC and PMG have earned the trust of collectors and dealers worldwide through their unrivaled expertise, stability and integrity. Together, the companies have certified more coins and paper money than any other grading services, and operate the largest network of global submission locations. In fact, NGC and PMG now operate more than 82,000 square feet of purpose-built offices dedicated to expert certification services, including expanded locations that recently opened in Hong Kong and Munich. As part of the Certified Collectibles Group (CCG), NGC and PMG share a long-term management team, as well as the financial backing to support their industry-leading guarantees of authenticity and grade. That?s strength and stability you can trust. 20 GLOBALLOCATIONS 50 GRADINGEXPERTS 47,000,000 COLLECTIBLES GRADED 46 YEARS OF COMBINEDINDUSTRY LEADERSHIP 19-CCGPA-4959_CCG_Ad_NGC_PMG_Stability_PaperMoney_MayJune_2019.indd 1 4/1/19 11:14 AM WW2 British Military Authority notes for Greece. The R Series (1944-1947) Evangelos Fysikas Historical background The occupation of Greece (excluding Dodecanese islands) by the Axis Powers began in April 1941 after Germany invaded Greece to assist its ally Italy, which had been at war with Greece since 28th October 1940. Following the conquest of Crete, all of Greece was occupied by June 1941. The German troops started to evacuate Southern Greece from early of September 1944 and finally withdrew from Athens on 12th October 1944. By the end of the month, they had withdrawn from all Greece. However, German garrisons remained in control of part of Crete and some other Aegean islands up until May 1945. The first British troops arrived in Athens on 14th October 1944. Four days later, the Greek government-in-exile returned to the Greek capital and finally took the control of the country. During the years of the occupation, Greek economy devastated and hyperinflation made drachmas banknotes useless. The highest denomination ever issued reached the value of 100 billion drachmas in November 1944. Then, the new post-war drachma was introduced being equally to 50 billion old drachmas. Under Law 18 of 9th November 1944 it was decided that British Military Authority banknotes would circulate along with the new currency. The rate was pegged at 600 new drachmas to 1 BMA pound. The purpose of the military banknotes remaining in use, was to help the Greek population trust the new drachma seeing it was connected to a stable currency. It should be mentioned that BMA notes were not allowed to circulate in Britain. Those that released for circulation in Greece had print on them the characteristic letter R. Apart from Greece, the same BMA banknotes were in use in North Africa, in 1942-43 (A-F, K, L series), in Italy, in 1943-45 (S series) and, for a short while, in Yugoslavia, during 1944 (X series). BMA notes were withdrawn between 16th April and 31st May 1945 at the initial rate of 600 drachmas to one BMA pound. Dodecanese islands The Dodecanese (literally "twelve islands") is a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea with Rhodes being the most historically important and well-known island. From 1912 to 1943 Dodecanese were the "Italian Islands of the Aegean" and ruled by the Kingdom of Italy who annexed them from the Ottoman Empire. During World War II Italy used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area. After the surrender of Italy in September of 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans and Allied forces. The Germans prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in Autumn of 1944, the Dodecanese remained under German occupation until the end of the war. Then, on 8 May 1945, the islands became a British military protectorate, upon which the islands became informally united with Greece, though under separate sovereignty and military control. Finally, the islands were formally united with Greece by the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy. Until the end of the German occupation the officially currency in Dodecanese was the Italian Lire. When British forces liberated the islands and took the control, they introduced BMA notes having one pound equally to 400 Lire. They 100 billion drachmas banknote (PM-135, Fysikas #132) (Obverse) 100 billion drachmas banknote (PM-135, Fysikas #132) (Reverse) ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 111 remained in circulation until 31st March 1947 when they exchanged at a rate of 20,000 drachmas to the pound. Alongside with the notes bearing the code R, another one note placed into circulation in Dodecanese contrary to the mainland Greece. This was the one with the lower denomination, the six pence note but without having any serial number or any letter printed on it. A total of 1,980,000 six pence notes circulated while 371,449 of them were never been redeemed. Description of the notes Six different denominations issued by the British Military Authority during WW2. The highest five circulated in Greece between October 1944 and May 1945 and all six in Dodecanese from May 1945 to March 1947. All denominations, except the six pence note, have the ''code'' letter R either as part of the serial number or alone. The one pound and the 10 shillings notes bare a watermark of goddess Athena and only these two have a distinctive serial number printed on them. None of the notes bear any signature or a date. Map of Greece. Dodecanese islands at lower right Watermark of 10 shillings and 1 pound notes 6 pence note (PM-1, Fysikas #434) (Obverse) 6 pence note (PM-1, Fysikas #434) (Reverse) 1 shilling note (PM-2, Fysikas #435) (Obverse) 1 shilling note (PM-2, Fysikas #435) (Reverse)? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 112 2 shillings and 6 pence note (PM-3, Fysikas #436) (Obverse) 2 shillings and 6 pence note (PM-3, Fysikas #436) (Reverse) 5 shilling note (PM-4, Fysikas #437) (Obverse) 5 shilling note (PM-4, Fysikas #437) (Reverse) 10 shilling note (PM-5, Fysikas #438) (Obverse) 10 shilling note (PM-5, Fysikas #438) (Reverse) 1 pound note (PM-6a, Fysikas #439a) (Obverse) 1 pound note (PM-6a, Fysikas #439a) (Reverse) ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 113 The "GREECE" overprint A rare variety of the 1 pound BMA note is the one with a black overprint on the obverse with the word "GREECE". This has a special prefix 39Z and serial number from 000026 to 000050 i.e. 25 pieces. Similar overprints can be found with the indication ?BULGARIA? (39Z 000001-25) and ?FRANCE? (39Z 000051-75 or 100?). During the last 25 years of research, I had come across with 12 of the overprinted notes. Their serial numbers are 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47 and 49. The purpose behind this overprinting is not yet been clarified, but two reasons may be the following. The British considered adding an indication of the name of each country on the banknotes alongside with the distinctive letter. However, if this indication was printed in London there was the risk that, during the process and before the paper sheets were cut into separate notes, the names of the countries, which the British planned to invade, would leak and become known. Thus, they decided to have the notes cut from the sheets, have them sent to the occupied countries after taking them over and have each separate banknote overprinted with the distinctive indication locally. They had some of the banknotes overprinted only as a trial but the project proved impractical and it was soon abandoned. Although this explanation is very logical, it cannot explain why three different overprints had to be made while with only one country's name they could figure out the pros and the cons of the procedure. The other opinion is that these overprints were made for deception purposes. Selected British officers would carry the overprinted notes and "reveal" them to persons that might been spies in favor of Axis. Thus, enemy would believe that the Allies had plans to land in Greece or Bulgaria, but the reality would be completely different. Although this explanation is plausible, it cannot make clear the "FRANCE" overprint, because as we know Allies finally landed on Normandy in June of 1944. Although it is relative easy to copy the overprint, the fact that we know exactly the serial numbers of the original notes, prevents someone to do this. However, during the past years, I came across with only one such counterfeit specimen. Reading the serial number of the note (40A 227536) we have no doubt that the overprint is obvious fake. 1 pound note overprinted with "GREECE" (PM-6d, Fysikas #439b) (Obverse) Counterfeit overprint "GREECE" Epilogue BMA notes form a fascinating banknote-collecting field. These banknotes can easily fit into three different collections: British notes, war notes and Greek notes. Especially the rare overprinted one pound is the most sought-after British Military Authority note. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 114 List of the quantity of BMA notes circulated in Greece (1944-45) and Dodecanese (1945-47). Source: T.F.A. van Elmpt. Den. Ordered Circulated Pieces Value Pieces Value Serial Number PM-6 1 ? 1,300,000 ?1,300,000 1,015,000 ?1,015,000 40R 000001- 41R 300000 PM-5 10/- 4,000,000 ?2,300,000 3,050,000 ?1,015,000 01R 000001- 04R 1000000 PM-4 5/- 4,000,000 ?1,000,000 3,050,000 ?762,500 R PM-3 2/6 4,000,000 ?500,000 3,050,000 ?381,250 R PM-2 1/- 4,000,000 ?200,000 3,050,000 ?152,500 R PM-1 6d 15,300,000 ?382,500 1,980,000 ?49,500 without Total 32,600,000 ?5,682,500 15,195,000 ?3,885,750 Author's e-mail: greeknotes@gmail.com Bibliography/Sources 1. Evangelos Fysikas, "Catalogue of Greek Paper Money 1822-2002", 2015. 2. T.F.A. van Elmpt "?British Military Authority Occupation Currency 1942-1956. Europe and North Africa", Elran Press, 2003. 3. C.F. Schwan & J. E. Boling, "World War II Military Currency", BNR Press, 1978. 4. wikipedia.com 5. spink.com 1507 Sanborn Ave. ? Box 258 Okoboji, IA 51355 Open from Memorial Day thru Labor Day History of National Banking & Bank Notes Turn of the Century Iowa Postcards ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 115 Commonwealth Edison?s Federal Dividend Coupon System by Loren Gatch Introduction While the legacy of Samuel Insull (1859-1938) remains forever tainted by the financial collapse of his utilities empire in 1932, the British-born Chicago business figure played a major role in the electrification American industry, and indeed in the emergence of our modern consumer society. After becoming head of Chicago (later, Commonwealth) Edison in 1892, Insull pioneered the business expansion strategy that, over the next four decades, put Chicago as the ?Electric City? at the global forefront in the use of electricity at work, for travel, and in the home. A prot?g? of Thomas Alva Edison, Insull was not himself an inventor. He was nonetheless an innovative leader, risk taker and organizational genius who grasped and exploited a fundamental insight into the economics of electricity generation. Insull recognized that the power business promised economies of scale that linked increasing electricity demand to ever-lower per unit production costs. The key to exploiting this potential of electricity, he saw, lay in the relentless expansion of power output from a central source. In addition to adopting new generation technologies, production efficiency entailed absorbing competitors within a given service area to the point where a single provider enjoyed a natural monopoly operating under government regulation. Achieving this required recognizing the demand for electricity as a critical driver of the expansion process. Though the benefits of an electrified world seem self-evident today, at the end of the 19th century Americans had to be educated into the virtues of the new energy