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The SPMC Catalog Number is constructed as follows:

State Code : City Code : Issuer Code : Design Code : Variety Code

A scheme that is intuitive to read, expandable (robust), and has search value.  The algorithm can be coded so that new assignments can be generated dynamically by the system.  State experts can have the final approval on new assignments.

City Code Assignments (limited to 4 letters)

• If 4 words in city, first letter from each word
• If 3 words in city, first letter from each word
• If 2 words in city, first two letters of both words
• If 1 word in city, first four letters of city
• Three letter cities use only 3 letters
• Common abbreviations
  • Saint is always abbreviated St
  • Fort is always abbreviated Ft
  • Mount/Mountain is always abbreviated Mt
  • Point is always abbreviated Pt
  • Lake is always abbreviated Lk
  • North, South, East, West; use first letters only
• First letters are capitalized; all others are lower case
• Codes must be unique disregarding capitalization
• Conflicts resolved manually
• Before initial assignment, sort each city (within a state) so that largest cities get the “best” assignments first

Issuer Code Assignments (2 or more letters)

• First letter of each capitalized word
• Omit articles “the” and “of”
• May include numerals if more than one of same name
• Sub-issuers listed as Issuer Code + “.“ + Sub-issuer Code
• Conflicts resolved manually
• Possible resolution for conflicts is to standardize common words when needed
  • Merchants as Mer
  • Mechanics as Mec
  • Miners as Min

Design Code Assignments (2 letters plus numerals)

• First letter represents Design Type (assignments below)
• Second letter represents Authenticity (assignments below)
• Next numerals are denomination (designs are most often unique to a denomination)
  • Whole denominations written only as integers
  • Fractional values start with “0.” (or n.0 as appropriate)
  • Written amounts omit number

Variety Code Assignments (2 or more lower case letters or numbers)

• Append “:” for each variety
• Used only if needed to distinguish between two or more varieties
• Variety codes are lower case letters assigned on an intuitive basis in the context of the Issuer and Design codes
• Protector codes
  • “ro” for red overprint
  • “gt” for green tint
  • “no” for no overprint
  • Protector code is not used if only one variety is known; if a second variety appears, then codes are used and existing code is renamed
• Date codes
  • “hd” for handwritten date
  • “ed” for engraved date
• Create others as needed

Examples

$3 Bank of Hastings (all notes known have green overprint, so no variety code)

MN:Hast:BH:BG3

$.05 Bank of Hastings scrip with scrolled number frame

MN:Hast:BH:SG0.05:sf

2 (Hours) Ada, OH Labor Exchange

OH:Ada:LE:LG2

$.25 D.B. Dorman (John Kiefer, merchant)

MN:StAn:DBD.JK:SG0.25

$10 State Bank of Ohio, Summit County Branch, Cuyahoga Falls

OH:CuFa:SBO.SCB:BG10

$2 Bank of Red Wing (1^st)

MN:ReWi:BRW1:BG2:ro

$1 Central Bank of New Ulm without overprint

MN:NeUl:CB:BG1:no

$1 Central Bank of New Ulm with red overprint

MN:NeUl:CB:BG1:ro

Type III $1.90 Postal Note from St. Cloud

MN:StCl:PO.SC:PG:iii

$5 Printer’s mock-up of Treasurer of the City Stillwater, IL scrip

IL:Stil:TCS:MM5

$1 Treasurer of the City of West St. Paul, 1858 issue

MN:WStP:TCWSP:MG1:58

$2 Treasurer of Ramsey County, Endorsed by Thompson Brothers

MN:StPa:TRC:MG2:en:tb

$2 Treasurer of Ramsey County (usual remainder w/o endorsement; en is used because this is the engraved issue; earlier type was printed on letterpress).

MN:StPa:TRC:MG2:en:ne

$1 Winona County Bank, woman in oval frame at lower right, handwritten serial number

MN:Wino:WCB:BG1:of:hs

$1 Winona County Bank, woman without frame at lower right, printed serial number

MN:Wino:WCB:BG1:nf:ps

The indicated rarity can be automatically generated by the data in the census, or set by the State Expert based on estimated population.  A generated rarity is shown in green, while a set rarity is in red.  The scale is from that used in obsolete note books published by the SPMC:

SENC: 0 (Surviving Example Not Confirmed)

R-7: 1-5 known

R-6: 6-10 known

R-5: 11-25 known

R-4: 26-50 known

R-3: 51-100 known

R-2: 101-200 known

R-1: Over 200 known

Yes.  Access to this database is one of the many benefits of being a member of the Society of Paper Money Collectors.  Membership information can be found here:  https://www.spmc.org/signup