Ofϐicial Journal of Signatures & Monetization of National Bank Notes Costa Mesa • New York • Boston • Miami • Philadelphia • San Francisco • New Hampshire • Oklahoma Hong Kong • Copenhagen • Paris • Vancouver America’s Oldest and Most Accomplished Rare Coin Auctioneer SBG PaperMoney ConsignNov 260901 1550 Scenic Ave., Ste. 150, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 949.253.0916 • Info@StacksBowers.com 470 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022 212.582.2580 • NYC@StacksBowers.com Visit Us Online at StacksBowers.com LEGENDARY COLLECTIONS | LEGENDARY RESULTS | A LEGENDARY AUCTION FIRM November 2026 Showcase Auction Realize Top Prices for Your U.S. Currency in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Auction Dates: November 16-20, 2026 • Costa Mesa, CA Visit Us Online at StacksBowers.com Peter A. Treglia 949.748.4828 PTreglia@ StacksBowers.com Michael Moczalla 949.503.6244 MMoczalla@ StacksBowers.com Contact Our Experts Today for More Information! Official Auction of the Whitman Expo. Consign U.S. Currency by October 1, 2026 Fr. 93c. 1862 $10 Legal Tender Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ. Realized $63,000 Fr. 359. 1890 $5 Treasury Note. PCGS Banknote Gem Uncirculated 65 PPQ. Realized $31,200 Fr. 348. 1890 $1 Treasury Note. PCGS Banknote Gem Uncirculated 65 PPQ. Realized $36,000 Fr. 1700. 1933 $10 Silver Certificate. PCGS Banknote Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 PPQ. Low Serial Number. Realized $99,000 Philipsburg, Montana. $10 1882 Brown Back. Fr. 485. The First NB. Charter #4658. PCGS Banknote Choice Very Fine 35. Serial Number 1. Realized $36,000 Fr. 1179. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ. Realized $120,000 Fr. 2405. 1928 $100 Gold Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ. Realized $192,000 Fr. 2407. 1928 $500 Gold Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Realized $204,000 290 Bank Signatures & Monetizaton of National Bank Notes--Peter Huntoon 300 The Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Co. --Michael Reddick 312 Vignettes & Latin Sayings on S.C. Notes of 1775/76--Benny Bolin 315 BEPs Vanishing Act--Lee Eilers 318 Two Banks, One Corner--Marc Shull 310 Introduction to George Clymer--Bill Gunther SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 285 324 New Jersey Vignette Identified--David Gladfelter 326 Backtalk--David Gladfelter 346 Postal Note from Rushmore, MN--Bob Laub Columns From Your President Robert Calderman 287 Editor Sez Benny Bolin 288 New Members Frank Clark 289 Chump Change Loren Gatch 327 Uncoupled Joe Boling & Fred Schwan 328 Foreign Affairs Dennis Hengeveld 336 Cherry Pickers Corner Robert Calderman 332 Quartermaster Michael McNeil 338 Small Notes Jamie Yakes 344 Advertisers Stacks Bowers Galleries IFC Pierre Fricke 285 Cuba BN Catalog 299 William Litt 308 SCCS 309 Executive Currency 325 FCCB 345 Bob Laub 348 Higgins Museum 348 PCDA 349 Heritage Auctions OBC SPMC Hall of Fame The SPMC Hall of Fame recognizes and honors those individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the society over the span of many years. Charles Affleck Walter Allan Mark Anderson Doug Ball Aubrey & Adeline Bebee Hank Bieciuk Joseph Boling Q.David Bowers F.C.C. Boyd Michael Crabb Forrest Daniel Martin Delger William Donlon Roger Durand C. John Ferreri Milt Friedberg Robert Friedberg Len Glazer Nathan Gold Nathan Goldstein Albert Grinnell James Haxby John Herzog Gene Hessler John Hickman William Higgins Ruth Hill Peter Huntoon Brent Hughes Glenn Jackson Glen Jorde Don Kelly Lyn Knight Chet Krause Robert Medlar Allen Mincho Clifford Mishler Barbara Mueller Judith Murphy Eric Newman Dean Oakes Chuck O'Donnell Roy Pennell Albert Pick Fred Reed Matt Rothert John Rowe III Fred Schwan Neil Shafer Herb& Martha Schingoethe Austin Sheheen, Jr. Hugh Shull Glenn Smedley Raphael Thian Daniel Valentine Louis Van Belkum George Wait John & Nancy Wilson D.C. Wismer SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 286 Officers & Appointees ELECTED OFFICERS PRESIDENT Robert Calderman gacoins@earthlink.net VICE-PRES William Litt TREASURER Robert Moon robertmoon@aol.com BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPOINTEES PUBLISHER-EDITOR-ADVERTISING MANAGER Benny Bolin smcbb@sbcglobal.net MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Frank Clark frank_clark@yahoo.com IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Robert Vandevender WISMER BOOK PROJECT COORDINATOR Pierre Fricke From Your President Robert CaldermanFrom Your President Shawn Hewitt We’re excited to announce the details of our second annual Florida United Numismatists (FUN) Speakers Forum. In the fashion of our inaugural seminar last year, we’ll again have a total of five speakers making presentations, and close out the forum with our SPMC membership meeting on Saturday morning. The dates of the FUN convention are January 9-12, 2020 at the Orange County Convention Center, West Building WA1 & WA2, in Orlando, Florida. The first four talks are on Friday, January 10 in Room 304F (same as last year). Here is the lineup… - "The Current Status of the U. S. Small Size Paper Money Market". – Mr. Calderman, a specialist and dealer in U. S. small-size type notes will discuss the current trends in small size notes and the future of this paper money specialty. - "A Behind the Scenes Look at the Paper Money Auction Process"–Mr. Johnston, the Vice- President and Managing Director of the Currency Division at Heritage Auctions will discuss the nuts- and-bolts of conducting a major Paper Money auction. "An Overview of the Confederate Paper Money Market" . Mr. Fricke has been a long-time dealer in Confederate Paper Money and is the author of the standard reference on Confederate Paper Money "Collecting Confederate Paper Money: The Standard Guide to Confederate Money". "The good, the bad, and the ugly of antebellum bank note fraud" – Various types of pre-Civil War bank note fraud will be explored and illustrated. In addition, at the SPMC Membership Meeting (open to all) on Saturday at 8:30am in Room 303B we have: - "Overview of the SPMC Bank Note History Project" - This project is focused on two of the primary historical aspects of the "Hometown" National Bank Notes - the Banks who issued them and the bankers who signed them. I think we’re onto a good thing in making FUN another major venue for the face of SPMC. Our table will be 867 in the club section of the bourse floor, so please stop by. Again, this year, we are participating in the ANA Treasure Trivia Program, which is a great outreach to the youth of our hobby. We have some very nice world notes to hand out (to young numismatists) as souvenirs for visiting our table. Before I go, I should mention that we have a new Membership Secretary. Robert Calderman, one of our board members, has stepped up to fill the position recently vacated by Jeff Brueggeman. If you frequent the major shows, you may have seen Robert at one of our club tables. Robert is great resource for the Society, and we very much appreciate the work he does for us. Paper Money * July/August 2020 6 Robert Calderman gacoins@earthlink.com Matt Drais stockpicker12@aol.com Mark Drengson markd@step1software.com Loren Gatch lgatch@uco.edu Shawn Hewitt Shawn@north-trek.com Derek Higgins derekhiggins219@gmail.com Raiden Honaker raidenhonaker8@gmail.com William Litt Cody Regennitter cody.regenitter@gmail.com billitt@aol.com Andrew Timme Wendell Wolka derekhiggins219@gmail.com SECRETARY Derek Higgins billitt@aol.com rman andrew.timmerman@aol.com purduenut@aol.com It is now September already and for the brief time that is left, I will hold on tightly to our very last smidge of summer. At least until the first day of fall coming up here soon on the 22nd. Enjoy the heat and sunshine for as long as you can! This is a fun time of year here in the southeast where every afternoon we are bombarded by intense pop-up thunderstorms that really scare the tar out of our little kitty cats! Have you noticed a ton of changes going n in the paper money world this year? A lot of shuffling has been going around, some of it for the better and other changes have been s dly bit ersweet! The Paper Money Collectors of Michigan PMCM founded in 1966 has now disbanded after nearly 60 years. Thei ren wned publication “The Rag Picker” is avail ble via the archives on the Newman Numismatic Portal and I hig ly recommend taking a look if you are not already familiar with their past newsletters. The S MC was chosen by the P CM to receive a generous donation from their treasury and we were in turn able to use funds to provide new SPMC memberships and also renewals to active PMCM members! As a result, you will notice a number of new SPMC members being added to our roster via Frank Clark’s membership reports in our Paper Money Journal. Another big change was the California Long Beach Expo shutting down after over 60 years of shows! PCGS owned the Expo and announced in February 2025 that the show was being put on pause indefinitely. That was an absolute heartbreaker for me since I grew up near Long Beach and still have family in Orange County! Thankfully, StacksBowers Galleries based in nearby Costa Mesa came to the rescue and acquired the show! Founded in NYC way back in 1933 Stacks Bowers was the perfect company to swoop in and save the day. Earlier this year in February, we had the first show under new ownership and a second show is coming this month Sep. 9-11. While the summer shows will now likely become a thing of the past… two shows a year are fantastic and much better than zero! While I do acknowledge that this is old news at this point, it is very fresh on my mind after hearing new information being released about the Whitman Baltimore Expos! Next year’s longstanding March Baltimore show has now turned i to a February show in Washington D.C.!!! Boy-oh-boy, a sho in D.C. during the dead of winter? This could be an interesting logistical ess for dealers and attende s traveling to and from the show! Le us just ke p our fingers crossed on that one. If that wasn’t wild nough for you, how about this… th June Baltimore s ow is now going to be in R leigh, NC for the next two years! This is a big plus fo me travel wise, being closer to my home base here in Ge rgia, but much ore importantly the Baltimore show is the only large show that exists to serve the northeast region! Sure Raleigh works for a show, but it is an absolutely terrible location for all of the folks who typically drive in from nearby NY, NJ, DE, and other northeastern locales. The Whitman Publishing Company was acquired by CDN, publishers of the Greysheet, back on Halloween 2023. With acquisition comes change. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for the Baltimore show, an iconic location that has been a numismatic staple for over 50 years! What was the actual catalyst to all of this change you may be asking? It most likely had nothing to do with the ownership transition. This fall begins a billon dollar redevelopment of the Baltimore Inner Harbor area. Regardless of how you feel about the changes to the Whitman Expos, Baltimore was not going to be an option for at least the next two years. Hope to see you at a future show. As always, please stop by my table and say hello. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 287 Terms and Conditions  The Society  of  Paper Money  Collectors  (SPMC)  P.O.   Box 7055,  Gainesville, GA    30504, publishes    PAPER    MONEY (USPS   00‐ 3162)  every  other  month  beginning  in  January.  Periodical  postage  is  paid  at  Hanover,  PA.  Postmaster  send  address  changes  to  Secretary  Robert  Calderman,  Box  7055, Gainesville,  GA  30504. ©Society  of  Paper Money  Collectors, Inc.  2020.  All  rights  reserved.  Reproduction  of  any  article  in whole  or  part  without written approval  is prohibited.  Individual copies of  this  issue of PAPER MONEY are available  from the secretary  for $8  postpaid. Send changes of address, inquiries concerning    non    ‐    delivery    and    requests    for    additional copies of this issue to  the secretary.  MANUSCRIPTS  Manuscripts     not     under      consideration      elsewhere and  publications  for  review should be sent  to  the editor. Accepted  manuscripts  will  be  published  as  soon  as  possible,  however  publication  in  a  specific  issue  cannot  be guaranteed. Opinions  expressed  by  authors  do  not necessarily  reflect those  of  the  SPMC.   Manuscripts should be  submitted  in WORD  format  via  email (smcbb@sbcglobal.net)  or  by  sending memory stick/disk  to  the  editor.  Scans  should  be  grayscale  or  color  JPEGs  at  300 dpi. Color  illustrations may be changed to grayscale at  the  discretion  of  the  editor.  Do  not  send  items  of  value.  Manuscripts are  submitted with copyright release of the author  to  the  editor  for  duplication  and  printing as needed.  ADVERTISING  All advertising on space available basis. Copy/correspondence  should be sent to editor.  All advertising is pay in advance.  Ads are on a “good faith”  basis.  Terms are “Until Forbid.”  Ads  are  Run  of  Press  (ROP)  unless  accepted  on  a  premium  contract basis. Limited premium space/rates available.  To keep rates to a minimum, all advertising must be prepaid  according to the schedule below.  In exceptional cases where  special  artwork  or  additional  production  is  required,  the  advertiser  will be notified  and  billed accordingly.  Rates  are  not commissionable; proofs are not  supplied.  SPMC  does not  endorse any company, dealer,  or  auction  house.  Advertising  Deadline: Subject to space availability, copy must be received  by  the  editor  no  later  than  the  first  day  of  the  month  preceding  the  cover date  of  the  issue  (i.e.  Feb.  1  for  the  March/April  issue). Camera‐ready art or electronic ads  in pdf  format are required.  ADVERTISING RATES  Editor Sez Benny Bolin Required file    submission format    is    composite    PDF v1.3  (Acrobat 4.0   compatible).   If   possible, submitted files should  conform to ISO 15930‐1: 2001 PDF/X‐1a file format standard.  Non‐  standard,  application,  or  native  file  formats  are  not  acceptable. Page  size: must  conform to specified publication  trim  size.  Page  bleed:  must  extend minimum  1/8”  beyond  trim for page head, foot, and front.  Safety margin:  type  and  other  non‐bleed  content must  clear  trim by minimum 1/2”.   Advertising c o p y   shall be restricted to paper currency, allied  numismatic material, publications,   and   related   accessories.    The SPMC  does  not  guarantee advertisements,  but  accepts  copy  in good faith,  reserving  the right  to  reject objectionable  or  inappropriate  material  or  edit      copy.  The          SPMC   assumes      no      financial       responsibility for  typographical  errors  in  ads  but  agrees  to  reprint  that portion of an ad  in  which a typographical error occurs.  Benny (aka goompa) except now PeePaw Space  Full color covers  1 Time  $1500  3 Times  $2600  6 Times $4900 B&W covers  500  1400  2500 Full page color  500  1500  3000 Full page B&W  360  1000  1800 Half‐page B&W  180  500  900 Quarter‐page B&W  90  250  450 Eighth‐page B&W  45  125  225 My little princess IS TWO!!! Can you believe it? I cannot. Seems like yesterday she was born. So much fun, watching her run round carefree and getting into everything! She is truly the light of my life. So, we are now in the incessently hot days of summer. Not just in Texas, but all over the nation it seems. Seems like a good time to go indoors into the air-conditioning and go to a coin show!!! From all reports I have been hearing, the hobby is strong and doing well. As you read in President Calderman's column, we want to welcome members from the Paper Money Collectors of Michigan into our ranks. I hope they all enjoy our group and will become contributors to Paper Money. I always like their newsletter, The Rag Picker. I have a number of issues from years ago saved in my library. I hope some of their authors will continue to keep writing and send me articles! Some have asked how do I send you what is needed? Well, any old paper money related topic will do. Due to having to reformat a lot of the submissions in order to match formatting, decrease white space, etc., I ask for articles to be in WORD format with picture placement noted with a simple note so I put them in the correct place. I use Time-Roman 11 pt. as the font. I will be happy to do the rest. Just send them to me. You will find this issue a bit smaller than usual, but with the same quality of articles and columns. It seems I had a lot of longer articles that would have taken me over the 72-80 page limit I have imposed on myself. But--I still need your articles. I really, really, really want to ask one of our many exceptional authors out there to write me an article on Thanksgiving/Christmas for the November/December issue. Submission deadline is October 10. Write about notes (U.S. or world), stamps, paper, receipts, etc. I do need to tell you a little change that is happening, but only temporarily. You probably noticed that the July/August issue was later than usual and this one to, maybe. My goal is always to have it in the hands of the USPS the first week of the first month of the issue--September week one for the September/October issue, etc. However, when getting the July/August issue ready to be printed, our printer's main machine went kaput! That put them way behind schedule but they got it working again and guess what? Their main binding machine then went kaput! More delay. So, in order to keep the issues on track as near as possible, I am going to put the electronic file on the website right after I approve the printers proofs. This will hopefully allow that if the print copies are delayed most people will be able to at least read the electronic copies. Hopefully with the next issue, all this will be a moot point and our printer will be at full capacity again. Till next time! Look out for those school zones and don't drive and text! SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 288 The Society of Paper Money Collectors was organized in 1961 and incorporated in 1964 as a non-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. It is affiliated with the ANA. The Annual Meeting of the SPMC is held in June at the International Paper Money Show. Information about the SPMC, including the by-laws and activities can be found at our website-- www.spmc.org. The SPMC does not does not endorse any dealer, company or auction house. MEMBERSHIP—REGULAR and LIFE. