Paper Money - Vol. LVI, No. 4 - Whole No. 310 - July/August 2017


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Table of Contents

   Marijuana and Oil--Peter Huntoon

An Attribution Mystery Solved--Bill Gunther & Charles Derby

Collecting $1 FRNs--Carlson Chambliss

Fascinating Justice Fractional Artifact--Rick Melamed

A Ghost Railroad--Bill Gunther

Uncoupled Joe Boling & Fred Schwan

   Finance, Failure & Confederate Debt--Pierre Fricke

Small Notes—$20 Back Plate 204 Discovered

Interesting Mining Notes—David Schenkman

Obsolete Corner--Robert Gill

Chump Change--Loren Gatch

KC Happenings

   Board of Governors Meeting Minutes

   SPMC Obsolete Database Update

Paper Money Vol. LVI, No. 4, Whole No. 310 www.SPMC.org July/August 2017 Official Journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors CA Gusher An Ill-Fated Furnace Company Union General Winfield Scott loses to a Rebel! Georgia/Alabama Obsoletes Bacon, Bacon and more Bacon at the SPMC breakfast in KC! Two new inductees to the SPMC Hall of Fame Ghost Train! 800.458.4646 West Coast Office • 800.566.2580 East Coast Office 1231 E. Dyer Road, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92705 • 949.253.0916 123 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 • 212.582.2580 Info@StacksBowers.com • StacksBowers.com California • New York • New Hampshire • Hong Kong • Paris SBG PM ANA2017 170606 America’s Oldest and Most Accomplished Rare Coin Auctioneer Showcase Auctions Featured Highlights from the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Currency Auction of the ANA World’s Fair of Money Peter A. Treglia LM #1195608 Aris Maragoudakis #3186775 John M. Pack LM # 5736 Peter A. Treglia John M. Pack Brad Ciociola Deadwood, South Dakota. $10 1882 Brown Back. The American NB. Ch. 4983. Very Fine. Serial Number 1. Peter A. Treglia Aris MaragoudakisJohn M. Pack Brad CiociolaManning Garrett August 1-5, 2017 • Denver, Colorado Memphis, TN. $5 1875. The State NB. Ch. 2127. PCGS Uncirculated 61PPQ. Bellingham, WA. $10 1902 Red Seal. The FNB. Ch. 7372. Serial Number 1. PCGS Extremely Fine 45PPQ. Dewey, Indian Territory. $10 Red Seal. The FNB. Ch. 8270. PMG Very Fine 30.Fr. 122. 1901 $10 Legal Tender Note. PCGS Superb Gem New 67PPQ. Fr. 1133-L. 1918 $1000 Federal Reserve Note. San Francisco. PMG Very Fine 30 Net. Fr. 169. 1875 $100 Legal Tender. PMG Very Fine 25 Net. T-1. 1861 Confederate $1000. PMG Extremely Fine 40. From the Cleo Collection of Confederate Currency T-2. 1861 Confederate $500. PMG Very Fine 30. From the Cleo Collection of Confederate Currency T-17. 1861 Confederate $20. PMG Choice Uncirculated 64EPQ. From the Cleo Collection of Confederate Currency T-27. 1861 Confederate $10. PMG Very Fine 30. From the Cleo Collection of Confederate Currency T-35. 1861 Confederate $5. PMG Very Fine 25. From the Cleo Collection of Confederate Currency Fr. 1192. 1882 $50 Gold Certificate. PMG Very Fine 30. PALESTINE. Palestine Currency Board. 1 Pound, 19391. P-7c. PCGS Choice New 63. IRELAND, REPUBLIC. National Bank Limited. 5 Pounds, 1933. P-27. PCGS Gem New 66 PPQ.IRAN. Imperial Bank of Persia. 100 Tomans, 1924-32. P-17. PCGS Fine 15 Apparent. Contact Us Today for More Information About this Auction! 800.458.4646 • West Coast | 800.566.2580 • East Coast | Info@StacksBowers.com Terms and Conditions  PAPER MONEY (USPS 00-3162) is published every other month beginning in January by the Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC), 711 Signal Mt. Rd #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405. Periodical postage is paid at Hanover, PA. Postmaster send address changes to Secretary Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mtn. Rd, #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405. ©Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article in whole or part without written approval is prohibited. Individual copies of this issue of PAPER MONEY are available from the secretary for $8 postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries concerning non - delivery and requests for additional copies of this issue to the secretary. PAPER MONEY  Official Bimonthly Publication of The Society of Paper Money Collectors, Inc. Vol. LVI, No. 4 Whole No. 310 July/August 2017 ISSN 0031-1162 MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere and publications for review should be sent to the Editor. Accepted manuscripts will be published as soon as possible, however publication in a specific issue cannot be guaranteed. Include an SASE if acknowledgement is desired. Opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect those of the SPMC. Manuscripts should be submitted in WORD format via email (smcbb@sbcglobal.net) or by sending memory stick/disk to the editor. Scans should be grayscale or color JPEGs at 300 dpi. Color illustrations may be changed to grayscale at the discretion of the editor. Do not send items of value. Manuscripts are submitted with copyright release of the author to the Editor for duplication and printing as needed. ADVERTISING All advertising on space available basis. Copy/correspondence should be sent to editor. All advertising is payable in advance. All ads are accepted on a “good faith” basis. Terms are “Until Forbid.” Ads are Run of Press (ROP) unless accepted on a premium contract basis. Limited premium space/rates available. To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must be prepaid according to the schedule below. 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 Fullcolor covers $1500 $2600 $4900 B&W covers 500 1400 2500 Fullpagecolor 500 1500 3000 Full page B&W 360 1000 1800 Halfpage B&W 180 500 900 Quarter page B&W 90 250 450 Eighthpage 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, 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 or inappropriate material or edit copy. The SPMC assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors in ads, but agrees to reprint that portion of an ad in which a typographical error occurs upon prompt notification. Benny Bolin, Editor Editor Email—smcbb@sbcglobal.net Visit the SPMC website—www.SPMC.org Marijuana and Oil Peter Huntoon ................................................................265 An Attribution Mystery Solved Bill Gunther & Charles Derby ......................................... 281 Collecting $1 FRNs Carlson Chambliss ......................................................... 288 Fascinating Justice Fractional Artifact Rick Melamed ................................................................. 299 A Ghost Railroad Bill Gunther ..................................................................... 303 Uncoupled Joe Boling & Fred Schwan ................................... 305 Finance, Failure & Confederate Debt Pierre Fricke .................................................................. 317 Small Notes—$20 Back Plate 204 Discovered ....................... 321 Interesting Mining Notes—David Schenkman ................. ....323 Obsolete Corner--Robert Gill ................................................. 325 Chump Change--Loren Gatch ................................................ 328 Presidents Message .............................................................. 329 Editor’s Report ....................................................................... 331 KC Happenings ....................................................................... 332 Board of Governors Meeting Minutes .................................. 335 SPMC Obsolete Database Update ........................................ 338 Money Mart .............................................................................. 340 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 262 Society of Paper Money Collectors Officers and Appointees ELECTED OFFICERS: PRESIDENT—Shawn Hewitt, Box 580731 Minneapolis, MN 55458-0731 VICE-PRESIDENT—Robert Vandevender POB 2233, Palm City, FL 34911 SECRETARY—Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mtn., Rd. #197, Chattanooga, TN 37405 TREASURER—Bob Moon, 104 Chipping Court, Greenwood, SC 29649 BOARDOFGOVERNORS: Mark Anderson, 115 Congress St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mtn. Rd #197, Chattanooga, TN Gary J. Dobbins, 10308 Vistadale Dr., Dallas,T X 75238 Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 Loren Gatch 2701 Walnut St., Norman, OK 73072 Shawn Hewitt, P.O. Box 580731, Minneapolis, MN 55458-0731 Scott Lindquist, Box 2175, Minot, ND 58702 Michael B. Scacci, 216-10th Ave., Fort Dodge, IA 50501-2425 Robert Vandevender, POB 2233, Palm City, FL 34911 Wendell A. Wolka, P.O. Box 5439, Sun City Ctr., FL 33571 Joshua Herbstman, Box 351759, Palm Coast, FL 32135 Fred Maples, 7517 Oyster Bay Way, Montgomery Village, MD 20886 Vacant APPOINTEES: PUBLISHER-EDITOR---Benny Bolin, 5510 Springhill Estates Dr., Allen, TX 75002 EDITOR EMERITUS—Fred Reed, III ADVERTISING MANAGER--Wendell A. Wolka, Box 5439 Sun City Center, FL 33571 LEGAL COUNSEL--Robert J. Galiette, 3 Teal Ln., Essex, CT 06426 LIBRARIAN--Jeff Brueggeman, 711 Signal Mountain Rd. # 197, Chattanooga, TN 37405 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR—Frank Clark, P.O.Box 117060, Carrollton, TX, 75011-7060 IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT—Pierre Fricke Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR--Pierre Fricke, Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776 Pierre Fricke—Buying and Selling Confederate and Obsolete Money!  P.O. Box 1094, Sudbury, MA 01776; pfricke@csaquotes.com; www.csaquotes.com  And many more CSA, Southern and Obsolete Bank Notes for sale ranging from $10 to five figures  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. Their application must be signed by a parent or guardian. Junior membership numbers will be preceded by the letter “j” which will be removed upon notification to the secretary that the member has reached 18 years of age. Junior members are not eligible to hold office or vote. DUES—Annual dues are $39. Dues for members in Canada and Mexico are $45. Dues for members in all other countries are $60. Life membership—payable in installments within one year is $800 for U.S.; $900 for Canada and Mexico and $1000 for all other countries. The Society no longer issues annual membership cards, but paid up members may request one from the membership director with an SASE. Memberships for all members who joined the S o c i e t y prior to January 2010 are on a calendar year basis with renewals due each December. Memberships for those who joined since January 2010 are on an annual basis beginning and ending the month joined. All renewals are due before the expiration date which can be found on the label of Paper Money. Renewals may be done via the Society website www.spmc.org or by check/money ordersent to the secretary. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 263 1550 G Tiburon Blvd. #201 Tiburon, CA 94920 Email: info@kagins.com Phone: (415) 435-2601 Fax: (415) 435-1627 Toll Free: 1-888-8Kagins www.kagins.com Always Buying Currency & Coins We’ll pay top dollar for your collection. Call us today! Donald Kagin, PHD Meredith Hilton Currency United States currency has varied signifi cantly since its inception 156 years ago. Over the last 84 years, Kagin’s, Inc. has handled nearly 99% of all notes listed in the Friedberg book. Today, Kagin’s presents an assortment of paper money for your consideration. Presents... An Assortment of HistoricallyImportant Pieces of U.S. Currency MasterCard, Visa and American Express accepted Kagins PM Curr Ad 06.14.17 FR 197a $20 1863 Interest Bearing Note PMG 25 Minor restorations noted by PMG - Interest Bearing Notes are some of the rarest forms of paper money issued by the United States. Numismatic rarities such as this are easier understood when one considers all the factors in play at the time.  In the fi rst years of the Civil War, United States was in a precarious state and money was in short supply. So the moment these notes matured, most were redeemed and ultimately destroyed by the Treasury Department. That is why these notes are so scarce and why higher denominations of this type simply do not exist. What we have here is an example of this exceedingly rare issue. A review of the census report will reveal that there are only 21 examples available to own (25 known, 4 permanently impounded in museums). Further research will reveal that this example is tied for the second FINEST KNOWN with only one other example at PMG. Securing this note today will advance your collection to the next level. $52,500 FR 269 $5 1896 Silver Certifi cate PCGS 66 PPQ The Educational Series is considered by most numismatists to be some of the most beautiful notes ever produced by the United States. Offered here today is an example that is essentially perfect in every way. The print detail on this remarkable note is sensational, the color is brilliant and the margins are superb. This is Americana and its accomplished history at its fi nest! $18,500 FR 282 $5 1923 Silver Certifi cate PMG 66 EPQ Personality notes such as this Lincoln “Porthole” are highly desired by all numismatic connoisseurs. Some collectors acquire lower grade personality notes as a type while other more assertive collectors acquire gem quality examples as an investment. This is one of those notes that can appreciate in value signifi cantly over time. Lincoln Porthole notes rank as one of the most interesting and appealing notes ever produced by the United States government. Marking the end of large size silver certifi cates, this example boasts fantastic color, astonishing print detail and excellent eye appeal. Acquiring this piece will certainly bring great satisfaction to its next owner. $10,750 FR 302 $10 1908 Silver Certifi cate PMG 65 EPQ Tied for the second fi nest known, this Tombstone note is a real stunner.  Unlike the slightly more common small red seal, this example is dashing with its charming blue seal and appealing blue Roman numeral ‘X’ on the left side. This note is well centered and boasts remarkable eye appeal and print detail. It is also well inked which has resulted in a superior color and clarity to most other examples. In the center is a vignette of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, second in command to Grover Cleveland.  He died in offi ce while serving as Vice President in 1885, which is most likely the reason for the tombstone like vignette design. $22,500 FR 314 $20 1886 Silver Certifi cate PCGS 35 Minor restorations noted by PCGS - 1886 Silver Certifi cates have some of the most attractive backs for all U.S. currency. The $1 Martha’s, the $2 Hancock Deuces, the $5 Morgan Dollar backs, the $10 Tombstones and this $20 Manning note all have reverses that cover the entire back with fi ne and elaborate lathe work. 5 years later, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing changed the backs to a plainer, less detailed design. And this type is rare too. Being the highest denomination for this series, there are only 76 examples to chose from for this Friedberg number (not including those permanently impounded in museums). With good eye appeal and exciting print detail, acquiring this piece will fi ll an important slot in most collections. $16,500 FR 391 $2 1875 National Bank Note PCGS 65 PPQ The La Crosse National Bank, Wisconsin - Lazy Two’s are probably the most iconic and notable $2 bills ever produced the United States government. I am positive that many Americans can secretly admit to collecting $2 bills. Somewhere inside our wallets or purses, we got one stashed and would not dare to spend it unless absolutely necessary. And as a result of our passion, we have essentially removed $2 bills from general circulation. What we have here is the fi nest Lazy Deuce we have seen and it’s essentially perfect in every way – color, margins, print detail, eye appeal and pizzazz. And best part is, there is only one note fi ner with both services! I can say with confi dence this is the fi nest Lazy Deuce we have handled! $40,000 FR 752 $2 1918 Federal Reserve Note New York PMG 65 EPQ One of the most compelling personality notes from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, this example is absolutely gorgeous. On the back is the honored USS New York, an old time battleship that served dutifully throughout both World Wars. Sadly, the ship depicted on this note sits at the bottom of the Pacifi c Ocean, sunk as target practice for the United States Military. This is a sensational note that tells a great story and will do well in any numismatic collection. $4500 FR 626 $10 1902 PB National Bank Note CH 9798 PCGS 65 PPQ The People’s National Bank of Mount Pleasant, PA - Large size notes certifi ed Gem or higher represent excellent value and at this price point there is very little downside. Plus, it does not hurt to be the fi nest known example graded by PCGS for the bank. Adding this note to your collection today may prove to be a decision well made tomorrow. $4000 Celebrating Our 84th Anniversary British Petroleum=s Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico is claimed to be the worst oil spill into an ocean in history. It is estimated that 4.9 million barrels of oil escaped before the well was capped on July 15, 2010 after 86 harrowing days. A barrel of oil measures 42 gallons. There was a far more voluminous blowout 100 years before in a developing oil patch in the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley of California, midway between the towns of Maricopa and Taft. This well, named Lakeview #1, which blew out on March 15th, 1910, spewed an estimated 9 million barrels of oil onto the land surface during the next 544 days. It created a flood of oil that so severely glutted the market, the price of crude dipped to a third of its former price. The resulting mess was in part responsible for the chartering of two short-lived national banks, one each in Maricopa and Taft. These banks were being organized as the oil was raining down across the landscape, and oil-drenched men were attempting to impound and collect as much of it as possible before it seeped into the ground, evaporated or flowed downstream into Buena Vista Lake at the terminus of the Kern River 8 miles away. Lakeview #1 was situated on a known conjoined oil producing structure called the Midway-Sunset trend in what are called the West Side fields. There were oil seeps and asphalt deposits there that the Indians had used for millennia, which prospectors were beginning to seriously size up in 1889. At first, asphaltum was mined and processed into fuel oil and high grade asphalt. The Sunset Railroad, a joint venture line from Bakersfield operated by the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads, arrived in Maricopa in 1904 to move the asphalt and oil. The Sunset Western Railroad was incorporated in 1908 to build a spur line into the Taft area. The Paper Column by Peter Huntoon Marijuana and Oil: Roads to the Highs of California National Banking, 1880-1924 Figure 1. This $20 Series of 1902 date back is the only reported note from The First National Bank of Maricopa. Photo from Heritage Auction Archives. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 265 In the meantime, several holes were drilled in the Midway in 1900, but were dusters. Finally in May 1901 a well was brought in near what would become Taft that produced over 4,000 barrels that year. The Midway Field along the north end of the Midway-Sunset trend by itself was producing a bit over 400,000 barrels of oil a year by 1908 and a boom was developing. Taft was undergoing a metamorphosis. Originally it was called Siding No. 2 when the Sunset Western Railroad reached the locale on New Years’ day 1909. The nearby settlement was known as Moro, but the railroad wouldn’t accept Moro as the name for their siding because they didn’t want it confused with Morro Bay on the coast. Their solution was to add an “n” and call the budding town Moron. Residents bridled at the name. The Taft post office was established in Moron in April 1909, and named after President Taft by most accounts. The town of Taft was incorporated in late 1910, which eventually encompassed the siding, Moron and surrounding environs. Maricopa, six and a half miles to the south-southeast, was incorporated in 1911. Julius Fried, a grocer, chose the site for Lakeview #1 halfway between the towns after incorporating the Lakeview Oil Company on December 9, 1908 among friends. They spudded their well on the first of January, 1909, using traditional cable tool drilling technology. Progress was slow; the venture sorely underfunded. Months later at a depth of 1,655 feet, they sold a 51 percent interest in the well and the controlling interest in their company to Union Oil Company. Union’s interest in the property turned on the fact that it was a convenient place for Union to build some oil storage tanks, but Union’s interest in the well was less than enthusiastic. The cable tool method employed a drill bit consisting of a long, solid, round, blunt piece of steel commonly 15 feet or so in length that was suspended from a cable that was run through a pulley at the top of a tall wooden derrick. A cam mechanism connected to the cable caused the heavy steel bit to rise and suddenly drop. The blunt end chipped away at the rock at the bottom of the hole. Some 20 or so feet of water was maintained around the bit at the bottom of the hole so the rock chips could sluice upward out of the way as the bit dropped. The driller could feel an increasing tug on the cable as the water became saturated with chips. When the tool became sluggish, he would withdraw the bit entirely from the well by winding the cable on a mechanical spool and lower a bailer to the bottom to pick up the cuttings. The bailer was a hollow pipe with a flapper valve on the bottom that allowed the water and cuttings to move into it, but only the Figure 2. The Lakeview #1 gusher was the most productive well in the West Side oil fields of the San Joaquin Valley of California. The well blew out of control for 544 days, yielding about 9 million barrels of oil, much more than escaped from the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. The national banks in Taft and Maricopa owe their origins to the boom that came on the heels of this well. Photo courtesy of the West Kern Oil Museum, Taft. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 266 water to drain out as the bailer was lifted out of the hole. The bailer had to be tripped all the way in and out of the hole before the drill bit could be lowered back in so that drilling could recommence. It was a slow tedious process and just got worse the deeper the hole. These were the early days of oil well drilling. The technology of lowering a long string of steel pipe into the upper part of the hole and pumping cement into the annulus between the outside of the pipe and wall rock to seal it into place had not yet come into practice. As that idea developed, innovative minds saw that a blowout preventer could be attached to the top of the pipe where it protruded above the ground, which could be used to contain the contents of the well should a high pressure zone be encountered. Instead, in 1910, all you did was kept on drilling. If you did hit high pressure oil, the well simply blew as the oil burst to the surface as a gusher. Then everyone mobilized to collect as much of the oil as possible by whatever means they could. Such gushers were considered signs of success and although feared they were actually relished. No one was particularly concerned about adverse environmental impacts in those days. The bailer got stuck in the Lakeview #1 hole at a depth of 2,225 feet on March 15th. Unbeknownst to anyone at the surface, the hole had begun to pass next to a highly over pressured productive sand unit only a few feet wide but over a mile long that crossed the trend of the Midway-Sunset field. Only a few feet of rock separated the hole from the over pressured zone, so the rock started to deform into the hole and pinned the bailer. No one had any idea that this was what was causing the bailer to stick. An over pressured zone in oil parlance has a very precise meaning. Over pressure means that when the drill penetrates a fluid bearing zone, there is sufficient pressure on the fluid at that depth to cause the fluid to rise all the way to the land surface. In this case the fluid was oil mixed with gas, and the pressure on it was far in excess of that required for the oil to flow up the well bore to the surface. The Lakeview #1 Figure 3. The Lakeview #1 gusher and its reflection off the lake of oil that was discharging from it. The inset shows the roiling oil in the pond created after they built a 25-foot high levee around the well in an attempt to try to bring the flow somewhat under control. Photo courtesy of the West Kern Oil Museum, Taft. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 267 well was tapping into a highly over pressured oil reservoir - the most dangerous kind there is. According to Rintoul (1978) the Union production superintendent, Walter Barnhart, encouraged driller Roy McMahon at 8 pm to yank hard on the bailer with forceful up and down motions on his cable in an effort to unstick it. The hole had been drilling for 14 months now. Suddenly, with a terrific roar, the bailer shot from the hole with such force that it crashed through the crown block on the top of the drilling derrick. A geyser of dark brown oil shot to heights of 200 feet. Men ran in every direction. What had occurred was that the bailer had shot like a bullet 2,225 feet up the well bore and was launched into and hung up in the top of the derrick like a spear as it exited the well. The immediate nightmare risk was fire. If the oil and gas coming out of the hole caught fire, it would be a major disaster with the first order of business to devise some technique for putting out the fire as it was fed by fuel from below. No fire developed, so the men regrouped and started to jury-rig means to capture the oil. The initial flow was estimated at 18,000 barrels per day, enough to create a small torrent of oil as it rained down on the surroundings. Work focused on containing the oil. A 4-inch pipeline was built in just four hours to eight 55,000 gallon storage tanks two and a half miles away. All the time this frantic activity was taking place, the flow from the well increased as the well bore eroded. It didn’t take long before the gusher destroyed the derrick and sand coming up with the oil buried the engine house, nearby bunk houses and a coal shack. Work began immediately to construct earthen dam reservoirs to capture the oil on the sloping land between the well and Buena Vista Lake. Sixty acres of ponds were scratched out using horse drawn scrapers, which were used to gouge out the sandy soil and pile it on levees during the ensuing weeks. Over 400 men were employed using horse teams brought in from as far away as 300 miles. The oil initially overwhelmed the storage tanks. Eventually a pipeline was built to the west coast with a terminus at Avilia south of San Luis Obispo. The oil from the Lakeview gusher accounted for a significant share of the oil in the pipeline. It is estimate that 90,000 barrels per day were shooting from the well at its peak a month after it blew. Eventually a 25-foot high sandbag levee was built around the gusher to pond the oil so that maybe the depth of the oil in the pond would provide sufficient back pressure to retard the flow. Figure 4. View looking from Taft toward 25 Hill early during the oil boom. Photo courtesy of the West Kern Oil Museum, Taft. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 268 The work was frightful because all labored under the spray from the geyser. Imagine coming home after a day’s work out there completely drenched in oil so that the only thing people could see that wasn’t black was the whites of your eyes. You would take off your clothes, put them in a barrel of distillates in your back yard and then wash yourself off from head to toe with distillates. Distillates are a mix of kerosene, gasoline, benzene, etc. Next you would take a bath, dry your clothes in the sun, run the clothes through a wringer washing machine to get as much of what remained out, and then tomorrow put them back on and go out for another 12-hour work day. On windy days droplets of oil from the gusher spotted clothing hung out to dry 25 miles away. Finally, on September 9, 1911, the pressure in the reservoir had depleted sufficiently that the well caved in and the flow ceased. The Lakeview gusher was so productive that crude oil became a glut on the market. There was so much oil available, the price of crude so cheap; Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company built earthen lined ponds near Bakersfield to store the oil for the day when the price of crude would recover. About 40 percent of the oil from Lakeview #1 was recovered. The rest was simply lost. The volume that was lost probably exceeded the volume that flowed into the ocean from the BP Deepwater Horizon well. Of course what the Lakeview gusher did was fuel a drilling frenzy along the Midway-Sunset trend and major discoveries were made in pools north of Maricopa, north of Taft and in the vicinity of McKittrick. Other gushers were brought in, but none ever rivaled Lakeview #1. For a time you could view 7,000 wooden derricks in big clusters dotting the 15 miles of barren sandy hills along the Midway-Sunset trend. All were laced together with pipes and storage tanks of every description. Other fields were being developed nearby to the north and east in the West Side district of the San Joaquin Valley as well. The Midway-Sunset field still remains very productive with something on the order of half a billion barrels of reserves left to produce. If you go there today, you will see that the derricks are long gone, replaced by densely packed pump jacks for as far as you can see. The Midway-Sunset trend has produced almost 3 billion barrels of oil, is the largest oil field in California, and currently ranks as the 9th largest field in the United States, including Alaska, based on proved reserves. The field is classified as a giant. It is a little recognized fact that California was the leading oil producer in the United States at the start of the 20th century, and the Lakeview gusher helped it maintain that vaunted position. Figure 5. View looking northeastward across Maricopa, California, circa early 1920s. Photo courtesy of the West Kern Oil Museum, Taft. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 269 Maricopa and Taft Get National Banks The success of the Lakeview #1 gusher certified that there was big money to be made in the West Side Oil Fields, and that fact was a magnet for bankers. In time, the Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron) made Taft its operational headquarters, employing as many as 6,000 people. Of course, Chevron was but one of several dozen oil companies that operated in the area, with Union Oil still being one of the biggest players. Clustered around both Taft and Maricopa were service companies that supplied everything imaginable to operate a giant oil field. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that Chevron moved its accounting and finance offices to Concord, California, from Taft. Two state chartered banks were organized in Taft in quick succession during March 1910; specifically, the Taft Branch of the Oil and Metals Bank of Los Angeles and The West Side Bank (Gianopulos, 1998). The Oil and Metals branch opened April 21st; however, it was liquidated along with its Los Angeles parent in September 1911, so the owners could pursue other interests. In the meantime The First National Banks of Maricopa and Taft were organized in early 1911, respectively holding national charters 9957 and 10088. The simultaneous arrival of the Maricopa and Taft national banks in 1911 was not a coincidence. The prime mover behind both was Clinton Edward Worden, at the time vice president of The Producers Savings Bank of Bakersfield, and its satellite The First National Bank of Bakersfield, charter 6044. At the time Clinton also was a vice president of both The First National Bank and interlocked First Federal Trust Company of San Francisco. The First National Bank of Maricopa operated out of a brick building on the northeast corner of California and East Main in downtown Maricopa. California Street is California state Figure 6. Ad from the Bakersfield City Directory showing the Producers Savings Bank building constructed in 1901 on the southwest corner of 19th and H streets, which also housed the interlocked First National Bank of Bakersfield organized that same year. Photo courtesy of the Kern County Library, Bakersfield. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 270 highway 33 that leads north to Taft. Cashier N. Y. White was the operating officer of the bank during the entire time it was in business. The First National Bank of Taft opened in the Oil and Metals Bank facility in the 300 block of Center Street within two weeks of the latter’s closing. The officers of the First National then contracted for the construction of a substantial concrete building at 501 Center Street, and opened at that location on July 22, 1912. Clarence S. Crary served as cashier of the bank at the outset of its founding in 1911 and 1912, followed by C. D. Shirk who presided in that office until the bank was liquidated. Clinton E. Worden Worden’s residence was in San Francisco, a mansion at 1155 California Street on Nob Hill across from the home of William Henry Crocker, president of The Crocker First National Bank of San Francisco. By the time Worden got involved in Maricopa and Taft, he already was well on his way to insinuating himself as an important player in California banking. Worden had been a vice president in The First National Bank of Bakersfield from the time of its organization in 1901, and remained in that position until he was elevated to the presidency in 1913. His ownership position in The Producers Savings Bank, which was the older bank having been organized in 1892, also dated from 1901. It is obvious that Worden was very self-possessed, self-confident, entrepreneurial and socially gifted. The latter allowing him to circulate among the wealthy and to form financial alliances with the elite to their mutual benefit. He was born in Michigan on January 9, 1858, and migrated to San Francisco to make his fortune. His first enterprise was the Clinton E. Worden Company, a wholesale pharmaceutical firm established in 1881 at 214-220 Townsend Street. The firm appears to have dealt primarily in patent medicines, most notable being all sorts of cannabis indica products. Cannabis indica - a potent form of marijuana - was packaged with various compounds including strychnine, arsenic, zinc phosphide (rat poison), digitalis and ergot as cure-all’s for all sorts of human ailments. He is forever enshrined in precedent-setting trademark case law for having The California Fig Syrup Company sue him in 1897 for marketing a knockoff of their syrup-of-fig product, which was sold by both to ease digestive difficulties, foremost among them being constipation. This suit wound its way to the U. S. Supreme Court where in 1903 that court acknowledged that indeed Worden had infringed on the California Fig Syrup Company product, but no punitive damages were due California Fig Syrup Company because both medicines were fraudulent concoctions that had nothing to do with figs at all, but rather were made from senna, a potent laxative (Findlaw). Figure 7. The First National Bank of Bakersfield was organized in 1901, and issued only Series of 1882 notes. Photo from Heritage Auction Archives. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 271 The Clinton E. Worden Company also got into a scrape with the Army over 7 million underweight quinine tablets shipped to the Philippines to protect troops against malaria. Hospital officials in Manila noticed that the pills were not having the desired effect on patients, which when analyzed were short 35 percent in quinine, the difference being made up with flour. Worden’s lawyers pleaded that the weight problem was the result of loss of moisture between the time the pills were made and received in the islands; however, his firm was blacklisted from further military contracts in 1901 (Pharmaceutical Era, Jan 23, 1902). It appears that he incorporated the pharmaceutical business as the National Pharmacy Company about the turn of the century, then sold out after the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906 (San Francisco Chronicle, Jul 24, 1924). This allowed him to immerse himself in banking, which would become a means to more easily compound his wealth. His knack for circulating among San Francisco’s elite appears to have been propelling him in this direction for some time. He married Evelyn Amelia Towne on November 8, 1893, who was the widowed daughter of Alban Nelson Towne, general manager and 2nd vice president of The Central Pacific Railroad and president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Towne died in 1896, but by then Worden set up what today would be called a venture capital company called the Clinton E. Worden and A. N. Towne Company. He bought in as a vice president of both The First National Bank and interlocked First Federal Trust Company of San Francisco sometime after the turn of the century, at about the same time he emerged on the Bakersfield banking scene. He also shows up as vice president of the Richland Belt Railway across the bay from San Francisco in January 1907, along with William S. Tevis who was its president. It is no surprise that Tevis was president of The Producers Savings and First National banks of Bakersfield. Tevis also was president of the powerful Kern County Land Company, a company organized by his father Lloyd who happened to have been Figure 8. Entries in the 1899 Clinton E. Worden Company pharmaceutical catalog. Photo courtesy of Andrew Garett, Museum of Reefer Madnes. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 272 president of Well Fargo Bank and a founder of the Pony Express. Although Tevis’ major financial interests were in the southern San Joaquin Valley, he too resided in San Francisco. Worden’s Banking Empire Expands Worden organized The First National Bank of Richmond, charter 9734, on March 25, 1910, and then opened the Richmond Savings Bank in the same building on July 1, 1911. Clarence Crary, the same man who served as cashier of The First National Bank of Taft during 1911 and 1912, also was cashier of the two Richmond banks and probably had ownership interests in them as well as in the Taft bank. Worden set himself up as president in the Richmond, Maricopa and Taft banks, but, of course, ceded operational control of each to appointed cashiers or other officers. The Producers Savings Bank of Bakersfield, operating under a less restrictive state charter than The First National Bank, was the launching pad for his Maricopa and Taft ventures. He then organized a branch of the Producers Savings Bank at Wasco, a town northwest of Bakersfield in March, 1912. He was elevated to president of The Producers Savings and The First National banks the following year. In 1915 Worden began first to consolidate and then eventually cash out of these enterprises. He Figure 9. The First National Bank of Maricopa occupies the northeast corner of California and East Main. The abutting buildings were replaced by clouds in this vintage postcard view. Photo courtesy of Arri Jacob. Figure 10. The sign for The First National Bank of Taft is being moved in 1911 down Center Street to the former quarters of the Oil and Metals Bank in the building on the left. Photo from Gianopulos (1998). ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 273 took advantage of California banking law, which allowed branch banking. The First National Bank of Maricopa was liquidated on April 15, 1915, and its business assumed as a branch of The Producers Savings Bank of Bakersfield. This was followed by the liquidation of The First National Bank of Taft on January 15, 1916, which also was established as a branch of The Producers Savings Bank. Worden relinquished the presidency of The First National Bank of Richmond in 1917, but not his ownership interest in it. He stayed on as a director. The charter for The First National Bank of Bakersfield came up for extension in 1919. Rather than extend the bank, Worden organized a new national bank on April 1, 1919 out of the corpus of The Producers Savings Bank, and called the new entity The Producers National Bank of Bakersfield. The new bank was awarded charter 11327. Next, on May 15, 1919, Worden merged The First National Bank of Bakersfield into the new Producers National. He immediately renamed the consolidated bank The First National Bank. Of course, the old name now was operated under new charter 11327, charter 6044 having been relinquished in the merger. Worden served as the first president of the bank, but turned those reigns over to cashier W. E. Benz in 1920. The Ardizzi-Olcese Bank, a private bank organized in East Bakersfield during 1918, was merged into the new First National Bank of Bakersfield in 1922, and made a branch of the latter. Worden’s new Figure 11. The interlocked First National Bank of Richmond and Richmond Savings Bank organized by Clinton E. Worden in 1911 occupied this building. Photo courtesy of Arri Jacob. Figure 12. This rare Richmond Series of 1902 date back note sports the printed signature of Clinton E. Worden. Photo courtesy of Andrew Woodruff. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 274 First National Bank of Bakersfield bank now possessed branches in four prospering satellite communities in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Thus, Worden consolidated all of his San Joaquin banking interests into a single entity. The big move came on May 3, 1922, when Worden sold the entire enterprise in one fell swoop to A. P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy. The main office and various branches of the former First National Bank of Bakersfield became branches of the Bank of Italy. W. E. Benz and Louis V. Olcese were appointed vice presidents, each staying in the banks in which they had served previously, which was characteristic of such mergers. Shortly thereafter, on October 7, 1922, Worden sold The First National Bank of Richmond and companion Richmond Savings Bank to The Mercantile Trust Company of San Francisco, where it became a branch of the latter. At the end of 1922, at age 64, Worden had cashed out of his San Joaquin and Richmond banking interests a very wealthy man. He retained his vice presidencies and directorships in The First National Bank and First Federal Trust Company of San Francisco. Then he died July 23, 1924. Figure 13. The private Ardizzi- Olcese Bank at the northeast corner of Baker and Jackson streets in East Bakersfield was merged into and made a branch of the new First National Bank of Bakersfield in 1922 as the final piece in Clinton E. Worden’s southern San Joaquin bank empire. The building is a 99-Cent Store today. Photo courtesy of the Kern County Museum, Bakersfield. Figure 14. W. E. Benz, vice president and cashier of The First National Bank of Bakersfield, was elevated to the presidency in 1920, as Clinton E. Worden was consolidating his bank holdings in the southern San Joaquin Valley preparatory to selling them. Photo courtesy of Arri Jacob. Figure 15. San Francisco banker Amadeo P. Giannini momentarily sated his appetite for banks by purchasing The First National Bank of Bakersfield and turning it and its branches into branches of the Bank of Italy in 1922. Wikipedia photo. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 275 The Bank of Italy went forward to be nationalized in 1927 as the Bank of Italy National Trust and Savings Association, later renamed the Bank of American National Trust and Savings Association in 1930. National Bank Notes From the perspective of national bank note issues, the two First National Banks of Bakersfield had respectable final circulations of $150,000 (charter 6044) and $400,000 (charter 11327). However, the Series of 1902 notes from charter 11327 are decidedly scarce with only a handful reported owing to the fact that they were issued for a period of only three years. Those from charter 6044 are more common, but consist entirely of Series of 1882 notes. In contrast, the circulations of the Taft and Maricopa banks were mere pocket change. The Taft bank supported a circulation of a little over $24,000 during its four-and-a-half-year life. Counting the redemption of worn notes, this circulation consumed a total of 1,648 sheets of 10-10-10-20 Series of 1902 date and plain backs during the five years the bank operated. None are reported. The First National Bank of Maricopa was a minimally capitalized bank organized in compliance with the provisions of the Gold Standard Act of March 14, 1900. That act was famous for placing the nation on the gold standard and was the darling of eastern hard money interests who benefitted from a constrained money supply and high interest rates. For decades previous, populist western and southern Democrats had been rallying for what they called free banking. The tenet of the free banking movement was the perception that money was in short Figure 16. Map of the southern San Joaquin Valley showing towns containing Clinton E. Worden’s First National Bank of Bakersfield and its branches in 1922. Figure 17. Note bearing Clifton E. Worden’s signature as president from the second First National Bank of Bakersfield. Ultimately all of Worden’s banks in the southern San Joaquin Valley were consolidated into this bank and then sold to A. P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy in San Francisco, whereupon they were operated as branches of the Bank of Italy. Photo from Heritage Auction Archives. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 276 supply in the developing regions such as the San Joaquin Valley, so growth and prosperity were artificially constrained. The populists, who were monetary inflationists, sought the unrestricted organization of banks, which they felt would infuse their towns with cash. This, in turn, would facilitate local and regional economic development. Passage of the Gold Standard Act is attributed to Republican William McKinley’s popularity following the successful execution of the Spanish-American War, which carried with it a treaty ceding the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam to our jurisdiction. The act contained one major populist sop in order to buy Democrat’s votes. It provided for the organization of national banks with capitals of $25,000 in towns with fewer than 3,000 people, half the capitalization previously allowed. Maricopa qualified, so The First National Bank initially was capitalized at $25,000 with a bank note circulation of only $6,250. The circulation increased to $25,000 as the bank prospered and its officers increased the capitalization of the bank during its four year existence. Miraculously one note has been recorded from its issuance of 1,427 sheets of 10-10-10-20 Series of 1902 plain backs. Incidental to this tale is The First National Bank of Richmond over on San Francisco bay. Note issues from that bank were modest supporting a circulation that grew from $25,000 in 1911 to $100,000 when the bank was liquidated in 1922. Only a handful of Figure 18. Proof of a $10 Series of 1902 note issued by The First National Bank of Taft. No issued notes have been reported from this bank. Photo from the National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. Figure 19. 2010 view of the oil field on the Midway- Sunset trend north of Taft. Notice that Union Oil is still a major player in the field. Long gone are the wooden derricks, all having been replaced by electrically driven pump jacks. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 277 Series of 1902 date and plain back notes have turned up from the bank making them as scarce as those from the second First National of Bakersfield. Worden’s acumen made a lot of money for him in his San Joaquin Valley and Richmond banks and in the process created rarities for national bank note collectors. Putting together a note from each of his banks definitely constitutes an uphill battle for anyone with the courage to try! Postscript Clinton E. Worden, the prime mover in this tale, left a trail of bread crumbs in the form of mentions in web sites devoted to marijuana, Supreme Court case law, social registers mostly centered around his wife, listings in bank and business directories, a couple of obituaries, and Oakland cemetery records. All of these simply marked his place at specific moments in time in specific endeavors. Nothing in his wake revealed anything about his personality other than what I have deduced above. Worse, I could not locate a photograph of him, something surprising for a man of his stature. None accompanied the obituaries I found in the San Francisco and Oakland newspapers. Similarly no museum or library in California possesses an image, and believe me, I turned over every rock in the San Joaquin Valley and San Francisco area that I could to unearth one. I can only conclude that Mr. Worden was camera phobic! After this article was written and laid out, fractional currency specialist Jerry Fochtman took it as a personal challenge to find one and located the newspaper photograph of Worden that appears here. Acknowledgments Agnes Hardt, Sandra March and Jan McCall of the West Kern Oil Museum went out of their way to make my research visit to their museum as productive as possible. Jamie Yakes alerted me to the oil part of this story by bringing to my attention a brief historical note he found pertaining to the Lakeview #1 gusher in the Wall Street Journal that had been reprinted from a June 13, 2010 article by Steve Harvey in the Los Angeles Times. William Raymond drew my attention to Clinton Worden’s connection to Bakersfield banking. Andrew Garett, Museum of Reefer Madness, provided copies of the Clinton E. Warden Company pharmaceutical catalog. Arri Jacob supplied scans of two postcards illustrated here. References Cited and Sources of Information and Data Antiquecannabisbook: http://antiquecannabisbook.com/chap26/CompoundDrug.htm Bankers Publishing Company, various years, Bankers’ directory: The Bankers Publishing Company, New York, NY. Boyd, William H., 1997, Lower Kern River County 1850-1950, wilderness to empire: Kern County Historical Society, Figure 20. Grainy photograph of Clinton E. Worden, second from left, discussing the results of a 50-mile car race with officials of the Automobile Club of California, which sponsored the race. From The San Francisco Call, Sunday, July 7, 1907. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 278 Bakersfield, CA, 233 p. Comptroller of the Currency, yearly, Annual Reports of the Comptroller of the Currency: U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Credit Company, various years, The Bankers Register: The Credit Company, Chicago, IL & New York. Findlaw, 1903, Clinton E. Worden & Co. v. California Syrup Co., 187 U.S. 516: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=187&invol=516 Fishburn, Maurice, 2010, Oil and its history on the westside: West Kern Oil Museum, Taft, CA, 99 p. Gianopulos, Pete, 1998, Taft’s early banks: West Kern Oil Museum, Taft, CA, unpublished manuscript with supplements, 8 p. Hale, W. A., 1917, Banking (chapter 6): in, Frederick J. Hulaniski, editor, The History of Contra Costa County, California: Elms Publishing Company, Berkeley, CA. Harvey, Steve, June 13, 2010, California’s legendary oil spill: Los Angeles Times. Heritage Auction Archives: http:// ha.com. Kelly, Don C., and James Kelly, 2010, National bank note census, version 4.2: The Paper Money Institute, Oxford, OH. National Railway Publication Company, 24 Park Place, New York, NY, Jan 1907, The official guide of the railways and steam navigation lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Peahl, Larry, and Peter Gianopulos, 2007, A history of early Taft, California: privately printed by S & S Printing, Taft, CA, 91 p. Pharmaceutical Era, Jan. 23, 1902, California, short weight quinine tablets, p. 104. Rand, McNally & Co., July 1892 & 1913, Bankers’ directory and list of bank attorneys: Rand, NcNally & Company, New York. Rintoul, William, 1978, Spudding in, recollections of pioneer days in the California oil fields: California Historical Society, Valley Publishers, Fresno, CA, 240 p. San Francisco Chronicle, Jul 24, 1924, Veteran S. F. Business man dies, Clinton E. Worden succumbs after four months illness, p. 7. U. S. Department of Energy: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/rpd/topfields.pdf Van Belkum, Louis, 1968, National banks of the note issuing period, 1863-1935: Hewitt Bros, Chicago, IL, 400 p. Van Belkum, undated, Issuance data for United States national bank notes: unpublished data. Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft,_California Join us on Facebook! Join our facebook page and read about what is going on, happenings, etc. https://www.facebook.com/Society- of-Paper-Money-Collectors ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 279 An Attribution Mystery Resolved: “Georgia” Isaac Winter Fractional Notes Actually from Rockford, Alabama (Coosa County) by Bill Gunther and Charles Derby  The $1 Rockford, Alabama, note from Isaac Winter shown below was recently listed by a currency dealer with the comment “…also known to be a cross over note for Georgia, only one known denomination that states Alabama...” The reference to Georgia notes is to four fractional notes, also with the name Isaac Winter on the face, but with no identifying geographic location. For some unknown reason, those fractional notes have been considered Georgia notes since at least 2001. The strong similarities between the Rockford, Alabama, $1 note and the so-called “Georgia” fractional notes were the stimulus to research this issue. The Town of Rockford Before we examine the notes themselves, let’s take a look at the only town mentioned on any of the notes: Rockford, Alabama. Rockford is located about 35 miles due north of Montgomery in Coosa County. Coosa County was created on December 18, 1832, by the Alabama General Assembly and was one of 14 counties created from lands ceded by the Creek Indians through the Treaty of Cusseta in 1832.1 For a short time, the town was named Lexington and was the county seat from 1832 to 1835. The town was at some point also known as Pondelassa (named for Ebenezer Pond, an early resident of the area). The name was officially changed to Rockford in 1835, and it remained the county seat.2 Rockford was never a large town, and the 1888 population was estimated at 1,000 residents. (In 2015, the population was estimated at less than 500.) The “Georgia” Notes Long time currency dealer, Hugh Shull, listed a 10 cent Isaac Winter note under Georgia in his 2nd Edition, 2001 catalog.3 In 2015 and 2016, Heritage Auctions sold four fractionals (5, 10, 25, and 50 cents) from Isaac Winter with the captions “Unknown Location (Ga.),” “This note is believed to be from Georgia according to our consignor,” and “From The Alan Dorris Collection of Georgia Obsolete Currency.”4 These notes are shown on the next page. A check of listings in the now defunct Georgia Obsolete website showed these notes with the caption, “Location Unknown,” but they still were considered to be Georgia notes.5 A check with several prominent Georgia collectors failed to uncover any hard evidence that the notes were indeed from Georgia. There was, in fact, an “Isaac Winter” that was listed in the 1860 Census to be living in Spalding County, Georgia, and who listed his occupation as a “carriage maker.” He reported owning no real estate Recent discovery. Rockford, Alabama (Isaac Winter) $1. 1862. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 281 and had a personal estate of only $200. It is doubtful that this person had the need for small fractional scrip or if such scrip would have even been accepted by residents given his limited financial profile. Design Similarities to Georgia Sutler Notes While there is no direct evidence of how these fractionals became known as Georgia notes, it is possible that design similarities with several Georgia sutler notes shown below may have influenced that decision. The two sutler notes below were attributed to Georgia because of the reference to the 43rd Georgia Regiment on the face of the notes. However, a sutler was a civilian merchant who traveled with a specific military unit, so it is not known exactly where these notes may have been issued.6 However, records show the 43rd Georgia Regiment participated in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in Warren County, Mississippi, on December 26-29, 1862, and the Battle of Champion Hill, in Hinds County, Mississippi, in May of 1863. The unit was captured July 4, 1863, when Vicksburg fell.7 Notice that if the vignette of a train in top center is removed as well as the reference to the “Sutler 43D Georgia Regiment,” the similarities with the Isaac Winter fractional notes become obvious. It is interesting that these sutler notes were auctioned at the same time as the first 5 cent Isaac Winter note (January 2015) and came from the same consignor. Alabama Sutler Notes Two additional sutler notes, shown below, also bear a striking resemblance to the Rockford, Alabama, note. These Alabama sutler notes are in fact signed by the same person as the Rockford $1 and “Georgia” fractional notes. The Heritage Auctions catalog writer ventured a guess as to who signed the Alabama sutler notes, writing “While the name of the sutler who issued this note is still problematic (guesses range from “Winter” to “Minter” to “?”), the history of the regiment is not.”8 The cataloguer The above four notes were previously thought to be Georgia scrip. Two fractional sutler notes for the 43D Georgia Regiment. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 282 goes on to recount the episodes of the 34th Alabama Regiment, which included the Battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863. Unfortunately there are no dates printed on the Alabama sutler notes, although such a date may or may not correspond to any location. Rockford, Alabama Sutler and “Georgia” Fractionals Likely from Same Printer The Rockford, Alabama, $1 note and the Georgia sutler notes bear a striking resemblance to the alleged “Georgia” fractional notes, with the strong implication that they were all printed by the same printer. The main distinction between the Alabama note and the others is the presence of the town name of Rockford, Alabama. The imagery on the left margin of the Rockford note is only slightly different than the 25 and 50 cents notes from “Georgia.” The lack of a vignette and the common underlying format suggests they were made by a relatively small printer with limited resources. The font used for the $1 Isaac Winter note, the Winter fractional issues, and the Georgia sutler notes is identical, although the font used on the name Isaac Winter on the $1 Alabama note is slightly different than the other “Georgia” notes. However, the so- called “redemption” clause is the same and reflects the desire to standardize the notes. The fact that the printed date is the same for both the Alabama and “Georgia” notes suggests this printer had an inventory of underlying notes printed in black ink that were subsequently overprinted with the red ink producing various denominations and individualized merchant notes. It is our opinion that these notes were printed by the same printer, with the first run including those items that appear in black ink. The second printing (overprinting) consisted of those items in red ink, and it is these items that were merchant specific. Alabama Sutler $1.  Image courtesy Heritage Auctions.  Alabama Sutler 50 cents.  Image courtesy Heritage Auctions.  