source. After achieving early successes in electrifying industry and adding Chicago?s streetcar and elevated railways as customers, Insull?s Commonwealth Edison (or ?ComEd?) embarked on the project of signing up the hundreds of thousands of Chicago households for its electricity service. The benefits of electric lighting were only the beginning. Insull appreciated that consumer demand generated from the use of numerous new electrical appliances improved the company?s ?load factor? by increasing the use of electricity, especially during off- peak times. Each iron, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher or toaster in operation added to electricity demand, in this way feeding into lower unit production costs and thus lower electricity rates for all customers. A part of ComEd?s demand strategy was its own marketing of consumer appliances and electrical accessories through outlets called ?Edison Electric Shops.? In addition to serving as retail establishments, Electric Shops also had cashier?s windows where customers could pay their electricity bills and arrange repair and installation services. One aspect of this marketing strategy was its use of the Federal Dividend Coupon System. Though similar to other arrangements at the time, such as that of United Cigar or Sperry & Hutchinson, ComEd?s use of premium coupons was different in that the company sought to encourage appliance purchases not primarily to make a profit on their sale, but for the subsequent demands for electricity that they represented. This article describes the features of the Federal Dividend Coupon System, its range of denominations, and the ways in which it contributed to ComEd?s evolving efforts to improve its ?load factor.? The Edison Electric Shop and Federal Coupons In the first decade of the twentieth century, the nascent electricity industry confronted a classic Samuel Insull, electricity magnate Source:?Wikipedia? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 116 problem typical of any capital-intensive enterprise. Where was the demand that would justify expensive upfront investments in electricity generation capacity? Like other energy entrepreneurs, Insull sought to expand his business both horizontally (absorbing competitors) and vertically (bringing electricity into the home). A key innovation was his adoption of the metered billing system, which priced electricity according to whether it was used during low- or high- demand times. Signing up households entailed marketing to consumers new products that would consume power. In the early twentieth century, this meant selling Americans on the benefits of an electrified world. Electric lighting itself seemed self-justifying, as did some other applications. Who wouldn?t prefer cleaning a carpet with an electric vacuum, as opposed to dragging the thing outside, and laboriously beating it? Similarly, using electric irons on clothing seemed unambiguously superior to heating irons on the kitchen stove, particularly during the uncomfortable summer months. In other respects, though, the benefits of electrical appliances might not have been obvious, and ComEd?s publicity sought to educate the public into what it was missing. In these early years, Insull published his own magazine, Electric City, whose contents showcased the new technology. A ComEd truck loaded with 10,000 electric irons trundled through Chicago neighborhoods, offering the devices at no money down in exchange for signing up for electricity service. The company also mounted a traveling exhibition called the ?Electric Cottage?, in which an entire house equipped with the latest conveniences was towed around for public viewing. Endorsements by celebrities, such as the vaudeville star Trixie Fraganza, somehow sought to impart glamour to electric appliances. In 1909, the company opened the first Edison Electric Shop at Michigan Avenue and Jackson Boulevard, a decidedly high-rent location. Pitched to an upscale clientele, the Electric Shop?s sumptuous displays ranged from lamps and domestic appliances on the ground floor to lathes, drill punches, and other industrial equipment in basement showrooms. The new store aimed not merely to generate sales, but to awaken aspirations as well, serving to educate the public into the benefits and conveniences of the new electrical products for which markets simply did not yet exist. In 1915, the Edison Electric Shop relocated nearby to 72 West Adams, where it remained for decades. As other branches of the Edison Electric Shop were opened up around the city, the downtown Loop address henceforth served as the flagship of the utility?s appliance marketing operation. The following year ComEd sought to bolster its sales by introducing a premium program Bringing electricity to the masses (Source: Platt 1991). The glamour of electricity (Sources: Hogan 1986; Platt 1991). The Edison Electric Shop in 1909 (Source: Electrical World 1909). ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 117 using Federal Dividend Coupons, administered by the Federal Profit-Sharing Co., which was housed at the same West Adams location. These coupons were given out in the form of trading stamps, one for each five-cent purchase at participating merchants. The stamps had to be pasted into books of 960, which the company redeemed for one dollar when purchasing any item at the Electric Shop. Since it took nearly $50 in expenditures to accumulate 960 stamps/coupons, the premium represented a straight 2% discount on Electric Shop purchases. The premium catalog associated with the plan priced items both in terms of coupons and the cash equivalent. This was not a particularly generous deal, compared to similar plans of the time. But since the Federal Profit-Sharing Co. was not an independent, third-party premium marketing company, but an affiliate of the power utility, a number of the plan?s features reflected ComEd?s overarching goal of increasing electricity demand. First, retail merchants giving the coupons out had to be themselves customers of Federal Sign System, a ComEd affiliate, meaning that they rented commercial signs, and bought the electricity to illuminate them, from ComEd. Customers accumulated coupons not just from participating retailers, but from the utility itself. Every month, customers received in the mail with their electric bills an enclosed advertising certificate that could be taken to any Edison Electric Shop and exchanged for thirty coupons. If a person paid their bill at the main Electric Shop on West Adams, they received an additional certificate worth ten coupons. In addition to purchases at participating retailers, when customers bought appliances at any Electric Shop, they received coupons at the same rate of one for every five-cent purchase. ComEd further encouraged consumer purchases, particularly of more expensive items, by allowing customers to pay in installments that were folded into their monthly utility bills. These installment payments also earned customers additional coupons at the same rate of one coupon for every five cents spent. Conversely, in making their installment payments, customers were allowed to apply their coupons only up to half the amount of the itemized monthly amounts. Sometime by the mid-1920s, two changes to ComEd?s premium program took place. First, the company shifted away from using trading stamps (which it had nonetheless been calling ?coupons?) to scrip-like notes printed on 2 x 4 inch slips of safety paper. These resembled the advertising inserts that ComEd had been including in its monthly bills to customers. While the color and size of these notes varied according to denomination, each was nicely ornamented, with an obverse featuring elaborate scrollwork, the logo which had previously appeared on the stamps (a capital ?F? combined with a lightning bolt), a serial number, reference to its redemption at the Commonwealth Edison Electric Shop, and the printed cursive signature of the Federal Profit Sharing Company. The overall arrangement looked not dissimilar to the coupons used by other outfits at the time like United Cigar, United Profit Sharing, or Mutual Coupon Corp. The back of each Federal coupon looked nothing like the front, instead carrying a mix of advertisements for some appliance available This advertising certificate worth 30 coupons came with customers? bills. As with all Federal coupons and certificates, the back of this note advertised a product available in the Electric Shops. Customers earned this certificate worth 10 coupons by paying their bills in person at an Electric Shop. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 118 at an Edison Electric Shop, as in the thirty-coupon example shown above. While sticking hundreds of small stamps into a booklet might have been feasible, it was not practical to accumulate and carry around similar numbers of the new, larger coupons, especially if it took nearly 1,000 of them to secure a mere one dollar in additional purchasing power. Accordingly, the premium plan expanded its denominational range to include ?certificates?, one certificate being equal to twenty coupons. While certificate denominations were similar in design to coupon denominations, they were somewhat larger (2 ? x 4 ? inches). The four corners of all coupon and certificate denominations expressed the cents and dollar purchase amount that they represented. These ranged from 5?, 10?, 25?, 50?, (on one-, two-, five-, and ten-coupon notes) to $5.00 (on a five-certificate note). In keeping with the underlying redemption formula, this meant that a customer bringing in to the local Electric Shop ten of the five- certificate notes had spent $50 in U.S. funds to accumulate them, and then would get a $1 discount on the price of an appliance. In terms of the price relations that prevailed in the 1920s, this represented a real, albeit modest, consumer incentive. ComEd could, and did, sweeten the terms through specific promotions. Thus, a 1926 newspaper ad offered 10,000 coupons (500 certificates) along with the purchase of a Federal washing machine ($5 down, the rest payable in monthly installments on the utility bill). According to an undated Federal premium catalog, the cheapest Sunbeam iron could be had for 168 certificates, or a Westinghouse table fan for 325 certificates. This suggests that Commonwealth Edison was basically giving away a small appliance or two when customers purchased a more expensive item whose retail price, depending upon the model, ranged from $150 to $200. On occasion, the offers could be much more generous. Each of the advertising certificates enclosed with customers? monthly electric bills bore a serial number, and ComEd regularly gave away washing machines to those lucky recipients possessing certificates bearing the numbers chosen by the company. Finally, at some point after 1925 another change took place in the entity administering ComEd?s premium plan. Instead of the Federal Profit Sharing Company, the Federal Merchandise Company, located These coupons, signed by the Federal Profit Sharing Co., differed only in color and denomination.? Washing the dishes with a Federal appliance for $5 down.? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 119 at 140 South Dearborn Street, took over as the plan?s agent. Its signature appeared henceforth on the range of coupons and certificates issued under the premium plan. Although their precise relationship within Commonwealth Edison?s corporate structure remains unclear, the common word ?Federal? in all three company names?Federal Sign, Federal Profit Sharing, and Federal Merchandise?as well as the existence of a line of Federal (and possibly ?Fedelco?) appliances regularly advertised by the utility? suggests that Federal was an in-house brand marketed and perhaps even manufactured by the larger utility. All of these features of The Federal Dividend Coupon plan were meant to both encourage appliance purchases at Edison Electric Shops and the consumption of Commonwealth Edison electricity. While expanding its own retail sales footprint, the utility strove to maintain a cooperative relationship with a wider network of independent dealer- contractors across the Chicago area who also sold appliances and other electrical supplies. These local dealers also redeemed monthly advertising certificates for coupons. More importantly, they worked on commission selling appliances, arranging the installment and deferred payment plans that would appear on customers? utility bills. How much of a difference Commonwealth Edison?s coupon plan specifically made is impossible to say with any precision. At its launch in 1916, Federal Profit Sharing announced its intention to offer its premium plan nationwide. This expansion never took place, though Federal coupons were used throughout Chicagoland and were advertised in markets as far away as Battle Creek, Michigan. More commonly, electricity providers around the country adopted portions of ComEd?s marketing strategies, either in direct imitation (ComEd was regularly lauded for them in the trade press) or simply because the ideas made inherent sense. In any event, the growth of Commonwealth Edison?s electricity output in these decades was spectacular, as was the diffusion of consumer appliances. Sales at the main Electric Shop quadrupled in the first five years of its operation. The distribution of coupons by on-site cashiers was said to have boosted its traffic to between 4,000 and 5,000 people a day. America?s abbreviated entry into the European war in 1917 resulted in some spectacular coal shortages that temporarily crimped the utility?s expansion strategy. With the return to peacetime, however, the electrification of Chicago proceeded rapidly, and in an increasingly democratic fashion as service was extended to ever-larger swathes of the population. Electrical appliances that reduced the drudgery of domestic work became accessible, and affordable, to a much broader range of Chicagoans. By the mid-1920s, Chicago was distinctive for having the highest per-capita electricity consumption in the world. Some appliances were in more widespread use than others. In 1929, the company?s own survey data revealed that only electric irons and vacuum cleaners were ubiquitous in households across socio-economic status. In working-class homes, about half of families had a radio and barely a tenth a refrigerator. In other respects, the company?s marketing efforts fell completely flat. Insull devoted considerable resources to promoting electric cars and even an electric taxi service, but to no avail. Likewise, electric heating never made serious inroads into a market more cheaply serviced by natural gas. By the end of the 1920s, Chicago was an electrified city, even if the diffusion of appliances was still vastly uneven. The Edison Electric Shop itself, which began in 1909 as an elegant showcase catering to affluent Larger in size than coupons, these certificates bear the signature of the Federal Merchandise Company. This coupon from a Massachusetts utility is quite similar to Commonwealth Edison?s. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 120 downtown shoppers, through its multiplying branches throughout the city signaled that the benefits of electricity were within reach of middle and working class Chicagoans as well. Even though the financial collapse of 1929 brought down Samuel Insull?s paper empire, the underlying electricity business was more resilient in the face of the economic downturn. The most visible change to appliance marketing during the 1930s was in the product mix itself, as a flood of inexpensive radios provided a more affordable form of entertainment for cash-strapped families than going to movie theaters. Federal coupons remained in use until 1938, the year of Insull?s death, when on April 30 the utility announced through newspapers that all coupons and certificates without an expiration date had to be redeemed by the end of the year. Those that did bear the expiration date of December 31st, 1940 remained valid until then. This deadline brought to an end The Federal Dividend Coupon System. The Edison Electric Shops themselves remained in business until 1963, when the last one closed. By then, the wide variety of retail outlets available for electrical appliances made the institution of the Electric Shop obsolete. REFERENCES Catalog of Premiums Given for Federal Coupons (Federal Merchandise Company, nd). Chicago Tribune, various dates. Electrical Merchandising (May 1923), pp. 3312-3315. Electrical Review and Western Electrician (May 13, 1917), p. 864. Electrical World (March 18, 1909), pp. 684-689; (February 8, 1919), p. 277. Hogan, John. A Spirit Capable: The Story of Commonwealth Edison (Chicago, IL: The Mobium Press 1986). NELA [National Electric Light Association] Bulletin (July 1916), p. 572. Platt, Harold L. The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880-1930 (University of Chicago Press 1991). Public Service (June 1910), p. 188. Wasik, John F. The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis (NY: Palgrave Macmillian 2006). ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 121 Seal Varieties on Series of 1928 FRNs The purpose of this article is to reveal that the Treasury seals used on Series of 1928 plates finished prior to September 26, 1929 utilized the Federal Reserve district number within the Federal Reserve seal. Plates finished afterward used the district letter. The plates with numbers in the seals were Series of 1928 $5 through $100 and Series of 1928A $5 through $20. Those with letters were Series of 1928 $500 through $10,000 and Series of 1928A $50 and $100. All Series of 1928B, C and D notes have letters in the seals. Seal Varieties There are two varieties of Federal Reserve seals on Series of 1928 Federal Reserve Notes: (1) the earlier display the district number, and (2) the later display the district letter. Which occurs depends on when the plates were made. The decision to use letters in the seals was made about the end of the first week of August 1929, during the midst of Series of 1928 $500 face plate production. $500 face plate production with number seals was abruptly suspended as a result. The use of letter seals began to be implemented shortly thereafter so, by September 26th, the first of the face plates with letters was certified, a $500 made for Boston. What is interesting is that by September 30, all of the Series of 1928A $5, $10 and $20 face plates that were going to be made had been certified. All carried number seals. Similarly, all the Series of 1928 $5 through $100 face plates also were completed, so none of them would be produced with letters in the The Paper Column Peter Huntoon Figure 1. All the Series of 1928A $5, $10 and $20 face plates were made prior to the decision to use district letters in the Federal Reserve seals, whereas all the $50 and $100 plates were made after the decision. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 122 seals either. What remained to be made were the $500 and higher Series of 1928 plates, and $50 and $100 Series of 1928A, face plates. Consequently, all of these would carry letter seals. This information is summarized on Figure 2. The decision to replace the numbers with letters turned on the desire to eliminate any possible confusion, no matter how remote, between the numbers in the seals and the denominations of the notes. Interplay Between the Series of 1928 and 1928A The production of the Series of 1928 face plates had been progressing in denomination order since mid- 1928, long before the seal issue came up. The smaller denominations had been given priority owing to demand. The first $500 face plate wasn?t completed until July 10, 1929. By August 6, one $500 face plate had been finished for each of the seven districts through Chicago. They had numbers in the seals, and all carried face check number 1. Production was terminated before the St. Louis plate was finished. Figure 2. Chart showing which denominations in the various 1928 Federal Reserve series had district numbers or district letters in the Federal Reserve seal. The changeover occurred at the end of September 1929. Figure 3. Production of $500 Series of 1928 plates was begun using district numbers in the Federal Reserve seal. All bear plate serial number 1. None were used. These were followed by new $500 plates with district letters in the seals, which bear plate serial number 2. These were the ones that were used. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 123 Those seven plates never were used. A new set of $500 face plates, one for each of the twelve districts, was begun, but this time with letters in the seals. These were certified between September 26 and October 22, 1929. All carried face check number 2. These were the $500 Series of 1928 plates that saw service. The result of this machination is that no $500 notes were printed in the Series of 1928 with face plate serial number 1. The production of the Series of 1928 $1000, $5000 and $10,000 plates followed in sequence, and, of course, all had letters in their seals. When Walter O. Woods replaced H. T. Tate as Treasurer on January 18, 1929, his presence triggered the Series of 1928A. Oddly, production of Series of 1928 Tate-Mellon plates, including all the high denominations, continued after he took office. The first of the Series of 1928A $5 plates began to appear in mid-April 1929. Successive denominations followed, so by September 30, all the $5 through $20 Series of 1928A face plates that were going to be made were already completed. Important is that their preparation predated the decision to put letters in the seals, so all got number seals. It wasn?t until mid-October 1929, that the first Series of 1928A $50 and $100 plates arrived. They were, of course, made with letter seals as illustrated on Figure 1. Summary The key to understanding the changeover from number to letter Federal Reserve seals is to recognize that the changeover occurred at the end of September 1929. There was concurrent production of both Series of 1928 and 1928A plates during this period. Those that were made before got number seals, those that came after got letter seals. It happened that the decision was made during the production of Series of 1928 $500 plates. Those that were made with the number seals were not used. By the time the decision was made to go with letter seals, Series of 1928 $5 through $100 face plate production had ceased, so all had number seals. The $500 through $10,000 Series of 1928 plates, which were yet to be made, carried letter seals. Similarly, the Series of 1928A $5 through $20 plates all predated the changeover so they have number seals. The $50 and $100 1928A plates postdate it, so they have letter seals. Sources of Data Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1928-1934, Certified proofs of Series of 1928 Federal Reserve face plates: National Numismatic Collections, Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 124 Financing Government During Reconstruction: The County of Montgomery (Alabama) and their Revenue (Tax) Anticipation Notes of 1867 by: Bill Gunther Immediately after the Civil War (April 1865) states, cities and counties throughout Alabama found themselves bankrupt and without a major source of revenue. Confederate and Alabama paper money that circulated during the war was now worthless. Even if there was some ?money?, shortages of manufactured goods, medical supplies as well as food drove prices beyond reach by most residents. Food was scarce due to the absence of the men who would have tilled and planted the crops and much of the existing food supply had been diverted to the military. It was estimated that as a result of these shortages, ?a typical Southern family?s food bill was $6.65 per month at the time of secession and $400 a month in 1864.?1 While the tax base in many areas of the South was destroyed during the war, such destruction was minimized in the City of Montgomery. Local businessman, John Robert Powell, and others ??joined the Mayor and a group of leading citizens who rode out to meet the enemy and presented (Union) General Wilson the unconditional surrender of the city.?2 This act of surrender, as well as the good behavior of the Union troops in Montgomery, is credited with allowing the city to escape major war damage. Despite the lack of destruction in Montgomery, property values dropped by almost two-thirds and general commerce was severely disrupted. Farmers and their products fared no better with ?? the loss in corn, livestock and other farm property in the same four years cannot be estimated, so great it is.?3 Compounding these problems was a drought which hit the State in late 1865 with the result that crops ?? were almost total failures because of the drought, not one-tenth of the crop of 1860 being made.?4 The end result can be summed up by Provisional Governor Lewis Parson?s opening address to the State legislature in December, 1865, in which he estimated that there ?were 200,000 people who needed assistance in some degree.?5 ? R234-1. County of Montgomery. $1. 