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character. Members of the ANA or other recognized numismatic societies are eligible for membership. Other applicants should be sponsored by an SPMC member or provide suitable references. MEMBERSHIP—JUNIOR. Applicants for Junior membership must be from 12 to 17 years of age and of good moral character. A parent or guardian must sign their application. Junior membership numbers will be preceded by the letter “j” which will be removed upon notification to the secretary that the member has reached 18 years of age. Junior members are not eligible to hold office or vote. DUES—Annual dues are $39. Dues for members in Canada and Mexico are $45. Dues for members in all other countries are $60. Life membership—payable in installments within one year is $800 for U.S.; $900 for Canada and Mexico and $1000 for all other countries. The Society no longer issues annual membership cards but paid up members may request one from the membership director with an SASE. Memberships for all members who joined the Society prior to January 2010 are on a calendar year basis with renewals due each December. Memberships for those who joined since January 2010 are on an annual basis beginning and ending the month joined. All renewals are due before the expiration date, which can be found on the label of Paper Money. Renewals may be done via the Society website www.spmc.org or by check/money order sent to the secretary. WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS! BY FRANK CLARK SPMC MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR NEW MEMBERS 07/05/2026 Dues Remittal R obert Moon --SPMC Treasurer Process Send dues directly to 403 Gatewood Dr. Greenwood, SC 29646 You may also pay your dues online at www.spmc.org. 16078 Tarik Eid, Website 16079 Kathleen Wasiuk, Website 16080 John Heemstra, Website 16081 Eric Shuster, Website 16082J Philip Davis, Website 16083 Nathaniel Mills, Website 16084 Skhye Wix, Website 16085 Donald Shaffer, Website 16086 Kim Weatherford, Website 16087 Alexander Shumskiy, Website 16088 Dennis Boone, Website 16089 William Heim, Website REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS None NEW MEMBERS 08/05/2026 16090 Peter Daskalakis, Jeff Brueggeman 16091 David Haddock, David Sundman 16092 Ernie Nagy, PMCM 16093 Matthew J. Friday, PMCM 16094 Scott Webakken, Robert Calderman 16095 George Schweighofer, 16096 Robert Thomas, Frank Clark 16097 Stephen Cook, Paper Money Forum 16098 James Edgar, PMCM 16099 Mike Shirkey, PMCM 16100 Joseph LeBlanc, PMCM 16101 Bryan Kibiloski, PMCM 16102 Scott Simpson, PMCM 16103 Greg Gilbert, PMCM 16104 Rob Nettles, PMCM 16105 Bill Sauter, PMCM 16106 John A. Verville, PMCM 16107 Ryan Terry, Website 16108 Richard Schimmel. Website 16109 Terome Mitchell, Frank Clark 16110 David Anderson, Website 16111 Jerry Fitzpatrick, PMCM 16112 Floyd April, PMCM 16113 Audrius Moskaliovas, IBNS REINSTATEMENTS None LIFE MEMBERSHIPS LM488 Gregory Field, Robert Calderman LM489 Adam Chin, Frank Clark SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 289 Bank Signatures and Monetization of National Bank Notes INTRODUCTION The question is, just what signifies that a piece of paper is monetized? Is it transformed into money simply because some issuing authority such as a government treasury, bank, corporation or individual printed the piece of paper saying so? Is it money once the official seal of the issuing entity is overprinted on it? How about if it is signed by an official associated with the issuing authority? Monetization of Treasury currency by the U S. Treasury was accomplished by overprinting seals on the notes, an innovation implemented with the 1862 Legal Tender notes. However, monetization of national notes, which followed in 1863, required signing the notes by designated officers of the banks. This article will explain why nationals were treated differently, how sealing was used to monetize Treasury currency but bank signatures to monetize nationals, and how monetization by signing nationals eventually became a rather hollow reality. Sealing is Adopted for Treasury Currency The paper currency of the country leading up to the Civil War was issued by a plethora of private banks, some state and local governments, corporations and individuals. Typically, those notes bore at least one signature—usually penned—of an officer representing the issuing entity to indicate that the note was monetized. The tradition of signing such notes was the same as followed for other classes of financial paper representing contract value or indebtedness. Some financial paper of the era also utilized the seal of the issuing entity or individua, but signatures were ubiquitous. The 1861 demand notes are generally considered to be the first circulating U.S. currency underwritten by the U.S. Treasury. They were authorized by a Congressional Act passed August 5, 1861, Section 2 specified that the demand notes “shall be signed by the Treasurer of the United States, or by some officer of the Treasury Department, designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, for said Treasurer, and countersigned by the Register of the Treasury, or by some officer of the Treasury Department, designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, for said Register, and no Treasury notes, issued under any Figure 1. The neatly printed signature of cashier Albert Hollander is the smallest I have seen on a national. The Paper Column Peter Huntoon SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 290 act, shall require the seal of the Treasury Department.” The framers of the legislation were not thinking realistically for a currency issue designed for an entire nation. Ultimately, the demand note issue consisted of 4,450,000 $5s, 2,003,000 $10s and 910,000 $20s, All 7,363,000 of them had to be signed twice. Not only that, the deputies signing for the Treasurer and Register initially had to hand write “for the” in front of the engraved titles on each note. In short order, the bank note companies were instructed to engrave “for the” onto the plates, which virtually halved the work of the deputy signers. Even so, something had to give. The following is a revealing verbatim transcript of an account of the signing protocol. This appeared in the July, 1875, issue of the Banker’s Magazine. A writer in the Indianapolis Journal says: “The law requires all notes, bonds and interest coupons issued by the Government to bear the signature of the Treasurer. In former times, before the invention of greenbacks, and when the bond issues of the Government were comparatively insignificant, the Treasurer used to affix his personal signatures to them. When General Spinner came into office in 1861 he still pursued this practice for awhile, and nearly killed himself in the monotonous manual labor of writing his name. It soon became evident that the work was greater than any man could do, and left him no time whatever for other more important duties. So when the first issue of Government notes was made in the summer of 1861, a different arrangement was made. These notes were receivable for customs duties, and being payable on demand were called demand notes. The whole amount of them issued was $60,000,000. This is before the Government began to print its own notes. These demand notes were engraved and printed in New York, and sent to the Treasury Department at Washington to be signed by the Treasurer and Register. As the theory still prevailed that they must be signed by hand, a force of about eighty clerks was organized to do the work by deputy, one-half acting as Deputy Treasurers and the other as Deputy Registers. At first the words ‘for the’ had to be written in, making the signature read, ‘John Jones, for the Treasurer,’ or for the Register, as the case might be. Afterwards the words “for the” were engraved, and only the signature had to be written. The signing of the $60,000,000 of demand notes occupied this force of eighty men about six months—from August, 1861, to February, 1862. Although the Government credit was good at that time, it was even then sorely pressed for ready money to meet the heavy expenses of organizing and equipping the Army. Thus the demand notes were called for faster than they could be Figure 2. Demand notes were monetized by the penned signatures of the Register of the Treasury and Treasurer of the U.S. or their deputies. Notice the deputies had to write “for the” in front of the officer titles on this note. 7,363,000 demand notes had to be signed within a year. Heritage Auction Archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 291 signed, and it often occurred that the whole force of clerks was kept at work till nearly midnight signing bills which would be cut and trimmed early the next morning, and in some paymaster’s chest before night. It happened to the writer to have charge of the work, and he well remembers the high degree of gratification evidenced by the then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Chase, on learning that the last sheet of demand notes had been signed without the loss of a dollar. These were the last Government notes signed by hand. After the last of the demand notes was issued in early 1862, and the legal tender notes were on their way, the officials in the Treasury Department sprang for a major innovation. The bank note companies were ordered to overprint facsimiles of the Treasury official’s signatures on the legal tenders. In due course, as the 1862-3 legal tender series wore on, Treasury had the bank note companies roll engraved facsimiles of the Treasury signatures onto the plates, which saved one printing step. Simultaneously, and more significantly, they also decided to have Treasury seals printed on the notes wherein the seals became the monetizing instrument rather than signatures of Treasury officials. The American Bank Note Company was commissioned to design and produce seals that were purchased by the nascent Bureau of Engraving and Printing, then called the National Currency Bureau. The National Currency Bureau was housed with the Treasury building under the supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. The bank note companies delivered uncut sheets complete with Treasury signatures to the Bureau. Thus, the overprinting of the Treasury seals was undertaken within Treasury as a security safeguard. Then the Bureau cut the notes from the sheets The Act of February 12, 1862 authorizing the first issue of legal tender notes carried this pivotal language: “as evidence of lawful issue, the imprint of a copy of the seal of the Treasury Department, which imprint shall be made under the direction of the Secretary after the said notes * * * shall be received from the engravers.” Thusly, from the outset of the 1862 legal tender series, an overprinted Treasury seal served as the monetizing device on all Treasury currency rather than Treasury signatures. Monetization of National Bank Notes At this point, it is important to distinguish Treasury currency from bank currency. Treasury currency is Congressionally authorized currency issued by the U.S. Treasury, the redemption of which is the liability of the United States. Treasury currencies that later came into being after the legal tender notes included gold and silver certificates, and Treasury Notes of 1890 and 1891. In contrast, national bank notes are classified as bank currency, also authorized by Congress, but the liability of the issuing bank. From the outset, monetization of national bank notes was fundamentally different than Treasury currency. The Act of February 25, 1863 that first authorized national bank currency clearly stated that the printing of Treasury signatures and the Treasury seal served only to attest to the legitimacy of the issuance Figure 3. President Peter White won the distinction for using the largest signature on nationals. Heritage Auction Archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 292 of the notes under the authority of the act, but monetization of the notes occurred only after they were signed by the bank officials whose bank was liable for their redemption. Specifically, language in Section 18 reads: * * * notes shall express upon their face that they are secured by United States bonds, deposited with the treasurer of the United States, and issued under the provisions of this act, which statement shall be attested by the written or engraved signatures of the treasurer and register, and by the impression of the seal of the treasury; and shall also express upon their face the promise of the association receiving the same, to pay on demand, attested by the signatures of the president, or vice-president, and cashier. This language was carried forward to the revised and reenacted version of the law as Section 22 in the Act of June 3, 1864. The language not only required the signatures of the bank officers but also specified which officers could sign. What transpired was that Congress simply adopted the existing tradition of signing to monetizing nationals as was used for pre-Civil War bank currency. No one gave it a second thought Another grandfathered tradition was to provide the notes in sheet form for ease in signing. That practice stayed with nationals for the duration. Thus, the bankers assumed the responsibility for separating the notes. One onerous problem was that of sheets that were stolen in transit to the banks. Those notes with spurious signatures were rejected when they came in for redemption at the Treasury. The procedure was to send the rejected note back through the banking channel to the person who deposited it so the loss could be lodged against that person. Of course, such rejected notes were vexing because the note holder had accepted what clearly was a genuine note complete with signatures, The situation was a public relations disaster for national currency because it caused the public to be wary of it. Overprinted Bank Signatures Comptroller of the Currency John Jay Knox, who served as Comptroller of the Currency between 1872 and 1884, was one of the foremost Treasury monetary thinkers of his era. He could be a stickler in his interpretation of laws. Imagine receiving this letter from him if you were president of The Fourth National Bank of New York as you were in the midst of issuing a total of 570,412 Original and 1875 series notes between 1864 and 1884. Treasury Department Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Washington, April 10th, 1875 P. C. Calhoun Esq Prest Figure 4. $1 Original Series note from The Fourth National Bank of the City of New York printed in 1875 with printed signatures of president P. C. Calhoun and cashier Anthony Lane. Heritage Archives photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 293 Fourth Nat’l Bank New York City Sir: I am informed that circulating notes of your bank have recently been placed in circulation with the engraved signature of the President and Cashier. Section 22 of the National Bank Act authorizes the engraving of the signatures of the Treasurer and Register, but not those of the Officers of National Banks. Sec. 23 of the Act provides that “After any such association shall have caused its promise to pay such notes on demand to be signed by the president or vice-president and cashier thereof, in such manner as to make them obligatory promissory notes, payable on demand, at its place of business, such association is hereby authorized to issue and circulate the same as money.” The construction of this Act is plainly that no National Bank has a right to issue circulating notes unless “signed” by the President or Vice President and Cashier thereof. This has been the interpretation of the Act by my predecessors in Office and the present Secretary of the Treasury concurs in the interpretation. I have therefore requested the Treasurer of the U.S. to transmit to this Office for destruction all circulating notes of your Bank with engraved signatures which may be returned to his Office for redemption and your Bank is directed to require that all circulating notes hereafter issued by your Bank shall receive the written signatures of your President or Vice President and Cashier. If you have on hand any of your circulating notes with engraved signatures, you are requested to return them to the Treasurer for redemption. Very Respectfully John Jay Knox Comptroller of Currency Bank officers certainly had more important concerns than the time-consuming and physically debilitating job of signing notes. Clearly this was a point that the framers of the National Bank Act had not thought through. The reality was that the officers in many large banks had resorted to overprinted signature from their earliest years, including those in The Fourth National Bank. The fact is, the officers at The Fourth Figure 5. Note from The First National Bank of Woonsocket printed in 1866 with printed signature of president Edward Harris and penned signature of cashier Reuben G. Randall. In addition, the penned signature of vice president Joseph E. Cole was added vertically. Figure 6. Detail showing the penned signature of Jos. E. Cole over Vice Pres’t. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 294 National were having their signatures overprinted from the outset in 1864, Consequently, it is a curiosity that their overprinted signatures were being challenged in 1875. It also is possible that Knox’ letter never was sent. In 2014, the PCGS grading service received a very curious looking ace from The First National Bank of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The note carries a penned signature of Jos. E. Cole scrawled vertically across the face. Vice Pres’t is neatly printed under it. The PCGS graders wanted to know what I thought of it because the printed Vice Pres’t hinted at legitimacy. The other signatures on the Woonsocket note were Edward Harris, president, and Reuben G. Randall, cashier. The note was serial numbered in 1866 and those officers were current then. The big deal, though, is that President Harris’ signature was printed. Probably the Woonsocket bankers had received a letter of admonishment for using overprinted signatures or they read about the problem in some Banker’s magazine or Treasury circular. Their solution was to comply by having both the cashier and vice president hand sign their notes. President Harris could still maintain his visibility as top dog with his overprinted signature even though he may not have been actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the bank or even present most of the time. The use of a printed president’s signature may be problematic, but the note carries two penned signatures of legally authorized signers so it meets the letter of the law. I consider it to be one of the most interesting nationals I have seen. Quelling Frustration Public and banker frustration revolving around the technicalities associated with bank signatures on nationals, especially rejected stolen notes with spurious signatures, festered for almost 30 years before Congress dealt with it. On July 28, 1892, an act entitled “An act to amend the national bank act in providing for the redemption of national bank notes stolen from or lost by banks of issue” was finally signed into law as follows. That the provision * * * providing for the redemption of national bank notes, shall apply to all national bank notes that have been or may be issued to, or received by, any national bank, notwithstanding such notes may have been lost by or stolen from the bank and put in circulation without the signature or upon the forged signature of the president or vice-president and cashier. The key clause and its linguistic context within the text of the act was “shall apply to all national bank notes.” The ‘all” was taken to apply well beyond stolen notes. The act served as license by the bankers Figure 7. $5 Series of 1875 sheets D252111-D252135, 741-765 were stolen while in transit to the bank, spuriously signed and passed. When presented for redemption, such notes were rejected by the Treasury and returned through banking channels to the depositor who sustained the loss. The punch cancels read BAD. Heritage Archives photo SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 295 to apply their signatures using any means possible because the notes would be redeemed anyway. From this point onward we see the use of every conceivable means the bankers could find to apply their signatures. Rubber-stamped signatures in particular flourished. Also, little attention was paid to the requirement that the signatories be the president or vice-president and cashier Bankers occasionally submitted vice president signatures when it came time for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to overprint signatures on Series of 1929 notes. Others pushed the envelope by submitting signatures of assistant cashiers without pushback from the Comptroller of the Currency’s office. Implicit in the passage of the 1892 act with respect to the stolen notes was that the loss to the Treasury would be offset many times over by irretrievably lost notes that never would be submitted for redemption. Engraved Bank Signatures In an amendment to the National Bank Act dated March 3, 1919, Congress provided that the promise to pay a national bank note could be attested by the “written or engraved signatures of the president or vice president and cashier.” Through an oversight, this language amended a section of the National Bank Act that authorized the Comptroller to provide for the preparation of national bank notes, not the appropriate section dealing with the actual issuance by the banks of such promissory notes. This was remedied in an amendment passed January 13, 1920, as follows. Any association receiving circulating notes under this title may, if its promise to pay such notes on demand is expressed thereon attested by the written or engraved signatures of the president or vice president and the cashier thereof in such manner as to make them obligatory promissory notes payable on demand at its place of business, issue and circulate the same as money. Such written or engraved signatures of the president or vice president and the cashier of such associations may be attached to such notes either before or after the receipt of such notes by such associations. The officers of the large banks, and many smaller banks, leapt at the chance to have their signatures engraved on their plates and were only too happy to pay the nominal extra cost. The signatures were added to existing plates or affixed to duplicate plates when ordered. Plates for many new banks ordered engraved signatures from the outset. Both Series of 1882 and 1902 plates were current when the 1920 act passed but no engraved signatures were ordered by bankers issuing from the then waning Series of 1882. Series of 1902 notes with engraved signatures are easily distinguished because there are no lines under the bank signatures. The lines were omitted from new plates or removed from existing plates at the Figure 8. Rubber stamp used at The First National Bank of Belen, New Mexico, to apply both bank signatures at once to their later Series of 1902 blue seal plain back notes. Robert Calderman photo. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 296 time engraved signatures were added. The engraved signatures of vice presidents can be found on some Series of 1902 notes issued by two banks: The National Bank of Fairmont, West Virginia (9462) and Liberty National Bank in New York, New York (12352). Odd Signature Titles Just about every officer title used in a national bank ended up as a title under some signature on a national bank note. Consequently, we see everything from Chairman of the Board down to various assistants and actings. The most unusual of the stand-ins that I have observed is on the illustrated Greybull, Wyoming, note. Neatly penned under the signature of Louise E. Craig is the word “For” in front of the engraved CASHIER. She was standing in for cashier G. A. Hinman at the time. This is the only instance where I have observed “for cashier” let alone “for president” on a national. It harkens back to the “for the” Register and “for the” Treasurer signatures on the 1861 demand notes. Perspective It is only natural that Congress designated bank signatures as the monetizing device for national bank notes when their authorizing legislation was passed in 1863. That tradition was simply carried forward from their non-Federal predecessors. In similar fashion, Congress already had used Treasury signatures to monetize the demand notes of 1861. That had been a nightmare for the Treasury Department, which ultimately had to employ a workforce to sign the 7,363,000 that were issued within a year. The next currency legislation authorized legal tender notes and Congress in concert with the Treasury Department designated the overprinting of the Treasury seal on them as the monetizing device. From then on, the seal has been used to indicate monetization of all Treasury currency. However, national bank notes, the redemption of which were the liability of the issuing banks, were classified as bank currency and were treated differently. As with the demand notes, the bankers found themselves burdened with signing their notes. Ironically, nationals also carried Treasury seals but by law in their case the seals simply certified that their issuance was sanctioned by the Treasury acting on behalf Figure 9 This bank was one of two in the country to order plates bearing the engraved signature of the vice president. Notice that there are no lines under the signatures. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 297 of Congress. This schizophrenic fine point certainly was lost on the public. It did make a different in the handling of the two classes of currency. For most of the period up through 1910, Treasury currency was delivered to the Treasurer in sheet form without Treasury seals. The seals were overprinted within the Treasury building under the supervision of the Treasurer as a separate operation. This was a security measure to prevent the theft of sealed currency by the printers in the bank note companies and later the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In contrast, Treasury seals were printed on national bank notes at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from the Series of 1875 forward with the idea being that if stolen, they weren’t money so could be repudiated. The Act of July 28, 1892 that required the redemption of all national bank notes regardless of the legitimacy or condition of the signatures depreciated their authority as monetizing devices, As for Treasury currency, the sealing of it was turned over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1910 as an economy measure. Sources Banker’s Magazine, July, 1875, Mr. Spinner’s signature: Third Series, vol. x, no. 1, p. 68. United States Statutes, laws authorizing currency: Government Office, Washington, DC. Figure 10. Louise E. Craig For CASHIER. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 298 Author, Emilio M. Ortiz CUBA Specialized Banknote Catalogue 1857 - 1960 200 Catalogues have been printed. The sales price is $139.00 including delivery to Europe and USA. Other destinations will pay additional for shipping. To order your copy, please e-mail your request to: cubanbanknotes@gmail.com The Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company Disputed Origins, Titanic Explosions, and the Politics of Scrip by Michael Reddick Image by Author As an introduction, I became an SPMC member in October 2025 after finding the website and recognizing value in both the tools and information provided. I primarily collect National Bank Notes and obsolete currency from my home state of Georgia and neighboring South Carolina. At the beginning of this year, I decided to expand my paper money search to include areas I had not previously considered. One of the first items that caught my attention was this 6 ¼ cents note from Oneida County, New York, which was listed in a January 2026 auction.1 Researching this note and learning the stories behind it turned out to be an absolute joy, so I decided to share my journey here with the collecting community. I hope you find my journey interesting as well. Let’s take a look at the note. I was not familiar with the Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company nor had I seen this denomination before. A description provided by the auction house included sparse details: the company was started by J. Fox in 1818, this denomination was unknown to someone named ‘Harris’, and it was in some way related to the Coinage Act of 1857. As a relative newcomer to collecting obsolete paper money, many questions swirled in my head as I pondered bidding for the note. Why was there a ¼ in this 6 ¼ cents note? What was the Coinage Act of 1857? Who was Harris and what denominations had he known about? Who was this J. Fox fellow who started the company? And who was H. W. Fox, the signer of this note, and what was his relation to J. Fox? As an inquisitive person with a passion for solving mysteries, I was immediately compelled to find answers to these questions. I successfully bid for the note and upon receiving it, began a deep dive into the past, but the more research I conducted on the company that issued it, the more confused I became. Was the Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company started in 1818 as indicated by the auction house description, or was it actually started in 1841, 1843, 1845, or even 1849 as stated by others?2,3,4 Was the company really founded by a man named J. Fox, or was it actually founded by Isaac B. Fox5, Samuel H. Fox6, or possibly DeWitt C. Stephens?7 Adding to my bewilderment, consider the many names used to describe the company over time: Durhamville Glassworks, Durhamville Glass Works, Durhamville Glass Factory, Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company, Fox & Fox, Fox & Son, Fox & Company, Fox, Gregory & Company, DeWitt Stevens Glass Works, and finally the Durhamville Glassworks, Incorporated. The seemingly contradictory information on dates, founder names, and company names only fueled my desire8 to dig deeper, figure out who really founded the company, discover the true start date, and have a better understanding of the obsolete scrip that was issued. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 300 Durhamville History I first wanted to get a general idea of where the company was located and what existed in the area just prior to the founding of the glass company. Durhamville was first settled in 1811 by Eliphalet Frazee, but was named after Eber Durham who settled in the area in 1826. Durhamville’s growth was fueled by the development of the Erie Canal, which began construction in 1817 and was completed in 1825. The canal was an engineering marvel of the time, serving as the primary connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. Today, Durhamville is a hamlet located within the town of Verona, in Oneida County, New York. As of April 2026, it has an estimated population of 788. One of the first names that popped up in my research on Durhamville was that of DeWitt Clinton Stephens. Mr. Stephens was born on May 20, 1810, and was a key player in the development of the local economy. He was a highly respected contractor and builder and was involved in several high-profile projects in the area. He helped build the portion of the Erie Canal that passed through the Montezuma marshes, located 40 miles southwest of present day Durhamville. Stephens was also an active builder and promoter of the Oswego Midland Railroad, which ran from New York City to Oswego on the shore of Lake Ontario, and passed just east of Durhamville. Between 1841 and 1843, he began building and operating the first glass factory in Durhamville.9 A short time later, in 1845, he sold his factory to the owners of a glassworks company located in Sand Lake, New York. I found one contemporary source25 which indicated Mr. Stephens retained co-ownership of the factory for a short period after the 1845 transaction, but I was unable to locate any corroborating evidence. The detailed map in Figure 1 was created by D.G. Beers10 in 1874 as part of a larger effort to produce and sell detailed maps to local residents. It clearly shows the streets, property boundaries, and property owner’s names for Durhamville. Below the map title is a list of the prominent businesses operating in Durhamville at the time. It includes the names of both Samuel H. Fox and Henry W. Fox as proprietors of the Durhamville Glass Works. The map clearly shows the location of the Durhamville Glass Works, the company store, and the company office located on the north side of Clinton Street. Between Clinton and Lafayette Streets, you can see the location of Samuel Fox’s residence. The Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company grew and prospered under the leadership of Samuel H. Fox. The painting shown in Figure 2 depicts the Durhamville Glassworks11 as it existed in the mid-1800s. While researching the early history of Durhamville and Oneida County, I located a couple dozen contemporary accounts of the history of the area and all accounts agree that the glassworks were originally built and operated by DeWitt C. Stephens between 1841 and 1843. If the founding by Mr. Stephens is such a well-established fact, why do we see claims that the company was founded by someone else in 1818? To better understand this discrepancy, we need to take a look at the history of the Rensselaer Glassworks, a glass company located 130 miles east of Durhamville. Figure 1 - Map showing Durhamville Glass Works, Samuel H. Fox Residence, and several properƟes owned by Fox & Co., circa 1857. Figure 2 – Durhamville Glassworks, mid-19th century SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 301 The Rensselaer Glassworks Connection The Rensselaer Glassworks were located on the shore of Glass Lake in Rensselaer County, New York. The land was owned by the Van Rensselaer family, one of the oldest European colonial families in New York. In 1804, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, a land agent, merchant, and surveyor, founded12 the Rensselaer Glass Factory in Sand Lake. Incidentally, Van Rensselaer served as president of the Bank of Albany from 1789 through 1806. The production of glass at this location is known to have been started by 1806. For a detailed explanation of the complicated history of land leases and ownership of the Rensselaer Glassworks, I’ll defer to Phil Bernnard who published an excellent article4 in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector which provides a breakdown of the history and people involved in the creation and development of the Rensselaer Glassworks. In 1806, a legislative act was passed that incorporated the Rensselaer Glass Factory with an approved capitalization “…not to exceed 100 shares at $1,000 each.”13 Figure 3 shows a stock certificate from the 1806 incorporation which was sold at auction14 in 2014. The names on this particular stock certificate are interesting, as it was issued to Francis Bloodgood, who two years earlier had joined with a group of businessmen to lease the land upon which the glassworks were built. Bloodgood later served as a state senator representing the Western District from 1809-1816. The certificate is signed by Elisha Jenkins, a prominent merchant and politician, who served as President of the newly formed corporation. Elisha subsequently served as the New York State Comptroller15 from 1801 to 1806, New York Secretary of State from 1806 to 1807, and as the Mayor of Albany from 1816 to 1819. The stock certificate is also signed by James Kane, who served as the Registered Agent of the corporation. In 1818, Isaac Bristol Fox formed a partnership with Nathan Rockwood Crandall16,17 and Abraham Vander Poel Gregory and purchased the Rensselaer Glass Factory from the stockholders of the company. The new partnership was called Crandell, Fox & Co. This transaction marks the origin of the often-quoted founding year 1818. It is the first time a member of the Fox family becomes involved in glass making. The partnership lasted until May 27, 1823, when it was dissolved18 upon the departure of Abraham Gregory; however, the business continued to operate under the name Crandell, Fox & Co. Between 1823 and 1838, Isaac Fox exited his ownership position and the company changed hands several times, only to be reacquired by the Fox family as described by Peter Finn, a Trustee of the Sand Lake Historical Society: “The glass factory changed hands several times in the ensuing years and eventually was reacquired by Isaac Fox and leased (and then subsequently sold) to his sons, Albert R. and Samuel H…”19 After reacquiring the operations in Sand Lake, the Fox family was able to develop and improve the manufacturing processes and finally turn a profit. Innovations introduced by the Fox brothers include being “…the first in the country to use soda ash in the making of glass, the first to adopt wheel ovens, and the first to use coal in his furnace.”3 In 1845, the firm Figure 3 - Rensselaer Glass Factory stock issued 1806 Figure 4 - Elisha Jenkins, President Figure 5 - Family Tree from FamilySearch.org SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 302 expanded beyond the Sand Lake operations by purchasing a glass factory in Durhamville, New York, which had been recently built by the notable contractor DeWitt Clinton Stephens.20 In Figure 5 a graphic showing Isaac B. Fox’s family makes clear just how much of a family affair Fox & Company was. Originally founded by Isaac B. Fox, control of the company eventually passed to his children Albert R, Samuel H, I. Williard, and Henry W who held various positions within the company. Henry Wilson Fox, the youngest of the Fox brothers, joined the company upon the departure of his brother Isaac Willard Fox.21 Henry, incidentally, served as the company registrar and was the signer of the 6 ¼ cents note. He worked with the company until his health took a downturn and he decided to retire in September 1875. Upon retirement, Henry was removed from active ownership and was replaced by Samuel’s son, Frederick (Fred) Hamilton Fox. The name of the Fox family business changed several times over the remainder of its existence as family members rotated in and out of ownership positions for various reasons. Manufacturing operations at the Sand Lake location ceased in the late evening of December 25, 1852, when a titanic explosion of an unattended furnace showered the town with molten glass. It was widely reported that residents awoke the next morning to see molten glass icicles hanging from trees and homes in the area. The furnace and surrounding buildings in Sand Lake were burned to the ground, and operations there never restarted. Some of the glass operations and assets that survived the fire were moved to Durhamville22 to augment company operations there. Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company Scrip In my previous experience researching National Bank Notes to determine scarcity and value, I had been spoiled by the convenience provided by both the National Bank Note Census and Track and Price. For obsolete note collecting, there is no similar up-to-date centralized database23, so finding information is a bit more challenging. Searching auction house databases is helpful for finding images of obsolete scrip, but if you want to develop a better idea of the scarcity and value of scrip, you’ll typically need to find a book published by a state expert. For the state of New York, I turned to Gordon L. Harris. In 2001, Harris published his book New York State Scrip and Private Issues, which covers scrip and private notes from the colonial era to the Civil War. On page 52, Harris listed the following description at the beginning of his brief section on Durham Glass Manufacturing: “The company was formed in 1818 by J. Fox, changing hands a few times and finally bought back by J. Fox and Sons”24 Eureka! I had found the source that most auction houses quote when describing scrip issued by this company. Unfortunately, based on my research, this information is not quite accurate. The business entity operated by the Fox family may have been formed in 1818, but the Durhamville factory was not built until the 1841 to 1843 timeframe. It’s interesting to note that Harris states that “J. Fox” formed the company. Several family documents, posted legal notices, court documents, and contemporary newspaper articles clearly identify Isaac Bristol Fox (I. Fox) as the actual founder of the company. I wondered for some time why Harris believed the company was founded by a J. Fox instead of I. Fox. My initial hypothesis was that Harris had simply misinterpreted the font that was used by printers at the time, and had mistaken an “I” for a “J”. But that explanation didn’t sit well with me, so I kept digging. Then I found a book published in 1912 which provides an overview of the glass industry of Oneida county. The author, Cookinham, mentions the founding of the Oneida Glass Factory Company and the Utica Glass Factory Company, then adds: “Later, a glass factory was organized at Durhamville, which was conducted Figure 6 - Harris H6. Image by WorthPoint.com Figure 7 - Harris UNL. Image by coinsgreen, eBay.com Figure 8 - Harris H8. Image by Heritage AucƟons SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 303 for many years by Stevens & Fox, afterward, Samuel J. Fox, and Samuel J. Fox & Son. The business had been very profitable, and for a time the partnership known as Fox & Son was financially very strong…”25 Here again, we see the errant introduction of the letter “J” when we have incontrovertible evidence that Samuel Fox’s middle name was Hamilton. This led me to believe that when Harris was conducting research for his 2001 book, he may have read the 1912 book by Cookinham and saw the reference to a “Samuel J. Fox.” Harris may have known that Samuel Fox was the son of the founder, so maybe he assumed the father’s name was “J. Fox.” It’s also possible Harris simply dropped the “Samuel” from “Samuel J. Fox” and just used “J. Fox” in his 2001 book. Although I can’t be certain, this seems to be the most plausible explanation.26 In his book, Harris listed seven denominations from three cents up to two dollars. I scoured the internet and several printed publications attempting to locate images of every unique scrip design issued by the company. I was able to locate twelve unique designs spread across nine denominations, and I share eleven27 of them here in Figures 6 through 16. The 6 ¼ cents note I acquired at auction (Figure 10) was issued on January 1st, 1854, three years prior to the passage of the Coinage Act of 1857. The Act prohibited the use of foreign money in general commerce within the United States. Prior to passage, foreign coins were allowed as legal tender within the United States because the US Mint didn’t have sufficient capacity to support the quickly expanding economy. A common currency basis used in colonial New York at the time was the “York shilling”, which was benchmarked to the Spanish dollar. It valued one Spanish real (or “bit”) at 12 ½ cents, which meant that a “York shilling” was worth 1/8 of a Spanish dollar. For this reason, it was not uncommon to see scrip denominations of 6 ¼, 12 ½, and 37 ½ cents circulating in the United States in the early 1800s, as the currency was based on the Spanish dollar and the denominations made it easier for holders of paper money to exchange the notes for specie. The Politics of Scrip and Company Stores Economic uncertainty created by the depressions of 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893 was the primary driver for companies to begin paying workers with scrip in lieu of hard currency. These financial crises led to widespread bank failures, high unemployment, and scarcity of specie. In this environment of fear, people began hoarding specie, which dried up market liquidity and made daily commerce and business to business transactions nearly impossible. To help address the liquidity issue, banks, businesses, and on rare occasions even individual citizens, began creating and issuing their own temporary currency that today we call scrip. The intent was that the scrip would be exchanged for legal tender once the economy recovered and specie was available again in sufficient quantities to support general commerce. The practice of companies creating on-site stores to provide goods to employees became popular during the development of logging, mining, and railroad camps from the 1850s to the 1930s. These companies were often so remote, it was impractical for workers to travel to the nearest town for needed goods, so companies would provide a store at the company location. A company might pay workers using a mixture of company scrip and hard currency or simply pay workers in 100% scrip. Companies benefited from issuing scrip as they no longer needed to maintain Figure 9. Harris UNL. Image by myerscollecƟbles, eBay.com Figure 10. Harris UNL. Image by Author Figure 11. Harris UNL. Image by Heritage AucƟons SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 304 a large supply of hard currency and they could print however much ‘money’ they wanted. The downside was that scrip was typically only redeemable at the company store and employees holding large sums of scrip were incentivized to not leave the company, as their scrip would be worthless outside the circular economy created by the