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 283 All Notes Are Signed by the Same Person Any argument that the “Georgia” and Alabama sutler notes represent different individual issuers with the same name was quickly dismissed by observing that the notes are all are signed by the same person, “I. Winter.” Below are images of the signature on the 5 cent “Georgia” fractional, the 50 cent Alabama sutler note, and the signature on Winter’s Last Will and Testament from 1907.9 There are just too many similarities in these three signatures to conclude that they are different individuals. Who Was Isaac Winter? Isaac Winter was located in Rockford, Alabama, according to the 1860 Census records and was listed as a “merchant.” He was born in Prussia (now a part of Germany) around 1833 and came to the United States in 1851 on board the ship Elise. There are alternative entry dates including as early as 1840 when he would have only been 7 years old, but 1851 seems the most likely actual date. Winter and his brothers joined a number of other Jewish immigrants from Germany that began settling in Montgomery in the 1840s, in part because of increasing discrimination at home. For example, Bavarian laws at the time limited the number of Jews who could reside in any given city. This law was the reason that the Lehman brothers came to the United States, settled at first in Montgomery, and then moved to New York where their bank survived until the financial panic of 2008.10 His 1860 household consisted of Isaac (age 27) and his brothers Moses Winter (26), Meyer Winter (28), Sami Winter (19), and Marks Winter (21). Isaac was listed as a merchant with real estate of $3,000 and a personal estate of $10,000. Moses was also listed as a merchant, and the fact that his assets were identical in value to Isaac suggests he was a business partner with Isaac. Meyer and Sami Winter were listed as “traders” with assets totaling $550 and $500 respectively. Marks Winter was listed as a clerk with assets of $500. We assume that all five Winter brothers worked in the same family business. According to his tombstone, Isaac Winter (or his family) claimed that he served in the “Alabama Vol. Infantry, Confederate States Army.”11 His tombstone also indicated he was at some point a prisoner- of-war. However, no independent record of his enlistment in military service could be located through Ancestry.com. A number of individuals with the same name, Isaac Winter, and who served during the Civil War were found, and that complicates verification of any one person’s service. However, one particular record shows an Isaac Winter who was captured at Shelbyville, Tennessee, in June of 1863.12 Shelbyville is only 25 miles south of Murfreesboro where the 34th Alabama Infantry Regiment was Isaac Winter, circa 1880-1890. 1862 Signature on 5 cent Rockford Note. Signature on 50 cent Alabama Sutler Note. 1907 Signature on Winter’s Last Will and Testament. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 284 located in December 1862.13 It is our belief that this Isaac Winter was in fact the one from Rockford, Alabama, and that he in fact was a sutler with the 34th Alabama Infantry and was not an enlisted man or officer of the unit. As a sutler associated with the Confederate army, he would have been somewhat unique. According to Francis Lord: "Records of Confederate sutlers are extremely fragmentary … But most Confederate units never had sutlers, and the names of the few who did serve have been almost completely forgotten. The main reason, of course, for the very few sutlers in Confederate service was that the Confederacy suffered from an almost complete lack during the war of those items which would have been considered as sutler supplies.”14 As indicated earlier, it was common practice for sutlers to be civilian members of the military unit they followed and they were subject to the rules set by the commander, but they were not a member of the military.15 They were, of course, subject to being captured and held as a prisoner-of-war. While there are no dates on the sutler notes, the Rockford $1 and fractional notes are all dated November 1862. Since we believe Isaac Winter was captured in June of 1863, we presume his service as a sutler was relatively short. When he was released from captivity on April 23, 1865, he returned to Alabama but settled in Montgomery, rather than returning to Rockford. The 1870 Census record shows that Isaac Winter was living in Montgomery and was listed as “Dry Goods & Grocery” merchant. (Of the four other brothers living with Isaac in 1860, only one could be located in 1870 and he (Moses) was living in Arkansas.) The Census shows Isaac with a wife, Emily, and a child, Nellie, born in late 1869. Emily Loeb Winter was born in France around 1849 and was about 15 years younger than Isaac. Emily was the niece of Ester Loeb, who was born in 1818 in France and had married Charles Gugenheim, a Montgomery “dry goods merchant,” in 1853. Charles Gugenheim was born in France in 1827, and it seems likely that the Gugenheim and Loeb families were acquainted with each other prior to their time in Alabama. Indeed, Ester Loeb and Charles Gugenheim were both born in Alsace-Lorraine, France. It is also interesting to note that both Charles Gugenheim and Isaac Winter were “dry goods merchants” in 1860, one in Montgomery and the other in Rockford. Since Rockford is only 35 miles from Montgomery, it seems likely that Gugenheim and Winter knew, or knew of, each other in 1862. Winter’s eventual move to Montgomery may well have had some connection to Gugenheim. Indeed, it may well have been Gugenheim (and his wife Ester) who introduced Winter to his future wife, Emily Loeb. Returning to Isaac Winter and Emily Loeb, they had five children: Nelly, born in 1869, Sidney, born in 1871; Leon, born in 1873; Florence, born in 1876; and Milton J., born in 1884. Emily Loeb’s younger brother, Jacques Loeb, joined her in Montgomery in 1872 and quickly became associated with Winter’s company. The 1880 Census shows Jacques Loeb living as a “boarder” in the Winter household with an occupation of “bookkeeper.” The 1880 City Directory for Montgomery shows “Gerson and Winter” as the name of Isaac Winter’s company. Gerson was Abraham Gerson, born in 1828 in Bavaria (Germany). The Directory indicates that the firm was in the “grocery” business. The 1887 City Directory of Montgomery no longer showed Gerson and Winter as partners, and by 1891 the firm was now Winter & Loeb (Jacques). The term “dry goods merchant” was again used to describe the firm, and it was listed the same in 1893 and 1895. The 1900 Census recorded Isaac Winter as a “wholesale grocer.” In 1901, Isaac Winter was listed as a “capitalist” while his sons, Leon and Sidney, were with “Winter & Loeb,” wholesale grocer. Loeb was Jacques Loeb. It seems that Isaac was becoming less and less involved with managing the business and had turned affairs over to his two sons and Jacques Loeb. By 1907, Jacques Loeb was listed as President of Winter & Loeb Grocery Co., with Jacques Loeb, circa 1880-1890. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 285 Sidney Winter as secretary-treasurer. Isaac Winter died on December 7, 1908, but the company continued for many years. In 1920, Winter, Loeb & Co. was still in the grocery business with Lucien S. Loeb (son of Jacques) President and Sidney Winter (son of Isaac) Vice President. By 1931, the leadership of Winter, Loeb & Co., Grocery Co. had again changed, with Raphael Loeb (grandson of Jacques) President and Victor Loeb (nephew of Jacques) Vice President. Wilton (Milton) J. Winter (son of Isaac) was secretary-treasurer. The family apparently finally exhausted their interest, and the firm of Winter & Loeb was no longer listed in the 1940 City Directory. Summary The available evidence on the “Georgia” Isaac Winter fractional notes leads to the conclusion that these notes were indeed issued by Isaac Winter of Rockford, Alabama. Isaac Winter relocated from Rockford to Montgomery sometime between 1862 and 1870, and he engaged in a very successful wholesale grocery business that involved his sons, his wife’s brother, and a succession of relatives over the following four decades. The Winter-Loeb Building, which housed his wholesale grocery business, is today the offices of a prominent legal firm.  Acknowledgement: We thank Finlay C. Witherington for her assistance in capturing images of Isaac Winter and Jacques Loeb from photographs in the lobby of the Winter & Loeb Building in Montgomery, Alabama, and Gary Doster for sharing his notes and knowledge. Footnotes 1See www.rockfordalabama.net. 2Virginia Foscue, Place Names in Alabama (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989), p. 119. 3Hugh Shull, “CSA, Obsolete Banknotes, Scrip, Bonds, Checks and Paper Americana,” Privately Printed Catalog, 2nd Edition, 2001. 4Heritage Auctions (HA.com), archives. 5Carl Anderson and David Marsh, Georgia Obsolete Currency, Privately printed. 6Dallas Bogan, “The Civil War Sutler,” www.tngenweb.org/campbell/hist-bogan/CivilWarSutler.html. 7”Georgia 43rd Infantry Regiment,” www.researchonline.net/gacw/unit94.htm. 8Heritage Auctions (HA.com), archives. 9Ancestry.com, see Alabama Wills and Probate Records, “Isaac Winter.” 10“Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities – Montgomery, Alabama,” www.isjl.org/alabama-montgomery- encyclopedia.html, p.2, and Stewart Rockoff, “Montgomery Jewish Community,” in Encyclopedia of Alabama, www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2393?printable=true, p. 1. 11Ancestry.com, “Find-a-grave” for Isaac Winter. 12See Isaac Winter, file M598-42, Civil War records, Ancestry.com. 13See “34th Infantry Regiment Alabama,” U.S. Civil War Records and Profiles, Ancestry.com. 14 Francis A. Lord, Civil War Sutlers and Their Wares (New Jersey: Thomas Yoseloff, 1969), p. 90. 15Dallas Bogan, “The Civil War Sutler.” Winter-Loeb Building in Montgomery, Alabama, ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 286 ON COLLECTING $1 FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES by Carlson R. Chambliss Without doubt the “$1 bill” is the type of paper money most familiar to the American public. Despite attempts to remove them from circulation and replace them with circulating $1 coins, $1 notes continue to remain in circulation in huge quantities. Although $1 silver certificates are occasionally seen by non-collectors when old accumulations of paper money come to light, essentially 100% of the $1 notes presently in circulation are Federal Reserve notes, which were first issued to the public on November 6, 1963. At the present time just keeping these notes in circulation costs the American government (and hence the taxpayers) about $500 million per annum. Countries such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have long since replaced their $1 notes with circulating $1 coins, but in the United States the vending machine industry wants a firm commitment from the Federal government that it will cease printing $1 notes as a part of a total changeover to $1 coins before the industry is willing to undertake the huge costs involved in converting all automatic change machines, etc., that would be needed to replace all circulating $1 notes. The lifetime of a typical $1 note in circulation is estimated to be about 18 months, and a substantial amount of the production time at the BEP is devoted to printing increasingly large numbers of these notes. At the other end the Federal Reserve is charged with removing worn or damaged notes from circulation, and the largest percentage of these by numbers if not by value are the $1 notes. Since the $1 FRNs were first issued just a couple of weeks before the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963, a huge amount of nonsense has been written about the chance coincidence of these two events, especially for the Series 1963 $1 notes from Dallas. Since Dallas is the 11th District in the Federal Reserve System, and the number “11”appears prominently on these notes, some persons have tried to market to the unwary $1 notes of Series 1963 from Dallas as “limited-edition commemoratives” of this tragic event. For some time in the 1960s numerous $1 notes featuring decals of JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and several other persons were also marketed as novelties. Although not illegal to make apparently enough cold water was poured over this type of basically unethical marketing to reduce greatly the appeal of these privately made fabrications to almost all serious collectors. I term these items novelty alterations, but there is almost zero interest in such items today. Somewhat more legitimate are Series 1976 $2 FRNs with cancellations of July 4, 1976 postmarked from various states, but this proved to be a fad that never caught on with serious collectors. In this article I am going to discuss non-error notes only. Error notes are seriously collected by many specialists, and quite a few of these are $1 FRNs, but there is quite a bit of interest among the non- error notes to keep specialists busy with the numerous varieties of these. Another collecting sphere for $1 FRNs are those with fancy serial numbers, and these notes can become quite expensive when one is dealing with notes with solid serial numbers, #1 notes, ladder serials, etc. For collectors of notes with fancy serial numbers $1 FRNs are probably the most popular types of all, since they are printed in such huge quantities. Since serial number blocks are now only 96 million for $1 to $20 notes, collectors who desire the elusive “solid 9s” notes will largely have to content themselves with $1 FRNs no later than Series 1974. The 96-million per block format became standardized with Series 1988 for the lower denominations, but $50s and $100s are still numbered in blocks of 99.2 million. From Series 1963 through Series 2013 there have been a total of 25 different series of $1 FRNs. One of these, Series 1963B, is the only series of FRNs of any denomination to feature the signature of Joseph W. Barr, who served as Secretary of the Treasury for only one month in 1968-69. A distinction was also made between Series 1969 and Series 1969A despite the fact that the Treasurer of the United States is the same person (along with the same Secretary of the Treasury) on both types. But on Series 1969 she signs her name as Dorothy Andrews Elston while on Series 1969A she signs as Dorothy Andrews Kabis, since she married Walter L. Kabis in 1970 during her term of office. All $1 FRNs bear the signatures of women Treasurers, but the Secretaries of the Treasury have all been men. Since the year 2001 all Treasurers have been persons of Hispanic descent. This “tradition” will continue with the new ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 288 notes of Series 2017 that will bear the signatures of Jovita Carranza and Steven Mnuchin. I do not yet have any data on the notes of Series 2017, but I assume that production of notes of Series 2013 is being rapidly terminated, since these items bear the signatures of persons from a different administration who are no longer in office. Certain distinctions made for earlier types of small-size notes are not applicable to $1 FRNs. Beginning in 1938 a change was made in the size of back check numbers from “micro” to “macro” that were about 1 mm and 2 mm in height, respectively. These did affect most notably the notes of Series 1934/1934A and 1935/1935A, but all $1 notes were silver certificates at that time. Robert Azpiazu uses the term “mule” in a different context, however, for several series of $1 FRNs, and his approaches I shall discuss later on in this article. Similarly the motto “In God We Trust” was added to the back plates of $1 notes in 1962, and so all $1 FRNs carry this motto. At the end of the 1920s and for all of the 1930s there was a fair amount of variation in the color of the green ink used to print the Treasury seals and serial numbers on Federal Reserve notes, but by 1963 these features were all printed in a uniform emerald green shade with a slight bluish cast. So we need not discuss these differences, since these do not exist for $1 FRNs. Also the transition from 18-subject to 32-subject plates was made prior to the printings of any $1 FRNs, and almost all notes of Series 1963 through 2009 were made with 32-subject plates. It seems that all Series 2013 $1 FRNs are being made with 50-subject plates, and notes printed from these plates have several quite distinct features. The transition, however, seems to have been a smooth one with all Series 2009 notes printed with 32-subejct plates and all Series 2013 notes printed with 50-subject plates. This applies, however, only to $1 notes. All notes of the $2 through $100 denominations are still being printed with 32-subject plates. The web notes that were printed in 22 different blocks in Series 1988A, 1993, and 1995 are quite distinctive, and these I shall discuss in some detail. In a certain sense the web notes can be regarded as a type of experimental note. In three separate instances - in 1932/33 and then in1937, and once again in 1944 experimental $1 silver certificates were printed using $1 notes of Series 1928A/ 1928B, 1935, and 1935A, respectively. Special serial number blocks or even overprints were used to identify notes that had different paper compositions or coatings. In all three cases the results were inconclusive. The web notes were not planned as experimental notes, but they proved to be the products of an experimental press that the BEP had to admit after much effort was a failure. Although there are now 25 different series possibilities for $1 FRNs (and soon to be 26 since Series 2017 notes should shortly be in production), collecting just one note for each series is an exercise that is far too trivial to attract any serious interest. One could also include a star note for each series, but this also is not much of a challenge. Thus I assume that most collectors of $1 FRNs (and $2 FRNs as well) will go in for district sets. Some persons attempt to assemble complete serial number block sets, but this becomes quite a challenge especially with the more recent series. During the 1960s it seems that FRNs printed for a given district were usually just sent to that district, i. e., Atlanta notes to Atlanta, Dallas notes to Dallas, etc. More recently it seems that freshly printed notes of one district often wind up in quite a different location. Just look at your pocket change to verify this assertion. Also star notes are usually printed these days for only a few districts and not for all twelve as was typically the case in prior years. A parameter that I shall use is the star rate, i. e., the percentage of star notes in the total printing run of a series. In the 1960s and 1970s star notes were usually printed for every district for which normal notes were printed. Furthermore the star rate was fairly high, typically 5% – 10% per series. I doubt that the rate of spoilage was actually that high, but the extra star notes that had been printed by the BEP were probably just sent to the various banks to round out the shipment. I doubt that the majority of these star notes that have been printed were actually destroyed. Today a spoilage rate of 5% to 10% would be regarded by the BEP was being unacceptably high. A rate this high did occur for Series 2009 $100 notes, where the rate recorded was 6.03% for the notes actually delivered, but that led to a new series of notes (Series 2009A) where the star rate dropped to 1.10%. Nonetheless, as we shall see, the star rate is much higher for $1 FRNs of Series 2013 (printed with 50- subject plates) than it is for Series 2009 (printed on the standard 32-subject plates). Anytime a new technology is introduced, it seems that the rate of spoilage does increase for awhile. I do not know what ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 289 the rate of spoilage was for web notes, but I expect that it was quite high. A parameter such as “star rate” tells us nothing in this case. The F* web notes were not used as replacements for other printings of web notes that had been spoiled. Prior to the mid-1980s it was easier for dealers and collectors to obtain quantities of star notes for issues such as $1 FRNs than has proven to be the case in more recent years. The difficulties began with the Series 1981A,1985, and 1988, each of which has a major rarity among its star notes. Although large numbers of star notes are still being printed these days, almost every series of $1 FRNs seems to have at least one district star variety that is proving very hard to come by. To add to the complications some serial number blocks are printed only in limited numbers in uncut sheet form. Forming district sets of notes is not as simple or straightforward as once was the case. Let us now examine the $1 FRNs of Series 1963 through 1988. Up though Series 1981 star notes were printed for nearly all districts, and all notes were printed by the BEP at its Washington facility. By the early 1980s there was clearly less spoilage in note production, and the BEP made a decision to cut back production of star notes and limit their distribution. The result for collectors was the appearance of a few true rarities in these issues. In this table I am listing first the Series, the number of districts printed, the number of serial number blocks (normal notes only), the total production (in billions), the number of star blocks, their total production (in millions), and the star rate. Series No. Dist. No. Blocks Total Notes No. Stars Star Production Star Rate 1963 12 22 1.718 B 12 134.40 M 7.82% 1963A 12 57 5.097 B 12 351.26 M 6.89% 1963B 5 8 0.466 B 4 12.16 M 2.61% 1969 12 24 1.911 B 12 84.54 M 4.42% 1969A 12 20 0.633 B 11 27.04 M 4.27% 1969B 12 23 1.690 B 12 43.04 M 2.55% 1969C 10 16 0.544 B 9 11.61 M 2.13% 1969D 12 36 3.162 B 11 48.72 M 1.84% 1974 12 56 5.004 B 12 36.36 M 0.73% 1977 12 49 4.197 B 12 67.84 M 1.62% 1977A 12 43 3.348 B 12 50.30 M 1.50% 1981 12 71 5.538 B 12 42.86 M 0.77% 1981A 12 43 3.696 B 5 22.53 M 0.61% 1985 12 118 10.519 B 6 27.52 M 0.25% 1988 12 37 3.965 B 7 17.89 M 0.45% These data show a steady and quite substantial decline in the rate of production of star notes. As I have already noted, I feel that the high star rates encountered in the early 1960s were not all true spoilage rates but rather involved production of some sample notes that the various Federal Reserve banks could have on hand. A 30-to-1 improvement in the rate of spoilage between Series 1963 and 1985 just does not seem credible. By the 1980s, however, star notes seemed to be printed for a few districts only and sent out exclusively to replace spoilage. The only star note from the first decade that can be classed as truly scarce is the L* note of Series 1969C. Oddly enough this variety has a reported printing of 2,400,000. Several star notes in this series have lower printings, but clearly most of the L* notes of this series that were reported printed never made it into circulation. Most of the C* notes that were printed in Series 1969C have serials under 3.36 million, and these are quite common. Well after the normal production of this series ended, there was a printing of 13,000 sheets equivalent to 416,000 C* notes, and these have serials between 51.20 million and 57.53 million. The C* notes of this late printing command large premiums. Series 1981 shows a number of peculiarities. The rarity of the JD block of this series can be explained by the fact that only 3.20 million of these notes were printed (as compared with 100 million each for the common JA, JB, JC blocks) and according to Robert Azpiazu most of these went to rural ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 290 Louisiana and Mississippi, which are not regions noted for much interest in syngraphics. The C* note of this series is also decidedly scarce. Again there must have been some distribution problems, since 1,536,000 were printed, which is not a low quantity for a star note. Incidentally why can a total printing of something like two million be regarded as a low figure for a normal block variety while the same amount for a star note should make that star note common? Simple. Collectors are looking for star note varieties as they appear, but the final printing totals on normal blocks are normally not available until well after production on the notes in question has ceased and the notes were placed into circulation. The K* (Series 1981A), H* (Series 1985), and F* (Series 1988) are each known to be true rarities. I was able to obtain the first two of these soon after their issue from the dealer Dean Oakes at super bargain prices of about $30 each. Mr. Oakes had been able to obtain packs of these two notes for making up into district sets, but he never was able to obtain a fresh pack of the rare F* notes. I eventually purchased one of these for my collection but at a very much higher price. The printings of all three of these notes are recorded by the BEP as 640,000 each. A recent article by Joe Farrenkopf indicates that the printing of the F* note may have been as low as 160,000, but clearly only a tiny fraction of these items were actually distributed. In the past couple of years the values of these rarities seem to have declined a bit from their highs of well over $1000 each, but still you must expect to pay well over $500 each for CU examples of these acknowledged rarities. Although the term “mule” generally refers to various types of small-size notes made in the 1930s and 1940s when there were changes in the sizes of the back check numbers, it can refer to any note in which the face printing of a note in question is paired with a back printed from a plate having a number that is in a sequence that was intended for printing a different series of notes. Robert Azpiazu notes that in the early 1960s back plates with numbers of 447 or lower were intended for use in printing $1 SCs while those having numbers of 448 or higher were intended for printing $1 FRNs. For Series 1963 this distinction is trivial, and most collectors ignore this subtle difference. More dramatic are notes of Series 1977A having back check numbers of 3, 4, 5, or 6. These plates were intended for the backs of Series 1981 notes, but a few Series 1977A $1 notes would up with these numbers on their backs. The numbering of back plates has been redone for several series, and several other possibilities for “mules” do exist. If these minor differences interest you, then careful study of Azpiazu’s book on the FRNs of Series 1963 to 2009 is essential. Series 1981 was the first series of $1 FRNs to include notes printed in uncut sheets, and there are eight serial number blocks for this series that exist in this format only. Some of the notes from Richmond in this format have an interesting plate number 7273 instead of the intended 3273. The number 7273 is clearly an error, since normal check numbers do not run this high for back plates of this vintage. Another peculiar error that is found on some notes of Series 1981A and 1985 are notes with the back check number 129. Normally the back numbers on $1 notes are always found on the right sides of these notes, but for number 129 this number is on the left. In Series 1981A this error is most often found with blocks HB and LG, but CA and IA are also known. With Series 1985 it is found with blocks AA, The K* note of Series 1981A and the H* note of Series 1985 are the first couple of true rarities among the numerous varieties of $1 FRNs. Supposedly 640,000 of each of these varieties of star notes were printed, but only a very small number of packs have ever appeared in the market. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 291 BA, BB, DA, EA, FA, and GA. A few other blocks possibly exist with this error. Should these be classed as errors or as plate varieties? That is really for the collector to decide. Series 1988A proved to be one of the longest and doubtless the most complex of all of the series of $1 FRNs. During the years of production of this series (1990-94) the Fort Worth Facility of the BEP came fully into production. Notes printed in Forth Worth were given special markings that make them readily distinguishable from their Washington-printed counterparts. The ill-fated web notes were all printed at the DC facility, and the larger portion of these were printed in Series 1988A. Let us now review the production data for the $1 FRNs that were printed in 32-subject sheets for the Series 1988A, 1993, 1995, and 1999. In this case I am separating the district and block varieties printed at the DC facility from those printed at FW. These data do not include web notes for Series 1988A, 1993, or 1995. Series No. Dist. No. Blocks Total Notes No. Stars Stars Printed Star Rate 1988A 12 / 7 111 / 70 14.872 B 7 / 4 103.63 M 0.70% 1993 8 / 5 30 / 26 4.557 B 3 / 2 37.76 M 0.83% 1995 10 / 8 101 / 109 18.555 B 6 / 6 98.72 M 0.54% 1999 6 / 7 58 / 63 10.131 B 5 / 3 62.40 M 0.62% Series 1988A has proven to be the most complex of all the issues of $1 FRNs. Production began in Washington in April, 1990, but by March, 1991, the new Fort Worth facility was fully on line. The FW notes feature a tiny FW beside the check number at the lower right side, and the check numbers on the back side are 1.2 mm high instead of 0.8 mm for the DC facility. Most collectors who obtain one note for each district want both the DC and FW notes where two types exist for a given district. For Series 1988A there are thus 19 non-star notes and 11 star notes in a district set. Things get more complicated, however, when one tries to obtain all possible blocks. In several instances both facilities printed notes for a given block. For Series 1988A four of the blocks are scarce. These are the KC block from DC, and FN, IA, and LC from FW. In each of these cases the bulk of the notes in these blocks were printed at the other facility. Series 1993 was a fairly small issue that was in production for only about one year. It does manage to include two scarce varieties, however. These are the C* and IA notes, both of which will be wanted by district set collectors. By 1995 both facilities of the BEP were producing notes in record numbers. The total production of $1 notes in Series 1995 – about 19.7 billion - exceeded even the long- lived Series 1988A. Notes in uncut sheets had been in production since Series 1981, and some blocks had been distributed only in uncut sheet form. In Series 1995 all notes from Minneapolis printed at DC are in uncut sheet form. Huge numbers of notes were printed for Minneapolis at FW, but if you want notes of this district from both facilities, you will find the DC note much more difficult to come by. For Series 1995 the $1 notes for the eastern districts (A though E) were being printed at DC, while those of the western districts (G through L) were printed at FW. The production of notes for Atlanta was split between the two facilities. For Series 1995 some 38.4 million notes were printed by the DC facility in the GP block for Chicago. These notes are not scarce, but they are a bit peculiar. Apparently the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago had an emergency need of a few more $1 notes at a time when one or more of the note-making pieces of equipment was down for maintenance in Fort Worth. Series 1995 contains one notable plate error that resembles to a substantial extent the “129”errors of Series 1981A and 1985. As previously noted, the check numbers on the DC back plates are about 0.8 mm high while those on the FW back plates are larger at about 1.2 mm in height. The back plate no. 295 used at the FW facility, however, had numbers that were only the size of these used in DC. This error is obvious and was immediately noted both by BEP employees and by collectors. Since the general public had no interest in such matters, however, the BEP quite wisely decided to use this back plate for its normal lifetime. Soon these “295” notes were being acquired in large numbers by persons such as the dealer Ed Zegers and members of the Long Island Currency Club. Robert Azpiazu’s new book gives an extremely detailed listing of these notes, and they exist in eleven non-star blocks from the G, H, I, J, K, ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 292 and L districts. Azpiazu’s listing is so detailed that it even includes these notes by run numbers (@ 6,400,000 notes per run) and by face plate letters. There are a fair number of scarce varieties, but large numbers of circulated notes are available inexpensively. It is my feeling that not many collectors are up to collecting several hundreds of different varieties of these error notes. The syngraphic community was caught sleeping on the “129” error notes and the earlier issues of the web notes, but thanks to early publicity this did not prove the case for the “295” notes. There is one important rarity among these notes, however. It is believed that only 40,000 G* notes were printed with the “295” back plate. Only about a dozen of these items have been recovered, and this is a variety that is far scarcer than are the K*, H*, and F* notes of Series 1981A, 1985, and 1988, respectively or the famous BL and F* web notes of Series 1988A. A fresh pack of “295” notes will contain only 25 of these items. It will also contain 75 notes with other back check numbers that will be dispersed between the error notes. Some collectors like to acquire these notes as sets of four in which one note in the “quartet” is the “295” error. Robert Azpiazu also mentions some notes of Series 1988A from Fort Worth having face plate 106. In this case the numbers are about 0.9 mm high, but the difference of about 0.1 mm between the normal face plate numbers and these “errors” is barely perceptible to the eye. No wonder that these items were not recognized until 2004! They have been recorded in the LE and L* blocks of Series 1988A, but in my opinion they are only “flyspeck” varieties. How should the “129” and “295” errors be listed in standard catalogs, and how should one collect them? The Krause catalogs list the “129” errors as though they were major types comparable in importance to the wide and narrow backs of Series 1935D $1 SCs or the Series 1935G $1 SCs with and without the motto on their backs, but they fail to discuss at all the quite similar “295” errors. Surely these varieties do not qualify as major types, but you may wish to acquire a number of them for your collection. Thanks to the attentions of several alert syngraphists numerous examples of the “295” notes, at least, are currently on the market. I am finishing this section with some comments on Series 1999, which illustrates some other features common to recent issues of $1 FRNs. One thing that is clear with $1 notes in the late 1990s is that production of these items seems to have peaked with Series 1995. None of the more recent series remotely reach the total of almost 19 billion that was achieved with this series. Had the Sacagawea dollars (first issued in 2000) with their distinctive feel and composition been first issued in 1979 instead of the cupronickel-clad Susan B. Anthony dollars, the $1 FRNs might now be a thing of the past, but the debate between the $1 coin and the $1 bill continues to go on. Don’t spend too many $1 coins in Dalton, Massachusetts (the home of Crane & Co.), however. They are not very popular there. With many countries switching from paper to polymer plastic, I do not know what is going to happen to the USA currency. Also is Crane & Co. planning on getting into the plastics business? Now back to the $1 FRNs of Series 1999. This is quite a simple series in which districts A – E were printed in DC and districts G – L were produced in FW. Notes for Atlanta were made more in FW than in DC, but enough of the latter were made to allow for most Atlanta notes from both facilities to be The BL web and F* web notes of Series 1988A were produced in May and June of 1992, and they are the first of the web notes to have been printed. There was little publicity at the time, especially for the BL note, and the great majority of the 1,920,000 notes printed simply entered circulation and subsequently disappeared. This note is far scarcer in CU condition than it is in well circulated grades. The BEP records that 640,000 of the F* web notes were printed, but it is felt that a much smaller quantity were actually released, quite possibly 160,000. This note typically comes in high grades rather than in well circulated condition. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 293 quite common. Somewhat over 10 billion notes were made in all, but there seem to be hardly any blocks that could be classed as scarce among the 120 or so non-star blocks. Sheets were sold by the BEP in five non-star blocks, but these were the same as used on normal notes. Some collectors obtain these as distinct varieties, since they can be easily distinguished by having serial numbers in excess of 96 million. In Series 1999 there were a total of eight different star notes, five from DC and three from FW. A so-called run of star notes contains up to 3,200,000 notes. Sometimes, however, the initial printing will contain fewer notes than this. In the case of the A* notes for this series only 640,000 were printed initially. When more A* notes were added about a year later, the numbering began with 3200001 rather than with 640001. One could collect these notes by production runs, but that is too specialized for my tastes. In the case of the Series 1999 star notes, the F* from FW is definitely scarce and the D* from DC is not too plentiful. The E* notes were also printed in sheet form. These have serial numbers that place them in the same range as those notes normally issued as singles by the BEP. We now come to the web notes that were printed in Series 1988A, 1993, and 1995. In terms of numbers produced the breakdown was about 233 million in 1988A, 25.6 million in 1993, and 50.6 million in 1995. As I am sure all readers know the third printing for these notes was done on a COPE-PAK machine and not on the Alexander Hamilton Press itself. I have no idea as to how many sheets of paper were spoiled on the web press, but the total must have been quite substantial. Web notes were in production from May, 1992 to December, 1995, but there was a substantial interruption between the notes of Series 1988A and those of Series 1993 and 1995. A total of some 309 million notes were printed at a cost of about $30 million or just about 10 cents each. Notes printed on sheet-fed presses cost about four cents each to make at that time. It seems that most syngraphists – both collectors and dealers – were under the impression that everything would soon be straightened out and the web notes would soon replace the sheet-fed notes just as had the $1 FRNs replaced the $1 SCs, the cupronickel-clad coins replaced the silver coins, etc. Clearly problems were evident when the general public starting asking questions like, “What are these funny-looking counterfeit $1 bills?”, and stories about the “counterfeit” notes appeared regularly on news programs along with questions as to whether or not the public should accept them at all. I expect that almost everyone who collects web notes collects them by blocks and not just by series or districts. There are a total of 22 of the web blocks, and in circulated grades all but two are fairly inexpensive. Much of the credit for researching these notes goes to Bob Kvederas, Sr. and Jr., and these two gentlemen have published three versions of their handbook that covers most of the details that an interested collector should know. The two rarities among the web notes are the BL note of Series 1988A that was printed in an edition of 1,920,000 in May, 1992 and the F* note of this series that was printed in an edition no larger than 640,000 (some say as low as 160,000) in the following month. Unfortunately attention at this time was minimal, which is itself a bit peculiar, since this was not many years after the error printings of the “129” notes in Series 1981A and 1985. Both of these notes proved to be quite scarce, but it seems that the market for them, and for web notes in general, has calmed down quite a bit. The BL web exists in a wide variety of grades, since many of these did make it into circulation. In fine condition it is worth about $100, and a CU example can still sell for at least $1000. A number of holdings of these notes in high grade have come onto the market, and that has put a ceiling on their price. The F* web is usually offered in high grade only, and a CU example also is worth about $1000. In XF-AU an F* web would probably sell for about $400 in today’s market. Collectors who want more examples of web notes than just the 22 blocks usually go for the various face & back plate combos or for these combos but with different production runs as well. The total number of plate combos is about 136, and when the different runs are taken into consideration this total increases to about 235. For the BL web note there is only one possibility, viz., 1 / 1, and this is also true for the F* web, where all notes have 1 / 2 as their plate numbers. The problem with collecting web notes by plate combos or runs, however, is that there are several rarities, some of which far exceed the BL and F* notes in their scarcity. I doubt that anyone has succeeded in putting together a complete holding of these, since a few appear to be unique or very nearly so. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 294 Usually most $1 FRNs are collected in CU grade only aside from the rarer items. For web notes, however, notes in F-VF or VF-XF grades are totally acceptable, and the great majority of the web notes on the market have been pulled from circulation. There are also two non-web notes that fascinate the web note specialists. These are the non-web BL note of Series 1988A from the 6th run of this block with serials in the range 32.0 million to 38.4 million and the non-web AD note of Series 1995 in the 13th run of this block with serials of 76.8 million to 83.2 million. In both cases these printings filled out the runs of 6,400,000 notes that were not completed by the web notes themselves in these blocks. If web notes fascinate you, by all means try to form a comprehensive collection of these items. You may find some true rarities among the notes that are being offered. It seems that interest in web notes has declined significantly from what it was a decade or so ago, and thus there may now be some true bargains to be found at paper money shows and other venues. A total of 136 different plate combos or 235 run/plate/combos is an unreachable goal, but for the truly dedicated collector it might be very interesting to see how close one can come to either of these totals. The following table gives the data on $1 FRNs printed thus far in the 21st century. Series 2003A was issued when the Treasurer on Series 2003 (Rosario Marin) was replaced by a new Treasurer (Anna E. Cabral). When a new Secretary of the Treasury comes in, however, the year of the series is changed. Series No. Dist. No. Blocks Total Notes No. Stars Stars Printed Star Rate 2001 11 / 7 36 / 26 4.922 B 4 / 4 28.80 M 0.59% 2003 11 / 8 36 / 49 7.156 B 4 / 4 36.32 M 0.51% 2003A 8 / 7 47 / 48 7.776 B 4 / 3 30.11 M 0.39% 2006 8 / 12 30 / 84 9.637 B 2 / 8 36.03 M 0.37% 2009 8 / 12 23 / 72 8.160 B 3 / 6 28.83 M 0.35% 2013 5 / 12 24 / 63 6.835 B 3 / 6 90.98 M 1.33% Several trends can be seen from these data. Production of $1 notes has held fairly steady over these years, but it is well down from what it was in the late 1990s. The $1 coins have received only limited acceptance, and so it would appear that increased use of charge cards has reduced the demand for even modest amounts of cash thus reducing the need for ever larger numbers of $1 notes. The reduction of production of $1 notes at the DC facility after 2006 is clearly due to the fact that the attention of the BEP in Washington was clearly focused on the production of the new “colorized” notes of higher denominations. The production of new $100 notes in Series 2009 and 2009A proved to be particularly difficult, since serious problems arose with their production. It was never planned to issue Series 2006A $100s in the older style, or Series 2009A $100s in the current style, but delays in the anticipated release of the new $100s plus very heavy demand abroad for ever greater quantities of $100 notes necessitated these issues. The Series 2009A $100s were actually first released prior to the Series 2009 notes of this value, and for awhile there was some question as to whether the Series 2009 $100s that had been held in storage for some years would ever be released. Series 2001 includes notes from the blocks IA, KA, and LA that were printed in DC but only in sheet form. The great majority of the normal notes of these blocks were printed at FW. If one wishes to include one note from each district as well as from each facility, then these special sheet notes must be included in the sets. Among the eight star notes of Series 2001 there is one that is truly scarce if not quite rare. It is the H* variety from DC. Series 2003 shows the same characteristics with sheet notes only from the CA block printed in FW and the same for the HA and JA blocks printed in DC Among the nine star notes of this series the F* was printed at both facilities with the DC variety being uncommon. The D* variety if this series is truly scarce, and it is comparable to the H* of Series 2001 in rarity and in price. In Series 2003A there are a couple of districts printed in DC that exist as sheet notes only, but multiple blocks exist for both. These are GA and GB together with LA, LB, and LC. Among the nine varieties of star notes for this series there are a few runs with fairly small printings. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 295 At the time when “colorized” $20, $50, and $10 notes in Series 2006 were being developed and produced (in that order), the printing of $1 notes in Series 2006 was largely done at the Fort Worth facility. Once again there were some “sheets only” notes from Dallas and San Francisco printed at the DC facility. There are eight star notes with two from DC and six from FW. The F* variety appears from both facilities. The “sleeper” appears to be the D* note from FW. The non-star notes of Series 2009 are nearly identical to those of Series 2006. Here there were two “sheets only” district varieties for DC (GA and JA this time), and the bulk of the production of this series was done at FW. Back in Washington, of course, the BEP was concerned with far more important matters than just printing a few more $1 bills, viz., the repeated problems and delays connected with the production of the new holographic $100 notes. Although nine varieties of star notes were made in Series 2009, only three of these (the A* and D* from DC and the F* from FW) are truly common. The B* note appears from both facilities. The real “sleeper” in this series is the H* note from FW. Supposedly 320,000 of these were printed, but they are proving to be extremely elusive. This note has the potential of matching the K* (1981A), H* (1985), and F* (1988) star notes in rarity, but the situation is still uncertain for this item. Despite very diligent searches over several years no one ever came up with a fresh pack of F* notes of Series 1988, and so true rarities sometimes are produced. The $2 FRNs also contain a couple of truly mysterious items of recent vintage. These are the L* notes of Series 2003A and 2009. Supposedly 384,000 and 128,000 of these were printed, respectively, but has anybody seen any of these? We now turn to the last of the recent series of $1 FRNs, viz., the notes of Series 2013. So far as I know all of these were produced on the new 50-subject plates, and notes printed from these plates have several important distinguishing characteristics. If any notes were printed on both 50-subject and 32- subject plates, the obvious differences in appearance would merit separate listings in all catalogs, but I think that I can state definitively that all Series 2009 notes are from 32-subject plates and all $1 notes of Series 2013 are from 50-subject plates. It seems that the transition to these new plates went smoothly. The first notes printed were a run of 19.2 million K* notes that were printed late in 2013 at the FW facility. Large-scale production of Series 2013 at Fort Worth got underway in March, 2014. In DC bulk production of Series 2013 $1 notes began only in December, 2014. As can be seen from the table above, the bulk of the production of Series 2013 $1 notes has been at the FW facility. Notes for all districts have been printed in quantity there, whereas only five districts of this series have thus far been printed at the DC facility. There are three star varieties from the DC facility and a total of six from FW. Some data for B* notes indicate that there may have been some runs at the two facilities with identical serial numbers. Thus far the star note from Kansas City has only been printed in limited quantities, and thus it may prove to be scarce. One type of product that is not being marketed are uncut sheets or strips of these notes. Notes of $2 through $100 are still being printed in sheets of 32 subjects, but it is unclear at present whether any of these will continue to be marketed in uncut form. The data that I have tabulated above are complete through April, 2017. Series 2013 may continue for a bit longer, but the appointments have already been made for the two officials whose signatures are to appear on the Series 2017 notes, and I do not see any reason why notes of that series should not go into immediate production. Note from these data that the star rate is 1.33% for Series 2013 but only about 0.37% for the last three series that were printed on 32-subject plates. If the early printings of K* notes are treated as trial notes (which they were) rather than as replacement notes, then the star rate drops to 1.05%, but this is still a fairly high replacement rate for current BEP productions. Although the transition to 50- subject plates went fairly smoothly, clearly there was still substantially more spoilage with the new system than there had been in recent years with the older one. Doubtless this rate of spoilage will decrease as the BEP employees become more accustomed to working with the 50-subject plate system. I have occasionally mentioned uncut sheets and especially notes that only exist in sheet form. After a lapse of many years the BEP once again began to sell some notes in uncut sheet form. These ranged from strips of four notes to sheets of 8, 16, and 32 subjects. Serious collectors of these items who collect these notes by districts and serial number blocks usually prefer the strips of four, since they are much easier to store than are the large format sheets. Marketing of these items began in 1981, and all ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 296 denominations from $1 to $100 have been offered. The emphasis, however, has most definitely been on $1 and $2 FRNs. For $1 notes every series between 1981 and 2009 has been offered. In terms of serial number blocks, the numbers of varieties per series are as follows. In cases where a given block is available from both DC and FW these are counted as separate varieties: 1981 38 blocks 1993 5 blocks 2003 7 blocks 1981A 24 1995 9 2003A 9 1985 40 1999 7 2006 5 1988 13 2001 6 2009 8 1988A 19 As can be seen, this totals almost 200 different possibilities for these sheets thus making the collecting of all of these varieties a very serious challenge. In more than two dozen cases these blocks exist only in uncut form, and in eleven instances distinct district varieties are to be found only in sheet form when one takes the DC / FW distinction into consideration.. The latter I have already noted in my comments above. Before closing this article let me mention one invaluable source of information on all recent FRNs. That is the website “U. S. Paper Money Serial Number Ranges.” It is revised monthly, and it is kept very much up to date. No published book can keep track of the very latest issues, but this source is always within a few weeks of being current. It is also available at no charge on the Internet. One very helpful feature is that it is color coded with the DC data appearing in bluish green and the FW data in red lilac. There is a wealth of data available on small-size FRNs and any book concerned with small-size notes will probably have most of its pages devoted to FRNs. The following bibliography should contain some of the books of greatest interest. Incidentally you might be curious about Mr. Azpiazu’s rather strange surname. He is of Basque origin. As you might know the Basque language (Euskara) is the only non-Indo-European language spoken in Western Europe. It has extremely ancient origins and is related to no other known language. I have dealt with many individuals in forming my collection of small-size notes, and several dealers are experts in this field. Among several others I should mention Robert Kvederas, father and son, who have thoroughly researched web notes and the dealer Alex Dalatola, who seems to know almost everything about the latest productions at the BEP. Bibliography: Azpiazu, Robert, Collector’s Guide to Modern Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1963 – 2009, Whitman Publishing, Atlanta, GA, 2011 Cuhaj, George S., Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money, 34th Edition, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 2016 Farrenkopf, Joe, Paper Money, Vol LVI, No. 3, pp. 224-42, and pp. 244-46, 2017. Hessler, Gene, and Chambliss, Carlson, The Comprehensive Catalog of U. S. Paper Money, Seventh Edition, BNR Press, Port Clinton, Ohio, 2006 Kvederas, Bob Jr., and Kvederas, Bob Sr., The Standard Handbook of $1 Web-Fed Test Notes – 1988A, 1993, and 1995, 3rd Edition , Titusville, FL, 2004 Lindquist, Scott, and Schwartz, John, Standard Guide to Small-Size U. S. Paper Money – 1928 to Date, 10th Edition, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 2012 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 297 Central States Numismatic Society 78th Anniversary Convention April 25-28, 2018 (Bourse Hours – April 25 – 12 noon-6pm Early Birds: $125 Registration Fee) Schaumburg, IL Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center Visit our website: www.centralstates.info Bourse Information: Patricia Foley (414) 698-6498 • foleylawoffice@gmail.com Hotel Reservations: Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel - 1551 North Thoreau Drive • Call (847) 303-4100 Ask for the “Central States Numismatic Society” Convention Rate. Problems booking? - Call Convention Chairman Kevin Foley at (414) 807-0116 Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking. • Numismatic Educational Forum • Educational Exhibits • 300 Booth Bourse Area • Heritage Coin Signature Sale • Heritage Currency Signature Sale • Educational Programs • Club and Society Meetings • Free Hotel Guest and Visitor Parking • Complimentary Public Admission: Thursday-Friday-Saturday No Pesky Sales Tax in Illinois FASCINATING JUSTICE FRACTIONAL ARTIFACT By Rick Melamed When we are presented with a fractional items that has a contextual reference it gives us a moment to pause. No longer is it just a piece of fractional, it becomes something much more. In this case it becomes human and relatable. From FCCB’er Ronn Palm is a fascinating artifact from the Post Civil War era. In 1866, the war is mercifully over but sentiments between the South and North were still painful and quite raw. With memory of 620,000 dead and a recently assassinated President still burning in the souls of Americans, even a low stakes card game of Whist (a game that is the pre-cursor to bridge) becomes so much more. The game took place at The St. Charles Hotel in New York State between an unknown Rebel and a famous Union General. No doubt emotions were still running very high. On the reverse of an ordinary Justice fractional (FR1363) is a very telling hand written inscription. The inscription on the back of this fractional reads as follows: This was won from Gen. Winfield Scott at a game of Whist in the St. Charles Hotel – Jan. 1866. The winner was a Rebel ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 299 Let’s break this down to get a more intimate sense of this artifact. PLAYERS: Whist Winner: The winner is an unnamed Rebel. His name was lost over the annals of times. Most likely if he was engaged in a quasi-friendly gambling game with a famous Union General, he must have been a man of some achievement. It is apparent that over the “50 Oval” on the left side he was proud of his achievement. Simply stated: ‘THE WINNER WAS A REBEL’…it speaks volumes. The 50¢ won is a trivial sum, but the fact he won the game over a distinguished Union General was a source of great pride. The message was clear: “The South lost the war, but darn it, I beat the General in a card game and achieved a small measure of revenge.” Not content to just stick in his pocket, the Rebel had to memorialize the victory on the note and declare himself on who he was…’A Rebel’. Too bad he didn’t sign his name, but it’s obvious he was proud of his heritage. Whist Loser: Winfield Scott was a very important figure in the military in the 19th Century. His fame is well known among historians and his contributions are many. From Readers Digest: Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was one of the most important American military figures of the early 19th century. After fighting on the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812, Scott pushed for a permanent army that adhered to standards of professionalism. In 1821, he wrote “General Regulations for the Army,” the first comprehensive, systematic set of military bylaws that set standards for every aspect of the soldier’s life. Named commanding general of the U.S. Army in 1841, Scott unsuccessfully ran for president as the Whig Party nominee in 1852. His Civil War tactics were originally derided, but eventually became part of the Union’s successful strategy. During his fifty-three years of service, Winfield Scott made a significant impact on the professionalization of the army. During the first eighteen months of the War of 1812, he witnessed firsthand the problems inherent in a heavy reliance on ill-trained citizen militia. He rigorously trained American soldiers at Buffalo, New York, and in the summer of 1814 demonstrated what disciplined troops could do at the decisive victory near Chippewa Creek and the bloody stalemate along Lundy’s Lane. Well versed in military history, Scott patterned the American army after its European counterparts, which he greatly admired. Codification of army life along with his tireless advocacy of education and training were essential elements in bringing professionalism and tradition to the U.S. Army. Not only did Scott work to create an American version of European armies, but he also tried to emulate their aristocratic officer corps. Born to a family of modest means and fatherless at a young age, Scott sought an upper-class lifestyle, and high rank in an institutionalized, professional army helped him attain that status. Several times in his career, however, his handling of funds led to controversy, which on one occasion resulted in his suspension from the army. He married into a wealthy Virginia family and was fortunate to have friends with power and means who sometimes helped him both politically and financially. Although his character contained flaws, Scott’s military ability was unquestioned, and his rise continued during the Mexican-American War. In the Mexico City campaign in 1847, he repeatedly maneuvered his opponents out of their defensive positions. His chief engineer, Captain Robert E. Lee, helped scout the route for some of these flank maneuvers, thus molding his own skills for a later war. Scott was not averse to using frontal assaults if necessary, but he preferred to win victories by siegecraft ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 300 or turning movements. War to him was much like a game of chess that matched brains as well as brawn. His tactics were not always as glamorous as they might have been had he relied more on the bayonet charge, but neither were they as costly. Upon duke of Wellington proclaimed him the greatest living soldier. Winfield Scott served as commanding General of the Army from 1841 to 1861. He had a lifelong ambition to be president, but the closest he came was running as the Whig nominee in 1852. In 1861 he devised the Union strategy called the Anaconda Plan, which emphasized a coastal blockade and utilization of river systems. By maintaining constant pressure on the South, Scott intended to gradually squeeze the life out of the Confederacy. Although initially scoffed at, his method was eventually used to defeat the Confederacy. Because of old age and infirmities he retired from the army in 1861, and he died at his beloved West Point in 1866. THE LOCATION The St. Charles Hotel was a hotel built in 1864 in Hudson, NY on the banks of the mighty river. We have a vintage post card and book of matches. The hotel was considered quite upscale for its time and equipped with a fine restaurant; it would’ve been an ideal setting for a card game. In the end, money is the glue that binds the world in so many ways. It represents the value of things and their importance often goes way beyond a financial instrument. It is imperative that we embrace our history and the deeper meaning of things. Not just what happened, but why and how is a lesson for us all. While a 50¢ note seems innocuous on the surface, when we dig deeper, the story reveals much, much more. The seemingly mundane in reality a powerful reminder of a brutal time in a much divided country. 