1867. Henry Clay left, Sir Henry Landseer?s bloodhound, ?Odin,? center, girl with pitcher right. American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 126 How to Pay for the Reconstruction With no tax base and support from the Federal government slow to arrive with adequate assistance, finding ways to raise local government revenues was a difficult task. A partial solution, adopted by many cities and counties, was to pay their obligations with post-dated notes. These ?Post Notes? as they were called, stated (often obscurely) a redemption promise sometime in the future (e.g., six months). For example, the County of Montgomery issued $1 notes payable in one year, and $2 and $5 notes payable in five years. It was ?anticipated? that by the due dates of these notes, the economic condition of the state would have improved to the point where revenues would allow the redemption of these notes. Since none of these notes paid interest there was little incentive to hold on to them. The fact that the notes were ?receivable in payment of county dues? may have made them acceptable and they may have circulated like ?money? by local residents. ?Revenue Anticipation Notes? Today, these notes might be compared to ?Revenue Anticipation Notes? or even ?Tax Anticipation Notes?.6 The private sector engaged in such financing during the time leading up to the Civil War through the use of what were called ?Post Notes? by the issuer. An example of such use in Alabama occurred in the 1837s when ?cotton brokers? would purchase cotton with their ?post-notes?, then ship the cotton to Mobile or New Orleans and sell it for cash (specie). The post-notes allowed cotton brokers time to bridge the period between the purchase and the sale of cotton. However, some unscrupulous brokers collected the cash on the sale of the cotton, but rather than redeeming their notes, disappeared with the cash Reverse of $1 note. American Bank Note Co. New-York R357-9. Wetumpka Trading Company ?Post Note?. January 20, 1839. Redeemable after four months (top left margin). ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 127 leaving planters holding worthless ?post notes.? A good example of this type of fraud was the Wetumpka Trading Company, whose activities were estimated to have cost cotton farmers in the Wetumpka community between $125,000 and $150,000 (between $3.5 and $4 million in 2020 dollars7).8 The notes from the County of Montgomery do not use the words ?Post Notes? but the term would clearly apply. They were printed by the American Bank Note Company. Henry Clay appears on the $1, Daniel Webster on the $2 notes while the $5 contains the image of John C. Calhoun.9 All of the notes carry the printed issue date of February 22, 1867. The Signatures - Judge David Calvin Campbell David Campbell was Judge of Probate for the County of Montgomery for thirty-five years. He was born on September 10, 1805 in South Carolina.10 He first married Eliza Woodley in 1835 in Montgomery. She was born in 1819 in Georgia and was thirteen years younger than Campbell.11 They had 7 children between 1837 and 1859. Eliza died on December 9, 1865 in Montgomery at the age of 46.12 Campbell apparently remarried sometime after 1865 to Emeline Moseley Chambliss, a widow, who died in 1873.13 The 1850 Census shows Campbell was a farmer in Montgomery with real estate valued at $3,000.14 By 1860, his financial condition had improved significantly with real estate now valued at $20,000 and a personal estate valued at $50,000.15 His R234-2. County of Montgomery. $2. 1867. Daniel Webster center, female figure left and man harvesting corn right. (Rosene incorrectly identified Webster as Henry Clay). American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint. Reverse?of?$2?note.?American?Bank?Note?Co.?New?York. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 128 occupation in 1860 was now listed as Judge of Probate. Although no definitive Census record for 1870 could be located, we know from his signature on these notes that he was Judge of Probate in 1867, indicating that he served in that position no less than seven years (1860-1867). By 1880 he is listed as a ?retired judge? living with his son-in-law, J. G. Allen, and his family in Montgomery.16 He died in 1894 in Montgomery at the age of 89.17 The Signatures ? William H. Ogbourne William Harrison Ogbourne was born on February 24, 1819 in Troup County, Georgia.18 In 1836 he was listed as a student at the University of Alabama and in 1839 graduated with a M. A. degree.19 In 1850 he was listed as a ?Planter? in Montgomery with real estate valued at $11,500.20 It is interesting that Ogbourne, a ?planter? owned 7 slaves in 1850 and none in 1860.21 By 1860 his financial fortunes had changed and his real estate was valued at $26,000 and his personal estate at $50,000.22 It appears that his financial situation allowed him the freedom to pursue elective office as the Census listed his occupation as Deputy Sherriff in 1860. Ogbourne also signed fractional issues for John Henley & Co., Bankers, in Montgomery as well as $1 and $3 notes.23 The fractional notes were all undated, but the $1 and $3 notes were dated March 15th, 1862. After the war, William H. Ogbourne became one of 99 elected delegates to the constitutional convention in Montgomery and was elected Secretary of the Convention.24 By a vote of 61 to 25, the constitution was approved and Ogbourne signed the transmittal letter on September 12, 1865.25 The entire constitution passed on that day is in Ogbourne?s hand and the fact that his writing is so legible may explain his election as Secretary! R234-3. County of Montgomery. $5. 1867. J.C. Calhoun center. American Bank Note Co. New-York imprint. Reverse of $5 note. American Bank Note Co. New-York. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 129 During the Civil War, Ogbourne served as Acting Commissary in the 18th Regiment of the Alabama Infantry.26 That position carried the rank of Captain. In 1870, Ogbourne was listed in Montgomery as ?tax collector,? presumably for the County of Montgomery.27 He died in 1872 at the age of 53. Scarcity of the Notes A review of County of Montgomery notes sold at auction and available on currency dealer websites reveals a total of only 13 notes.28 The $5 note has a population of 6 notes; the $2 notes a population of 2; and the $1 notes a population of 5. Although there are surely additional notes residing in collector hands, the absence of any information suggests rarity of 7 (1-7 scale used by Rosene), indicating 1-5 known, for the $1 and $2 with a rarity of R6 for the $5 note. All of the notes know are fully signed and issued while no ?remainders? have been identified. Signature of Wm. H. Ogbourne on transmittal page of new State Constitution, September 12, 1865. R-239-Unlisted. A 5-cent ?John Henley & Co. , Bankers? note signed by William H. Ogbourne. He also signed 25-cent and 50-cent notes. R239-Unlisted. A $1 ?John Henley & Co., Bankers? note signed by William H. Ogbourne. He also signed the $3 note (R-239-Unlisted). ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 130 Footnotes? ?R??denotes?a?Rosene?catalog?number?from?Walter?Rosene,?Jr.?Alabama?Obsolete?Notes?and?Scrip? (Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors,?1984).? 1Michael?O.?Varhola.?Life?in?Civil?War?America?(Cincinnati:?Family?Tree?Books,?2001),?p.166.? 2Mary?Powell?Crane.?The?Life?of?James?R.?Powell?(Brooklyn,?N.?Y.:?Braunworth?&?Company,?Inc.),?1930,?p.97.? 3John?Witherspoon?DuBose,?Alabama?s?Tragic?Decade:?Ten?Years?of?Alabama?1865?1874?(ed.?By?James?K.? Greer)?(Birmingham:?Webb?Book?Company,?1940),?p.?26.? 4Walter?L.?Fleming,?Civil?War?and?Reconstruction?in?Alabama?(New?York:?The?Columbia?University?Press,? 1905),?p?278.? 5Fleming,?p.?279.? 6See??Tax?Anticipation?Notes??and??Revenue?Anticipation?Notes??a?http://financial? dictionary.thefreedictionary.com.??Often?a?specific?tax?is?dedicated?to?a?particular?use?such?as?highways? and?other?infrastructure?projects.? 7William?H.?Brantley.??Banking?in?Alabama:?1816?1860?(Privately?Printed,?1967),?Vol.?II,?pp.?65?68.? 8?For?estimates,?see?https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1837?amount=125000? 9Rosene?incorrectly?identified?the?man?on?the?$2?as?Henry?Clay.??It?is?Daniel?Webster.??See?Walter? Rosene,?Jr.?Alabama?Obsolete?Notes?and?Scrip?(Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors,?1984),?p.?99.? 10See??Judge?David?Campbell,??Find?a?grave,?Ancestry.com.? 11Eliza?Woodley,??Alabama?Select?Marriages,?1816?1942,??accessed?through?Ancestry.com.? 12??Eliza?Woodley?Campbell,??Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.? 13Judge?David?Campbell,?Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.? 14David?Campbell,?Census?of?1850,?Ancestry.com.? 15David?Campbell,?Census?of?1860,?Ancestry.com.? 16David?Campbell,?Census?of?1880,?Ancestry.com.? 17Judge?David?Campbell,?Find?a?grave,?accessed?through?Ancestry.com.? 18William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Public?Family?Tree,?Ancestry.com.? 19See?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,??College?Student?Lists,?1763?1924?,?Ancestry.com.? 20William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1850,?Ancestry.com.? 21?Census?of?Slaves,?1850?and?1860,?Ancestry.com.? 22?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1860,?Ancestry.com.? 23See?Bill?Gunther,??A?Montgomery?Mystery:?Who?Was?John?Henley?of?John?Henley?&?Co.,?Bankers,?? Paper?Money?(Society?of?Paper?Money?Collectors:?Nov/Dec?2018),?pp.?414?419.? 24William?W.?Rogers,?Robert?D.?Ward,?Leah?Atkins?and?Wayne?Flynt.??Alabama:?The?History?of?a?Deep? South?State.?(Tuscaloosa:??The?University?of?Alabama?Press,?1994),?p.231.? 25See?Alabama200.org.? 26See?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,??Civil?War?Soldier?Records,??Ancestry.com.? 27?William?Harrison?Ogbourne,?Census?of?1870,?Ancestry.com.? 28A?search?was?made?of?Heritage?Auctions?archives?(?www.ha.com),?Stacks?Bowers?archives.? (www.stacksbowers.com)?as?well?as?a?number?of?obsolete?currency?dealer?websites.? ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 131 WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS! BY FRANK CLARK?SPMC MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR NEW MEMBERS 01/05/2020 15047 Daniel Crots, Website 15048 Philip Dunlap, Tom Denly 15049 William Casey, Robert Calderman 15050 Vacant 15051 Ralph M. Miron, Robert Calderman 15052 Patrick O'Neill, Website 15053 Steven Bigelow, Website 15054 Stephen Holm, Website 15055 Bob Hargreaves, Website 15056 William Blaha, Website 15057 Tom Gettman, Frank Clark 15058 Randy Ihnfeldt, ANA Ad 15059 Robert Garger, Tom Denly 15060 James Drenth, Frank Clark 15061 Russ Sigmon, Robert Calderman 15062 David Schechter, Website 15063 David Schnorr, Website 15064 Bill Buxton, Robert Calderman 15065 Donald Morgan, Robert Calderman 15066 Tom Holloway, Robert Calderman 15067 Russell Casson, Robert Calderman 15068 Johnnie Dillow, BNR 15069 Frank LePore, Tom Denly REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS None NEW MEMBERS 2/05/2020 15070 Bernard Smith, IBNS 15071 Derek Higgins, Local Coin Shop 15072 Brian Fitch, Website 15073 Carl Guzzo, Website 15074 Tom Voitik, Website 15075 Gary Hanson, Tom Denly 15076 Marshall Schultz, Robert Calderman 15077 Craig Ronzone, Ed Zegers REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS LM448 Shawn Hewitt, Member LM449 Jordan Kalilich, Member LM450 Greg Rohan, Frank Clark Dues Remittal Process Send dues directly to Robert Moon SPMC Treasurer 104 Chipping Ct Greenwood, SC 29649 Refer to your mailing label for when your dues are due. You may also pay your dues online at www.spmc.org. The Society of Paper Money Collectors was organized in 1961 and incorporated in 1964 as a non-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. It is affiliated with the ANA. The Annual Meeting of the SPMC is held in June at the International Paper Money Show. Information about the SPMC, including the by-laws and activities can be found at our website-- www.spmc.org. The SPMC does not does not endorse any dealer, company or auction house. MEMBERSHIP?REGULAR and LIFE. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character. Members of the ANA or other recognized numismatic 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. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 132 L otel & vations: Central States Numismatic Society 81st?Anniversary Convention Schaumburg, I Schaumburg Renaissance H Convention Center April 22-25, 2020 Early?Birds:?April?22???11am?3pm;?$125?Registration?Fee? Public?Hours:?Wednesday?Saturday? No Pesky Sales Tax in Illinois Hotel Reser Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel - 1551 North Thoreau Drive ? Call (847) 303-4100 Ask for the ?Central States Numismatic Society? Convention Rate. Problems booking? - Call Convention Chairman Kevin Foley at (414) 807-0116 Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking. Visit our website: www.centralstatesnumismaticsociety.org? Bourse Information: Patricia Foley foleylawoffice@gmail.com ? Numismatic Educational Forum ? Educational Exhibits ? 300 Booth Bourse Area ? Heritage Coin Signature Sale ? Heritage Currency Signature Sale ? Educational Programs ? Club and Society Meetings ? Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking ? $5?Daily?Registraton?Fee?/?$10???4?Day?Pass Wednesday???Thursday???Friday???Saturday Now Including: The Chicago Coin Expo ? a foreign and ancient specialty event Also including: The National Currency Convention ? a rare currency specialty event sponsored by the PCDA U N C O U P L E D : PAPER MONEY?S ODD COUPLE Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan A Few Chinese Fakes Before we get into my topic, I want to add some information on Fred?s topic this issue?Thai MPC coupons. I don?t know of any contemporary counterfeits of MPC coupons, but they have been reproduced (and slabbed) for collectors. Now that the grading companies are aware of the coupons? production details, I expect that they will not be slabbing any more digital copies, but some are out there in old holders. Look closely before you buy. The originals are printed by line lithography. That means that each color on the face or the back was printed from a separate plate with its own color ink, in whatever shade the Finance Corps wanted?the colors were not created by overlaying different sized droplets of red, blue, yellow and black inks (four-color process lithography?see farther down in this column for examples of that). The copies in the marketplace were printed with digital technology on inkjet printers (I have yet to see a laser-printed piece). The inkjet printers use the same four basic colors that I mentioned above?with different application densities depending on the image Thai MPC Coupons in Detail Last time, we discussed Korean MPC coupons in detail. This time we will look at Thai coupons. All coupon issues are fascinating. The first thing that you will notice from an overview is that there were three series of Thai coupons, rather than the four series of Korean coupons. Just as with the Korean coupons, we do not know many numismatic details that we often take for granted. Things like inclusive issue dates and quantities issued are not known for the Thai coupons. However, we do know more than we did in the 1970s, and we keep adding to the information. I am happy to be able to include some information here that has not yet appeared in any numismatic publication. Just as with the Korean coupons, the Thai coupons were printed at the United States Navy Printing Facility, Guam. All three series were printed on check security paper without watermark. Thai MPC Coupon Series 1 The first series was issued on 29 January 1970 and possibly withdrawn in April or May 1970. Unlike the first series Korean coupons, this set is printed on both sides, with the back having the same design as the face. While the design is simple, it is quite interesting. All denominations have a large wreath element to the left and a crest at the center. The crests of the four fractional denominations have a sea horse, a leaping panther, a victory slogan, and a handshake respectively. The four dollar-denominated notes are larger but with exactly the same design elements, but with the crests in a different order: from $1-$20, victory slogan, sea horse, leaping panther, and shaking hands. Overall, I believe that this is the scarcest MPC coupon series. A clue to this fact is that in the fourth edition of the Comprehensive Catalog of Military Payment Certificates?by far the most complete coverage thus far published on coupons?only two denominations are illustrated, those being the ten-cent and one dollar denominations. This column is the first time that a full set has ever been illustrated. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 See Boling page 139 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 134 I bought the ten-cent piece that is in the book at a Memphis show many years ago. It would have to be long ago, since the book came out in 2002! Clyde Reedy (now deceased) handed me the coupon and asked if I was interested. I said that I was and I bought it. His holder identified it as a second series coupon. I did not know the difference by sight. Sometime later I was happy to correctly identify it and put it into my collection. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 135 Thai MPC Coupons Series 2 Information from one source said that Series 2 was issued in April or May 1970. The conversion date is not known, but also might have been 7 October 1970 when Series 681 MPC was withdrawn. The design concept is similar to series 1, except that we now have leafy devices at both ends and the crest is off center to the left. Furthermore, the crests feature the same elements?in the same order?as the first series, denomination by denomination. The most significant difference is the wreaths. The easy way to remember which series each design belongs with is to say ?one wreath, first series; two wreaths, second series.? As you will see, series 3 is much flashier; one does not confuse it with the earlier issues. Thai MPC Coupons Series 3 Again, we have no information about the date of conversion from series 2 to series 3. We do have a clue, though. Notice the text in the handshake crest on the face??Royal Thai Forces Vietnam 1970-1971? (not plainly legible on all of the illustrations, and indeed not always clearly legible on a note). The dates are new for this series. It seems unlikely that the notes would be forward-dated when printed, so a 1971 or later Series 2 Series 3 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 136 conversion date seems most likely. Similarly, if the designer was sharp, a date already past would not appear on that crest, so we can be reasonably confident that the series was prepared in 1971. The series 3 designs include the crests from the first two series. The shaking hands crest is used on the face of every note, augmented with the dates described above. All four crests are used on the backs of the fractionals: victory, sea horse, leaping panther, and the shaking hands (repeated on the face) respectively. The handshake crest on the back of the 50-cent note is the same modified crest that is described above. The series includes some interesting twists. Do you recall that a denomination sheet set of SAMPLE Series 2 Korean coupons was found in the 1980s? The sheets were cut and the notes distributed widely among collectors. That discovery included a similar denomination set of Series 3 Thai coupons! Unlike the Korean sheets, the Thai sheets were not marked in any way except that the high value sheets did not have serial numbers. Which brings us to the first new feature of this series: the dollar denominations as issued are serially numbered. This is wonderful because, among other things, it allows us to inventory known pieces. I have been recording the numbers for a long time, but not necessarily aggressively. The results are nonetheless interesting. I have recorded 21 $1, 7 $5, and 27 $10 coupons. So where are the $20 notes? That is the next new feature. There is apparently no $20 note in series 3. I say apparently because no issued $20 has ever been reported, and there were none in the set of uncut sheets. With only three high-value designs, the handshake crest was not used on the backs of the dollar-denominated notes. The order of use, $1-$10, is victory-seahorse- panther. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 137 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 138 Those Thai sheets created more opportunities for collectors. The fractional pieces cannot be distinguished from issued pieces except that they are all uncirculated, and issued pieces in that condition are extreme rarities. However, some of the notes were cut without removing the sheet selvage, creating varieties such as the fractional set illustrated here. There it is. I have told you everything that I know about MPC coupons. I think that you can tell that the coupons fascinate me. While I am pleased at the amount of information we have accumulated in the past forty years, we still have much to learn. I have a few more things to discuss on the matter of Allied use of MPC. I will present them next time. Boling Continued: being created. But the colors are not arranged in regular patterns, varying only in their density?rather, the inks tend to run together, with a very muddy appearance at high magnification. Figures 1-4 show two 20x photos each of parts of the seals on the backs of two denominations of Thai MPC coupons. Figures 1 and 3 are of the line-lithography genuine notes; figures 2 and 4 are inkjet printer products. Hopefully the quality of reproduction of the magazine will allow you to see the qualitative differences in the two technologies. Now some Chinese reproductions intended to be sold to tourists or collectors. The back-story: In 2012, an exonumia dealer who usually has some paper items on his lists, along with hundreds of tokens and medals, offered a group of scarce Chinese notes dating across the first half of the 20th century. I suspected that they were copies, based on his prices, and ordered the group. Too late?Neil Shafer had already asked to examine them. So I contacted Neil and asked him to bring them to the next show we would both attend. He did, and sure enough, they were all reproductions. I took them home for photography and then returned them to the dealer with a description of what he had and my desire to own them. ?Not so fast,? he replied. How was it that I had them, not Neil, and anyway, he had a substantial offer from Hong Kong for them, and that?s where they would go. I explained that the HK buyer would either send them back or ask for a substantial revision in the price. Too bad?that?s where they were going. I was glad I had had the opportunity to study them. Fast forward seven years, and here they are again on the same dealer?s list, save for one note, and with a couple of others added. After dialing his number many times, they were mine (when his lists hit the street, the phone lines melt, and he has no published email). Meanwhile, I have been looking for genuine examples of the pieces that I could show along with the deceptive copies. So far, I have been able to acquire only one piece, in a much lower denomination but the same series as one of his (which happens to be the single note that did not make it back in the packet, but hey?I got those photos back in 2012). So here is the first one. Figures 5 and 6 are face and back of a Bank of China 50 yuan note, dated 1 June 1913. It looks like a respectable example. Apparently, this denomination is known only as a specimen, and this piece has zero serials and SPECIMEN in red across the bottom face. Figure 5 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 139 bottom face. Figure 6 Figures 7 and 8 are face and back of a one yuan note of the same series. It?s a bit more beaten up than the specimen is which is not surprising. But now we put away the camera and get out the microscope?this is where we separate the fraud from the workhorse. Figure 7 Figure 8 Figures 9 and 10 show the first word of the printer imprint on the face??American,? from American Bank Note Company, New York. Notice all the dots in figure 9, and the misregistered colors. Fig 10, the genuine note, shows nothing like that. Figure 9 (above) and Figure 10 (below) Now compare figures 11 and 12. Fig 11 is one of the cartouches on the face intended to receive a printed seal of the bank or one of the bank?s officers. It should be plain white paper. The reproduction process wants to put something in that blank space, and it uses the colored dots of the 4-color printing process, in a specific pattern, to give some shading to that cartouche. The dots are invisible to the naked eye unless you get really close to them and know what to be looking for. Over in figure 12, the designer has put in some ruled lines where the seal would go, but even though the design seems to expect that a seal will be applied, this note has only the printed signatures authenticating it for issue. But the ruled lines are not composed of dots. They and the frame around them are solid (although printing dropouts and circulation wear do create some gaps in the lines and frame). Those are part of a variegated letterpress tint? it turns brown a little farther down the note. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 140 Figure 11 (above) and Figure 12 (below) Figures 13 and 14 are parts of the serial numbers on the back of the note. Again, the 4-color process note shows many dots on elements that should be solid? letterpress, in the case of the numerals. Figure 14 shows the letterpress numerals on the genuine note, with their small mounds of ink at the edges of the numerals. Figure 13 Figure 14 Figures 15 and 16 show the emperor?s right eye, in 4- color process litho and line intaglio. The difference is telling. Twenty power (20x) magnification is what reveals the truth about the 50-yuan note. Figure 15 (above) and Figure 16 (below) One more, and I?ll let the others wait for a future column. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 141 Figures 17 and 18 are the face and back of a 1933 20-yuan Three Eastern Provinces People?s Soviet Military Note. First, observe the font of the serial number. I have never seen that font used on a genuine note of any kind, but have found it on many reproductions and fantasies of both notes and bonds. It is letterpress, as a serial number should be, but whenever you see that font, treat its bearer as pariah. Figure 19 shows a part of a serial number printed over a blue tint that could be either litho or letterpress. In this case, it is litho, but look at all the breaks in it. This tint has been screened as part of the reproduction process. The brown border above it has also been screened?its dots are arranged in a shallow diagonal climbing from lower right to upper left. All those dots spell trouble. Figure 20 shows one of the seals. It has that same blue tint under it. The seal should be orange, but the colors intended to create orange (red and yellow) have been misregistered, so the red has a yellow ghost all along its top edges. Figure 20 Figure 21 shows the blue overprint on the back, printed over a long text box. The characters of the red text are completely destroyed by the screening process. The blue characters again are intended to be printed in both blue and red, but the two colors are misregistered, so there is a red shadow along the right of every blue character. Figure 21 Figure 22 is intentional distressing and repair of an edge of the note, to make it look like it has circulated all through the 1930s and 40s. Since I find this note in no catalog known to me, I conclude that it is a fantasy. More another time (probably next time). Figure 17 (above) and Figure 18 (below) Figure 19 Figure 22 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 142 Joseph Boling to speak on short- snorters at 21st annual MPCFest MPCFest, the annual gathering of collectors of military numismatica, is pleased to announce the keynote speaker for the 21st Fest. Colonel (retired) Joseph Boling is a half-century collector of world paper money. Growing out of that collecting, and his experiences with military payment certificates (MPC) both as a military dependent following WWII, and in active service in Vietnam, he began collecting military currencies of all kinds. He is a recognized authority on Japanese emissions, having co- authored (with C. Frederick Schwan) World War II Remembered: history in your hands?a numismatic study, the first publication reporting on WWII-related numismatics of all theaters from all participants (even the neutral nations). It remains the ?bible? for the Fest Trivia Madness contest held annually at MPCFest. Among other achievements, Col. Boling has been president of the International Bank Note Society (IBNS, two terms), following which he served 21 years as its treasurer and is now an Honorary Director for Life. He also holds the IBNS gold medal for service. He is one of two collectors (the other being Mr. Schwan) who is a member of the Halls of Fame of both the IBNS and the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC). From the American Numismatic Association (ANA), he has received the Howland Wood award (national champion competitive exhibitor, 1995) and the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for Distinguished Service (2005). He was the chief exhibit judge for ANA for twenty-five years, lead judge trainer for 27 years, and served four years as an elected governor. He was named a Numismatic Ambassador by Krause Publications in 1989. He and Mr. Schwan have co-taught the WWII Numismatics course at the ANA Summer Seminar for almost twenty years. His current research and collecting interests center on identifying paper money that is intended to deceive; he consults widely in identifying such notes. He writes a bi-monthly column for Paper Money dealing with counterfeit paper, as well as being a frequent speaker on that topic for IBNS, SPMC, and ANA events. He has edited eight books dealing with paper money for BNR Press. However, the keynote address at Fest XXI will not deal directly with any of that! Expanding on ?history in your hands,? Col. Boling will speak about short-snorters and some of the striking and unexpected information he has found in the study of such souvenir notes. The keynote presentation will be at 1315 hours Saturday 18 April 2020, at Camp Leo May.* Society of Paper Money Collectors members are invited to be MPCFest guests for the keynote presentation. For information about MPCFest XXI, to be held 17-19 April this year, contact FredSchwan@yahoo.com. *1:15 PM, Saturday, April 18th, 2020, at the Holiday Inn Express, 50 NE Catawba Road, Port Clinton, Ohio. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 143 The Obsolete Corner The American Theatre, Bowery by Robert Gill We are now into the new year, and I'm hoping it will be a good one in adding to my paper money collection. I hope you have a good one also. I attended The FUN show in January, and I'm here to tell you, I had a blast! I prepared an incredibly large display of ninety cases of Obsolete sheets, totaling two hundred twenty. I was able to visit with friends that I don't see very often, and I also met some new ones. I'm already planning for next year. And now, let's look at the sheet that I've chosen from my collection for this article. In this issue of Paper Money, let's look at The American Theatre, Bowery, a popular entertainment center that the people during that time enjoyed immensely. I was fortunate to acquire this sheet of its currency, as it is extremely rare. When it came into my possession, I contacted my good friend /Obsolete specialist, Hugh Shull, about it. He said that he may have seen a single note at some time in the past, but definitely not a sheet. And now for the history. The American Theatre, Bowery was a playhouse on the Bowery, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Theatre saw its most successful period under the populist, pro- American management of Thomas Hamlin, in the 1830s and 1840s. By the 1850s, it came to cater to immigrant groups such as the Irish, Germans, and Chinese. It burned down several times in its lifetime. The Theatre opened on October 22nd, 1826, under the name New York Theatre. Its first few seasons were devoted to ballet, opera, and high drama. It was, by this time, quite fashionable, resulting in the northward expansion of Manhattan giving it access to a large patronage. It burnt down on the evening of May 26th, 1828, but was rebuilt, and reopened on August 20th of the same year. In August of 1830, the owners hired Thomas Hamblin and James H. Hackett to manage the Theatre. A month later, Hackett left his position with Hamblin in complete control. After the Bowery burned down later that year, Hamblin rebuilt. He then took the Theatre in a decidedly different direction for what would be its most innovative and successful period. American theatres stratified in the Jacksonian Era, and The Bowery emerged as the home of American nativists and populist causes. Hamblin eventually renamed the playhouse "The American Theatre, Bowery". It was referred to as "The Bowery", for short. He hired unknown American actors and playwrights, and allowed them to play for long runs. The pro-Americanism of The Bowery's audience came to a head during the Farren Riots of 1834. Farren, the Theatre's British-born stage manager, had reportedly made anti-American comments, and fired an American actor. Protesters reacted by attacking the homes, businesses, and churches of abolitionists and blacks in New York City, and then later storming the