company. It’s not hard to imagine how this system could be rigged in favor of the company. Over time and influenced by the passage of the Coinage Act of 1857, some companies stopped issuing scrip and began a system of keeping ledgers or issuing pass-books which tracked worker wages. Company store purchases were simply deducted from the ledger or pass-book, so the company essentially operated a monopoly by controlling the entire financial ecosystem. What could possibly go wrong? The management of the Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company, along with several other glassworks in New England, followed industry trends by creating company stores and issuing scrip or pass-books to workers in the mid-1800s. Samuel Fox’s older brother Albert Fox served as a New York State Senator from 1848 to 1849. In 1881, Samuel followed his brother’s lead and stepped into the political arena to run for a senate seat on the Republican ticket, but lost to “…that popular Democrat, Robert H. Roberts, of Boonville...”5 In 1882, “…against his own better judgement, he was induced to accept a nomination for Congress against J. Thomas Spriggs.”2 Fox campaigned as a Republican, and during the 1882 campaign, the use of company scrip and pass-books became contentious. Figure 15 shows a front-page political advertisement28 presumably paid for by James Leonard who was representing the Cigarmakers Union. In the ad, Leonard blasts the company for paying workers with scrip, stating that a physician named Joseph P. Davis who lived in Utica was holding a quantity of original scrip that was available for all to see. Leonard further complains that Mr. Fox “…paid his men in orders and pass-book accounts payable only at the store of the Durhamville Glass Co.” At the end of the advertisement, Leonard commands, “You will not vote for a man who pays in shin plasters and orders.” On page four of the same newspaper issue, there is a lengthy political hit piece that may have been typical of the types of articles Fox faced during his campaign. The article begins by describing Fox as a monopolist who paid big prices to buy back all company scrip for political purposes. The author presumably visited the glassworks to investigate “…odious forms of payment…” and “…unpleasant rumors circulated concerning the treatment of the men in the employ of Fox & Co.” The author describes conditions where workers were forced to work “…with bare feet all day long…” in a 1,200-degree environment “…as hot as the famous fiery furnace of biblical narrative…” Although the article was clearly politically motivated, it does provide some interesting tidbits for collectors. At one point the author states the only reason for the discontinuance of the use of scrip and the attempts to buy back scrip from workers was the fact that Mr. Fox was reacting to his opposition party’s political platform. If true, the steps taken by Fox to stop issuing scrip and start buying it back from employees may partially explain the relative scarcity of Durhamville scrip today. Another interesting tidbit provided is that “…scrip was used in all denominations from ten cents up to five and ten dollars...”27 In my review of company scrip, I have been able to locate images or Figure 15 – 1882 PoliƟcal adverƟsement, showing a 10- cent note, Harris H11. Figure 12. Harris H13. Image by Heritage AucƟons Figure 14. Harris H20. Image by Heritage AucƟons Figure 13. Harris H16. Image by Heritage AucƟons SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 305 descriptions of notes with denominations ranging from three cents up to two dollars. My search for the five- and ten- dollar denominations continues. After bashing the use of scrip, the article goes on to describe the creation of a new system of “pass-books” where glassblowers were credited with their wages, but they could only use their credits to buy goods at the company store, which carried groceries, clothing, boots and shoes, meat from a meat market, and other general merchandise. According to the author, the policies of the Glass Manufacturers Association, to which the company belonged, allowed member companies to only pay workers in cash every five or six months. The author claimed that any worker who demanded cash payment between these intervals, “…would be quickly dispensed with and be sent adrift with his family…and find himself a marked man and unable to find employment in any glass factory…” Fox lost the 1882 election to Mr. Spriggs, an outcome possibly influenced by the politicization of the use of pass-books and company scrip and certainly influenced by the fact that Fox was “…not a politician in any sense of the term, though an ardent Republican.”2 The practice of companies paying workers with company scrip became illegal in 1938 with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Market Forces and Closure At the pinnacle of its operations, the Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company was the largest manufacturer of window glass in New York State, and possibly the entire county. Several manufacturing innovations introduced by the Fox family helped create a competitive advantage that propelled the company to the forefront of the glass industry. Fox & Company was financially a very successful business for much of the 1800s, providing an economic backbone for Durhamville and the surrounding area. By the late 1800s, technological advancements in glassmaking and a shifting economic environment led to the decline and eventual closure of the Durhamville operations. The Erie Canal branch that had helped Durhamville prosper was closed as the canal was rerouted, fuel and labor costs were rising, and the glass industry was shifting to plate- glass technology. In 1891 the operations in Durhamville merged with U.S. Plate Glass and the majority of manufacturing operations in Durhamville were shut down. There were multiple attempts29 to revive the Durhamville glassworks between 1891 and 1904. Then, on September 22, 1904, Jerre T. Durham sold the Durhamville Glass works property30 to a group of investors to settle $5,000 in notes owed to the Oneida Valley National Bank. The investors intended to rekindle the fires of glassmaking in Durhamville. About two weeks later, on October 11, 1904, a newly revived Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company was incorporated with an initial capitalization of just $7,00031. The first annual meeting of company stockholders was held Tuesday, July 11, 190532. Contemporary reports of the activities of the newly formed corporation are scarce, and it only survived one additional year, permanently closing its doors in 1906. All remaining assets were sold at public auction in 1907.1 Retrospective Researching this 6 ¼ cents note was an absolute joy for me. My original intention was to purchase the note, enhance my collection with the odd 6 ¼ cents denomination, write up a brief social media post, then move on to my next note. But fate had other plans. As I invested more time in this project, I discovered there were conflicting stories about the origin of the company, I uncovered some Fox family legal drama which led all the way to the supreme court, I learned about the legendary 1852 explosion of the furnace in Sand Lake, and read about the travails experienced by the company as it wound down operations. Humans are story-telling animals, but clearly this 6 ¼ cents note had its own stories to tell. Figure 17 - AdverƟsement Card. I now know the 1818 date refers to Fox & Company, not the Durhamville Glass Works Figure 16. Harris H22. Image by coinsgreen, eBay.com SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 306 In summary, the Fox family business that we today associate with glass manufacturing was founded by Isaac Bristol Fox in 1818 when he purchased the glass factory (formerly known as the Renssalaer Glass Works) in Sand Lake. His son, Samuel Hamilton Fox, with his brothers as co-owners, led the company for much of its existence. Samuel purchased the glass manufacturing plant in Durhamville in 1845, which had been built between 1841 and 1843 and was initially operated by the noted contractor DeWitt Clinton Stephens. Samuel led the company as it grew and prospered, becoming the largest window glass manufacturer in New York, and likely the entire nation. In late 1852 and early 1853, Samuel transported company assets and moved workers from Sand Lake to Durhamville upon the explosive closure of the operations in Sand Lake. In addition to his work in the glass industry, Samuel Fox also held senior positions in two nationally chartered banks. He served as President of the National State Bank in Oneida, served on the Board of Directors for the First National Bank of Oneida, served as president of the National Association of Window Glass Manufacturers, and ran for House and Senate seats in the state of New York. Concerning the note itself, I found the signature to be that of Henry Wilson Fox, the youngest brother of Samuel, and grandson of the founder, Isaac Bristol Fox. Henry was serving as the company registrar in 1854 when he signed the 6 ¼ cents note. The existence of fractional paper currency was not unusual in the early 1800s, as it provided a bridge between the paper money issued in the US and the underlying currency basis which was tied to the Spanish dollar. The passage of the Coinage Act of 1857 prohibited the use of foreign money in general commerce within the United States, and initiated a decline in the practice of issuing fractional denominations. Furthermore, the issuance of company scrip by the Durhamville Glass Manufacturing Company was halted prior to 1882, possibly the result of political pressure encountered during Samuel Fox’s election campaigns. Issuance of company scrip within the U.S. finally came to an end when it became illegal in 1938 with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This project was both an entertaining endeavor and a fantastic learning experience. Not only did I discover interesting stories about Fox & Company and its manufacturing operations in Sand Lake and Durhamville, but also, I had the opportunity to learn the skills I needed to research events that occurred 150 to 200 years ago. I am certainly no expert in genealogy nor in the rigorous methodologies of academic research, but I learned enough to become efficient and effective in the research I do. Local coin shows and various online auction houses provide a fertile hunting ground for interesting notes and I anticipate picking up several more in the near future. I can no longer resist the siren calls emanating from notes my collection, beckoning for my attention. I’m excited to begin the process of taking a closer look at them and uncovering the fascinating stories they may be hiding. References and Endnotes 1 Heritage Auctions, Auction 62425, January 2026. https://www.ha.com 2 Oneida Semi Weekly Democratic Union, p.2. (1888, December 22) 3 Utica Daily Press, p.1. (1888, December 18). 4 Bernnard, Phil. (2021, December) The Rensselaer Glassworks: A multifaceted — and important — piece of New York history. Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. https://issuu.com/fohbc/docs/12_ab_gc_dec21x/s/16055863 5 The Utica Observer, p.7. (1888, December 20). 6 US Census Bureau. (1880). Volume 2: Report on the Manufactures of the United States. P.94. https://www2.census.gov/library/publicaƟons/decennial/1880/vol-02-manufactures/1880_v2-23.pdf 7 Durant, S. W. (1878). History of Oneida County, New York: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. Philadelphia: Everts Fariss. Page 802 (P. 586) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t17m0vs8z&seq=11 8 To my friends, I described this research effort as my passion project. My wife called it an obsession. She’s probably right. 9 Utica Daily Press, p. 4 (1889, October 28) 10 D.G. Beers & Co. (1874). Atlas of Oneida County New York [MAP]. https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~256359~5520345:Durhamville,-New-York- 11 Anonymous. (Mid-19th Century). Durhamville Glassworks [Painting]. New York State Museum, Albany, NY. Figure 18 - LeƩer from Fox & Co. to Albert Fox, brother of Samuel Fox SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 307 12 Sand Lake Historical Society. (2004) Historical Highlights, Official Publication of the Sand Lake Historical Society, 31(1), p.3. https://sandlakehistory.org/historical-highlights/back-issues/HH31-1.pdf 13 Eggleston, F. (1943) Oswego County Glass. Seventh Publication of the Oswego Historical Society, page 13(p.22). https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll19/id/14589/rec/11 14 Archives International Auctions, AIA XVII Auction March 11, 2014, Rensselaer Glass Stock, 1906, Historic Early NY Glass Company Stock Certificate. 15 Roberts, James A. (1897). A Century in the Comptroller’s Office. Albany: James B. Lyon, Printer. Page 17. 16 Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett (1880). History of Rensselaer County, New York. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck. Page 527 17 I initially had difficulty identifying the correct Nathan R. Crandall. I found records for several who lived in the area in the early 1800s. I had to cross-reference data from Endnote 16 with FamilySearch and FindAGrave to identify the correct person. 18 The Troy Sentinel, p. 4. (1823, July 18). 19 Finn, Peter. (2021, November 10). Rensselaer County Industrialist Albert Fox: A Short Bio. New York Almanack. https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2021/11/albert-fox/ 20 DeWitt Clinton Stephens was a noted contractor in the area, as stated by Durant in his book, History of Oneida County, page 819(p.587) (see note 7). Numerous sources confirm that DeWitt founded the glassworks in Durhamville. 21 Goodwin v. Fox, 129 U.S. 601 (1889) https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/129/601/ 22 Some company assets were moved to the Berkshire Glass Factory where Albert Redmond Fox served as the Superintendent. 23 The Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) has started this effort by creating the SPMC Obsoletes Database Project. The purpose of the project is to compile a database of U.S. obsolete bank notes and scrip, which includes data on note issuers, types, and a census of reported notes. SPMC members contribute to the information, and experts in their respective states correct and maintain the integrity of the data. https://www.spmc.org/obs/ 24 Harris, Gordon L. (2001). New York State Scrip and Private Issues, p. 52. 25 Cookinham, Henry J. (1912). History of Oneida County New York from 1700 to the Present Time. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company (Chicago). p. 483. 26 Not to beat a dead horse, but this got me wondering if there ever was a “J. Fox” who lived in Oneida county during that era? I revisited my genealogical research and it turns out, Samuel Fox’s grandfather (Issac B. Fox’s father) was named Jeremiah Fox. Could this be the mysterious “J. Fox” I’d been looking for? In 1800, Jeremiah Fox (1766 – 1824) moved from Columbia County, NY to North Nassau, N.Y., about 130 miles east of Durhamville. It was in North Nassau where he settled down and began farming and running a country store. Jeremiah’s son Isaac B. Fox served as the town clerk in North Nassau before moving to Sand Lake around 1819 at the age of 29, where he began working in glass-making. After an exhaustive search of census records and contemporary written accounts, I was unable to find any records indicating Jeremiah engaged in any business venture other than farming and acting as the proprietor of a country store. I don’t believe Jeremiah Fox had any association with the glass-making industry. 27 I could not find an image of Harris H5, a 3 cent note identical to Harris H6 (Figure 6), but printed in green print. 28 Utica Daily Press, p.1 & 4. (1882, November 6) 29 There were multiple attempts to revive the Durhamville Glassworks after its merger with U.S. Plate Glass in 1891, based on several contemporary newspaper articles and announcements published in the Utica Daily Press, the Utica Observer, and the Cazenovia Republican. 30 Cazenovia Republican, p.1. (1904, September 22) 31 Utica Daily Press, p.4 (1904, October 12) 32 Utica Daily Press, p.8 (1905, June 30) SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct 2026 * Whole Number 365 308 In Celebration of Our 250th Year, An Introduction to a Founding Father: George Clymer By Bill Gunther George Clymer: Businessman and Patriot In this our 250th year of Independence, an overlooked person deserves recognition for his contribution to our existence. George Clymer, a “founding father” of the United States, is not a name that many will recall, although he is only one of six individuals who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Personal Background George Clymer was born on March 16, 1739 in Philadelphia, British America. His father, Christopher Clymer (1711-1746), was a sea captain and his mother, Deborah Fitzwater (1712-1740) was a disowned Quaker for marrying outside the faith. A year after his birth, his mother died and when he was six years old his father died leaving him a young orphan. Goerge’s aunt and her husband, Hannah (1715-1748) and William Coleman (1715-1769), raised George and provided an informal education while guiding him on the ways of a merchant. By the time he was twenty, George had opened his own mercantile business in 1759. Hannah and William Coleman had no children and George inherited a large part of their estate when they died (Hannah in 1748 and William in 1769). In 1765, at age 26, George married Elizabeth Meredith (b. about 1740-d.1815), the daughter of a wealthy business partner of William Coleman. It was a move that assisted Clymer in meeting the social elite in Philadelphia, including George Washington. He fathered nine children, while four of them died in infancy. A son, John Meredith, was killed in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1687 at the age of 18. Public Service Clymer’s entrance into politics occurred soon after his marriage when he became a City Councilman, and shortly later a City Alderman. He soon joined a group of 400 Philadelphia merchants in opposition to the taxation policies of England. He helped organize a boycott of English imports to force the repeal of the Stamp Act (1765) and the Tea Act (1773). In 1776 he was elected to the Second Continental Congress where, as a member, he signed the Declaration of Independence. He financially supported the cause for independence by exchanging his specie and British pounds for paper money issued by the Continental Congress. His support for the Patriots movement did not go unnoticed by the British and his home was vandalized by British troops in 1777, forcing his wife and children to hide in the woods He was again elected to Congress in 1780 for a third time and served until 1782 when he and Edward Rutledge were appointed by Congress to visit the Southern States to urge their timely financial support for the public Treasury. In 1778, he was asked by Congress to travel to Fort Pitt and help ease an uprising of the Native American Indians who, directed by the British, had been carrying out raids on the local population. This he accomplished. He was reelected in 1784 and represented his state to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 where, as a member, he signed the U.S. Constitution. He was elected to the first Congress in 1789. Elizabeth Meredith, (~1740-1815) SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 310 In 1796, he was once again asked to serve the public and was appointed to negotiate a treaty with the Indian tribes of Georgia. This mission was accomplished and Cymer retired from public service after many years of personal sacrifice. He died on January 23, 1813 and is buried in New Jersey. This Six Signers Here are the six individuals who signed both the Declaration of Independence as well as the U. S. Constitution: 1. George Clymer (Pennsylvania) 2. Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania) 3. Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) 4. Reed, George (Delaware) 5. Sherman, Roger (Connecticut) 6. Wilson, James (Pennsylvania) It is not surprising that 4 of the six signers were from Pennsylvania, since the location of both the Second Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. The Clymer Check This check is a rather large amount for the times (equivalent to about $3,000 in 2026). The check was drawn on the First Bank of the United States, which was in existence from1791 to 1811. Henry Clymer was born in 1767 when George was 28 years old. It is not clear what this payment represented. Henry died in 1830 at the age of 63. There are no endorsements on the reverse. Conclusion Is George Clymer a founding father of the United States? There is no hard and fast rule on the definition of a founding father and the debate has never been resolved. Perhaps one of the undisputed founding fathers, John Adams, our second president, cautioned Josiah Quiney III, about the term “founding father”, saying he had “…no reason to believe we were better than you are.” He also noted that the term founding father “belongs to no man, but to the American people general.” Sources  Clymer, George. Wikipedia.com  Clymer, George. Public Family Tree, Ancestry.com  Coleman, Hannah Fitzwater. Find-a-grave, Ancestry.com  Clymer, George. National Constitution Center. www.constitutioncenter.org/signers/george-clymer  “Founding Fathers of the United States”, Wikipedia.com Cross-cut cancel. Feb. 26, 1803. Payable to his son, Henry Clymer, for $120. Drawn on "Bank U States." Signed "Geo Clymer." SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 311 Vignettes and Latin Phrases on South Carolina’s 1775 and 1776 Issues By Benny Bolin As a collector of South Carolina obsolete bank notes I started collecting the vignettes on them. After my collection grew to almost 150, I decided to go further. With this being the 250th anniversary of the country, I started looking into the S.C. revolutionary war notes and their vignettes. In June of 1775, South Carolina’s Congress approved the issuance of £1,000,000 worth of paper currency. England’s policy of limiting access to hard currency, coupled with South Carolina’s recently enacted import/export ban, led to a severe cash shortage in South Carolina. The state’s Congress knew that if the colony was to fund an ongoing resistance to the Crown, it would need money and a lot of it. The money printed had a vignette that reflected the rising tensions with England and bolstered the populaces support for joining the revolutionary war. Each vignette also had a Latin phrase surrounding it. Why use Latin—it was the language of the educated elite of the time and was widely used in public seals, legal documents and official correspondence. And it is in these Latin phrases, we see the colony’s growing shift towards defiance of an overpowering and absent England and then its pursuit of independence. Thus, printed on each one of these paper notes were the words that Congress wanted its population to embody. Note: 50£ June 1775 Vignette: a lady, her head bowed, sitting beneath a tree. To her right, a brilliant sunrise rises over a city skyline. Latin Phrase: Post Tenebras Lux –“After Darkness, Light.” Meaning: one of hope in the face of dark times, much like the times many in South Carolina faced in 1775. Higher denomination notes from the June 1775 issue also had an elaborate design on the back. It had an intricate design made up of ribbons and lines with the saying, in English, “For The Publick Good.” Providing the colony with enough money for its expanding needs was seen by the Provincial Congress as an important “publick good.” Note: 20£ June 1775 Vignette: two hands grasp one another with quills in their palms.. Latin Phrase: Fides Publica “credibility of the government.” Meaning: faith in the new government and this paper currency was necessary for it to function. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 312 Note: 10£ June 1775 Vignette: the image of an armored arm holding a sword with the date 1775 underneath. Latin Phrase: Et Deus Omnipotens – “And God Almighty.” Meaning: Stating S.C. possesses military power, but also has God on its side. Note: 5£ June 1775 Vignette: twelve arrows tied together Latin Phrase: Auspicium Salutis – “An auspice of well-being.” Meaning: a symbol of how the unified American colonies possessed great strength. Note: 3$ November 1775 Vignette: encircled laurel (or oak) leaves around a large cannon. Latin Phrase: Ultima Ratio – “The Final Argument.” Meaning: South Carolina’s “final argument” with Great Britain was likely to be made through the barrel of a cannon. Note: 2£10s November 1775 Vignette: crescent shape with crossed swords in the center Latin Phrase: Pro Libertate – declares “For Liberty.” Meaning: For Liberty, For Freedom Note: 15s November 1775 Vignette: Roman numerals that correspond with the value of the note. Meaning: value of the note SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 313 Note: 15£ March 1776 Vignette: a fantastic lion-like creature holding a broken sword. Note the rattlesnake around the lion and biting its neck. Latin Phrase: Magnis Interdum Parva Nocent – “Sometimes small things harm the great”. Meaning: Even the strongest entities have hidden weaknesses. Note: 50£ March 1776 Vignette: a castle-like structure with flags and other military arms behind it. a symbol exuding military strength. Latin Phrase: Animis Opibusque Parati – “Prepared in Mind and Resources.” Meaning: Being fully ready both mentally and physically to face any challenge or danger Note: 100£ March 1776 Vignette: one heart, ablaze, surrounded by twelve other linked hearts Latin Phrase: Quis Separabit - "Who will divide us?" Meaning: The thirteen hearts represented the 13 united colonies. Note: 4$ October 19, 1776 Vignette: an aggressive large bull elephant facing the viewer Latin Phrase: Infestus Tantum Infestis - Hostile only to the Hostile.” Meaning: Conflict is only matched with conflict. Note: $10 October 1776 Vignette: circular vignette which includes military flags and a drum at the base of a growing tree at the center. Latin Phrase: Tuta Pedamine Virtus, - “Virtue is secure with a firm footing.” Meaning: True goodness does not fall easily when a built on a solid foundation. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 314 The BEP’s Vanishing Act at Numismatic Shows By Lee Eilers For much of the late 20th century, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was not a distant federal agency to collectors. It was a visible and active participant in the numismatic community. Its presence at major conventions offered something no catalog, book, or exhibit could replicate. Collectors could see how early United States paper money was actually made, an experience no other medium could offer. That experience was deliberate and structured. According to Souvenir Card Journal Society editor Greg Alexander, BEP exhibits were substantial in scale and execution. “They would share exhibit space with the US Mint, and it was not just a table. It was a large exhibit area,” he recalled. “They would bring their spider press for printing demonstrations, and they would raffle off limited-edition souvenir cards, signed by the plate printer.” Now, however, that presence has completely disappeared. There was no formal announcement marking the change. The presses stopped traveling; the souvenir cards disappeared. Demonstrations ended. For many collectors, the shift was so gradual that it went largely unrecognized at the time. For those entering the hobby today, the absence is simply the norm. The Era of Direct Engagement From the late 1960s through the 1990s, the BEP regularly appeared at major numismatic conventions. Its exhibit space drew steady traffic, supported by both technical demonstrations and collector-focused material. At the center of that presence was the demonstration press, commonly referred to as a spider press. This hand- operated intaglio press allowed BEP staff to show the printing method used for U.S. currency from the 1860s to the 1880s. “They would ink the plate, wipe it, and run it through the press right in front of people,” Alexander said. “That was a real draw.” The BEP also sold engraved souvenir cards. These were small-format intaglio prints derived from actual currency engravings, portraits, and historical vignettes. The program began in 1969, initially with a philatelic focus. By the early 1970s, it shifted toward currency designs, particularly after the release of the Educational Series reproductions. For many collectors, these cards served as an entry point into paper money. Peak Production and Structural Decline The souvenir card program reached its highest output in the early 1990s and again around 2000. “In 1992, they did twelve cards. In 2000, they did thirteen,” Alexander noted. “Those were peak years.” Earlier production levels often exceeded demand. Some issues were printed in quantities exceeding 50,000, leaving unsold inventory. “By the 1980s, they realized they were overprinting,” he said. “By the 1990s, print runs under 10,000 were more typical.” After 2000, output declined steadily. By approximately 2010–2011, the program had been reduced to roughly 3 issues per year, according to BEP card data available on the Souvenir Card Collectors Society website. At the same time, the program shifted away from direct association with specific shows and was rebranded as “intaglio prints,” reflecting a broader change in how the BEP approached collector engagement. The Final Phase and Disappearance The end of the BEP’s direct engagement with collectors did not occur as a single event. It was the result of a multi-stage decline followed by an abrupt termination. From the collector's perspective, the program remained active, though diminished, through the 2010s. A partial revival appeared to be underway by 2018, when complete currency designs returned to BEP-issued prints after a prolonged absence. However, the final disruption came in 2020. “The last card was issued at the February FUN show in 2020,” Alexander said. “Within about six weeks, everything shut down due to COVID, and that was effectively the end.” SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 315 The final BEP souvenir card featured the Mayflower under sail. There’s no public evidence that the image was meant as a statement, yet in hindsight, its silent symbolism resonates powerfully. The ship departing quietly, without announcement, feels haunting, mirroring the BEP’s own gentle, almost mournful, exit from the show floor. The immediate cause was the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Alexander, BEP operations were limited to essential personnel, and collector products ceased due to staffing and logistical constraints. “Only the plate printers could go into the building,” he noted. “Collector products came to a dead stop because there was no one to produce or ship them.” From that point forward, the program did not resume. The United States Mint kept its presence throughout the COVID period, taking additional precautions. The BEP, by contrast, withdrew from the show circuit and has not returned. This change coincided with growing interest in banknote collecting. New collectors have entered the hobby, but the Bureau is absent from their experience. Dealers describe the change as significant. One estimates that interest in the banknote hobby has increased by “an easy 3000%” over the past seven years. Another recalls that as recently as a decade ago, ungraded notes were often stacked on tables at shows with little demand. Today, those same notes can command hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Interpreting the Withdrawal Beyond COVID, the underlying causes are less clearly documented. Alexander described the BEP as “a pretty opaque organization,” noting that explanations were limited and often incomplete. The available evidence points to a combination of factors, including a long-term decline in production after 2000, earlier restrictions on reproducing currency imagery, and operational constraints related to staffing and fulfillment. As Alexander noted, “These things don’t usually have a single cause.” What is clear is that the collector-facing component of BEP operations had already weakened before 2020. The pandemic acted as a terminal event rather than the sole cause. What Was Lost The BEP’s absence created a gap that remains today. “It wasn’t just the cards,” Alexander said. “It was the entire experience. The exhibits drew people in, igniting curiosity and passion for banknotes, and the products gave us cherished memories to hold onto.” Organizations such as the Souvenir Card Collectors Society have attempted to fill part of that role through independent engraving projects. However, without access to BEP plates or designs, these efforts cannot replicate the institutional connection. A Structural Imbalance At major conventions today, the United States Mint maintains a consistent presence through exhibits, product offerings, and direct engagement. There is no comparable institutional presence for paper currency. This creates an imbalance within the hobby. Coinage is actively represented by its issuing authority, while paper currency is represented primarily by collectors, dealers, and independent organizations. The contrast may also reflect how each agency is structured and funded. The United States Mint operates a public enterprise fund and is required to be financially self-sustaining, with numismatic products forming a significant part of that model. That framework encourages consistent engagement with collectors. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing operates under a different structure, with its primary customer being the Federal Reserve and its core mission A ship sets sail on the final BEP card (2020) Was BEP signaling intent - Goodbye? SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 316 focused on producing currency for circulation. While the BEP has historically offered collector products, those activities are not central to its funding model. One is structurally incentivized to engage with the collector community and the general public, whereas the other is not. Could the BEP Return A return to show participation would not require modern production equipment or current designs. Historical demonstrations could be conducted using non-security plates and established engraving methods. These techniques are already demonstrated in museum settings and were previously used by the BEP itself. From a collector's standpoint, interest remains. “Yes, there would absolutely still be demand,” Alexander said. “There’s a lot of material they’ve never reprinted.” The primary question is not technical feasibility, but institutional priority. An Opportunity for Reconnection The BEP’s responsibilities in currency production and security are central. At the same time, it occupies a unique position as the steward of American banknote engraving. Historically, it chose to share that role directly with collectors and the public through a visible presence at shows. The current absence reflects different priorities, but it also creates an opportunity to reconsider. At a recent ANA convention in Savannah, overlooking a busy show floor, a senior U.S. Mint official and I discussed the nature of the hobby itself. Few government agencies can claim a dedicated following that spans generations, with the structure, continuity, and engagement seen in numismatics. The Mint has maintained that connection since 1793. The BEP has had a comparable audience since 1862. Both institutions inspired loyal communities, passionate about studying, collecting, and honoring their histories. Yet today, only one continues to reach out and nurture those bonds. The Mint’s presence can be felt in every handshake, every eager glance from collectors, young and old. Meanwhile, the BEP’s silence is all too loud, a painful absence that weighs on paper money enthusiasts. And yet, the rich story of American paper currency and its deep cultural meaning deserves the same recognition, pride, and emotional resonance as United States coinage. This imbalance is neither structural nor inevitable. It is the result of choices. A return to even a limited form of engagement would reconnect the Bureau with a community that remains active, informed, and interested. It would also sustain a long-standing tradition of direct connection between the nation’s currency printer and the public, which continues to value its work. This imbalance is not destiny. It is a matter of choices, choices that shape both tradition and memory. Even a modest return by the BEP would breathe new life into a tradition collectors still long for. It would honor the enduring connection between America’s currency printer and its people, a bond still treasured, still missed, and waiting to be renewed. Collectors seeking additional information or wishing to express interest in BEP outreach programs can direct inquiries through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s public contact channels, with additional avenues available through the U.S. Department of the Treasury or congressional offices with oversight of the Treasury Department. Social Media: https://www.bep.gov/about-bep/social-media Email: bep.info@bep.gov (public information inbox) Phone: (202) 874-2330 (Washington, DC main line) Author’s Note Special thanks to Greg Alexander for sharing his firsthand knowledge of BEP souvenir cards, convention history, and the collector community. His interview and archival guidance greatly assisted this article. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 317 Two Banks, One Corner: The Financial Heart of Pre-Civil War Columbia, SC By Marc Shull South Carolina’s capital Columbia was founded in 1786 when the state legislature voted to establish a new capital near the geographic center of the state. Located at the confluence of the Saluda and Broad Rivers, the city was laid out in a 400-block grid with streets wide enough to discourage the spread of fire. It became one of the first planned cities in South Carolina and was officially incorporated in 1805. By the early 1800s, Columbia was not just a government seat, it was a bustling trade hub where cotton, lumber, and agricultural goods flowed from the Upcountry toward the coast. This economic activity helped Columbia develop into one of South Carolina’s key commercial and financial centers. During this period, a bank’s primary business was "discounting". Which is essentially buying a planter’s or merchant’s promise of future payment in exchange for immediate banknotes. This was usually tied to the cotton harvest in the south. As the economy grew, the need for a stable local currency became apparent. To fulfill this need, The Commercial Bank of Columbia was authorized by an act of the SC General Assembly dated December 17, 1831. The Commercial Bank of Columbia The first president of the Commercial Bank of Columbia was Abram Blanding (1776-1839). A Massachusetts native who moved South at the urging of his college roommate (future SC Governor David R. Williams), Blanding was a visionary. Before stepping into the bank's headquarters at the southwest corner of Richardson (Main) and Taylor Streets, he had already: ● Organized a public library in nearby Camden SC ● Served in the state legislature from the Kershaw district, 1806 ● Served as a Colonel in the War of 1812 ● Presided over the completion of the state road from Charleston to Saluda Gap in North Carolina while serving as the Chief Superintendent of Public Works ● Built Columbia’s first steam-powered waterworks (located near today’s Finlay Park) In 1835 he would sell (some sources say donated) the water works to the city of Columbia It was while serving as bank president that he became a proponent of the Charleston, Louisville and Cincinnati Railroad. The South Western Railroad Bank was organized to finance that project. This is likely why Colonel Blanding moved to Charleston in 1838 to become the president of the South Western Railroad Bank. Sadly, he died there in 1839 as a Yellow Fever epidemic swept through Charleston. Abram Blanding’s legacy in Columbia remains literally paved in stone as the city would later change the name of Walnut Street to Blanding Street in his honor. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 318 On this $5 note, Ceres and Commerce are seated in the center. Col. Thomas Taylor is on the left and Thomas Jefferson is on the right. Haxby: Unlisted Sheheen: 132 This $10 note from 1835 features the State Arms flanked by Justice and Liberty. Washington is on the left and Lafayette is on the right. It also has bank president Abram Blanding’s signature on the lower right. On the lower left, is the signature of John A. Crawford, cashier at the time. He would later become the second president of the Commercial Bank of Columbia. It also has a bank ink stamp from 1841. Haxby: SC-70-G6 Sheheen: 137 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 319 This $50 bill features John Rutledge on the left and Pallas with an eagle on the right. State Shields at the bottom center. Haxby: SC-70-G10 Sheheen: 148 This $20 note features SC Revolutionary Hero's Charles Pickney on the left and William Moutrie on the right. Liberty and the Goddess of Peace are at the center. Haxby: SC-70-G8 Sheheen: 142 The vignettes on this $100 note are described as the Goddess of Music on the left with Justice on the right. Liberty and Commerce are featured in the central vignette. Haxby: SC-70-G12 Sheheen: 150 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 320 The Exchange Bank of Columbia (Chartered 1852) By the 1850s, Columbia was booming. To keep up with the demand, a second institution, The Exchange Bank of Columbia, was chartered on December 16, 1852. It stood as a rival to the Commercial Bank, located directly across the intersection on the northeast corner of Richardson (Main) and Taylor Streets. J.V. Lyles of Newberry served as the Bank's first president. He is described as a prominent banker and cotton merchant in the city. For a decade, these two banks sat on opposite corners, the twin engines of Columbia’s economy, their notes circulating through the pockets of merchants and farmers alike. A Fiery Conclusion The story of these two banks ends in a shared tragedy. On the night of February 17, 1865, during General Sherman’s occupation of Columbia, a fire swept through the city. The wide streets were not enough to stop the inferno. Both banks were destroyed that night. While the physical buildings crumbled, the "obsolete" notes they issued survived to become the historical relics that collectors cherish today. The Burning of Columbia, SC - From Harper’s Weekly, April 8, 1865 This $5 note features the portrait of recently deceased Senator Franklin Elmore. Woman with state arms and bust of Calhoun at center. Female portrait on right. Haxby: Unlisted Sheheen: 154 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 321 . This $10 note has Calhoun on the left, a female portrait on the right and Liberty seated in the center. Haxby: SC75-G4a Sheheen: 156 This $20 note features Faith, Hope and Love on the left, late SC Congressman and Governor George McDuffie on the right. Liberty is seated in the center. Haxby: SC-75-G6 Sheheen: 159 This rarely seen $50 note features a train rounding a curve. An anchor is on the left and an unknown male on the right. If you know who he is, please drop me a line. Haxby: SC-75-G8 Sheheen: 160 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 322 References:  Clark, W.A., The History of the Banking Institutions Organized in South Carolina prior to 1860, The State Company, 1922  Summer, George L., Newberry County, South Carolina, Historical and Genealogical, Self Published, 1950  Sheeheen, Jr., Austin M., South Carolina Obsolete Notes and Scrip, Midlands Printing, 2003  Bowers, Q. David, Whitman Encyclopedia of Obsolete Paper Money, Whitman Publishing, 2016  Hershman, J.T., The Columbia City Directory, Gibbes Printing, 1859 & 1860  “Abram Blanding Pioneer Road Builder”, The Lancaster News, October 23,1985  New York Public Library: nypl.com  Historical Marker Database: hmdb.org Appendix: Additional Bank Information The Commercial Bank of Columbia, SC Chartered:1831 Capital: $800,000 Presidents: Col. Abram Blanding 1832-1838? John A. Crawford 1838?