2 years before the Whist game, 50¢ to a Southerner would’ve looked like this: Faced with a crushing defeat the Rebel is forced to adopt fractional currency to make change for his purchase. It must’ve really rankled him to be forced to use something he didn’t want. It was a constant reminder that the South lost the war and their way of life forever upended. It’s these types of artifacts that make our hobby so worthwhile. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 301 A Ghost Railroad: The Wetumpka & Coosa Rail Road Company By Bill Gunther  Although this railroad is listed in Rosene’s Alabama Obsolete Notes and Scrip, it is not listed in Wayne Cline’s book, definitive book Alabama Railroads, published in 1997.1 In addition, this railroad is absent from two web sites dealing with Alabama railroads.2 However, the City of Wetumpka web page reports that the railroad was incorporated January 13, 1836, although no record of such an Act of the General Assembly chartering this railroad could be found in the State of Alabama archives.3 Given this absence of any information on the existence of such a railroad, it seems likely that this railroad could have been organized in the early 1830s, but then failed to raise sufficient capital as a result of the Panic of 1837 and the resultant depression and thus never actually began operations. The Archives of the Heritage Auctions company, which dates from 2001, shows a total of five notes, all $5, from this railroad.4 There is one note with plate “A” which is falsely signed and dated 1856, two plate “B” notes which are remainders with no dates, and there is one plate “C” note which is falsely dated 1861. There is a fifth note that is partially shown beneath another $5, but it is not possible to determine the plate letter. Note of these five are duplicates. In addition to the above, there is one additional $5 note shown below. This is a plate letter “A” note. Thus the known population is as follows: Plate A = 1, Plate B = 2, Plate C = 2, and one unknown plate letter. These notes are all remainders although some are falsely signed and dated. Printer Imprint All of the known notes show a printer imprint on the bottom right of “Rawdon, Wright & Hatch, New York”. This firm was first formed in 1832 and operated under that name until it became Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson in 1847.5 This span of years confirms the information from the City of Wetumka regarding the founding of the railroad in 1836. R353-1. Wetumpka & Coosa Rail Road Company. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 303 Internal Improvements An interesting line appears along the top edge of the note which states “Union of Boston & New Orleans by the…..South Western Internal Improvements.” While no definitive information could be located on this name, the term “internal improvements” was used in the 19th century to refer to public infrastructure such as roads and railroads.6 The accepted political philosophy at the time was that infrastructure was a state or local responsibility and not a function of the federal government. Funding for railroads was therefore not believed to be a federal responsibility. This led to the development of both private and public “internal improvement” commissions which existed to promote and fund infrastructure developments within state boarders. There is the suggestion in this imprint that somehow Boston and New Orleans would be connected by the development of the Wetumpka & Coosa Rail Road as needed transportation infrastructure. The Missing $10 Note While Rosene contains no information on this railroad company, he does list both a $5 and $10 note with an image of the $5 (plate “B”) in his book. The description of the $10 is as follows: “(L) Train, X below. (C) Sailing vessel, between 10s. (R) Man harvesting, X below. Plate A”. The printer imprint of “Rawdon, Wright & Hatch, New York, is the same as contained on the $5 note. Rosene only lists a plate letter A for the $10 note. A search of auction archives of the major auction houses (Heritage, Spink, and Stacks Bowers) did not reveal an image of the $10 note. It is most likely a remainder as are all of the $5 notes that are known. Footnotes 1Cline, Wayne. Alabama Railroads (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1999), and Rosene, Walter, Jr. Alabama Obsolete Notes and Scrip (Society of Paper Money Collectors, 1984). 2http://www.abandonedrails.com/Alabama and http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2390 3 http://www.wetumpkachamber.com/natural_beauty.html 4See Heritage Auctions currency archives at www.ha.com. 5Cox, Terry. “American Bank Note Company and its Predecessor Companies,” Professional Scripophily Trade Association--www.ptsa.com/americanbanknotecompany.html. 6See “Internal Improvements,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/internal_improvements and Kerry C. Kelly, “Anti-railroad Propaganda Poster: The Growth of Regionalism, 1800-1860,” https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/anti-rail ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 304 U N C O U P L E D PAPER MONEY’S ODD COUPLE How Did We Get Started? Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan At this year’s IPMS in Kansas City, my talk in the Huntoon lecture series was titled “The Making of a Specialist: One Collector’s Journey.” There was so much positive feedback from the audience that Fred opined that we ought to use that as our column topic this issue. So here goes. I was born into an Army family at Brooke Army Medical Center, Ft Sam Houston, Texas in late 1942 (fig 1). It became an Air Force fig 1 - Fort Sam Bank national, with SN matching the year I opened my account at the bank family when the USAF spun off after the war. My early years were spent in San Antonio, Littleton Colorado (near Lowry AFB in Denver), Albuquerque (near Kirtland AFB), and in West Texas on Pyote AFB. It was at Pyote that my collector gene kicked in. But Albuquerque was where I received the first of a host of notes that I would eventually acquire. Grandpa Harvey, my step-grandfather, gave me a Hawaii note that he had carried for a long while (fig. 2). I don’t know how he got it. fig 2 - Hawaii note from Grandpa Harvey Boling continued on page 308… At the just completed Memphis paper money show (well, OK, International Paper Money Show in Kansas City), Joe had the equivalent of the keynote presentation on Friday at noon. His presentation, The Making of a Specialist, was a smash hit. Joe told of his life in collecting, which was great in itself, but many great collectors could do something similar. That was not good enough for Joe. He illustrated each phase of his story with a paper money item. Some were obvious rarities, others more common, but all interesting. How many of us could show the first check that we ever wrote?! We were struggling with a subject for this column; his presentation was the answer. He will share with us from his program and I will tell you something of my collecting career timeline. My kid brother, Brad, started me in coins in 1959 when I was only twelve. A collector down the street helped a neighbor kid with a Lincoln cent collection. That kid started my brother. I could not stand my younger brother doing it without me so I jumped in. In spite of the sibling rivalry, we had a great time. We never found anything of great (or even minor) interest, although some good coins still could be found in circulation. Of particular note are the coins that my father gave me. It was a small group of coins that he had brought back from World War II service. I thought that the aluminum Vichy coins were the most unusual things that I had ever seen. I taped the coins to a board, but did not study them nearly enough. It would never have occurred to me to collect paper money of any kind. Indeed, my father game me some—a few Mexican paper pesos for my collection. I thought that he was crazy and looked at the notes with scorn. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 305 Opportunity lost. Studies, lack of money, and of course girls upset my priorities into my early twenties. Jump forward to 1972. It is a big leap in time and an important moment for my collecting career. Now imagine me in Vietnam. I was collecting coins again. I remember that I purchased a beautiful XF 1798 cent from David Bowers. I carried it around and showed it to anyone I could get to sit still. I often do the same today, but not with coins! I shared a hooch with a fellow who was also a coin collector. I passed my weekly coin papers to him. One day I found myself looking at a $10 Series 692 military payment certificate. It was as though it was the first time that I had noticed it. I commented to him that I could imagine that someday people might collect this stuff (MPC). He said that people did collect MPC! “No way” said I, and he thrust one of my own papers in my face. He showed me a classified advertisement by Ed Hoffman selling MPC. I was stunned. You know me well enough by now to expect that I certainly must have jumped right on MPC. Replacements, low numbers, special numbers, errors, all likely were available in circulation without too much difficulty. Not a chance. I did not give it another thought while in Vietnam, and did not bring home a single piece. Only two years later I considered myself a specialist in MPC! That came about with the help of Lloyd Walker. He was my first mentor. I met Lloyd at a local coin show in Oklahoma City (I think). He had a table selling world coins. I told him about the coins that I had from my father’s World War II experience. We arranged to meet in Lawton, where we both lived. He looked though the coins, and did not find anything of particular interest, but invited me to join him for a show the very next weekend. That is how I wound up on the Oklahoma coin show circuit in the early 1970s. Lloyd and I had both done United States coins. He was doing world coins. United States paper money was gaining in popularity, so it seemed to me that world paper money was the obvious choice for a great area to collect. I was very lucky because Lloyd had some, and most importantly, he had a nice library of the few books that were available. At one of the shows I found a few pieces of MPC and got excited, harking back to my recently passed Vietnam experience. I was stunned when Lloyd told me that there was a book on MPC. It only took him a few minutes to find it. It was the third edition of Ray Toy’s World War II Allied Military Currency. In the early 1970s, long distance phone calls were not common, but based on the information in the front of the book, within a few minutes I was talking to Ray Toy and I was hooked. Really hooked, and within a few days I had my first shipment of MPC from Ed Hoffman. I would have many more such packages. I had remembered his advertisement from that discussion in Vietnam. Lloyd eventually wrote a great book on Oklahoma trade tokens and later still was tragically murdered. Of course I was keen to find MPC wherever I could. I canvassed coin shops without much luck, but finally received a promising call. A local dealer called me. He had purchased a group of $10 MPC. They were from Series 521. Was I interested? Was I interested! Of course I was. I had never even seen one of those. I do not remember the details. He had something like twelve notes and wanted something like $400 for the group. I was beside myself with joy and fear. I had never seen such wonderful notes, but had also never spent so much at one time, and for duplicates at that. I did the right thing and bought the group. That was a fateful moment. I learned from Ed Hoffman. I ran a classified advertisement in Coin World selling the duplicates. I received two important calls. One from a collector with whom I made an interesting trade. The other from Joe Boling. I answered the phone. Joe said (exactly) “I called to chisel you down on one of the 521 $10s.” Remember, this was in the early 1970s. Long distance phone calls were expensive. So, here we are some 40-plus years later sharing space here in Paper Money. I went off to my first convention of the American Numismatic Association in 1973. At the 1974 convention I met with Paul Garland, who had some interesting MPC. We were ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 306 walking down an aisle when he pointed someone out to me. I said “Who is that?” “Man, that is Ed Hoffman!” I was of course thrilled to meet the legend in MPC dealing and I suspect that I bought some notes from him. He also told me something interesting. Ray Toy was looking for someone to take over the authorship of his World War II paper money book. Ed suggested that I should be the one. He said that it was not the type of project for him, and that since I had written a few articles on MPC, it was more likely something that I should do. Well, that led to visiting Ray and producing the fourth edition of his catalog. That was 1974. At the same or next ANA convention, I met Neil Shafer. He was talking to Amon Carter, Jr. We had a nice MPC chat and Neil became my mentor and lasting friend. Of course I just saw him in Memphis, er, KC. By 1978, Joe and I had become very good friends and we had a vision of what the next generation of a World War II catalog should be. With Joe living in Europe, we collaborated in creating World War II Military Currency (with “currency” meaning both paper money and coins, of course). Later still that led to World War II Remembered, and we hope to do that one more time, too. While I was collecting MPC, I also found a few other things to share my attention and checking account. I will tell you how I got started in local national bank notes, but I will save a detailed discussion of the notes for another time when we can feature them. In the middle 1980s, my father sent me photocopies of some nationals that a banker and family friend had in the old home town, Port Clinton, Ohio. The notes were all Series 1929 in circulated but not terrible grade. One was a $20 Port Clinton National Bank. Another was a $10 Fremont National Bank. They (the friend and my father) wanted to know if I was interested in the group. You bet I was interested, and we were able to work it all out. The interest in the Port Clinton National Bank was obvious. I had never seen a Port Clinton national! Fremont is less than twenty miles away, so there would be a good chance that I would be interested, and I was, but my interest was far more that geographical. The signature of the cashier was none other than F. Schwan! Actually it was my great uncle F. W. Schwan. I did not know the bank, and hardly knew my uncle, but obviously I could not resist such a note. I have only one recollection of Uncle Frank. The extended family was at the Frank Schwan home and Uncle Frank said that he would take the kids for ice cream. We kids ran screaming for Uncle Frank’s car. You can imagine the scene I am sure, but there is a twist. We sprinted to the car trying to get into the back seat. Uncle Frank chewed tobacco and had a spit can on the floor of the front seat. None of us wanted to sit next to that! Only ice cream on a hot summer day would entice us to sit in the front seat. I have become a serious collector of Ottawa County, Ohio national bank notes. I probably have the best collection in the world of Ottawa County notes. Actually, I think that I have the only such collection. The Port Clinton bank (charter 6229) had three different titles. They are all challenging in large size, but the Series 1929 notes are reasonably available, such that Joe has one in his collection representing the fact that he and his bride were married in Port Clinton at Fest VI (also known as SexFest). Just moments ago I received an emailed invoice. Somewhat to my surprise, I purchased a nice $20 1929 national on the Oak Harbor National Bank. This is another Ottawa County ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 307 note, and I have one or more, but this is a nice example and a serial number 7 to boot, so I left a bid for it on Saturday and just learned that it will be coming home. My collecting interests continue to evolve. I have been very active in collecting war bonds over the past ten years. That is an interest that I blame on Joe. I have actually started some new coin collections (gasp) in the past few years. As with most of the things that I collect there is a twist. The coins are trench art of the World Wars. Boling continued… He had been on the border with Pershing riding against Pancho Villa in 1915, so he was probably too old for WWII (though Grani enlisted at age 46 and served on Eisenhower’s staff, so I suppose Harvey could have had war service also—he did not marry Grani until about 1947. My mother had been a stamp collector since childhood. She was born in India and lived in Bombay to age 12 or so, when she and her sister returned to San Antonio with Grani to finish school. Mom’s father was the Singer sewing machine distributor for western India, with a huge territory. He got lots of business mail, and all the stamps came home for Mom’s collection. She had stacks of duplicates, some of which she passed to me starting in second grade. I continued to collect stamps through high school, using an album that I received on my ninth birthday and, later, a Japanese specialized album that I bought while living in Japan in the late ’50s. From Pyote we moved to Monterey, California, where Dad learned Arabic at the Army Language School. One of many vivid memories from Monterey was the day King George VI died—Dad told me to put our flag up to only half-staff that day. As a stamp collector with many British Commonwealth stamps, I knew who KGVI was and I appreciated that Dad had such respect for the king. Dad had flown out of England as a B-26 bombardier for two years. Learning Arabic was supposed to lead to a job in Morocco, but Dad was diverted to Boston for several months—long enough that we moved there from San Antonio, where we had been waiting to follow him. Naturally, within two months his orders came through, so we spent only two months in Dedham—my shortest stay of what now had grown to eight homes (fig 3). All but Dad went back to San Antonio to wait for him to find housing for us in Morocco. That turned out to be in Fedala, 26 miles from Nouasseur Air Base, where the schools were located. Service members in Morocco were using military payment certificates (MPC) for dollar transactions. Series 481 was in use when we arrived (fig 4). The exchange rate for Moroccan francs to dollars was 360:1. In Morocco I experienced my first MPC conversion—Dad came home in the middle of the day to gather up all MPC and return to the base to exchange it for series 521 (fig 5). I found something else to collect while in Morocco—miniature license plates (suitable for hanging on the back of a bicycle) (fig 6). General Mills cereals came with the plates glued to the boxes, and sets could also be ordered by mail with cash and, presumably, box tops (I don’t remember what I had to exchange for sets of plates—I ended up with 52 of them). fig 3 - original series Dedham national ace fig 4 - series 481 MPC $1 fig 5 - series 521 MPC $1 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 308 After two years in Morocco we spent two years in Los Angeles, where Dad was assigned to Cheli Air Force Station. We lived in South Pasadena, an unincorporated suburb. By this time I was buying stamps on approval from many vendors, one of which was Littleton Stamp Company—still with us. About this time the stamp approval companies were sending out Chinese notes, folded into thirds to fit their stamp envelopes (fig 7). I bought at least a couple of them. It was fourteen days at sea from the Oakland Army Base docks to Yokohama—my third trans-oceanic voyage. We took the train down to Itazuke Air Base on Kyushu, where I spent three years ending with high school graduation (I am the secretary of the Itazuke Alumni Association). Here the troops were also using MPC, and it was the same series we had left in Morocco two years previously—series 521. At that time, the same series was used worldwide, and 521 had not yet been converted. That happened while we were in Japan—to series 541 (fig 8). You may have observed that some of the notes in the illustrations look threadbare. That’s because all MPC shown are from position #8 on the sheet. Real MPC nuts collect them by position number, and I have a complete set for position 8. When collecting for a specific position, you do not worry about condition— you take the first piece you see, because in the fractionals, only one in 74 will be from a single position, and in the large denominations, it’s hard enough to find single pieces, let alone trying to wait for a “nice” piece from a specific position. The exchange rate of yen to dollars was the same as in Morocco—360:1. Seems pretty strange, until you learn that the civilian finance advisor for the HQ in Europe that set the rate was the same man who later went to Japan and set the rate there. I don’t know what was magic about 360:1, but he used it twice. One night on my way home from some event that kept me after the school bus, I stopped at the Green Wave Cafe for a snack and received this 10¢ note in change (fig 9). I recognized it as an error, having been collecting stamps for some time, and receiving a stamp publication called Weekly Philatelic Gossip. I did not fold it into my wallet, but put it carefully into my shirt pocket until I could get it home and secure it. I still have it. From Itazuke it was off to college in Cambridge, Mass. No, not Harvard—MIT. While there I found yet another collectable— RCA Victor Red Seal 78rpm records of early 20th century opera singers (fig 10). Some of the records were 50 years old and available (used) in mom-and-pop record stores all around Boston. I have a carton of them to this day. fig 6 - miniature license plates from General Mills fig 7 – note from stamp dealer, 1950s fig 8 – Series 541 MPC $1 fig 9 – Series 541 MPC 10¢ miscut note ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 309 On 11 June 1964 I was commissioned in the Army and married to Louise; next day I graduated with a BS in metallurgy. In July I entered active duty as an Ordnance Corps second lieutenant, detailed to the infantry for two years. After school at Ft. Benning, I was assigned to Germany. My stamp collection had gone dormant while at college. At a coin and stamp show at Ramstein Air Base in spring 1965, I discovered paper money—and how much engraving you can put on a note in comparison to a stamp. A dealer had a tall stack of notes on his table for 20 pfennigs each—five cents. I bought a couple dollars worth and was hooked. I found that in all the junk stores in Germany, there were bureau drawers full of notes from the 1923 hyperinflation, as well as notes that no longer had exchange value from many other places. I started collecting them. There were no catalogs—it was just “have I seen this—do I have one?” collecting. After two years in infantry, I reverted to my basic branch and moved to Munich to a HQ unit. Munich had large downtown banks with extensive foreign exchange choices. They also had obsolete US notes—not obsolete as we use the term today, but pre-1928 large-size notes that I could buy at face value (fig 11)—usually in a cross-counter exchange for current US notes, not even having to use Deutsche marks to buy them. It was also the time of the great silver certificate redemption—and I could buy silver certificates using the same mode. When I left Germany in November 1967 I carried over $1300 in large and small notes back to New York to sell. For a (by now) captain making only a few hundred dollars a month, that was a tremendous amount. I kept a type set and sold the rest to Donald Brigandi as soon as I got off the plane from Germany. Then it was off to Vietnam... ... where we were back on MPC—series 641 when I arrived (fig 12). In VN I had my third MPC conversion, from 641 to 661 (figure 13). The local currency was piastres (or ðong, using the Vietnamese name for the currency base)— about 110 to the dollar, variable daily. I was a serious accumulator by this time, but I could find very little in the way of older notes. I managed only one trip to Saigon, where there were some coin stores and street sellers who had older notes—at high prices. I bought a few. They also had scores of US silver dollars and trade dollars, British trade dollars, French Indo- China silver piastres, and various Chinese crowns—all phony (which I could easily see). I did not touch those. Coming out of Vietnam I changed branches again—to Adjutant General’s Corps, the administrative and personnel management branch of the Army. I wanted to get into computers, and the only branches that had them fig 10 – Geraldine Farrar as Tosca on a Victrola single-sided record fig 11 - available at banks for face in Munich, 1967 fig 12 – Series 641 MPC $1 fig 13 – Series 661 MPC $1 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 310 were AG and Finance. So next was the AG school at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for the officer advanced course. I worked as an Admin Officer at the school for a year before starting the training course, so it was an 18-month assignment. It seemed like there was a coin club show within 50 miles of Indianapolis every weekend of the year. I subscribed to Coin World (it was under $7/year) so I could read the show calendars and plan my foraging. I found a carton of obsolete training aids in an abandoned building on post (fig 14). These had been used to train postal and finance clerks at the AG and Finance Schools (both in Gates- Lord Hall, where I worked, which was the vignette on the notes). Almost all such “notes” in collector hands today came from a modest 3/4 inch pile that I removed from that carton-full. I also met Don Foltz, the IBNS auctioneer, an Indianapolis resident. I joined the IBNS in 1970 and assisted him with the auctions in minor ways, all while learning a lot about collecting world paper money. Ruth Hill signed my first membership card as secretary of IBNS. Bill Stickles signed the 2nd or 3rd one. Both of them would later become honorary directors for life of IBNS, and in 1993 I assumed the office of treasurer from Bill when he retired. I held the office until 2015. From Indy it was out to Ft. Riley, Kansas to join the 1st Infantry Division—as an AG officer, but I was expected to be competent as an infantryman. That was no problem—I had had two years experience in Germany preparing to face down the Russians at the Fulda Gap. While at Riley I discovered obsolete high- denomination MPCs in a shop in Salina, and decided to pursue them. After all, I had used five series myself. From Coin World classifieds I learned that Ed Hoffman sold current MPCs in sets with last two serial numbers matching—I bought all the recent and current sets. Now here is a happy accident. My safe deposit box was in the Central NB of Junction City, so I wanted a Central NB note for my biographical collection. The 1st NB is much more common, so I took the first affordable Central NB note that came my way—a serial #8 note! Completely coincidental (fig 15). 