Theatre. Farren later apologized for his comments, resulting in calming the unrest. Hamblin defied conventions of theatre as high culture by booking productions that appealed to working-class patrons, and by advertising them extensively. Animal acts, blackface minstrel shows, and melodrama enjoyed the most frequent billings. And hybrid forms, such as melodramas about dogs saving their human masters, became unprecedented successes. Featured prominently were very spectacular productions with advanced visual effects, including water and fire. Hamblin also innovated by using gas lighting in lieu of candles and kerosene lamps. The popular Bowery earned the nickname, "The Slaughterhouse", for its low- class offerings. Terms like "Bowery melodrama" and "Bowery actors" were coined to characterize the new type of theatre. Through Hamblin's careful actions, working-class theatre emerged as a form in its own right, and melodrama became the most popular form of American theatre. Low-class patrons from the area predominated in the audience. Some sources even suggest that patrons engaged in sexual behavior in the lobbies and boxes. Understandably, Hamblin was careful to remain in this crowd's good graces. Profits were harder to come by in the 1840s, as more playhouses sprung up in New York. Hamblin staged more effects-driven melodrama, and later ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 144 increased bookings of circus acts, minstrel shows, and other variety entertainments. The Bowery burned down again in April of 1845. This time, Hamblin had fire insurance, and he rebuilt with an eye toward appealing to a more upscale patronage, and to staging more spectacular melodrama. The new Theatre seated four thousand, and with a stage of a hundred twenty-six feet square, it secured its place as one of the largest playhouses in the world. Thomas Hamblin died in January of 1853, and the Theatre remained in his family until 1867. The American Theatre, Bowery, burned again in 1929, and was never rebuilt. So, there's the history behind this popular theatre that operated back in the 1800s. I'm very fortunate to have, what could very be, the only existing sheet that has survived for us paper lovers to enjoy. As I always do, I invite any comments to my personal email address robertgill@cableone.net or my cell phone number (580) 221-0898. So, until next time... HAPPY COLLECTING. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 145 The front of the Type-41 Treasury note endorsed by Capt. Hector R. McLean, ACS to the 7th Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers. image: Bridges The Quartermaster Column No. 11 by Michael McNeil A few, very rare Confederate military endorsements include the title of an officer and his unit but not his name. With the help of the website Fold3.com we can find the unit card listings of officers for Confederate military units. The endorsement reads: ?Issued Jackson Oct 14/1862 I?(ssue)d from 5th Apl 1863 ACS 7th Reg(imen)t T(exas) M(ounted) V(olunteers)? The first wording in this endorsement could be interpreted as ?In(teres)t from? or ?I?(ssue)d from? but there is only one unambiguous example of an officer paying interest on a note, and it was not their job to do so; interest was paid by Treasury department depositaries. The presence of the apostrophe suggests the latter and more logical interpretation. The title ?ACS? means ?Assistant Commissary of Subsistence,? an officer who used Treasury notes like this for purchase of food for troops. The last initials ?T. M. V.? were more difficult, but experience has shown this to mean ?Texas Mounted Volunteers.? A quick check of the unit card for the 7th Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers shows an Assistant Commisssary of Subsistence: Capt. Hector R. McLean. The National Archives file for Capt. McLean contains documents with his own script which are an excellent match to the script on the Treasury note endorsement. We can reasonably assume that we have identified the officer who endorsed this note. McLean was appointed as an ACS by Col. Arthur P. Bagby, Commanding the 7th Regiment at Halletsville, Texas, on November 29th, 1862. Bagby had previously served with General Sibley in the ill- fated invasion of New Mexico. Bagby was also later The back of the Type-41 Treasury note with the April 5th, 1863 endorsement by Capt. McLean. A manuscript issue at Jackson (MS) is seen at top. image: Bridges ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 146 accused of drunkenness during that campaign, and he tendered his resignation. The War Department refused his resignation, cleared him of charges at a court-martial, and on November 15th, 1862 promoted him to Colonel, commanding the 7th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (also known as the Texas Mounted Volunteers).1 The story gets more interesting with a National Archives document, a Special Order at Camp McGruder (sic), to Capt. H. R. McLean ACS on December 30th, 1862 for... ?...Three Hundred and fifty Pounds of Bacon and Three Hundred and fifty Pounds of Flour for the use of One Hundred and fifty men and their Officers on a naval Expedition aboard Steamer Neptune.? This is two days before the Second Battle of Galveston on January 1st, 1863, in which the 7th Regiment, now known as the ?Horse Marines,? boarded the CS Neptune and sailed with the CS Bayou City from Houston to confront the six Union ships at Galveston. The CS Neptune was disabled and eventually sank but the CS Bayou captured the USS Harriet Lane. It was a Confederate victory on both land and sea, and the remaining Union ships retreated.2 McLean spent much of the remainder of the war in the area of Alexandria, Louisiana. The final record is McLean?s parole document at Columbus, Texas, dated June 29th, 1865, which he signed as ?Major, Commissary of Subsistence.? He was about 45 years old. ? carpe diem Notes and References: 1. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_P._Bagby_Jr. 2. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Galveston 2. McNeil, Michael. Confederate Quartermasters, Commissaries, and Agents, Pierre Fricke, Sudbury, 2016, see pp. 470-473 for the initial research on Capt. Hector R. McLean, ACS. Photo #: NH 59142 "Surprise and Capture of the United States Steamer 'Harriet Lane', by the Confederates, under General Magruder, and the Destruction of the Flagship 'Westfield' in Galveston Harbor, Texas, January 1st, 1863." Line engraving published in "The Soldier in our Civil War", Volume II. USS Harriet Lane is shown in the center, under attack by the Confederate gunboats Neptune and Bayou City. USS Westfield is at the far left, being blown up to prevent her capture. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Col. Arthur P. Bagby?s order to Capt. Hector R. McLean for the issuance of commissary stores to the men who would fight in the Second Battle of Galveston aboard the CS Neptune. image: Fold3.com ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 147 by?Robert?Calderman? Deuces?Wild!? There is nothing new under the sun. All of the great notes have already come out of the woodwork. There is no such thing as ?Fresh? material. The hobby is dead and there will never be any new exciting discoveries. Can you imagine what a horrid landscape that would be!?! I have heard people say each one of those statements ?and all I do is laugh! Thankfully in the Paper Money hobby, we have so much left to unearth and there are new exciting discoveries made all the time! Whether it is a National Bank Note from a previously unreported Charter, or a new Large Size variety that was right there for all to see but went unnoticed until the light bulb went on for a skilled and attentive collector! Maybe a new fancy serial number previously unreported, discovered on an early series of small size notes with a miniscule print run. How about a Federal Reserve Note Star on a District that was previously unknown to exist! The greatest caveat of Paper Money collecting are the individual serial numbers printed on each note. We can track notes, and their potentially rare varieties, throughout their journey in time. Buried in collections for decades, and selling at public auction, notes are treasured as they travel from one collector to the next. So, when something brand new turns up that no one has seen, it is a great day! Not only is there excitement and adrenaline for the individual who made the discovery, a fever grows all over the collecting community as other hard-core collectors now have another item to add to their want list. One that they have written in bold, underlined, circled, and notated with a giant asterisk. All of those exaggerations indicating one thing ?I Want One of These!? This is what happened very recently when something brand new and previously unknown was plucked off eBay by an expert collector! The Serial Numbers that we generally refer to are on the front side of notes (Unless an error is involved) and on all Federal Small Size notes feature an eight-digit number with a prefix and suffix identified by letters or a star. That is not what is so exciting about this particular discovery! Here we have a whole different animal and are focusing on ?Plate? Serial Numbers. Face Plates and Back Plates have their own serial numbers typically located in the lower right-hand corner ranging from one, to up to four digits in length. Some of the most coveted and sought-after small size notes are rare varieties that are associated with variations of these plate serial numbers. With often extremely small ?Micro? size numbers indicating these important plate numbers, it is no wonder that many lazy, unmotivated, or maybe just unknowledgeable collectors and dealers overlook notes that could potentially be extremely valuable. High caliber trophy notes that have the potential to be unique rarities ?passing right through Fr.1502 1928A $2.00 USN with No Back-Plate Serial Number! ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 148 their hands!!! Fortunately, for us, this is where highly skilled collectors like Ryan ?The Enforcer? take charge and have the eagle eye to spot an amazing discovery note like this No Back-Plate Deuce we have featured here today! At a whopping price of just under $50, this find could be considered by some to be almost legendary! More details on this incredible note are coming later in this article, so don?t give up now, keep reading!!! No Back-Plate Deuces were first discovered back around the disco days of the late 70?s and became instant fuel for bragging rights by collectors lucky enough to locate an example. It is up for debate on whether this variety constitutes an error since the aberration is as made and simply lacking a feature typically found on US Paper Money, but no one can argue the fact that the variety clearly exists and is extremely popular with now at least 37 unique serial number recorded, including three star notes!! It was a conundrum right out of the gate, were these notes toyed with? Did someone remove the micro size plate serial number through some sort of high- tech chemical process or simply via skilled erasure? After a number of pristine Gem Uncirculated examples were discovered, there was no longer any question of the validity of this variety. Since their initial discovery, additional notes have occasionally popped up over the years with a healthy grouping falling into a similar SN range giving an illusion that the notes may have all spawned around the same time period. With closer inspection the smoke quickly clears as the observed SN range now spans a vast gap indicating the potential of heavy use over many print runs for our mystery no Bp.