-1865 Cashiers: J. A. Crawford 1832-1838? A.Mclauchlin 1838?-184? B.D. Boyd 184?-1852 Edwin Scott 1852-1865 The Exchange Bank of Columbia, SC Chartered:1852 Capital: $500,000 Presidents: J.V. Lyles 1853-1855 James S. Scott 1855-1858 R.M. Johnson 1858-1865 Cashiers: James S. Scott 1853-1855 Jesse Drafts 1855-1865 Very few of these $100 notes remain. This design features the three graces with cupid at the center. Unknown females are on the left and right. Haxby: SC-75-G10 Sheheen: 162 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 323 NEW JERSEY VIGNETTE IDENTIFIED ON MISSISSIPPI SCRIP NOTE David D. Gladfelter A vignette used on two New Jersey stock certificates in the early 1830s has been identified on a Mississippi railroad company’s circulating scrip note that appeared at auction earlier this year. It is the first time that the vignette, depicting the ceremonial first run of the Camden & Amboy Railroad’s steam locative John Bull, has been discovered on a circulating piece of currency – being a 25 cent note of the Mississippi & Alabama Rail Road Co. of Brandon, MS., dated January 21, 1837 (fig. 1). This discovery note was inconspicuously placed in a group lot of 5 notes in a Heritage auction closing February 3, 2026. The note itself is not rare. L. Candler Leggett, in his 1975 book Mississippi Obsolete Paper Money and Scrip, estimates that 25 to 50 examples are known. It’s just that its vignette of a “train crossing bridge” had never been identified as the John Bull, until now. An example of the vignette appeared in a bulk lot of American Bank Note Company (ABNCo) railroad vignettes, identified only by ABNCo’s archive number V-46383 (the letter standing for “vignette”). It was used by, and apparently specially engraved for, joint stock certificates of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company and the Camden & Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company issued in the early 1830s and printed by Charles Toppan & Co. of Philadelphia. Toppan himself (1796-1894), a master engraver, probably engraved the John Bull scene from life at Bordentown, New Jersey on or about November 12, 1831, when the ceremonial run took place (fig. 2). The Mississippi notes were printed by Draper, Toppan, Longacre & Co., a successor firm. Through intermediate firms, the Toppan firm was absorbed by ABNCo when it formed in 1858. The John Bull is preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. It is the oldest operable steam engine in the world. It last ran in a sesquicentennial celebration on September 15, 1981, in a park near the Smithsonian. You can see it in the National Museum of American History. A replica built by the former Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1930s for the New York World’s Fair and the Chicago Railroad Fair is in the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum at Strasburg. An operating scale model built by the late Edward Sholl of Bordentown was displayed at the New York World’s Fair in 1965 and has been acquired by a museum. Figure 1 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 324 Figure 2 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 325 “BACK TALK” FROM A STIFFED MORRIS CANAL CONTRACTOR David D. Gladfelter Our members may have seen my story about comments found on the back side of New Jersey obsolete bank and scrip notes that ran in The Numismatist last year. Here’s a note of the Morris Canal & Banking Co. (MCB) that didn’t make it into that story. On the back is a contractor’s tale of woe about uncompensated work done on the canal. Beyond doubt, MCB accomplished a great feat of engineering. Although it was rendered insolvent by 1842, a Jersey City newspaper described the then-completed canal as “a work of almost vital importance to the country through which it passes, and an important convenience to our state.” However, the economic boom of the thirties was followed by a contraction. At the same time, the canal required improvements in order to compete with the railroads for its prime business market, the hauling of anthracite coal from the mines of Pennsylvania to the docks of New Jersey and New York. Larger boats had to be built and leased, the locks widened and deepened, the inclined planes mechanized and the channel depth increased. MCB had received a dual-purpose charter from the New Jersey legislature in 1824, making it in effect a canal company with banking privileges. As hard times arrived, MCB flooded the financial market with worthless interest- bearing post notes “receivable for canal tolls” but dishonored from the outset. Enter McFarlan & Cotheal with this penned comment on back of one of the “shinplasters”: “This and many more of the same sort received in payment for work done on the canal in 1841 & 1842 by McFarlan & Cotheal” In October, 1844, the New Jersey Court of Chancery ordered that the canal property be sold to satisfy its creditors. Three investors placed the winning bid of $1,000,000 and became the new owners. Per opinion of the court, the new owners were “discharged from all claims by, or liabilities to, the creditors and stockholders of the old company, and such creditors and stockholders would be deprived of all claims and liens upon the canal or the chartered privileges of the company.” The $1-million proceeds of the sale were used to pay the first mortgagee in full, including interest on his loan, and the balance to pay the second mortgagee. As for Messrs. McFarlan and Cotheal, a Charles McFarlan was among 20 people who were reported as having signed a protest against tariffs on imported iron in 1842, per Barbara N. Kalata, who also reported that one Henry McFarlan was elected a director of the successor company to MCB. What connection, if any, either of these people had to our contractor is unknown. It is possible that a record of the contractors who submitted claims to the court of Chancery in the 1844 insolvency proceeding still survives, but attempts to locate it were unsuccessful. ************* Barbara N. Kalata’s well-documented, well-indexed 711-page history, A Hundred Years, a Hundred Miles: New Jersey’s Morris Canal (Morristown: Morris County Historical Society, 1983), particularly chapters 13 and 14, was the main source for this piece. I have omitted discussion of the instances of fraud and self-dealing that contributed to MCB’s demise, but Dr. Kalata covers this aspect in great detail. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 326 Chump Change Loren Gatch The financial and economic crises that periodically beset the American economy during the 19th and early 20th centuries were also important for the history of American paper money itself. The emergence of new forms of American currency often reflected policy responses to financial panics and their effects on the wider economy. In addition, those panics also unleashed a variety of emergency monies and other private scrip that sought to meet the liquidity needs of the moment. Thus, making sense of American money also involves understanding why those crises happened and how they unfolded. Liaquat Ahamed’s book gives a very readable account of the origins of the Panic of 1873 and how it reverberated globally into the financial and currency politics of the late 19th century. Described by Ahamed as a prequel to his 2009 book (Lords of Finance) on early 20th century central banking, 1873 begins by sketching out the speculative excesses that erupted in the financial convulsions of that year. Then, alternating between different financial settings in Europe and the United States, the book maps out how, in the aftermath of the panic, large-scale social and political pressures began building within a rapidly industrializing global economy. Although it was not a cause of the Panic itself, the key development for Ahamed was the turn away from silver as a component of the global monetary base and the adoption of the gold standard by the major economies, especially France and the United States. In Ahamed’s telling, the demotion of silver to subsidiary status resulted in a quarter century decline in the price level, a deflation that enriched creditors (bondholders) at the expense of borrowers (especially in the agricultural sector) whose debt burdens grew in real terms. Writing mostly from an international perspective (although he includes vivid accounts of the machinations Jay Gould and the collapse of Jay Cooke and Co. in the United States), Ahamed organizes his narrative around a history of the Rothschild banking family and its various European outposts. Although too prudent to be at the forefront of the speculative excesses of the time, the House of Rothschilds’ significance for global finance inhered in its role of defining standards of financial respectability although, by the end of the century, the Rothschild’s financial reputation backstopped lending to two of the most problematic sovereign borrowers of the late 19th century, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. The best parts of the book offer vivid accounts of how the Panic of 1873 played out in the overheated financial and property markets of various European capitals. Ironically, conditions in Berlin were aggravated by the five billion gold franc indemnity which France paid after losing the Franco-Prussian War. While that vast sum financed a unified Germany’s transition to the gold standard, it also inflated asset bubbles in various German markets whose bursting proved particularly painful. Also fascinating are the book’s lurid sketches of the eye-popping decadence and financial extravagances of the Egyptian khedives and the Turkish sultans. Despite their grotesque excesses, these two borrowers were deemed too geopolitically important to fail and thus received special treatment. Less persuasive is Ahamed’s attempt to link the Panic’s aftermath to the monetary deflation that set in after 1873. Ahamed simply assumes that the arguments in favor of silver money, put forth most vocally by American Populists, were correct. Ahamed contends that falling prices dampened economic expansion, “leaving the global economy suffering from a profound and simmering underlying malaise.” Perhaps there was a moment in the late 1860s when the French and the Americans could have joined forces to stabilize international bimetallism, preventing the global shift towards a monometallic gold standard from becoming unstoppable. However, the book goes too far in holding monetary deflation accountable for the various ills of the late 19th century, from resurgent antisemitism to trade protectionism to the increasing debt burdens in rural economies. As Ahamed himself notes, economic growth in the late 19th century was actually quite robust (his repeated use of the term “depression” notwithstanding) even in the face of steadily falling prices. Indeed, he acknowledges that deflationary pressures also came from the supply side—increased output of commodities (including, awkwardly, grain crops) and the technological innovations that made their production and marketing ever cheaper. Yes, the Panic of 1893 was sharper and caused more suffering than 1873. Yet as defenders of gold orthodoxy insisted, it was the fear of silver itself that precipitated the liquidity crisis of those years. Ahamed does see all this but still chooses to signal his sympathies for the little guy as against the interests of privileged bondholders. The result is some interpretive confusion it what is otherwise an excellent book. *(Penguin Press, 2026. Pp. 368. $32.00 cloth.) Book Review 1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World, by Liaquat Ahamed* SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 327 U N C O U P L E D : PAPER MONEY’S ODD COUPLE Joseph E. Boling Fred Schwan Bet You Have Not Seen One of These Before This is the story of a very scarce counterfeit note (the only one of these I have seen). Anyone who collects national bank notes very intently has probably seen several counterfeits of the original series notes (used by banks chartered between 1862 and 1875). In many cases the counterfeit notes are all that are available to collect—the genuine notes were withdrawn by bankers after the counterfeits were published in the banknote reporters of the day. In addition, once such a note was published, the Comptroller of the Currency (CoC) would not send any more of that note to the bank. If it was a $5 piece, the bank could order only $10 and higher notes for the duration of its charter. If the charter was extended, then the bank would begin to receive notes of the next series, and the $5 denomination would again be available. Beginning with the Series of 1882, counterfeits are much less prolific. A combination of Secret Service suppression and the aging-out of the free-lance engravers who had been creating plates earlier greatly reduced the number of counterfeit varieties seen, and after entering the 20th century new production of counterfeit nationals dwindled to a trickle. After the small-size notes were introduced, nationals continued in circulation for only a few years before Treasury phased them out of existence. That means that counterfeiters hardly had time to include small-size nationals in their product lines. Not surprisingly, such bogus pieces are almost never seen. But check out the illustrations in this article. Do you see anything strange about the note in Figures 1-2? Compare figure 1 to figure 3. Without getting out a magnifier to read the bank title, one obvious difference is plain—the note in figure 1 has rubber-stamped signatures. That would cause any experienced note handler to do a double take—rubber-stamped signatures ended when large-size nationals ended. See Boling page 330 Occupied France and The French State (Vichy Government) After the collapse of the French armies in 1940, World War I hero Marshal Pétain sought an armistice with Germany, which was signed on 22 June 1940. By the terms of the armistice the French government was left in nominal control of the whole of France and its colonies except Alsace and Lorraine, which were annexed to Germany. The country actually fell into two zones; Paris and the major industrial areas of the north were in German hands. The unoccupied zone was mainly agricultural and included the Mediterranean coast, which gave access to the North African colonies. The whole arrangement was designed to be a stopgap until Great Britain could be conquered. The seat of the unoccupied French territory was established in the resort city of Vichy. The Vichy government then walked a thin line, attempting to maintain a neutrality and holding Germany to the terms of the armistice, but having few assets with which to accomplish this. The Vichy government increasingly became a tool of German policy and collaborators became influential in government. After the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, Vichy lost all bargaining power. The Vichy army was disbanded by the Germans and the whole of France was occupied. In September 1944, after the Allied liberation, the French government was reorganized. It declared Pétain’s Etat Français (French State) abolished and announced that legally the republic had never ceased to exist. During the time that the Vichy government was in existence many fiscal policies were introduced that affected France and the colonies. A new coinage was introduced but Bank of France notes continued to circulate in France. The above text is taken directly from World War II Remembered. Only two paper money issues under Vichy control included actual French State imagery. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 328 The double-headed axe, francisque, was the most distinctive emblem of Pétain’s regime. It represented Pétain himself and loyalty to his authority, rather than Vichy France in exactly the same sense that a swastika represented the Nazi Party. The axe often incorporated seven stars expressive of Pétain’s status as marshall from World War I. Pétain’s portrait does not appear on any paper money, but it was used on an extensive issue of souvenir receipts given for donations to the French Red Cross’s several committees for aiding POWs, refugees, war wounded, war orphans, and others. The receipts are known as Bons de Solidarité, and are often called notes. They are commonly collected and include several varieties that are listed in Campbell and Remembered. The francisque appears on only two actual note issues, both of which are scarce or rare. These two sets are the subject for today. The most well-known and abundant, though rare, notes are a set of three small denominations for the Bank of Reunion. These three locally printed notes each have two bold francisques on the face. Count the stars on the axe handle. Just as you anticipated, there are seven stars. Per information on the backs, the notes were issued by authority of an act of 8 October 1942. These notes represent a collecting tragedy for me. I remember vividly the day in the 1970s when I not only saw a set of these notes for the first time, but also when I missed the chance to buy the set by a matter of just a few minutes! In 1944 the notes were replaced with pieces with the same design except that the axes were replaced with Crosses of Loraine, which were of course the famous symbol of the Free French and later Fighting French. Those Free French notes will be discussed another time. The only other issue of notes with the Vichy axe was a two-denomination set (5 and 25 francs) for the Banque de la Martinique. The notes have a distinctive folk-art style and appear to have been printed locally, but were numbered in the French system by a sophisticated numbering machine. Count the stars on the axe handle at left. Ah, not as you expected! Five instead of seven stars. Is there a reason for this? This set too reminds me of another sad tale that extends to today. The first time that I saw a pair of these notes was in the 1980s. A dealer offered them to me at a price that I could not afford but I snapped it up! Then I split the prize with the late World War II veteran and great collector Angus Bruce. Jump forward to the 2000s. I visited Angus Bruce with the hope of getting the note back. In another close call, a well-known dealer had visited Angus only a few days earlier and had cherry picked the Martinique note. Because of this miss, I do not have an image to show you of the 5-franc note and the only image that I have of the 25-franc note is in black and white because the image is left over from Remembered. If you have a spare 5- franc note at hand, please let me know. Fredschwan@yahoo.com SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 329 Boling continued Figure 1 A bank could have its signatures included in the printing plate for its large-size nationals—at extra cost. Bankers were famous for wanting to reduce costs, so only the banks with tremendous issue quantities sprang for that option. Bankers could also have signatures printed on notes by a local job-printer, but that would also cost money. In almost every case rubber stamps would be cheaper. But all small-size nationals had printed signatures, placed on the notes in the same operation as the bank’s name and location. The person who chose rubber stamps for this fiver (fig 1) was channeling what he had been seeing for years—large- size nationals with rubber stamps. Well, what else might he have gotten wrong? We just looked at the signatures—the stamped ones are not the names of the bank’s officers. One would think that if the crook was using a genuine note as a model, at least the names would match. Not here. But there might be a reason for that. Compare the large black numbers at the ends of the two notes. Those are the charter numbers. When a note gets to