8s have followed me around all my life. I attended my first ANA convention in 1970—driving five hours from Ft. Riley to St. Louis. I went into the IBNS meeting about 9:00 and came out at 11:00 expecting to spend the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday at the ANA—only do discover that the show was closing at 3:00 that day. I was not a happy camper, and to this day I oppose “no Sunday hours” policies at major shows. The following year the Central States show was in the same hotel, with full weekend hours. I spent Saturday night in a $5/night flophouse on the river, and early Sunday at the zoo waiting for the show to open. Then five hours back to Ft. Riley Sunday night. I bought the Dedham original series national ace already shown (figure 3) for my biographical collection at this show. The 1st Infantry Division was slated to send a brigade to Europe on short notice, to use equipment in environmentally controlled storage there to defend NATO. To that end, they ran annual exercises, sending the troops to Germany to train for several weeks and then return to Kansas. I went on two of those. As a pay officer during one, I was counting the cash brought to the field from the finance office in Nuremberg when I found an XF-AU Chase NB of NY $10 1929-I note in the stack (fig 16). Fortunately I fig 14 - AG school training money for postal clerks fig 15 - SN 8 by the luck of the draw fig 16 - in a payroll in Germany 1970 or 1971 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 311 had a sawbuck in my wallet, and that Chase note soon had a new home. US nationals were still circulating in Europe as late as 1971. My next assignment was the University of Washington to get an MBA, and then stay on for three years to teach ROTC. This was an almost five-year tour, a great luxury. In Seattle I got involved in organized numismatics in a big way, joining local, regional, and national organizations for both coins and paper (fig 17). I was still collecting both, seeing little point in isolating parts of an economic system based on the fabric of the instruments. I began to exhibit, write, and lecture on my specialties, Asian and Arabic coins and paper. I took two counterfeit detection seminars at the Univ of British Columbia (1973 and 1975), with ANA instructors, in a science lab with a microscope at every seat. After the first seminar I bought my Nikon SMZ-2 microscope, still in use. By now I had completed my MPC (non- position) set except for the series 471 $5, but I was pursuing Japan hard. When I won several lots in a Money Company auction and could not cover the tab, I called Fred, whom I had met by phone while collecting MPC, and sold them to him. I also sold off all the Arabic materials, using Milt Blackburn as my outlet. He was a coin dealer, specializing in Arabic issues. I had bought many of the coins from him, and he was happy to have them back at my cost (the market was rising). I asked him if his customers might like to try Arabic paper. He did not know, but I prepared a four-page single-spaced unillustrated list, put his letterhead on it, and he sent it out. It sold like crazy, and he gave up coins and moved to paper (but to Commonwealth issues, not Arabic ones). I met and was mentored by Byron Johnson in Seattle, who was president of TAMS while I was there. He sponsored me into ANS (you needed a recommendation in those days), and trained me as a Pacific NW Numismatic Assn exhibit judge. When I finished my MBA, and moved to the Military Science department as an assistant professor, I started taking courses in Japanese language and economic systems at UW. These courses had an influence on my Army career that I could not have foretold. In 1974 and 1975 I took the 4th ROTC Region shooting teams to Camp Perry for the National Matches, in pistol and high power rifle. Fred was just a few miles away, in Bowling Green. The matches were a week apart, with small-bore rifle between, which the cadets did not shoot. During that week each year I took leave and worked with Fred on all kinds of issues, from exhibit building to military currency research. It sealed a partnership. When I left Seattle, I was due to take a 13- week computer course back at Ft. Harrison. I drove from Seattle to Carmel, San Francisco, Colorado Springs, San Antonio, St. Louis and finally to Indianapolis, visiting numismatic friends and buying numismatic treasures all along the way. Among them was the Whitesitt collection of Japanese hansatsu in St. Louis, a several-hundred-piece collection that I have added to over the years until it fills four binders, and hopefully will be the basis of another book down the road. While I was at school in Indy, the ANA was having the 1976 Bicentennial convention in New York. I arranged for Elmer Smith, an MPC- collecting friend of Fred and me, to take my exhibit from Indiana, install it, and hope for the best. I intended to drive to NY Friday overnight to attend on Saturday and return Sunday. However, by Friday night, it had been a long week and I was just not up to it. I called and left a message that I would not be there (no cell phones in those days). I did manage to win third place in foreign paper, showing foreign trade payment certificates from the US occupation of Japan. Elmer brought my exhibit and the award medal back to Indiana. In Atlanta in 1977, when chief judge Bob Kriz heard what had happened the previous year, he was apoplectic, and immediately changed the rules to specify that you had to attend the convention to exhibit. It took us most of a fig 17 - University NB of Seattle – a half block off campus, but unaffiliated ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 312 decade to get that changed so that an agent could install and remove an exhibit (which continues today). I have not missed an ANA summer convention since then. Next stop, Heidelberg. MSG Howard A. Daniel III was working in the next building, until he moved over into mine and was just down the hall from me. We did all the local club meetings and shows together. I already knew him before I got there—I had the first volume of his French Indochina catalog, which had been published in only 100 copies. I bought the eleven-volume Zuroku Nihon no Kahei from an American retired in Tokyo, and a carton of 625 Japanese bonds and shares from Don Terrill in Seoul—a local stamp dealer’s holdings. That became the basis of the extensive listings of Japanese bonds that appeared later in Schwan-Boling. MSG Shunichi Aikawa assisted me in reading the attributions of all the hansatsu I had bought, and piecing the bonds together into series. I never expected that the battle flags bonds of WWII were preceded and followed by much plainer bonds of the same title (my Japanese language skills still needed some work). In 1978 Fred and I published World War II Military Currency, a 240-page softbound book that followed where Swails, Rutlader, Toy, Meyer, and Schwan had led. That was quite an accomplishment, with us working on different continents when telephone calls were $50 for three minutes, and there was only unreliable airmail as an effective form of communication. Also in 1978 at Houston I was certified as an ANA exhibit judge, and I discovered a sheet of unpublished MPC at the BEP exhibit (series 691 $10). Fred and I managed to get pictures of it without attracting much attention, and he published it in the BNR later that summer—to massive consternation at the Bureau. The designs of unissued MPC are usually classified SECRET. Back in Germany for a final year, I attended the IBNS Congress in London, picking up an exhibit award there, and I wrote a long article on Japanese bonds that I sold to Krause Publications for the BNR (which was never published). When I finally got back to the States on a permanent change of station, it was to Ft. Harrison again, and I was able to visit my first Memphis. The Memphis shows started during the first of my three years in Germany, and I did not get to one until 1980. I showed three exhibits that year, and one per year for the next two years while I was in Indy. I also started exhibiting all over the eastern half of the country, wherever there was an exhibit program with a convention. Many of those programs are long gone, though the conventions survive (or did until this year, in the case of CICF). At the 1981 Central States show, which was in Indy, I built a four case exhibit of gold from the Josiah Lilly collection that had been recently donated to the Smithsonian. Much more of the material was in storage than was on exhibit in D.C., so I visited the Smithsonian and borrowed many coins to show in Indy, where the collection had been built with nobody ever knowing about it (and certainly not able to see any of it). Working with the curators was easy; working with the Smithsonian security people was not. During that tour in Indy I was elected to the IBNS board and worked with Ruth Hill and Neil Shafer on volume 4A, Japan, of the IBNS’s publication country by country of the Arnold Keller manuscript on world notes. Ruth had bought that draft work and presented it to the IBNS for publication. Volume 4 (in two parts) was the last one we got out the door before Battenberg and Krause published Albert Pick’s work. With three years gone in Indy, I was assigned to Japan to be a student in the Japanese National Defense College. I stopped in Monterey for my own stint in the language school (what I was retaining from my two years of three-hours-a-week courses at UW was not nearly enough for full immersion in Japan). When I got to Japan, my first task was to visit the two Japanese authors of volume 4A of the IBNS book. One, Hitoshi Kozono, lived in Fukuoka, where I had been in high school. Unfortunately, we did not know each other then, but we had corresponded before we worked on the IBNS book together, and I had bought notes and books from him and made a contribution to a book that he had collaborated on (I had a colliery note that the author had not seen). I took my collection with me, and when I laid my 10 ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 313 cents note from the Japanese civil internment camp in Saigon after the war next to his one- piastre note, they had identical folds—they had been together in somebody’s wallet years before either of us had acquired them (fig 18). I have seen only one more note from that camp in the 36 years since. I was in downtown Tokyo for the year I was a student, before moving to Camp Zama for a US Army assignment. In Tokyo I was able to get out and scour the shops for varieties of Japanese bonds that had never been published and were certainly not appreciated by Japanese dealers. I also made connections with sources, including an auction in Yokohama that I participated in monthly for fourteen years, until the proprietor died. He was my source for all kinds of odd stuff, including books never seen in the US, and an outlet for strange things I found that only another Japanese collector would appreciate. I was promoted out of my job at Camp Zama, and assigned to Defense Communications Agency, Reston, Virginia (fig 19). I was deputy chief of the division that wrote the operating systems for the Worldwide Military Command and Control System, WWMCCS. I had worked in the WWMCCS shop in Heidelberg from 1979-82. Now I was in their support organization for the second-longest tour of my career (1985-89). In 1986 I became IBNS president, taking up Ted Uhl’s mantle after he died in office. That year and the next I wrote most of volume 4B of the IBNS Japan book, including all the military issues, Yokohama Specie Bank, private notes, Allied occupation issues, US club chits, and other odds and ends. That was the last of the IBNS’s Keller volumes. Also in ’86 I was appointed judge trainer for the ANA, a job which I performed until 2016 except for a couple of the years when I was on the board. I started another collection—LaserDiscs (and later DVDs), with a sub-collection of Robin Hood movies and TV shows. I sold several hundred LaserDiscs in the nick of time before DVDs replaced them, but I still have several hundred, along with three players of various degrees of sophistication. The oldest was bought in 1985 in Japan. It will soon be an antique. From 1989-92 I was in Heidelberg again, going to the London and Maastricht shows every year and buying bonds from Sotheby’s and Spink. In 1989 I sold my Japanese coins, except for the counterfeits and representative genuine pieces to go with them, which I retained as teaching aids. In 1992 I was appointed ANA chef judge, an office that is appointed by each president. The president in 1994 did not reappoint me, so for two years I exhibited, before taking the job again in 1996 and holding it until now, except for three of the years that I was also a governor of ANA. In August 1993 I retired from the Army and returned to Seattle, which had attracted us as a potential retirement locale when we were there 1971-76. I started two more collections— roadkill and theater performances. I rode my bike a lot in and around Seattle, and stopped whenever it was safe to do so to pick up coins in the roads and gutters (and even a few times it was not safe). I kept all of the coins I picked up in 1995 and built an exhibit of them that readers loved—it won People’s Choice in 1998 at the ANA convention in Portland. That year’s haul fig 18 - Kozono’s and Boling’s matching notes fig 19 - promotion to colonel—Jack Boling, Louise and Joe, and our kids David, Evan, Margaret ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 314 weighs 23 pounds (four full Velveeta boxes), and tallies at almost 3500 coins (not counting the medals, washers, tokens, cartridge cases, tools, marbles, and other ash and trash that got policed up as well). At theater, I saw an average of 209 live performances annually for thirteen years (over 400 shows each in two of those years—yes, it can be done in a region that has over 125 producing theater companies). For most of those years, I was also writing a commentary on every show and putting them up on the Theater Puget Sound website. I picked up long-term officerships in IBNS and three local and regional clubs. In 1993 I spent a month with Fred working on our next book, which was published in 1995—World War II Remembered: history in your hands–a numismatic study (fig 20). Also in 1995, my last year of eligibility, I won the Howland Wood best-of-show award for exhibiting at ANA (after 18 years of trying). In 1999 I began teaching at ANA Summer Seminar, and have taught there every year since except 2015, when Fred’s and my course was cancelled due to low enrollment (figure 22). In 2001 I sold my Japanese paper collection (fig 23), except the fakes, bonds, and hansatsu (and, again, representative genuine pieces to match the fakes, to use for teaching). I immediately started adding non-Japan-related counterfeits and genuine notes to the collection, which now fills four banker’s boxes (fig 24). I bought collections of counterfeits—the Leon Burstyn collection of Latin American material, and the Weldon Burson collection of West African States—and began searching for matching genuine pieces in the same grades as the fakes. I hooked up with Arnoldo Efron and Gabriel Leichen to go through their foreign exchange purchases at shows, because the only way to get modern circulating notes in grades as low as the counterfeits is to buy foreign fig 20 - WWII Remembered, 1995 fig 21 - ANA best-of-show exhibit award fig 22 - Fred, Ken Bressett, and Joe, July 2006 fig 23 - back cover of sale catalog with two rare Boling notes fig 24 - Australian counterfeit for liberation of Timor ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 315 exchange. Dealers do not stock modern notes in the grades I need. Through the late 1990s I sold my Japanese and related medals and decorations, except Osaka Mint products (I continue to collect those pieces). Starting at MPCFest IV, I have attended all Fests (fifteen now). At the first Fest I was out of the MPC business (having sold my set to Fred in the ’70s) and did not see a need to attend. Fests II and III conflicted with the ANA spring shows, but since that has been resolved, I have been to every year. At Fest VI Louse and I remarried (having been married 1964-84, unmarried from 1984-2005, and now twelve years into our second round). She’s a peach, as well as a Fester and VP of Women in Numismatics. In 2006 I sold my Japanese bonds and shares to John Herzog, over a thousand pieces. I thought he would use it as a basis for further collecting, but he has sold off major chunks of it. Since I have been rebuilding a teaching set (types only, not every issue date), I have bought some of my own material back from Spink auctions—including a unique piece issued in 1945 in minuscule quantities (no more than 1300 pieces, far less if the higher denominations were also sold) (fig 25). In 2007 the ANA Goodfellows (persons who have been general chair of a convention) established the Joseph E. Boling Award for Judging Excellence. The original awards used a suspension that imitates an exhibit case, on a neck ribbon. When those were used up, a desk- top miniature exhibit case with a silver dollar in it was used for a few years, but they were also exhausted quickly. Now we have a bronze medal designed by Joel Iskowitz and struck by Medallic Art, financed by me in a quantity good for two decades (fig 26). The Goodfellows and the chief judge select the awardee each year. From 2007-2011 I was an ANA governor. I went on the board with an objective in mind, which we accomplished, and I left the board to the politicians. That is not my cup of tea. In 2010 I began documenting fakes appearing on eBay, principally by buying them so that I can examine them in hand (fig 27). Most of what I have bought comes from one seller who is now on his fifteenth eBay name (though some of his products have been bought from others who had been victimized and then re-offered the pieces). Those have been the subject of two of the seven talks on counterfeits that I have presented in the Peter Huntoon lecture series at the International Paper Money show. So what am I doing now? Writing these columns and an occasional article for other publications, teaching counterfeit detection and military numismatics at ANA Summer Seminar, contributing to the IBNS Forum (mostly on counterfeiting topics), working on values data for the next edition of Schwan-Boling, and editing books for BNR Press. I have no time to play with my toys—I have unaccessioned purchases dating back to 1993 waiting for attention. Grump. fig 25 - 3.5% Special Treasury Bond 1945, ¥100 (unique) fig 27 - fraudulent inkjet replica of a rubber stamp ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 316 Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat – The Story of a Hoard Found in 2017 by Pierre Fricke Many of us learned the Confederate States lost the war due to lack of resources, soldiers, materials, manufacturing and that slavery played a central role[1]. From my research, and I’ve read a lot of original material from the period, the number one cause for defeat was slavery (loss of any moral standing in the world for independence as well as loss of people, skills, etc. that could have been better utilized if the slaves would have been offered freedom). But surprisingly, I found that finance was the second major cause of defeat. Indeed, Doctor Douglas Ball did in-depth research and published his findings in his academic, but thorough, Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat, published in 1991 by the University of Illinois Press. My recent project illustrates directly what Dr. Ball presents – that the Confederacy’s meager finances were mismanaged, compared to the Union’s financial system. I’ve had the opportunity to study and broker a deal for an original hoard of mostly Confederate paper money with some obsolete bank notes, local scrip and State issued notes thrown in for good measure. This hoard was gathered by a local depository office in the deep South during the War and remained intact to this day. This project is now complete and I will share some of the key findings which support our understanding of how finances worked in the war-torn South in the early 1860s. In antebellum America, money came in a variety of forms. A significant means of exchange was United States coins from half cent and one cent copper coins up through $20 gold coins. Another major means of exchange was bank issued notes against their gold reserves that circulated as money. Banks went to contract printers for notes which resulted in thousands of different designs. Most of these notes would only be accepted locally where the bank and bankers were 1863 Confederate $10 Treasury Note that has been cancelled (knife cuts in center of note) - typical of what was in the hoard ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 317 known. This complexity spawned many counterfeits, spurious notes, notes issued by fraudulent banks, and more. The US government issued no paper money[2], that is until the Civil War broke out. Upon formation in February 1861, the Confederacy sought to institute a financial system to keep the wheels of commerce turning. The United States mints at New Orleans and Dahlonega Georgia were seized and coins continued to be minted using US designs. The Charlotte North Carolina mint would be seized in the spring of 1861 when that state left the Union. The CSA government also contracted with the American Bank Note Company and National Bank Note Company in New York City for interest bearing notes and bonds. The start of the War soon curtailed these activities[3] which forced the Confederacy to look to its own means to print money. The Confederacy issued paper money in seven series authorized by Act of Congress spanning 1861 through the act of February 1864 which authorized the large 1864-65 printing of red Confederate notes with blue backs. These were Treasury notes, most did not pay interest, and were not legal tender which meant a seller was not required to accept them. However, the notes were mostly accepted on good faith. Secretary of the Treasury C. G. Memminger contracted out the work of printing the new Confederate notes to printers located in New Orleans, Richmond VA and Columbia SC. The printers would deliver sheets of money to the Treasury in Richmond. The sheets of notes would be serial numbered and signed by hand. Then they would be cut. The CSA government also created a distribution network of depository offices to handle transactions regarding its money and bonds. These offices, along with the military exchanged the money for gold, silver, supplies, guns, etc. to get the money into circulation. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 318 Some of the Acts of Congress, most notably the 1864 Act, would invalidate or even tax previous series of Confederate money out of circulation forcing people to go to their depository office to exchange old notes for new notes or bonds. The old notes would then be cancelled with knife cuts or punch holes and stored at the depository, no longer valid for use. This was a cumbersome and failed attempt to control inflation by managing the supply of money in circulation with a system that depended on a robust transportation network, something the South lacked[4]. The complexity of this system and the failure to adequately supply money across the Confederacy imposed major handicaps for manufacturing, trade and the funding and feeding of its armies. Shortages of money sprung up all over and slowed down delivery of food, materials, weapons and even people to the armies. Two stories illustrating these problems follow. In 1861, the Confederate government contracted to build an ironclad ship to defend New Orleans. This was to be the CSS Louisiana and was said to be more fearful and powerful than the more famous CSS Virginia (Merrimack). However, due to shortages of money, the contractors could not be paid in a timely fashion and so stopped work. This work stoppage occurred even though money was being printed in New Orleans. But that money need to be sent to Richmond VA to be signed and registered before being sent back out to be used! Finally, money arrived in early 1862 and work began again. However, the CSS Louisiana was not finished when US Admiral Farragut steamed up the Mississippi River past the forts below New Orleans and captured the city. The CSS Louisiana would have been powerful enough to lay waste to Farragut’s wooden fleet[5] and the battle for the forts below New Orleans would have turned out much differently. Lack of money cost the South its largest city. In 1863, Union General U.S. Grant was having a difficult time capturing Vicksburg Mississippi, an important river port needed to control the Mississippi River. He embarked on a brilliant, but risky strategy to march down the west bank of the river and take Vicksburg from the rear, a strategy that ultimately worked. However, how was it that he could march unopposed down the west bank? The Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi nominally had 80,000 men on its rolls, more than Grant’s army. However, the Confederates had a great deal of difficulty keeping the areas west of the Mississippi supplied with valid money. CSA General Kirby-Smith could only muster 20,000 troops, not enough to seriously threaten Grant. Most of Kirby-Smith’s army was not present and was either sick (some of which was due to lack of supplies, clothes, and the weather), or back home tending to their families as they had no money to buy food, etc. and were not getting paid to be in the army. Lack of money to pay its soldiers caused the Confederate to lose one of its most important river ports. The depository hoard that I handled was a direct result of this monetary system. Its many thousands of notes were cut-cancelled and rendered not valid for further use. So even with offices full of expired and cancelled money all over the South, the Confederacy could not pay its troops nor its contractors with regularity! ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 319 The Union system was a lot better. The US had five offices to disperse money and issued the specie-backed Demand Notes of 1861 to expanding funding of commerce while maintaining its mints at Philadelphia and San Francisco releasing coinage. As it became apparent the war would be long, the Demand notes were redeemed at these offices for gold which was hoarded. Coins disappeared from circulation too. However, the Federal answer to this was much more robust, create a legal tender system of notes backed by the faith in the US government. Hence the green backs of 1862-63 which were legal tender (must be accepted to satisfy debts) for all but import duties paid to the US government. The US government wisely let these circulate throughout the war and did not create a new series of notes until 1869 which did not replace these 1862-63 notes. Fractional currency and encased postage stamps would substitute for the coins that were withdrawn from circulation. The US government had challenges implementing its system, but nothing like the challenges faced in the South. The past two months have been interesting and I am honored to have had the opportunity to handle a key piece of American financial history. As far as I know, this hoard will remain intact for the foreseeable future, which is my hope. Too many of these types of hoards get broken up by the promoters selling the notes as souvenirs to the general public, which is their right. But it would be good to see a few of these preserved outside of the huge Richmond hoard in the Smithsonian. [1] The causes of the Ware were many and included defending slavery for at least a wealthy contingent of plantation owners best represented by VP Alexander Stephens. Other Confederate leaders abhorred slavery and pleaded to free the slaves to help the military, notably Generals Robert E. Lee and Bedford Forrest. Many of General Forrest’s slaves rode and fought by his side after being freed. The debate over the primary and secondary causes of the War are beyond the scope of this article, but almost everyone can agree that keeping the slaves in bondage did not help the Confederate cause for independence. [2] The US government issued paper money during the War of 1812 as well, but it was the Civil War issues that were the foundation of today’s monetary system. [3] There is a story (perhaps folklore) that the second shipment of Confederate $50 and $100 notes and bonds from New York was almost intercepted by US Federal agents running down the dock as the ship pulled away two days after Ft Sumter started the war! [4] That meagre rail and river transportation network was increasingly damaged and destroyed by invading Union armies. [5] While the USS Monitor could save the day in Virginia, monitors were not ocean going vessels and Farragut would not have been able to have any to defend his wooden ships at New Orleans. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 320 Series of 1934C $20 Back Plate 204 Discovered By Jamie Yakes New discoveries invigorate this hobby. In my previous column, I discussed the life of $20 back plate 2041 and stated that Series of 1934C $20 notes with back plate 204 were possible, but unreported. Well, they exist. Small-size collector Robert Calderman alerted me to a specimen auctioned in 2014 by Heritage Auction Galleries.2 The note is from Chicago, with face plate 107, back plate 204, and serial number G16440160B. It is unique for the type. Back plate 204 was the only late-finished $20 intaglio plate, and had been the master plate for making $20 production plates from 1935 to 1942. The BEP finished it as a production plate in February 1944 and used it for sheet printing until October 2, 1946. Series of 1934, 1934A and 1934B faces were current while 204 was in the pressroom, and 204 mules are known for all three series. Small-size backs were uniform plates and indiscriminate to any particular class of note. The BEP printed and maintained stocks of back sheets in anticipation of orders from the Treasury Department or Federal Reserve Agents. When a back plate was permanently dropped from use, sheets printed from it remained available for face printings until the supply became exhausted. The unique 1934C Chicago 204 shows that 204 sheets lasted long enough to be overprinted with 1934C faces. The BEP initially sent to press 1934C faces on October 9--1934C New York faces 132-135 and 138--just a week after 204 was dropped from service. They followed with more New York faces throughout the month, and dropped them all on the 24th. They resumed using New York faces in January 1947. The 1934C Chicago 204 note has face plate 107, and was part of the first group of 1934C Chicago faces the BEP sent to press, inclusive of faces 103-107, on December 20, 1946. That same day, ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 321 they also sent to press 1934C Philadelphia faces 51, 52 and 54-56. The Philadelphia and Chicago faces remained in the pressroom until January 1947. Face printings of 1934C districts on 204 sheets depended on how many 204 sheets existed when those faces went to press, and how long that supply lasted. Because no new 204 sheets were printed after October 2, 1946, the supply gradually became diminished until none remained. The sooner a district went to press following that date, the greater chance those faces could have been printed on 204 backs. The existence of the unique Chicago 1934C 204 note suggests New York and Philadelphia 1934C 204s also will exist because those faces went to press prior to or concurrent with Chicago faces. Initial printings of other 1934C $20s commenced in 1947: Richmond and St. Louis in January; Boston, Cleveland, Dallas and San Francisco in February; Atlanta in March; Kansas City in August; and finally, Minneapolis in October. Numbering of 1934C notes started in 1947. First serials printed for each district are listed in Table 1. It is possible the BEP consumed all the 204 sheets during the printing of New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago notes in 1946, and that none remained into 1947. Because $20 notes often were modestly produced, it is also possible that 204 sheets lasted late into 1947. Only the discovery of a second 1934C 204 can legitimate either theory. Acknowledgment Robert Calderman provided a link to the Heritage Auction of the Chicago 1934C 204 note. The Professional Currency Dealers Association supported this research. Sources Cited 1. “Fantastic Life of $20 Back Plate 204.” Paper Money 56, no. 3 (2017, May/Jun): 247-248. 