# printing plate ?could there have been more than one plate produced without a serial number? I would not necessarily have anticipated this, but wow what an intriguing thought! SN?s have been observed as low as A04985825A and as high as A46954739A. The majority of known examples fall under three specific ranges: A27132XXXA, A35395XXXA, and A39023XXXA. Please contribute your SN?s (and images of your notes) to my email address at the end of this article so more study can be conducted. Also, SN?s are needed for notes ?With Back Plate #?s Present? that fall under the ranges listed above! For example, SN A35395313A features back plate #99. These additional pieces of the puzzle are needed to identify more of the story behind this mystery printing plate missing its back-check number!! So, as I?ve now been known to do, I have been holding out on you this entire time! How can Ryan possibly find a so-called discovery note if this variety has clearly been known to exist long before he was even born!?! If you are a wise grasshopper then you obviously already know the answer! Well, ?do you?? If you are already familiar with 1928 $2 Legal Tender Deuces w/ No Back Plates, they all have one very important thing in common! If you own an example, then you have absolutely no excuse if you have not already figured it out! All previously known missing back plate $2 examples are Series of 1928 Fr.1501 notes. Take another closer look at the note featured here! It is a SERIES of 1928A Fr.1502!!! Who knew to even fathom the sheer possibility that these could exist? I sure wasn?t looking for an example! The 1928A note pictured here was printed at the end of May 1931, while the earliest observed 1928 series example of this variety was printed at the beginning of May two years prior in 1929 making this discovery a seemingly improbable creation! For now, this discovery note stands alone as the only one of its kind. Keep your eyes peeled ?will you be the one to find the next 1928A No Bp.# example?? Special recognition goes out to: Jim Hodgson, Logan Talks, and Larry Thomas for contributing SN Data on this topic! Do you have a great Cherry Pick story that you would like to share? Your note might be featured here in a future article and you can remain anonymous if desired! Email scans of your note with a brief description of what you paid and where it was found to: gacoins@earthlink.net. Fi 1 ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 149 Currencies Divided, How do They Stand? A house divided against itself cannot stand?, announced Abraham Lincoln in 1858. When a nation?s fa?ade begins to crumble, cracks also emerge in its money. Two present-day conflicts show how internecine political strife can splinter money as well. Yemen?s Battle of the Banknotes The present-day country of Yemen has experienced little peace or prosperity since its founding in 1990. An uprising by the northern Houthi tribe led, in 2015, to those rebels seizing control over the capital of Sana?a, including the country?s central bank, while the internationally-recognized Yemeni government retained authority in the southern port city of Aden. Beset by chaos and corruption, the government has demonstrated little capacity to offer basic public services. Between the two parts of Yemen, the Yemeni rial continued to circulate, though greatly depreciated. In late 2018, the Aden-based government introduced a new series of rial banknotes, printed in Russia. As these entered circulation, the Houthis responded by forbidding their use in areas under their control, confiscating the notes from the public and punishing anyone who dared to spend them. The result, by early 2020, is two separate economies defined by two Yemeni monetary systems, one using the new notes, the other the old notes. It?s an arrangement reminiscent of Iraq?s ?Swiss dinar? episode of the 1990s. Two different US dollar/rial exchange rates have emerged, with the older notes actually gaining in value since their amount is fixed relative to the growing supply of new notes. Bottled up in the Aden-ruled south, the new notes contribute to inflation there, while in the north traders and the wider public scramble to keep and use whatever supplies of the grubby old rial currency are available. Meanwhile, speculators do a lucrative business in trading one type of rial for another, all at the expense and inconvenience of the public. Libya: A Tale of Two Dinars Unlike Yemen, Libya?s divide runs east to west, rather than north to south. Ruled for over forty years with bad-boy flair by Muammar Gaddafi, Libya descended into turmoil after 2011, when the Arab Spring and western interventions led to Gaddafi?s overthrow and death. Despite UN attempts to keep the country together, after 2014 political authority in Libya split between a so-called House of Representatives, centered in Tobruk, and a UN-backed Government of National Accord located in Tripoli. This division of authority is awkward in a fundamental way. Libya?s oil fields lie in the east, while the Bank of Libya in Tripoli is the sole authorized recipient of precious hard currency from the country?s oil exports. Occupying Tripoli would give the eastern government control over those export receipts as well as access to some $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves. The eastern forces, known as the Libyan National Army, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, have scored military successes in the west and by 2019 threatened to advance towards Tripoli itself. Haftar?s big problem has been finding the funds to pay his troops and pay off his motley militia allies. In addition to support from the Egyptians and the Emiratis (among others), Haftar has financed his operation by creating a parallel banking system, and even a parallel dinar currency, all managed by a renegade branch of the Bank of Libya in the eastern city of Beida. Libya has been a longstanding customer of De La Rue, the printer of its current banknotes. Yet in 2016, the eastern Bank of Libya began taking delivery of its own supplies of Libyan dinars, printed by Russia?s Goznak. By the end of 2018, the Russians had provided over 10 billion dinars? worth of this alternative supply, even as De La Rue continued its own deliveries to the western Bank of Libya. Enforcing an international embargo on the eastern Libyan government, in November 2019 the government of Malta seized a huge transshipment of this unofficial Libyan currency, apparently destined for Haftar, much to Russia?s annoyance. While the two varieties of dinar look similar, they are readily distinguishable by their different watermarks, serial numbers, and other security features. The eastern government is in effect financing its rebellion via a massive counterfeiting operation. Yet it is not at all clear that the government in Tripoli could repudiate this unauthorized currency, even if it wanted to. Doing so at this point might simply create a liquidity crisis for the entire Libyan economy. As Lincoln once predicted about his own divided nation, ?it will become all one thing or all the other.? Likewise, in both Yemen and Libya there doesn?t seem to be any plausible equilibrium between the opposing sides. Perhaps in some distant future, Libyan dinars and Yemeni rials will persist only as numismatic curios, like the Biafran pound or the Katanganese franc, testaments to failed secessionist aspirations and to the sufferings of the people who used them. Chump Change Loren Gatch ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 150 $ m a l l n o t e $ Inflationary Silver Certificates By Jamie Yakes This cartoon appeared in the Washington Post on August 4, 1934, just weeks after Congress passed the Silver Purchase Act on July 19 and almost two months after the Treasury began printing Series of 1934 $1 and $5 silver certificates. It portrayed an underlying fear at the time of runaway inflation beset by the provisions of the new act that gave the Treasury nearly unlimited power to purchase silver bullion on the open market and immediately monetize it into silver certificates. From 1934 to 1946, they would quintuple their holdings of monetary silver and issue billions of Series of 1934 and 1935 silver certificates against those stocks. Under the act, the Treasury could freely purchase silver to an extent equivalent to 25% of their gold holdings. Their gold purchases were not limited, however, and so long as that kept increasing, which it did after the U.S. became a net importer of gold in 1934, so could their acquisitions of silver. In fact, the Treasury only ever attained a high ratio of 22% in 1938, meaning they effectively had no cap in how much silver they could acquire and monetize. Source: Washington Post, opinion cartoon, August 4, 1934. Record Group 53- Bureau of the Public Debt: Entry UD-UP 13, ?Historical Files, 1913-1960,? Box 2, File 214.2. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. ______________________________________________________________Paper Money * March/April 2020 * Whole No. 326___________________________________________ 151 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 OUR MEMBERS SPECIALIZE IN NATIONAL CURRENCY They also specialize in Large Size Type Notes, Small Size Currency, Obsolete Currency, Colonial and Continental Currency, Fractionals, Error Notes, MPC?s, Confederate Currency, Encased Postage, Stocks and Bonds, Autographs and Documents, World Paper Money . . . and numerous other areas. THE PROFESSIONAL CURRENCY DEALERS ASSOCIATION is the leading organization of OVER 100 DEALERS in Currency, Stocks and Bonds, Fiscal Documents and related paper items. PCDA To be assured of knowledgeable, professional, and ethical dealings when buying or selling currency, look for dealers who proudly display the PCDA emblem. For a FREE copy of the PCDA Membership Directory listing names, addresses and specialties of all members, send your request to: The Professional Currency Dealers Association PCDA ? Hosts the annual National Currency and Coin Convention during March in Rosemont, Illinois. 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 June at the International Paper Money Show, as well as Paper Money classes and scholarships at the A.N.A.?s Summer Seminar series. ? Publishes several ?How to Collect? booklets regarding currency and related paper items. Availability of these booklets can be found in the Membership Directory or on our Web Site. ? Is a proud supporter of the Society of Paper Money Collectors. Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcda.com Bea Sanchez ? Secretary P.O. Box 44-2809 ? Miami, FL 33144-2809 (305) 264-1101 ? email: sol@sanchezcurrency.com Rockaway, NJ- Rockaway Bank $2 May 1, 1858 Proof From the Charles R. Pease, Jr. Collection Paul R. Minshull 441002067; Heritage Numismatic Auctions #444000370. BP 20%; see HA.com. 57547 DALLAS | NEW YORK | BEVERLY HILLS | SAN FRANCISCO | CHICAGO | PALM BEACH LONDON | PARIS | GENEVA | AMSTERDAM | HONG KONG Always Accepting Quality Consignments in 40+ Categories Immediate Cash Advances Available 1.25 Million+ Online Bidder-Members PLATINUM NIGHT? & SIGNATURE? AUCTION April 22-27, 2020 | Chicago | Live & Online Highlights from Our Official Central States Auction Visit HA.com/3577 to view the catalog or place bids online. For a free appraisal, or to consign to an upcoming auction, contact a Heritage Consignment Director today. 800-872-6467, Ext. 1001 or Currency@HA.com T1 Montgomery $1,000 1861 PCGS Extremely Fine 45PPQ From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection T2 Montgomery $500 1861 PCGS Extremely Fine 40 From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection T15 $50 1861 PCGS About New 53 From the J. Wayne Hilton Collection Seneca Falls, NY - $5 Original Fr. 397a The National Exchange Bank Ch. # 1240 PMG Very Fine 30 Romulus, NY - $5 1902 Plain Back Fr. 607 The Romulus National Bank Ch. # 11739 PMG Extremely Fine 40