2. Heritage Auction Galleries, Sale 3527, Lot 16034, April 23-28, 2014. (https://currency.ha.com/itm/small-size/federal-reserve-notes/back-plate-204-fr-2057-g-20-1934c-old-back-federal- reserve-note-pcgs-extremely-fine-40/a/3527-16034.s?ic3=ViewItem-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction- 120115.) Accessed May 15, 2017. 3. “First Serial Numbers on U.S Small Size Notes Delivered during each year 1928 to 1952.” Prepared by the O&M Secretary, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, April 1952. BEP Historical Resource Center, Washington, D.C. Sources of Data U. S. Treasury. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Ledgers Pertaining to Plates, Rolls, and Dies, 1870s-1960s (Entry P1). Volumes 43 and 147. Record Group 318: Records of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Table 1. First Serial Numbers Printed on Series of 1934C $20 Federal Reserve Notes3  District    First 1934C Serial  Boston    A41832001A  New York  B37980001B  Philadelphia  C50568001A  Cleveland  D71124001A  Richmond  E81030001A  Atlanta    F53628001A  Chicago    G15036001B  St. Louis   H35184001A  Minneapolis  I19332001A  Kansas City  J33000001A  Dallas    K25044001A  San Francisco  L21672001B  ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 322 INTERESTING MINING NOTES by David E. Schenkman The Ill-Fated Young America Furnace Company Located at Petrea, Ohio, in Jackson County and only about three miles from the town of Jackson, the Young America Furnace Company was established in 1856. It was the first furnace in the area built specifically to use stone coal (or anthracite, as it is generally called) as fuel. According to An Economic History of the Jackson County Iron Industry, a thesis written in 1932 by Vernon D. Keeler, the founders were “more experienced in law and politic than in iron making, and the venture was a complete failure. And when a receiver was appointed in 1860, the plant was razed to the ground. The machinery was sold to the Orange Furnace Company of Jackson. Many Jackson citizens lost thousands of dollars in the ill- advised scheme.” The Iron Manufacturer’s Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and Rolling Mills of the United States, which was published in 1859, described the operation as a “hot-blast raw-coal furnace, owned by Powel, Oakes & Co., managed by Peter Powel…. situated on the Hocking Valley railroad three miles east of the Jackson Court-House.” It also says that the furnace “made 14 tons of iron a day out of block ore from the lower coal measures in the hill alongside the furnace.” So, it is logical to conclude that the company mined its own coal. There were early signs of trouble. Late in 1857, when the new company was just starting to produce iron, a reporter for R. G. Dun & Company noted that “I suppose they have a tolerably large debt to carry, but they have a good property and if the furnace works well will be able to carry the indebtedness. I consider them responsible but understand that they do not pay promptly, and probably will not be able to do so for some time.” This optimism was ill-founded, and about nine months later he commented that “creditors had best be wide awake.” Shortly thereafter it was reported that the company was “in great difficulty,” and that “they owe a great deal in Cincinnati and there are now large claims against them.” In January, 1860 readers were advised that the firm was “broken up.” Earlier this year I purchased a group of three notes issued by the Young America Furnace Company in 1858. All are rare; in A History of Nineteenth Century Ohio Obsolete Bank Notes and Scrip, Wendell Wolka lists fifty cents and one dollar denominations, both as rarity 7. He also lists five, ten, and twenty-five cents denominations as LD (Likely Denomination, meaning they are not known but assumed to have been issued). I searched the Heritage archives and found three auction results for notes from the company. All were fifty cents notes, so it is logical to assume that denomination to be the most common. I have owned a five cents note for several years, so it is no longer an LD. The group I recently purchased consists of a fifty cents, one dollar, and an unlisted three dollar denomination. The latter two are in really nice condition, but there is one problem; each note was glued to a piece of paper. They are glued only at the top, so I’m hopeful that I can find a way to remove them. Suggestions would be appreciated. The interesting disclaimer, printed vertically on the right side of the notes reads STOREKEEPER WILL ONLY ISSUE CHECKS IN HIS CHANGE DEPARTMENT, FOR FINANCIAL CONVENIENCE. NEVER, FOR PURPOSES OF CIRCULATION AS MONEY. Apparently the company was concerned about the legality of the notes. On the left side of the five cents and one dollar notes there is a woman standing with a ship in the background, within an oval. The three dollar note has a sidewheel steamer within a rectangular block, while the fifty cents has a blank oval. There is a printer’s error on the five cents and three dollar notes; the word YOUNG is spelled YONNG. The notes all have blank backs. One of the founders of the company was James H. Miller, and signed the notes as Secretary. Keeler noted that the Young America Furnace scrip was discussed in the February 27, 1930 issue of the Wellston Telegram. They were described in the article as being “printed on thin India paper, so that a hundred could be slipped into an ordinary billfold.” ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 323 Comments, questions, suggestions (even criticisms) concerning this column may be emailed to dave@turtlehillbanjo.com or mailed to P.O. Box 2866, La Plata, MD 20646. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 324 The Obsolete Corner The Nauvoo House Association by Robert Gill As I write this, I have just returned from the International Paper Money Show. It has been held in Memphis for the last forty years. But this year, Kansas City was its home. I want our members to know that it was a big success. The show was great, the hotel was really nice, and Kansas City has a lot to offer when it comes to "away from the bourse floor" activities. As for uncut Obsolete sheets, that part was slow for me. But one of our members, recognizing my passion for sheets, looked me up and offered a sheet he was wanting to sell. So I did not come home empty handed. But even more so, I had the pleasure of visiting friends who I only get to see once a year, and I also met some new ones. In this issue of Paper Money I'm going to share with you a very neat two note sheet, as printed, on The Nauvoo House Association, which was located in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s. A small group of these surfaced many years ago, and to me, a sheet collection is not complete without the addition of one of them. The Nauvoo House in Nauvoo, Illinois, is a boarding house that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, began constructing in the 1840s. The boarding house was never completed, but the structure was later converted into a residential home and renamed the Riverside Mansion. The Nauvoo House, as it is referred to today, is part of the Nauvoo Historic District, a National Historic Landmark. In January of 1841, Smith claimed that he received a revelation from God with instructions to construct a house in Nauvoo which would be "a resting-place for the weary traveler". The supposed revelation also instructed that the building should be called the Nauvoo House, and set out detailed instructions about how the building of the house would be financed. George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider, and Peter Haws were appointed as the overseers of the project. They created The Nauvoo House Association on the 23rd of February, 1841. Construction of the Nauvoo House began later that year, with Smith placing the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon in the cornerstone of the building. Construction continued until 1844, when resources were pulled away from the Nauvoo House to concentrate on completion of the Nauvoo Temple. After Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in June of 1844, their bodies were secretly buried in the cellar of the unfinished house to prevent their bodies from being stolen. Later, the bodies were removed and buried close to the Nauvoo Homestead. After Smith's death, his widow, Emma Smith, retained title to the Nauvoo House. When the majority of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo in the late 1840s, the house was still only partially completed. In the 1870s, Emma and her then husband, Lewis C. Bidamon, converted the unfinished hotel into a smaller structure called the Riverside Mansion (also called Bidamon House). At this time, Lewis Bidamon removed the Book of Mormon manuscript from the cornerstone, and it was subsequently purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Emma Bidamon and Lewis Bidamon both lived in Riverside Mansion from 1871 until their deaths. In 1909, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS Church) purchased the property. The Nauvoo House is still owned by the RLDS Church today, which is now called the Community of Christ. The Church operates the house as a dormitory available for group rental, as well as a stop on their guided walking tour of the Joseph Smith Historic Site. As I always do, I invite any comments to my cell phone number (580) 221-0898, or my personal email address robertgill@cableone.net Until next time... HAPPY COLLECTING! ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 325 Welcome to the SPMC New Members 14627 James Bigelow, Website 14628 Vernon Peterson, Frank Clark 14629 Margaret Stocker, Mark Anderson 14630 Robert Sherman, Website 14631 Dan Rich, Website 14632 Nathan Monney, Website 14633 Ken Goss Jr, Jason Bradford 14634 William Ellis, Website 14635 J. Moye, Website 14637 William Hein, Jason Bradford 14638 Michael Souza, Jason Bradford 14639 Lawrence Korchnak, Jason Bradford 14640 James Schroeder, Website 14641 Asher Tristani, Website 14642 Henry Artajaya, Jason Bradford 14643 Gary Burhop, Website REINSTATEMENTS None Life Memberships None ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 326 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 Chump Change Loren Gatch Serving Mammon— and Collecting it at the Same Time It has been two months since my last column. Since then, I must confess, more than a few times I have lurked online at the discussion posts of our sister organization, the International Bank Note Society (IBNS). I know, I should be singing hosannas to anyone who would listen about the virtues of joining our SPMC (Hey, have you heard we have a breakfast raffle?). But in truth, like us the folks at IBNS are following their own path. Sure, their paper journal has this weird European shape, and inside many pages are devoted to routine club activities. Still, the articles published are quite fine. But in addition, you will find on the IBNS discussion threads lively exchanges about recent world paper money issues (and how to get them); incisive commentary about the problem of counterfeits; and pointed critiques of the consistency and competence of third-party graders. Even better, from the lurker’s point of view, is the creative antagonism— sometimes barely polite—that arises over topics like the alleged insufficiencies of a certain catalog publisher that uses the Pick numbering system. One issue that I think deserves wider ventilation is the question of what should be the center of gravity of collectors’ organizations like the IBNS and the SPMC. Are they best grounded in the proposition that collecting is a leisure activity organized along commercial lines? Or, is collecting the stimulus and pretext to the active gathering of knowledge about what we collect? Both ways of thinking about the hobby start with the pleasure of acquiring and possessing something, but then go in different directions. The commercial view leads to the treatment of collections as investment portfolios whose appreciation over time vindicates the hobby. The knowledge view treats collections as points of departure for scholarly inquiry, the accumulation of which gives new meaning to the original act of ownership. These two views aren’t mutually exclusive, but they are in tension with each other. When it comes to paper money collecting, It’s hard to understand the chronic online bickering about note slabbing and about whether fantasy and other commemorative banknotes are ‘real’ and therefore worthy of collecting without putting both disputes in the context of these two hobby perspectives. Of course, there has to be a fair middle between the two, since both perspectives depend on the other. Even the highest-minded scholar-collector is averse to expanding a collection whose value only goes down. Even the most rapacious investor-collector needs disinterested hobbyist demand to sustain the valuations of their portfolios. If the only purchasers of, say, slabbed notes are investors hoping to unload their holdings later on other investors (the “greater fool theory”), then we might as well be collecting tulip bulbs or beanie babies. It’s all the same. Watching a hobby move too far in either direction illustrates the pitfalls. Last year I wrote a couple of columns about the travails of stamp collecting. In that story, part of what hurt philately was the official overproduction of gimmick stamps targeted to collectors only. That opportunism not only inflated supply, but cheapened in a way the hobby itself. Arguably the same corruption is unfolding in coin collecting, where the over-slabbing of common date coins compounds the avariciousness of mint authorities, in the United States and elsewhere, who are putting out all manner of bullion, commemorative, and otherwise quasi-fantasy pieces with an eye to the collectors market. This can’t end well. Paper money is not immune to this. But what of hobbies that err in the other direction, towards esotericism? At our recent SPMC board meeting, one Governor brought up the example of the Essay-Proof Society, founded 1943, whose focus on printing and engraving birthed a remarkable publication, the Essay-Proof Journal that spanned both the stamp and currency fields. Collector-scholars like the Society’s founder Dr. Julian Blanchard (1885-1967) and, after him, Dr. Glenn E. Jackson (1906-1989) epitomized the commitment to careful, technically-informed scholarship on the processes and personalities of security printing. Alas, the Journal published its 200th and last issue in 1993, and the Society disbanded. Despite the high quality of its work, without a membership base the Society relied for its resources on individual benefactors, and when that money dried up, so did the Society. As the Essay-Proof Society illustrates, no aspect of any collecting hobby can be assured of its own future. Changes in tastes, public policy, and technology all affect their viability. More broadly, the declining propensity of people to join organizations of any sort simply raises the bar higher for their survival. Prayer alone is not going to fix this. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 328 President’s Column Greetings, SPMC membership! My name is Shawn Hewitt, and I have taken on the role of new president of SPMC, following in the footsteps of Pierre Fricke, who has served his four years with success and distinction. He deserves many thanks for his dedicated work to lead the Society forward. Our good editor Benny Bolin has informed me that the President’s Column needs to be a full page, in normal sized font, as if that might be a problem filling it up. On the contrary, I have so many things to talk about that I may have trouble packing in all in one page. So let’s get to it. The buzz of the hobby at this time is the International Paper Money Show, which was held for the first time in Kansas City. I just returned yesterday evening and can say unequivocally it was a huge success. Congratulations and thanks go to Lyn Knight for pulling this off with such a smooth transition. In many respects, if not all, the Kansas City venue seems to be superior to our previous Memphis location. This sentiment was shared by a good many of the collectors and dealers that I spoke with over the four days of the convention. While at this time Lyn has not determined the specifics for next year’s show, it sounds like he wants to get this worked out as soon as possible, so be sure to watch the website and trade publications for updates. This show is the biggest date on the calendar for SPMC for many reasons. Let me run down some of the highlights. The SPMC activities officially kick off on Friday morning with our annual breakfast. This is our opportunity to present literary and service awards to our members. We had about 75 of our members in attendance, which was held at Harvey’s in the absolutely beautiful Union Station, just a short walk from the convention hotel. Everyone agreed it was a perfect venue, except for one non- trivial thing: the acoustics. Being a cavernous structure, a lot of ambient noise is generated, and unfortunately persons seated even just fifteen feet away could not hear the presentations very well. We’ll try to think of a remedy for next year. You can find the complete listing of recipients of awards on our website. Congratulations to all of them for their outstanding work. Wendell Wolka was again the gregarious emcee of the Tom Bain raffle – always a lot of fun. At the breakfast we also released the second in our series of tickets prepared by Tom Stebbins. This year’s design included a portrait of John Hickman, the legendary purveyor of national bank notes and SPMC Hall of Fame inductee. Board member Robert Vandevender presented a specimen of this design to Rick Hickman. To help fund the production of tickets, we have a silent auction for serial numbers 1 through 5, which closed on Saturday afternoon. PCGS graciously offered to encapsulate these notes and all received a 67PPQ. The sale of these tickets, along with post-breakfast sales of remainders at five dollars each, has already covered the whole expense of their production. We’re already thinking about next year’s design. The next SPMC event is the board meeting on Saturday morning. At this meeting the board members take care of the Society’s business matters. It was here that, in the absence of any other candidates, my role as president was cemented. I was pleased to nominate Mr. Vandevender for the position of vice president, and I’m even happier to say that he accepted and the board unanimously agreed. Several board members were reinstated for an additional terms. I think we have an outstanding group of hardworking board members. For much of the show, SPMC staffed a table that was given to us by Lyn Knight, ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 329 Pa_p_e_r _M oney * Jul_y_/_A ugust 2017 * Whol_e_N o_. _3_1_0 and I want to express our appreciation to Lyn for doing that for us every year. It’s important for SPMC to have a presence at these major shows. Past president Ron Horstman was often seen behind the table, ready to sign up new members. The Speakers’ Seminars hosted by Peter Huntoon was as active as ever this year. Education is such an important part of the collecting experience, and this function, combined with first-class exhibits, puts the IPMS over the top as the premier event for paper money collectors. On Saturday afternoon SPMC had the pleasure of presenting awards for best-of-class exhibits. There were a lot of great exhibits this year. The final SPMC event at the IPMS is the Hall of Fame recognition dinner, where we honor this year’s class of inductees and remember those who have gone before us. That was held at Pierpont’s in Union Station, in an elegant setting very appropriate for the event. Benny, I’m sorry, I’ve already gone over my page and I’m not done yet, but it’s really important. I want to take one last moment to talk about another thing we’re working on, something really dear to my heart. For three year’s you’ve heard about our Obsoletes Database Project (www.spmc.org/obs). Over the last year one of our major accomplishments is the addition of note data for Alabama (Bill Gunther), District of Columbia (Ron Spieker) and Ohio (John Davenport and Wendell Wolka), which brings our note entries to nearly 4,600. Even as we pivot from development to content-building, there are still new features we’re implementing. I am especially excited about our newest feature, the SPMC Set Registry (www.spmc.org/obs/set-registry). This is a utility that allows our members to track their collections, and optionally compete for best- in-class awards, to be voted on by the membership. You’ll notice that in this issue I’ve written an introduction to ODP, and that in coming issues I will get into the details of this and other features. If you have an interest in competing in the set registry, you’ll need to communicate with us soon so that we can import your note data in time for the first competition, expected to be next spring, with awards coming a year from now at the next IPMS. You can reach me at shawn@shawnhewitt.com. That hits the main points for now. I look forward to talking much more about activities of the Society and the hobby in the future issues of Paper Money. Editor’s Note— Member and columnist/author David Schenkman sent me this neat little card that I wanted to share with our members. While going through some files I found a 1961 charter membership card for the Society of Token, Medals and Paper Money Collectors. As I’m sure you know, SPMC and TAMS split into separate groups shortly after the original group was organized. 330 P_a_p_e_r_M oney * J_u l_y/_A ugust 2017* Whol_e_N_o_._3_1_0 Editor Sez KC Success! The 2017 International Paper Money Show in its new KC home is now over! And a resounding success it was! I admit I was a bit concerned about how successful it would be this year, owing to moving to a new location after 40 years in a beloved venue (Memphis). Also, conflicting with the Long Beach show made me wonder. Well, I am pleased to report to you all that in my opinion it was a great show. To me, it seemed to be busier than the past few Memphis’, the venue exceptional and the hotel quite an improvement! Our breakfast was held close to the hotel (we—the SPMC board wanted to give you—the members, a better deal than we could get at the hotel ($20 vs. $40) and with only a glitch with the acoustics (or lack thereof) we had a lot of fun. After a great breakfast (thick slab bacon was offset with scrambled egg-whites), a raucous Tom Bain raffle was enjoyed with Wendell Wolka at his best as emcee (mix ‘em up!). The IPMS for me has become primarily an event to see old friends and make new ones, look at great exhibits and listen to wonderful speakers (and to look at a few notes). I was re-directing my collection this year, so selling was far outweighed by buying and I came away pleased. It was nice seeing old friends and I was especially pleased that two of my long time favorite dealers were back—Hugh Shull and Tom Denly. The one downside was that long-time exhibit chair Mart Delger could not attend—(I think the first he has missed ever!?) Mart—we were thinking of you and hope you are doing better. In his absence, his able-bodied assistant Robert Moon, assisted by Frank Clark did an awesome job of putting together a wonderful exhibit area. Congrats to the winners, Mark Anderson for Best-in-Show (and the Amon Carter IBNS award); Robert Moon for the John Hickman award for nationals; Michael McNeil for the BNR Most Inspirational Award and all the others. Special thanks to all of the exhibitors ! We welcomed five new members to our Hall-of-Fame, Joe Boling, Fred Schwan, Judith Murphy, Chuck O’Donnell and Daniel Valentine. We feted them at a special dinner Saturday night with two former member also in attendance, Peter Huntoon and Mick Crabb. Service awards were bestowed on a very deserving group of people who have done yeoman’s work on behalf of the Society. Wendell Wolka was presented with the Nathan Gold award for his long time commitment and service and Andrew Shiva was given the Founder’s award for his support of research and to the society. Jason Bradford and Scott Lindquist were recognized as the top recruiters. President awards and social media awards were also given out. One special President award to me was given to Lisa Harold, our rep at our printer for all her hard work in putting Paper Money together and making it look so nice! Writers were also recognized for their books, columns and articles that appeared in Paper Money. Michael McNeil was given the Forrest Daniel award for literary excellence; Q. David Bowers and Bob McCabe were runners up for the Wismer, Book-of-the-Year award which was won for the updated Confederate Bonds book. Loren Gatch and Robert Gill were the favorite columnists and a whole slew of people were given awards for articles they authored. A special thanks goes out to Josh Herbstman for donating the Liberty Loan Bond that was auctioned off with the proceeds going to the SPMC general fund. Overall, I think it was a resounding success and even though we do not know for sure when or where it will be next year, one thing became clear. The IPMS is not just a city, but an experience that can be made great by those who attend! As far as Paper Money goes, I am pleased to say I have a long list of articles in the queue but I need articles of short or medium length, 1-5 pages long. I also need articles on large size and world notes or other fun and interesting topics that are not normally written about. Benny Texting and Driving—It can wait! 331 Service Awards in KC The International Paper Money Show (IPMS) is not only about buying and selling currency, but is also a time for the society (and other societies) to recognize and reward members for outstanding service, literary awards and excellence in exhibiting. Wendell Wolka receives the highest   SPMC  award—the  Nathan  Gold  Award for long‐time service Andrew  Shiva  received  the  Founders  Award  for  support  of  research and service to the hobby. Jason  Bradford—top  recruiter  and  recipient  of  the  Nathan  Goldstein  award  President’s Awards recipients Shawn Hewitt, Wendell Wolka  and Mark Dregson and (Lisa Harrold not present)  SPMC’s  Odd  Couple,  Fred  Schwan  and  Joe  Boling  were  inducted  into  the SPMC Hall of Fame.   So  long  Pierre  (only  as  President).  You  did  a  yeoman’s  work  for  four  years and it was appreciated!  Special  thanks  to  Josh  Herbstman  for  donating the Liberty Loan Bond to the  SPMC in memory of his father and was  auctioned  off  by  Lyn  Knight  with  proceed benefitting the society.   ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 332 Michael McNeil—Forrest Daniel  award for literary excellence  Literary and Exhibit Awards in KC Awards were also given out for literary excellence, top articles in different categories (voted on by the membership via the web), book of the year and for excellence in exhibiting. Book of the Year (Wismer Award) Complete Catalog of Confederate Bonds Henry Simmons, Richie Self and James Desabaye Runners Up Obsolete PM Vols. 6 & &--Q. David Bowers Counterfeiting & Technology—Bob McCabe Favorite Column Loren Gatch Runner Up—Robert Gill Dr. Glenn Jackson Award Robert Kravitz & Benny Bolin Articles appearing in PM in 2016 Federal (Misc).—Robert Kravitz & Benny Bolin World—Carlson Chambliss Runner up—Lee Loftus Runner Up—Cedrian Lopez-Bosch Small Size—Peter Huntoon, Jamie Yaks & Lee Loftus Tie—Edward Zegers, Jr Runner Up—William Brandimore Nationals—James Ehrhardt Obsoletes—Bill Gunther Runner Up—Steve Jennings Runner Up—Charles Derby Confederate—Steve Feller Miscellaneous—Terry Bryan Runner Up—Steve Feller Runner Up—Robert Laub Exhibit Awards Stephen R. Taylor Best in Show—Mark Anderson Runners Up—Rick Althaus & Neil Shafer Julian Blanchard Award—Nancy Wilson Best one-case exhibit—Alan Moser IBNS Amon Carter Award—Mark Anderson PCDA John Hickman Award—Robert Moon BNR Most Inspirational Award—Michael McNeil Thanks to all of our other exhibitors—Don Mark, Frank Clark, Michael Dougherty, Steve Sweeney, Robert Liddell III, Joseph Ridder, Ron Yeager, Robert & Beverly Gill, Ron Horstman, Shawn Hewitt, John Wilson, Carlson Chambliss, Michael Scacci, Roger Urce, Richard Dreger, Benny Bolin, Jerry Fochtman, Robert Phillips, Robert Calderman. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 333 SPMC Breakfast & Tom Bain Raffle The SPMC held its annual breakfast and Tom Bain Raffle on Friday morning of the show. In order to be fiscally responsible to our membership, we decided to hold it off-site at Harvey’s in Union Station, just a short walk from the show hotel. The venue was very nice but the acoustics were a bit lacking, a problem we will overcome next year. Almost 80 people attended and had a great breakfast (they even countered the thick slab back with scrambled egg-whites!). After the breakfast ever ebullient and always entertaining emcee Wendell Wolka held the audience in rapt anticipation for their number to be called for the great prizes offered. The ticket for the event featured a commemorative likeness of John Hickman and ticket chair Rob Vandevender presented John’s son, Rick with the Specimen of the ticket. Breakfast buffet was popular but not as popular as the bacon was with Pierre (wonder if the fruit will offset the bacon?) as Mark deliberates  joining the conversation or eating that strip of bacon. Table full of raffle prizesHear Ye—Hear Ye.  Let’s get this raffle  started! Wendell tries to talk Neil out of his mystery  box—it contained a $20 bill! Thanks to all of our Raffle donors—Mark Anderson, Pam West, John & Nancy Wilson, Hugh Shull, Heritage Auctions, Bruce Smart, Pierre Fricke, John Herzog, Neil Shafer, Roger Urce, John Makis, the Fractional Currency Collectors Board, Gene Hessler, Don Mark, PCGS and to anyone I left off, I sincerely apologize. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 334 SOCIETY OF PAPER MONEY COLLECTORS, INC. MINUTES OF BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING, KANSAS CITY, MO, JUNE 10TH, 2017 8:00 A.M. Present: P Fricke, President S. Hewitt, Vice President R. Moon, Treasurer J. Brueggeman, Membership Sec’y B. Bolin, Editor F. Clark, Membership Director Wendell Wolka G. Dobbins J. F. Maples R. Vandevender L. Gatch M Scacci R. Horstman M. Anderson, Recording Secretary Call to Order Meeting convened promptly at 8:00 a.m. Pierre Fricke greeted all present, and welcomed J. Fred Maples to his first “in- person” meeting. Elections Officer Slate for 2017-19 term proposed by P Fricke: Shawn Hewitt - President Robert Moon Treasurer Jeffrey Brueggeman – Membership Secretary Mark Anderson – Recording Secretary Shawn Hewitt nominated Robert Vandevender for Vice President. Slate voted in unanimously. Board Governors Gatch, Herbstman, Maples and Anderson up for re-election. All four Governors re-elected unanimously. Reports/Old Business: Financial Report: Treasurer Moon had provided members with financial statements for three months ended 3/31/2017 previously via e-mail, with paper copies distributed at meeting. They show a characteristic seasonal cash deficit of $14,599.99 with a liquid and strong financial condition. Total fund balances of $255,262.27 are invested in cash and bank instruments and a small PayPal balance. By way of update, pending the end of the 6/30/17 quarter, he provided what he termed an “approximate report,” stating that the second quarter should reflect routine expenses but an uptick in receipt of advertising checks, which have begun flowing in. The check to Peter Huntoon in support of his continued research in Washington archives of $5,000 has been sent out. W. Wolka observed that the magazine’s advertising revenue stream remains stable and healthy. Confirmed ad checks are flowing in, and we should be fully up to date by year end. Editor Bolin noted parenthetically that page 3 generates incremental placement revenue. Yesterday’s breakfast and raffle was a success from almost every vantage point. We had 70 attendees, 5 paid no- shows, for total ticket revenue of $1,500. Tom Bain raffle proceeds totaled $1,090, for total revenue of $2590. Cost of meal was $1,076, leaving a surplus to assist funding awards program. On an amusing note, a reimbursement check mailed to Secretary Brueggeman on April 10th sent was returned to Treasurer Moon anonymously, with a note attached to it saying it had been found on a Chattanooga sidewalk. Membership Director’s Report Frank Clark gave his report, citing membership recruitment info in his previously distributed report. Stated that 140 new members is an “about average year.” Three new recruiters have been added to the Project 6000 list. L. Gatch asked about churn, and how do we track that. While specifics are difficult to identify, we do know that the change in PCGS membership procedure, requiring some participation on the part of the PCGS recipient of the “freebie” has reduced the shorter term churn. Membership Secretary’s Report Previous discussion continued on into the Secretary Brueggeman’s report, focusing on the continued challenges of attracting new members and specifically, younger members. W Wolka observed that the discussion highlights a problem that all numismatic membership organizations are experiencing – a slow and steady decline in number of members. The ANA and other groups are all finding that – driven by technology and other alternatives, people do not feel the same need as seen historically to be tied into like-minded groups of people with like interests. Essay Proof Society cited as bad model to follow. General discussion of hobby organization trends and collector behavior ensued. Revision of the SPMC membership application brochure was discussed, as supplies are running low. P Fricke felt that any revision of the brochure should feature the full name of the organization on the front of the tri-fold. Members recalled that last revision had included help form a graphic artist to freshen its appearance and make it more attractive. P. Fricke to revisit who did that work. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 335 Editor’s Report Benny Bolin reported that everything at the magazine is “going good.” Reminded all of journal’s deadline: 10th day of every even month [Feb’y, April, etc.]. Stated that he is in need of large size and world paper money articles for future issues. We are well stocked with obsolete and confederate work. The recent online voting response was strong - 70 people voted for literary awards, double last years’ experience. Benny has received eight boxes of various archival material and documents from R. Schreiner. After examination and organization, he exhibited the interesting material he saw as worth saving to the Board. Due to their aged paper and delicate nature, these will travel to the Club archives via land. Report to Marketing Committee Gary Dobbins thanked all for positive reaction to proposal continue towards ad exchange with the ANA. Gary is working with Ben Scott at ANA on the half page ad we will be sending them. Program calls for 6 ads to be “exchanged.” Gary is now planning ad content and Board discussed both the “paper” content and how we might approach the online version, the URL and links. P Fricke and S Hewitt both agreed to assist with ad composition process. Website Report Shawn Hewitt cited submitted website report and highlighted 2 aspects: Item 1: Reduction in membership certificate activity. These have been issued to PCGS over the last several years and more recently, Kagin’s membership. A member has contacted us regarding the Kagin’s program and has been referred back to Kagin’s. None of the certificates issued to Kagin’s have been used. Expiry for the certificates issued is at end of year. P Fricke will contact Don Kagin to discuss. Item 2: Website is now about 6 years old. Websites’ CMS was an early version is Drupal is open source and current version is Version 8. SH feels we need to look at upgrade, which could cost upwards of $5K. Board asked that this be pursued and more concrete proposal be submitted. Numerous aspects of day-to-day website management activities discussed. Person can build an online account before paying, but does not become a member unless they pay. Over last 6 years 460 online accounts have expired, likely many are related to the PCGS program. Website developer relationship management is becoming increasingly time consuming. URL vendor, Akshay, is apparently experiencing business success, which can make getting focus on our needs more time consuming. Changing vendors discussed; this may be difficult, risky, time consuming and require much time and education to bring up to speed. Obsolete DB Report Shawn’s report submitted to Board before meeting cited. Several states now have design data and images imported. Several added states have design data uploaded. Ongoing work with state experts whose design data has been uploaded to get their images and data into the database. During the past year, the ODB interface has been refined, improving the use of the gallery and ease of uploading. “Registry set” concept, as it relates to the ODB, discussed. This feature would allow member users to build different sets - a scrip collection, an obsolete collection, notes sorted by theme, by vignette, etc. Sets could be made public if desired by user. Best of category competitions could be developed. Open, agnostic, nature of this idea cited as an advantage. Website has been entered n NLG competition for “Best Non-Trade Website.” Awards will be announced in August at ANA. Report on Educational Grants Ron Horstman reported no activity by committee save one application from Peter Huntoon. Recommendation approved by Educational Committee, submitted to Board, approved by Board. R. Horstman asked what process is, as he had not heard further feedback. Discussion ensued, leading to understanding of unique circumstances of use of Shiva Grants as well as lack of interest in our $500 grant program. P Fricke stated he felt re-examination of process, held offline, warranted. M. Anderson noted recent conversations with A.Shiva in which Andrew was updated on board discussion at time last grant was approved. Report of Publications Committee Pierre Fricke cited changing publication environment. Has been approached about some small press run possible projects. Wismer Fund Balance is $25.3K, but viable projects, properly stewarded are scarce. L. Gatch noted recent award winner book on Counterfeiting. P. Fricke summarized challenges and changes in the realities of publishing in the modern day world [need for camera-ready pdf, which is four figure challenge, need for capable contacts in China for printing, pricing/volume considerations, and distribution capabilities]. Report of SPMC Librarian Jeff Brueggeman reported Library running smoothly. Ron Horstman asked if the SPMC library had contacted Past President Cochran’s family/heirs to arrange to his library, as it had been promised to go to charity. Frank Clark stated that heirs had consigned all Cochran books to Heritage and they had been sold some time ago. Report of Audit Committee Mike Scacci reported for the Committee, and cited previously submitted report. Noted that Society investments will mature this year, and that improved interest rates could be hoped for; Robert Moon stated he has already had a conversation with his branch manager and expects we will see increased returns when maturities are renewed. Also noted in ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 336 audit report was PayPal balance growth and suggestion that exposure be monitored and any cash balance be cleared out periodically. Changed and added signatories have been taken care of. Treasurer Moon has reported to M Scacci that obsolete paperwork is growing and records retention policy needs to be addressed. M Scacci noted that he and M Anderson have had some initial conversations on this as well. Loren Gatch asked if yield can be improved by possible tiering of the investments in a manner that is risk appropriate. Mike Scacci agreed with the aims of the question but noted that bank rates are actually again in decline. Board discussed practicalities in current rate environment. Report on Awards Mark Anderson reported that breakfast awards were well received. “Undeliverables” have been catalogued and transferred to Jeff Brueggeman, who has mailing address information in his member ship data, and has agreed to mail them out to the proper recipients upon return home. Exhibit Awards presentation along the lines of previous years’ arrangements again scheduled for Saturday at 4. As long planned, with his official stepdown from the SPMC Presidency, Past President Fricke replaces PP Anderson as Awards Chair. Mark Anderson stated he believes that he can provide up to date lists, and organizational tolls to assist in the transfer. KC 2017 Exhibits Robert Moon reported that Mart Delger was unable to attend [for the first time ever] the IPMS as a result of shoulder problems. An MRI indicates he will need a “total shoulder replacement.” While Exhibit Chair Mart Delger and Bob were originally told that a limited number of cases were available at this year’s show and proceeded accordingly, it is now clear that this should not be a problem in the future. Hall of Fame Update Mark Anderson reported that the annual HoF induction dinner has been arranged for Saturday evening at Pierpont’s at 7 p.m. By-Laws Review For good order’s sake, Benny Bolin has suggested the SPMC by-laws be reviewed periodically. Mark Anderson has provided the most recent version via e-mail to Pierre Fricke, VP Hewitt, and Editor Bolin. It was suggested they be sent to all members. Mark Anderson to follow up. New Business/Other: Committee Checkpoint Standing Committees, their chairs and members were reviewed: Marketing Committee: Gary Dobbins Chair, Jeff Brueggeman, P. Fricke [new], Shawn Hewitt Education Committee: R Horstman, Chair, Robert Moon, Treasurer Publications Committee: P Fricke, Chair [committee of one] Audit Committee, M. Scacci, M. Anderson Hall of Fame Committee: M. Scacci Chair, Wendell Wolka, Mark Anderson Other: Treasurer Moon stated he has received paperwork for SPMC participation in January FUN Show. SPMC attendees will likely include Hewitt, Wolka, Anderson, Mark Anderson suggested we again consider fiscal support to L F Knight in recognition of his efforts to support educational and SPMC related activities. Board agreed to $1,000, to be conveyed by S Hewitt. Frank Clark asked who was supporting Mike Dougherty application for membership. Wendell Wolka stated he has reserved meeting space for ANA in August, but no table. R Horstman stated that J Murphy has received invite to participate and to whom should it be sent Rob Vandevender reminded Board of silent auction for 2017 breakfast tickets numbered 1 to 5. President-Elect Hewitt discussed recent idea that IBNS and SPMC recognize each other as mutual life Members, and thereby eliminate any inter-Society payments going forward. Moved Hewitt, no discussion, unanimous. President-Elect Hewitt presented outgoing President Fricke with an antique canister style bank, prominently labeled “Pierre,” and thanked him for his service as President to the Society, for identifying and recruiting him as VP, and for his support throughout the last two terms. Transfer of Power As his last act of an impressive four year tenure as SPMC President, P Fricke congratulated President-Elect Hewitt, and presented him with the SPMC gavel. Both gentlemen were applauded, and there being no further business before the Board, President Hewitt’s first employ of the gavel was to adjourn the meeting at 10:07 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Mark B. Anderson, Recording Secretary. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 337 SPMC’s Obsolete Database Introduction by Shawn Hewitt One of the final frontiers for paper money catalogers to tame is the area of U.S. Obsolete Notes. The field has been researched in earnest for over 90 years, beginning with the general but systematic cataloging efforts of D.C. Wismer. In following years, the vastness of the field had resulted in individual researchers specializing in certain states to expand the knowledge of local issues, one state at a time. This paradigm changed in the early 1980s, when Jim Haxby and his colleagues published their catalog of bank notes from throughout the country. This feat was successful because they sought the input of state specialists to make their listings as complete and accurate as possible. It has been over 30 years since the publication of their bank note catalog. In that time, two things have happened. The first is that a fair amount of new information has become available, particularly with the sale of the American Bank Note Company archives in the early 1990s, the sale of the Schingoethe Collection of obsolete notes over a decade ago, and most recently the dispersion of holdings from the Eric P. Newman Collection. Additionally, a significant amount of new research has been published by state specialists as they fill in the knowledge gaps, and lately Whitman has been rolling out their new series of catalogs. The second is that technology, especially forms of social networking on the internet, has enabled groups of people to share information more efficiently than ever before. This new technology will allow the paradigm to again shift to a country-wide scale on the collection and dissemination of knowledge on U.S. Obsolete Notes. The Society of Paper Money Collectors has embarked on an ambitious project to compile a database of all U.S. obsolete bank notes. It is constructed in a manner similar to the web portal Wikipedia, where any member can contribute to the pool of information, and experts in their respective fields can correct and maintain the integrity of the data. There is a twofold scope to the project: 1) to catalog all reported obsolete notes, and 2) to keep a census of all reported notes. The Board of Governors of the Society of Paper Money Collectors embraced this project because:  The project is clearly aligned with the Society’s basic mission - to promote the study and growth of knowledge of paper money in the hobby. This project has tremendous potential to do just that;  The Society has laid much of the educational groundwork in the field via the numerous obsolete “state books”;  Included in the membership base are the people with the collective knowledge who can assist in assembling the initial working catalog and can serve as specialist experts in expanding and maintaining the data. The scope of the Obsoletes Database Project (ODP) is large, including obsolete bank notes, scrip, advertising notes, panic and depression scrip, and much more. In the long run, this project may be scalable to other collecting fields, such as Confederate and Fractional, and can document the many varieties of each. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 338 Where we are now The project has been in progress now for three years. Over that time, we’ve built the infrastructure from scratch, incorporating a number of tools to facilitate the importing of data and images, as well as utilities that make the data accessible. The most recent feature, one that promotes the website to be a practical and everyday experience for collectors, is the Set Registry. Collectors can use the registry to track their own collections, & optionally compete with others for best-of-category awards.  We presently have an extensive collection of issuer and design data from eleven states thanks to the efforts of numerous state experts. These states are Minnesota, Alabama, District of Columbia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maryland, Iowa, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas and Georgia. The first four of these states are also populated with note data and images. We anticipate to continue adding a few more states each year for the foreseeable future. How to participate The very first thing you can do as a collector of obsoletes is to check out the website at www.spmc.org/obs/. Nose around into all the nooks and crannies. Get a sense of what there is, and use your imagination to see what this can look like in another three years. If you have a collection of obsolete notes, we need you, your expertise, and your data. The way to start is to scan in your collection at 300dpi or higher. Once you have those images, there are several different options, depending on the size of your collection, to get them and their corresponding data uploaded. You can upload these yourself, one at a time, via the “+ Note” link on the home page, or add a group of images via the “+ Note Gallery” link. If you already have your notes in a spreadsheet, we can adapt that spreadsheet into an importable one. This is the best method for large collections. Note that we firmly believe in providing credit for all contributions, and these are logged automatically on the Credits page, accessible via the link on top menu. For other questions not addressed here, be sure to check out the FAQ, also on the top menu. The Forum can be used to ask general questions or see what others are talking about. Whether you have just a few notes to share or a large collection, we the administrators of ODP would like to know who you are. Please drop Shawn an email at shawn@shawnhewitt.com to introduce yourself. Next up This is the first of a series of articles to highlight the many features of ODP. We’ll cover the powerful Search utility, how to add issuers, designs and notes, the Set Registry in time to prepare for competition, Unidentified Notes, and the Note Galleries. Catch us again in the next issue of Paper Money. ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 339 United States Paper Money specialselectionsfordiscriminatingcollectors Buying and Selling the finest in U.S. paper money Individual Rarities: Large, Small National Serial Number One Notes Large Size Type ErrorNotes Small Size Type National Currency StarorReplacementNotes Specimens, Proofs,Experimentals FrederickJ. Bart Bart,Inc. website: www.executivecurrency.com (586) 979-3400 POBox2• Roseville,MI 48066 e-mail: Bart@executivecurrency.com Buying & Selling • Obsolete • Confederate • Colonial & Continental • Fractional • Large & Small U.S. Type Notes Vern Potter Currency & Collectibles Please visit our Website at www.VernPotter.com Hundreds of Quality Notes Scanned, Attributed & Priced P.O. Box 10040 Torrance, CA 90505-0740 Phone: 310-326-0406 Email: Vern@VernPotter.com Member •PCDA •SPMC •FUN •ANA WANTED: 1778 NORTH CAROLINA COLONIAL $40. (Free Speech Motto). Kenneth Casebeer, (828) 277- 1779; Casebeer@law.miami.edu WORLD PAPER MONEY. 2 stamps for new arrival price list. I actively buy and sell. Mention PM receive $3 credit. 661-298-3149. Gary Snover, PO Box 1932, Canyon Country, CA 91386 www.garysnover.com. TRADE MY DUPLICATE, circulated FRN $1 star notes for yours I need. Have many in the low printings. Free list. Ken Kooistra, PO Box 71, Perkiomenville, PA 18074. kmk050652@verizon.net WANTED: Notes from the State Bank of Indiana, Bank of the State of Indiana, and related documents, reports, and other items. Write with description (include photocopy if possible) first. Wendell Wolka, PO Box 1211, Greenwood, IN 46142 FOR SALE: College Currency/advertising notes/ 1907 depression scrip/Michigan Obsoletes/Michigan Nationals/stock certificates. Other interests? please advise. Lawrence Falater.Box 81, Allen, MI. 49227 WANTED: Any type Nationals containing the name “LAWRENCE” (i.e. bank of LAWRENCE). Send photo/price/description to LFM@LARRYM.com BUYING ONLY $1 HAWAII OVERPRINTS. White, no stains, ink, rust or rubber stamping, only EF or AU. Pay Ask. Craig Watanabe. 808-531- 2702. Captaincookcoin@aol.com Vermont National Bank Notes for sale. For list contact. granitecutter@bellsouth.net. WANTED: Any type Nationals from Charter #10444 Forestville, NY. Contact with price. Leo Duliba, 469 Willard St., Jamestown, NY 14701-4129. "Collecting Paper Money with Confidence". All 27 grading factors explained clearly and in detail. Now available Amazon.com . AhlKayn@gmail.com Stamford CT Nationals For Sale or Trade. Have some duplicate notes, prefer trade for other Stamford notes, will consider cash. dombongo@earthlink.net WANTED: Republic of Texas “Star” (1st issue) notes. Also “Medallion” (3rd issue) notes. VF+. Serious Collector. reptexpaper@gmail.com. Wanted Railroad scrip Wills Valley; Western & Atlantic 1840s; East Tennessee & Georgia; Memphis and Charleston. Dennis Schafluetzel 1900 Red Fox Lane; Hixson, TN 37343. Call 423-842-5527 or email dennis@schafluetzel $ MoneyMart $ ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 340 Florida Paper Money Ron Benice “I collect all kinds of Florida paper money” 4452 Deer Trail Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34238 941 927 8765 Benice@Prodigy.net Books available mcfarlandpub.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com DBR Currency We Pay top dollar for *National Bank notes *Large size notes *Large size FRNs and FBNs www.DBRCurrency.com P.O. Box 28339 San Diego, CA 92198 Phone: 858-679-3350 info@DBRCurrency.com Fax: 858-679-7505 See out eBay auctions under user ID DBRcurrency HIGGINS MUSEUM 1507 Sanborn Ave. • Box 258 Okoboji, IA 51355 (712) 332-5859 www.TheHigginsMuseum.org email: ladams@opencominc.com Open: Tuesday-Sunday 11 to 5:30 Open from Memorial Day thru Labor Day History of National Banking & Bank Notes Turn of the Century Iowa Postcards Fractional Currency Collectors Join the Fractional Currency Collectors Board (FCCB) today and join with other collectors who study, collect and commiserate about these fascinating notes. New members get a copy of Milt Friedberg’s updated version of the Encyclopedia of United States Postage and Fractional Currency as well as a copy of the Simplified copy of the same which is aimed at new collectors. N ew members will also get a copy of Rob Kravitz’s first edit ion “A Collector’s Guide to Postage and Fractional Currency” while supplies last. New Membership is $30 or $22 for the Simplified edition only To join, contact William Brandimore, membership chairman at 1009 Nina, Wausau, WI 54403. MYLAR D® CURRENCY HOLDERS PRICED AS FOLLOWS BANK NOTE AND CHECK HOLDERS SIZE INCHES 50 100 500 1000 Fractional 4-3/4" x 2-1/4" $21.60 $38.70 $171.00 $302.00 Colonial 5-1/2" x 3-1/16" $22.60 $41.00 $190.00 $342.00 Small Currency 6-5/8" x 2-7/8" $22.75 $42.50 $190.00 $360.00 Large Currency 7-7/8" x 3-1/2" $26.75 $48.00 $226.00 $410.00 Auction 9 x 3-3/4" $26.75 $48.00 $226.00 $410.00 Foreign Currency 8 x 5 $32.00 $58.00 $265.00 $465.00 Checks 9-5/8 x 4-1/4" $32.00 $58.00 $265.00 $465.00 SHEET HOLDERS SIZE INCHES 10 100 250 Obsolete Sheet 8 - 3/4" x 14 -1/2" $20.00 $88.00 $154.00 $358.00 End Open National Sheet 8 -1/2" x 17 -1/2" $21.00 $93.00 $165.00 $380.00 Side Open Stock Certificate 9 -1/2" x 12 -1/2" $19.00 $83.00 $150.00 $345.00 End Open Map & Bond Size 18" x 24" $82.00 $365.00 $665.00 $1530.00 End Open Foreign Oversize 10" x 6" $23.00 $89.00 $150.00 $320.00 Foreign Jumbo 10" x 8" $30.00 $118.00 $199.00 $425.00 You may assort note holders for best price (min. 50 pcs. one size). You may assort sheet holders for best price (min. 10 pcs. one size). SHIPPING IN THE U.S. (PARCEL POST) FREE OF CHARGE Out of Country sent Registered Mail at Your Cost Mylar D® is a Registered Trademark of the Dupont Corporation. This also applies to uncoated archival quality Mylar® Type D by the Dupont Corp. or the equivalent material by ICI Industries Corp. Melinex Type 516. DENLY’S OF BOSTON P.O. Box 29, Dedham, MA 02027 • 781-326-9481 ORDERS: 800-HI-DENLY • FAX 781-326-9484 www.denlys.com ___________________________________________________________Paper Money * July/August 2017 * Whole No. 310_____________________________________________________________ 341 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 • Hosts the annual National and World Paper Money Convention each fall in St. Louis, Missouri. Please visit our Web Site pcdaonline.com for dates and location. • Encourages public awareness and education regarding the hobby of Paper Money Collecting. • Sponsors the John Hickman National Currency Exhibit Award each June at the Memphis Paper Money Convention, as well as Paper Money classes at the A.N.A.’s Summer Seminar series. • Publishes several “How to Collect” booklets regarding currency and related paper items. Availability of these booklets can be found in the Membership Directory or on our Web Site. • Is a proud supporter of the Society of Paper Money Collectors. To be assured of knowledgeable, professional, and ethical dealings when buying or selling currency, look for dealers who proudly display the PCDA emblem. The Professional Currency Dealers Association For a FREE copy of the PCDA Membership Directory listing names, addresses and specialties of all members, send your request to: PCDA James A. Simek – Secretary P.O. Box 7157 • Westchester, IL 60154 (630) 889-8207 Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcdaonline.com Fr. 178 1880 $100 Legal Tender PMG Very Fine 30 Net Fr. 1218f 1882 $1,000 Gold Certificate PCGS Very Fine 35 The Finest Graded of the Ten Known Examples CURRENCY PLATINUM NIGHT® AUCTION July 31–August 4, 2017 | Denver | Live & Online Highlights from Our Upcoming ANA Platinum Night® Auction Visit HA.com/3556 to view the catalog or place bids online. Paul R. Minshull #LSM0605473; Heritage Auctions #LSM0602703 & #LSM0624318. BP 17.5%; see HA.com. 44407 DALLAS | NEW YORK | BEVERLY HILLS | SAN FRANCISCO | CHICAGO | PALM BEACH PARIS | GENEVA | AMSTERDAM | HONG KONG Always Accepting Quality Consignments in 40 Categories Immediate Cash Advances Available 1 Million+ Online Bidder-Members T1 $1,000 1861 Montgomery PCGS Very Fine 35 From The J. Wayne Hilton Confederate Currency Collection T2 $500 1861 Montgomery PCGS Extremely Fine 40 From The J. Wayne Hilton Confederate Currency Collection T3 $100 1861 Montgomery PCGS Choice About New 55 From The J. Wayne Hilton Confederate Currency Collection T4 $50 1861 Montgomery PCGS Very Fine 35 From The J. Wayne Hilton Confederate Currency Collection Accepting consignments for our Official Long Beach Auction. Deadline: July 17 Contact us today | Currency@HA.com | 800-872-6467 ext. 1001.