the condition of figures 1-2, with pieces missing and obvious damage to the printing on the back, a bank receiving the note is supposed to send it to its servicing Federal Reserve Bank for redemption and replacement. Before the Fed existed, this was done by the CoC. It’s the charter number that told the clerks in Washington what bank was responsible for this note, and which bank to credit when the note was removed from circulation. Having the wrong number there would mess up the books. Charter 639 belonged to the Niagara County National Bank and Trust Company of Lockport, NY. Did they have officers whose signatures are found on this note? No—these look like C.P. Strauss and D.J. Ralson. Nobody with names like that was an officer in the Lockport bank. A search for those names across the whole Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) website did not find them anywhere. The correct names for the Urbana bank are Core S[erena] Ireland and E[lmer] E[rwood] Cheney (as seen in figure 3). But it is also fair to say that a search for those names across the SPMC website didn’t find them either, so evidently the officer names in the “bank lookup” portion of the site are not subject to the sitewide search function. And why the incorrect charter number? Many counterfeiters evidently did not understand what those numbers represented. I know of other examples where a counterfeiter seems to have thought that they were similar to serial numbers and had to change with every note. If we find more examples of the counterfeits on this bank, they may have something other than 639. Anything else? The plate numbers for the face and back of the genuine note are 199 and 274 (figures 6 and 8). But those are not fixed. If more than one printing of Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 8 Figure 5 Figure 7 SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 330 $5 notes was ordered during the bank’s use of this series, most likely some other plates would have been used. What did the counterfeiter use? Face plate 107 and back plate—oops. He did not put a plate number on the back of the note (figures 5 and 7). But what can 107 tell us? As it happens, more than you might think. Once upon a time there was a prolific counterfeiter who styled himself as Count Victor Lustig. The FBI and Secret Service called him Robert V. Miller. The grand jury indictment of which I have a copy at hand lists several other aliases under which he passed. He claimed to have been born in Hostinné, Czechoslovakia in 1890, but a rigorous search for his roots by another Hostinné native several years ago was unable to find any hint of his birth. Maybe that is because he was actually born in Austria, as reported in a different source. Miller/Lustig was the distributor of counterfeits. His accomplice William Watts was the master craftsman who created the plates and printed the notes. Over about ten years in the 1920s-30s they are said to have put about $2,300,000 in counterfeit notes from many series into circulation. I don’t know who was keeping the records, but several sources are cited as saying that theirs was easily the biggest operation running. Included in the indictment is a lengthy list of materials seized when they were arrested in New York in May 1935, such as all manner of steel-faced and bare copper plates (eleven total for faces and backs of notes), negatives, glass plates, various blocks, cuts, fonts, and other implements for printing the main images of notes with their serial numbers, seals, and fake silk threads. Among them is this very plate, identified by its position letter, L, and plate number, 107 (thus L-107). That line is followed immediately by a listing for a $5 back plate without a plate number. The inventory is over three pages long. When arrested Lustig had 2523 finished $20 notes and 101 $10 notes, all on Federal Reserve banks. The team actually specialized in $100 bills, that they laundered through bookies at tracks. No 100s were found that day, and no national currency notes are included in the list of seized items. The back plate used for my note shows damage where the number should be (figure 6). Counterfeit detectors of the period (published for businesses to use for checking suspicious notes) used the position letter and plate number to identify counterfeits. Removing the number from the plate would hinder a decision about a note’s authenticity. (There is no position letter on a back plate.) What is of greater interest to us is that the face of my note was printed with at least two “main” plates— the part showing the frame and portrait, and a different part showing the bank identification. The first is intaglio, the second letterpress, just like the BEP operated. With the bank data being separate, any number of bank titles and locations could have been inserted in the press to create notes of scores of different national banks. The indictment does not mention the bank title associated with plate L-107 when it was seized (there was also a celluloid negative of the same plate, again not naming the bank). The L- 107 face plate in the list is specifically identified as being for “national currency,” as distinct from Federal Reserve notes. While Watts was said to be an accomplished engraver, that would have been for touching up the plates, which were made using a chemical photoengraving (etching) process. They were intaglio, and depending on how long you left a plate in the etching bath, you could get a plate engraved to the same depth as a plate created by the Bureau. Mine certainly is, including the back. No siderography equipment was mentioned in the inventory of materials, so they would not have been able to mechanically replicate a master plate, that would have been made only once. So 107 and “oops,” together with the inventory of seized plates, pretty firmly tie this note to a specific counterfeiter, locale, and period. That’s more than I would have expected to be able to learn from it. The Count was sent to Alcatraz in 1936 with a pair of sentences totaling 20 years. He was moved to a federal hospital prison in Missouri in late 1946 or early 1947. He died there on 11 March 1947. Watts was sentenced to ten years, and I have no report of his later life. Never mentioned in the articles I have found about Count Lustig was the gross error of using rubber stamps for the signatures. Non-collectors just don’t notice details like that. References Maysh, Jeff. “The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice.” Smithsonian magazine 9 Mar 2016 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-sold- eiffel-tower-twice-180958370/ National Archives and Records Administration (source of the indictment cited, provided to me by Jeff Maysh—I don’t have cataloging data for it) Roman, Phil. “How the Secret Service Trapped the ‘Count’ of Counterfeiting..Victor Lustig” Real Detective, March 1936, p30. Society of Paper Money Collectors https://banklookup.spmc.org/ This article originally appeared in The Cincinnati Numismatist, August 2025, p30. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 331 Series of 1900 $10,000 Gold Certificates are mind blowing notes, especially to the non- paper money collectors walking past my table at the recent BRNA Dalton, GA coin show! I take much personal enjoyment in the many loud wows and sharply exclaimed expletives that are involuntarily uttered as folks stop in their tracks and gawk at a golden piece of paper with a massive face value that leaves them zombie- eyed for a brief moment in time. The pseudo deer in headlights trance is real and it is very fun to watch from behind the table! Then what really knocks their socks off is the reality when I explain that the note is available for them to purchase at less than face value! The head scratching immediately ensues and the look of utter confusion is another hearty second helping of guilty pleasure to behold! These great notes are the only U.S. collectible paper money that I can think of that you can often purchase for significantly less than their face value! Why? Because every single one of them has been canceled and is no longer redeemable! You may hear, “Oh I have one that is uncanceled!” …but do not be fooled, even if there are no punch-out, roulette, or cut out cancels visible, ALL of the series of 1900 $10,000 gold certificates are 100% not redeemable! They are uniface (one-sided printing) and if you look on the back, they are always endorsed. While the examples without any type of hole cancellation can often be more attractive, keeping the entirety of the original design intact, there is not necessarily a massive premium just for this anomaly alone. What is extra special about these gorgeous ultra-high denomination gold notes is the fact that there are eight different catalog varieties for them and, if you can believe it, one is still to this day unreported!!! The eight Friedberg catalog numbers all start with 1225 and are broken up into separate suffix letters in the following range: Fr.1225a - Fr.1225h. With the unreported by Robert Calderman Bargain $10K Gold Certificates! Fr.1225g Rare “Parker - Burke” variety drawn on the Minneapolis FRB, Chicago Branch SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 332 “Napier - Burke” signature combination listed as Fr.1225f. What is interesting to note for our purposes here, is the fact that most often these tougher catalog varieties, with the exception of the unreported catalog number, can be acquired for little to no premium vs. their more common counterpart the Teehee - Burke type note variety listed as Fr.1225h. There is a subtle price difference in most reference guides for each catalog number, although it is very trivial across all grade ranges. As it has been brought to your attention in this column on so many occasions over the years, you now have an opportunity at your disposal that most collectors would have very often overlooked lacking the knowledge to discern the fabulous gift laying out before them. Purchasing a better, and potentially rare, variety at roughly the same cost as the most common type note! When the effort required to study and learn more information than your competition can really be this easy, it genuinely pays off in spades to just pay attention! So if the price guides virtually lump these varieties all into one group, what is the point in trying to acquire a better catalog example? What difference does it make? The biggest factor that drives the paper money market is supply and demand. Every year a few more collectors enter the category and it does not surprise me anymore when I hear, “This is the first coin show I’ve ever been to and all I’m interested in is paper money!” Add that to the current advanced technology age where AI is now creating literal monsters! New collectors in their 20’s and 30’s are using their phones to become self proclaimed overnight experts! It is hilarious when their convictions are so steadfast and immovable yet their piece meal tidbits of newly acquired information are often misguided and way off track. While keeping this in mind, what is clearly available for cheap right now, does not always stay cheap forever! Being able to purchase a tough variety with a dozen or less examples known, instead of the common type note with a massive seven hundred or more examples available is hands down the no brainer play of the decade for your collectible paper money holdings! As we always do here in Cherry Picker’s Corner, let us take a look at the brass tacks, by running through the actual numbers and also referencing an example or two! For all grades and across all of the seven known catalog numbers of the series of 1900 $10,000 Gold Certificates, PMG has slabbed just shy of six hundred examples. The online census of graded and raw notes combined, including all varieties, and across the full grade spectrum, totals in at nearly eighty-hundred and fifty notes! So here on both accounts, based solely on available quantity, this is a note that is not out of reach to acquire for your collection. Without getting too sidetracked on the detailed origin story of these significantly large, both in physical size and denomination, golden treasures it was unintentionally a great day in 1935 when a fire forced all of these great pieces of numismatic history to be tossed out of the windows of the Fr.1225g Rare “Parker - Burke” variety endorsed on the reverse by Minnesota Governor Theodore Wold SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 333 upper floors of the Washington D.C. Post Office in the attempt to save the building that was at that time nearly engulfed in flames! With close to one thousand of these notes known, what do they cost in mid-grade condition? We have already hinted at the price of admission being less than face value to add one of these great notes to your collection, and surprisingly this holds true at virtually all grade levels that fall under the threshold of uncirculated condition. From VF25 through AU grades you can typically find these notes across all known varieties in the price range of only $2,500 - $4,500!!! What most often accounts for price more than catalog variety, at least in our current market, is the overall eye appeal of the example. Since so many of these notes have water damage and often even fire damage from the calamity of where they were all stored at the time, it may seem blatantly obvious that the overall look of a note would account for its resale value. However, what is absolutely astonishing are how rare some of the tougher signature combinations actually are! For the common Fr.1225h variety there are well over seven hundred examples recorded. For all other varieties combined, there are less than one hundred notes recorded!!! Three of these catalog numbers have ten or less examples known in all grades!!! The opportunity to purchase a downright rarity for little to no premium is no longer an easy feat to accomplish in numismatics! This is a path you should consider taking immediately if you are smart enough to be reading this column! Do not always just settle for the basic type note when acquiring a large size example for your collection. Instead, buy smarter and reap the potential rewards when you go to sell your collection down the road! Remember, there will always be a fixed supply of collectible widgets available within the marketplace, but the collector pool of individuals will always increase over time. Are there peaks and valleys within the graph chart? Of course there are, but time will be on your side when you value rarity over what is clearly common material. Featured here are two wildly spectacular anomalies that are outliers to the typical realizations of these series of 1900 $10K gold certificates! The first example Fr.1225g with serial number M13311 is the best of ten listed in the census for the variety and it has some very appealing characteristics that make it extremely special. First the striking purple rubber canceled stamp diagonally applied across the center of the note. Next, the unusual rectangular cutouts that keep the portrait of Jackson completely undisturbed. Now take a look at how vivid the original bold red treasury seal appears! This is not typical to find such bold red ink remaining on this series. The blue typewriter printing featuring the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank is unique for the Fr.# too! Finally the best part for last is found on the reverse with a hand signed autograph of Theodore Wold the governor of Minnesota and the first chief administrative officer during the inception of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank! Wold’s engraved vanity signature can be found on the Fr.1225d Rare “Vernon - McClung” variety made out to the State Bank of Chicago, Illinois SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 334 face of the popular series of 1918 $1 Green Eagle Fr.734 and $2 Battleship Fr.774 Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Notes! All of the added glitz and glamour makes it no surprise that this example sold for well far and above a typical type example. Graded PMG VF35 without negative comments, this note last sold in 2016 via Heritage Auctions where it brought $7,050!!! A steal of a deal for a stunning catalog variety rarity. To my knowledge, I am not aware of another example of a series of 1900 $10,000 gold certificate f e a t u r i n g Wo l d ’s p e n n e d a u t o g r a p h endorsement. Our second featured note Fr.1225d with serial number K3430 has a great pen annotation indicating this note was drawn on the State Bank of Chicago! Not so appealing are the cutout cancels both in very prominent focal points of the note, one in the portrait and the other right in the middle of the $10K counter. Those blemishes can be discounted since this otherwise attractive example is one of only four notes in total on the variety! What is hard to process within the realm of sanity is the history of this note. In 2018 in a PCGS-Currency VF30 holder with comments: “Small edge repairs and minor stains” it sold via Heritage Auctions for $4,800. That was a good deal to be sure! Now at this point I hope you are sitting down… and please make sure you are not operating any heavy machinery lest you accidentally injure yourself or others! Just three short years later this same note sold again in 2021 via Heritage Auctions now in a PMG VF25 holder with comment: “Stains” for the incredible sum of $18,600.00!!! Do you have a great Cherry Pick story that you would like to share? Your note might be featured here in a future article, and you can remain anonymous if desired! Email scans of your exciting treasure with a brief description of what you paid and how it was uncovered to: gacoins@earthlink.net Recommended Reading: • “Add a Fr.1225 Gold Certificate to Your Collection” - Frank Clark *Sept/Oct 2009* • Paper Money, Whole No. 263 • Image Credits: • Fr.1225g - (Various Images) Robert Calderman • Fr.1225d - Courtesy Heritage Auctions • Theodore Wold - Lee Brothers. Minn. Historical Society. www.FederalReserveHistory.org Theodore Wold, Governor of Minnesota and first Chief Administrative Officer at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Theodore Wold endorsement on the back of the Fr.1225g featured here in this article SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 335 This installment of Foreign Affairs is going to be all about paper money designs. Animals, people, and scenery, that sort of thing. We will explore some of those iconic designs found on world paper money, like the Landseer paintings that were used for inspiration on some Canadian and Latin-American banknotes, or that most famous waterfall of Costa Rica known as Niagara Falls. Wait…what did I just say? Edwin Landseer was a British painter who never seems to have crossed the Atlantic, and Niagara Falls has always been in what is now Canada, not Costa Rica. Yet, in the 1880s, the Republica de Costa Rica had the American Bank Note Company of New York print a 25 Pesos that proudly displayed at its center a vignette of Niagara Falls. If you have visited, you recognize it as a view from the American side, with the American Falls in the foreground and the more famous horseshoe falls (which are in Canada) in the background. The same country later proudly displayed the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, on a 2 Colones note issued in the 1930s. What is going on here? Costa Rica Pick-122p, circa 1885. Niagara Falls is prominently displayed on the center of this note. All Images Courtesy of Stack’s Bowers Galleries In today’s day and age, currency design is a secretive and closely guarded process that can often take many years to complete. For example, as I am writing this in early August 2026, the European Union has released preliminary design candidates for the new series of Euro notes, which are scheduled to enter circulation in 2028 or 2029. It wasn’t always such a complicated process, however, and printers often tried to make the design process as easy as possible for their clients. If you were, for example, a representative of a South American banking institution visiting New York with the task of ordering new designs for their currency, your bosses probably wouldn’t appreciate it if you spent years on end overseas trying to get designs produced. In the end, as is often the case, cost was more important, and printers such as the American Bank Note Company offered clients several speedy ways to finalize designs and keep expenses low (and their quotes lower than their competitors). One way that this was done was by using stock vignettes, which is why some designs of the American Bank Note Company are similar even when the countries and banks had nothing to do with each other. It is also how we presume a view of Niagara Falls was placed on a Costa Rican banknote: the vignette was already prepared, it looked appropriate enough, and overall, it made for a pleasing design. The Goddess of Luck is seen on two different notes, both produced by ABNC: El Salvador (top) and Suriname (bottom). SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 336 The American Bank Note Company and other printers often employed a huge number of engravers to fulfill the steady demand not just for currency, but also for stocks, bonds, postage stamps, and anything else that required the services of a security printer. The engravers would sometimes copy works of art. Edwin Landseer paintings were a favorite, and we see designs on ABNC-produced paper money that were clearly copied from Landseer paintings. Artistic liberties, however, prevailed, and it is rare to find exact copies of art on paper money. Often, we can find small changes in the background, or, in the case of a famous design found on Honduras paper money, the horns of a bull from Landseer’s Wild Cattle of Chillingham were altered to better fit the design. Of course, the Landseer painting has nothing to do with Honduras, but livestock has always played an important role in the economy of Honduras, explaining the choice. Detail of the Landseer painting and the Honduras note that used the bull in its design. The engraver made little changes to the image, except for the horns, which seem to have been inspired by the Texas Longhorn instead. Perhaps the most famous (and popular) of all misplaced designs on paper money is the 2 Colones from Costa Rica (Pick-167, issued from 1931 to 1936) with the Mona Lisa at the center. In this case, we don’t really know what happened. This type was printed by the British printer Waterlow & Sons, but the vignette of the Mona Lisa is unique to this type only, so it is unlikely to have been a simple stock vignette. Most likely, the vignette was specifically requested from Waterlow & Sons by an employee of the Banco Internacional de Costa Rica who had perhaps seen it on display during travels in Europe. The portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1930s, including two movies released that decade, based on the 1914 theft of the portrait and subsequent recovery. Still, when it comes to paper money, this is the only note that ever featured the portrait, which is now believed to have been Lisa del Giocondo, an Italian noblewoman born in 1479. The Mona Lisa by Da Vinci on a Costa Rican banknote from the 1930s. There are other examples of misplaced designs on paper money, but these are certainly some of the more prominent. There are also other Landseer works that appear on paper money. Both of these certainly would make for an interesting specialty in a world paper money collection! About the Author: Dennis Hengeveld is Director of Consignments & Senior Numismatist at Stack’s Bowers Galleries. He can be reached at dennis@stacksbowers.com. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 337 The front of the Type-40 Treasury note endorsed by Col. Moses Hannibal Wright, Atlanta Arsenal. image: Pierre Fricke Col. Moses Hannibal Wright Commander, Atlanta Arsenal have waited for this 50th Quartermaster Column to feature one of my favorite endorsements, and it is unique on a Confederate treasury note. While it modestly exhibits bare initials “MHW” with no rank or title, it is not endorsed by a civilian—it crucially states a date of issue. The identity was determined by searching the listings in Arthur Wyllie’s list of Confederate Officers, then verifying it with original documents in the National Archives.1 The stylistic match to known full signatures and initials is perfect. We find one thousand three hundred and thirty-five documents for Moses Hannibal Wright in the files for Officers in the National Archives. The sheer volume of these documents attests to his need to save time with initials. In Moses Hannibal Wright we find the very rare rank of Colonel. His responsibilities were immense. He was the top administrator of the Atlanta Arsenal, which was responsible for the manufacture of munitions for much of the Confederacy, including the C. S. Navy. A very informative website describes the operations of the Macon Arsenal which Wright managed after the fall of Atlanta: www.csarmory.org The illustrated Treasury note was endorsed on November 21st, 1862, after Wright had taken command of the Atlanta Arsenal. The endorsement reads: “Issued Nov. 21. 1862 M(oses) H(annibal) W(right)” I The Quartermaster Column No. 50 by Michael McNeil The R15 endorsement of M(oses) H(annibal) W(right). image: Pierre Fricke SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 338 1861 Moses Hannibal Wright was born in Tennessee in 1836. He was appointed by Tennessee Governor Harris on July 17th as a Senior Captain reporting to the Provisional Army of Tennessee, Corps of Artillery, taking rank retroactively on March 16th. According to the Atlanta History Center, “he graduated seventh in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1859. After graduating, he worked in the United States Ordnance Bureau in New York City, New York, and St. Louis, Missouri. When the Civil War began, Wright resigned his position and joined the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, accepting a position in the armory in Nashville, Tennessee.”2 A letter dated September 29th located Wright at Columbus, Kentucky, and on October 21st Wright was located at the Ordnance Office, Nashville, Tennessee. 1862 Wright moved the Nashville Armory to Atlanta, Georgia, in February. At some point, probably when he entered the Confederate service, Wright was appointed as a 1st Lieutenant Artillery, a rank he used on documents as late as June 2nd, where he still used the title “Commanding Nashville Arsenal.” A letter of February 3rd from Wright to Col. W. W. Mackall, AAG at Bowling Green, Kentucky, made reference to Wright’s inability to obtain funds for payment of claims against the Nashville Arsenal, “owing to the Treasury Department being very much in arrears, &c. ...I cannot now pay a cent.” This problem was also mentioned by Quartermasters in this time frame. The Secretary of the Treasury, C. G. Memminger, had to create the Treasury Department from scratch, and delays in the production of treasury notes by private sector printers impacted Wright. Wright signed a travel expense voucher dated March 28th for a trip to Richmond for “consulting Chief of Ordnance [Col. Gorgas] getting instructions having been placed in charge of Atlanta Arsenal Ga.” Wright was appointed on June 9th as a Captain Artillery, reporting to Col. Gorgas in the Ordnance Bureau in Richmond, and taking rank the same day. Wright was again promoted on October 10th as a Major Artillery, taking rank retroactively on September 3rd. Wright’s considerable skills as a manager of the Atlanta Arsenal are seen in his letter of October 30th to Col. Gorgas, Chief of the Ordnance Bureau in Richmond: “You will please pardon me for these lines, taxing your time and patience, as well as presuming to write you on the subject. “I have sent you a letter from Capt. L. J. Smith, setting forth certain complaints as regards the conduct of the Messrs. Noble Brothers. I need scarcely tell you that there has been a constant stream of just such letters ever since the Foundry was placed under my control. I must confess that I am at a loss to know the course to pursue, for I really cannot think that in these times we can stop the operations of such an Establishment to have them all arrested and courtmartialed as Capt L. J. Smith seems to think I ought to do. As for myself I never have and cannot expect our contractors and even direct Employees to observe the strict rules of Military Etiquette, nor even the ordinary military usages, they are not bred to it, everything is new to them & no doubt many of our best Officers in the Field can testify to the difficulty in obtaining very ordinary discipline with volunteers regularly enlisted in the field. I enclose you a copy of a letter I wrote to Capt. Smith a few days ago, I may have erred in my remarks & advise, but I desired to do the best for the common cause. “If you are acquainted with Capt. Smith, you know something of his bearing & manners, & you can judge how they would be adopted to our common laboring classes as well as many of the better Order. “The object of this communication is respectfully to request, that, if you can do so you will relieve Capt. Smith from duty with me, in such a manner as not to wound his [honor] and give him a place where he will be satisfied. “...So far as my personal acquaintance extends, though very limited, I am satisfied of his high character & gentlemanly bearing, but I just know that little good will result from the present state of things & for the Capt. own comfort I make this request.” Signed on October 10th, 1862, at the Atlanta Arsenal, Georgia, with initials on a postscript to a letter, and a virtually perfect match to the endorsement on the Treasury note of November 21st, 1862. image: Fold3.com SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 339 If Wright referred in this letter to Capt. L. Jaquelin Smith, Ordnance Officer, he was apparently successful in his request, as Smith was reassigned to the Ordnance Department in Charleston, South Carolina, in December. There are numerous letters from Wright to Col. H. Oladowski, Chief of Ordnance, dealing with issues of supply of munitions. One of these letters to Oladowski on March 20th was especially self-effacing: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of 10th Inst., expressing the kindly appreciation of my humble efforts in the discharge of my duties, on the part of the General Commanding the Army of Tennessee. “I beg that you will please return to General Bragg my most sincere thanks for such evidences of approbation from one holding so high a position in our Army. “Conscious of my unworthiness to have such an honor shown me & feeling more than amply awarded thanks for all that I may have contributed towards the advancement of our common cause.” 1863 In a letter of March 13th from Wright at the Atlanta Arsenal to Maj. J. L. Sehon, QM at Atlanta, a reference is made to the volume of operations of the arsenal in which Wright explained the level of needed transportation: “I beg to state that as all kinds of Ordnance Stores & supplies are manufactured and received at & forwarded to the various armies in the field from this arsenal, the amount of transportation both local & RRoad is necessarily very great. “Artillery, Arms, Equipments & Ammunition are daily shipped to the army in large quantities, on an average about fifteen drays per day are necessary to receive & ship the stores & attend to the local transportation between the different Establishments of the Arsenal. “In arriving at the bulk or amount of daily shipments, by reference to my books for last month, February, I find that the average daily shipments alone amount to from ten to fifteen tons, some days up to twenty five tons, others not so much, to say nothing of the transportation of material & manufactured articles from and to the various Establishments of the Arsenal. In this connection I beg to assure you that under your supervision every demand made for transportation from this Arsenal has been most promptly complied with. I feel grateful for the assistance you have rendered me in supplying the Army in the Field.” Wright was appointed on July 14th as Col. Artillery reporting to Col. J. Gorgas in Richmond. The South’s support of states’ rights promoted confusion in the duplication of the central Richmond command and the various state commands. This was evident in a letter by Wright to S. Cooper, Adj. & Insp. General at Richmond, on September 6th. Bear in mind that military wisdom abhors a split chain of command: “Gov. Brown by proclamation has called out four thousand men on Mon. & ordered to report to these headquarters. Will you please order some officer to take charge of them & organize them, it’s impossible for me to attend to them properly with my present duties.” A letter of September 18th from Wright to S. Cooper, illustrates the breadth of Wright’s responsibilities and initiative, and his reliance on Richmond for control of the situation: “The Provost Battalion of this city having been removed by Major Lee by authority granted him, for the purpose of operating against Deserters, Tories, &c, in Northern Georgia, the city is at this time without proper protection in the way of a military Guard. ...I would respectfully request that the privilege be granted me...of raising a Battalion of Five Companies of Non Conscripts, by volunteering to do the Provost and Guard duty of this city, with the privilege of electing their own Field and Company officers. I feel sure that the Battalion can be easily raised of Boys under 18 years of age....” Wright was ultimately successful in his request for a single chain of command. He signed a voucher on January 31st, 1864, as “Col. Comdg. Arsenal, Troops &c.” An extremely rare stamp of the Atlanta Arsenal. image: Heritage Auctions, HA.com SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 340 On December 31st Wright wrote an impassioned, ten-page letter to Tennessee Congressman J. D. C. Atkins in which he explained that current law had fixed the rate of pay of his mechanics at a point far below survivability; he was losing good mechanics, and the ones who remained did half the work. He carefully calculated the costs of rent, food, and fuel and showed that rent alone consumed nearly all of the wages he could pay his men. Writing that it is “...my earnest desire to do all I can, in my humble capacity, for the good of our common cause (emphasis added) & Country,” he asked for Congressional action, and put the situation in very blunt terms in his closing: “In good times $3.00 [per day] was paid to the machinist. Now, currency is so depreciated as to make one dollar in gold worth twenty in Treasury notes, & still only $3.00 is allowed. In other words, the $3.00 of the mechanic of 1860, was worth $60.00 of the mechanic of ’63, or the mechanic to day gets 15 cents for his day’s work.” Wright would recognize similar problems in our economy today, where one ounce of gold from 1794 to to 1932 was denominated at $20, and now costs more than $4,000 on the open market, an inflation of 200 times and far worse than the inflation of Confederate treasury notes. 1864 It appears that funds were found to improve wages, and the quality of work improved at the Arsenal. This was evident in a letter written by Col. Gorgas to Wright on April 23rd: “I am much pleased in reading the monthly report of Inspections of Laboratory products by Col. Mallett to find that the percussion caps made at your Arsenal have resumed their ancient superiority. I however expected no less.” This letter also demonstrated that one of the functions of the C. S. Laboratories in the arsenal was the execution of quality control inspections. Wright wrote Col. Gorgas on May 5th noting that in four weeks his supply of sheet copper would be exhausted and asked for help in obtaining more, “that I may not be obliged to stop the production of Percuss. Caps, at a period when they will be so urgently wanted throughout the Confederacy.” On this same day Wright received notification that $200,000.00 had been placed to his credit with the Depositary Jno. W. Duncan (there are several such requisitions in the file). And on May 20th Col. Gorgas sent a telegram to Wright stating “issue ammunition out of any on hand as needed by Col Oladowski.” The Battle of Atlanta was soon to begin. A great many telegrams exist to and from Col. Gorgas in Richmond. A telegram of July 6th from Gorgas noted: “Write by Express the result the recent battles & other news we get nothing.” And on July 7th: “Send the bulk of machinery & Stores to Augusta & to Columbia SC. Send workmen in same direction when it becomes necessary.” Colonel Gorgas wrote on July 16th, “Go yourself to Macon or Augusta, according to army movements.” A commutation of quarters for Wright at Atlanta, Georgia, during the period July 1st to 20th showed that Wright had left Atlanta by that time; the voucher was signed at Macon, Georgia. By August 4th Gorgas had written: “My telegram of yesterday assigning you to take temporary charge of all the Ordnance establishments of Macon with reference to supplies for Gen’l Hood’s army will have advised you of my change of intention as to your position with all the workmen and resources at Macon at your Command. You will be more useful there than ever.” Atlanta fell in first days of September. Col. Wright appeared on a list of staff officers dated September 26th connected with the Ordnance Department at Columbus, Georgia, noting that he was on sick furlough. A report dated October 5th noted that he had recently returned from sick leave and was “ably managing the Ordnance Works.” 1886 Wright died in an accidental warehouse fire on January 8th, aged 50. He was a West Point graduate, and his West Point peers and former employees met in a reunion to eulogize him. The eulogies were recorded and published.3 Here is the introduction to the eulogies for Moses H. Wright: “It was reported that his commission as Brigadier-General was made out just before the collapse of the Confederacy, but such commission was never received by Colonel Wright. Since the war Colonel Wright has lived most of the time in Louisville, Kentucky, where he pursued the career of a successful business man up to the day of his death. He was in the firm of J. Balmforth & Co., cotton factors and produce brokers. His untimely and awful death was caused by the collapsing and burning of his warehouse, a four-story building.” SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 341 Moses Hannibal Wright image: The Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center. www.atlantahistorycenter.com The eulogies for Wright echo the character of the man seen in the files of the National Archives. “We, the former attaches of the Ordnance Department, commanded by the late Colonel Moses H. Wright, at Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia, during the late war, have assembled for the first time since our dispersion on the 16th day of April, 1865. Our meeting to-day, after a separation of more than twenty years, is for the purpose of taking some suitable action in regard to the death of Colonel Moses H. Wright. “We who served under him in the Arsenals of which he had charge, gratefully acknowledge his many acts of kindness. Few men having so much power wielded it as he did; for while he was inflexible as to duty, and was energetic and faithful in the discharge of every trust, yet he never made those under him feel that they were his inferiors; he was a true man, an accomplished gentleman, and was beloved by his associates. ...He had remarkable powers of organization and great tact in managing men, which manifested themselves in an eminent degree at an early age, as he was only about twenty- five years old when he assisted and organized to manage such an important enterprise as the Confederate States Arsenal at Atlanta, Georgia.....” And another eulogy from an anonymous source: “The late General Wright, ...that modest, unassuming man was a high-grade graduate at West Point, and was commissioned to a branch of the military service by the Federal Government second only to the Engineer – the Department of Ordnance. The head of that department of the Confederate Government was General G. Gorgas, and the second rank in the entire service, was held by the victim of the lamentable horror of last Friday, who at the end of the war had attained to the rank of Brigadier-General. ... General Wright was in the best sense a scholar and a gentleman, a man without guile and without reproach, a strong and sweet nature.” Colonel Wright’s widow requested the inclusion of this eulogy: “Colonel Wright and myself were class-mates and room-mates at West Point. For five years we were the closest of friends; for three years we lived in the same little room in the cadet barracks. No human being, except the members of his own immediate family, knew Moses H. Wright more intimately than myself. Together we conned our lessons. Together we went through our military duties from reveille at 5 o’clock A. M. until taps at 10 P. M. Many of our duties were irksome and trying to one’s patience and temper, yet I never knew Moses Wright to express in word or action a sentiment of insubordination. As is well known, the life of a West Point cadet contains many temptations. Many of our companions were wild ribald young men. We were separated from all home influences, surrounded by many conditions tending to harden a young man and blunt the sensibilities to a keen appreciation of honor, and purity, and morality. Yet through our long and most intimate intercourse, I never heard Moses Wright utter a word nor express a thought that would have been improper in the society of the best ladies of our land. He was pious without fanaticism, pure without prudery, strictly conscientious without bigotry, honorable, upright, just, kind, yet firm in the discharge of every duty. His West Point nick-name was ‘Deacon.’ He was known by all cadets as a devout Christian; yet he was never considered by any one as one of those so-called ‘goody-goody’ young men, whom some pity, others despise. ...He was my senior by nearly two years, SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 342 and to his influence I owe what little success I achieved at West Point, nay, to his actual help I owe my graduation and subsequent military career. As is, perhaps, known to many of your readers, one hundred demerits in six months will dismiss a cadet from the Military Academy. I received ninety-eight during the first five months of my cadetship. For the remaining month Moses Wright took all of my duties that he possibly could upon his own shoulders – such as guard duty, orderly duty, and the like – so as to diminish my risks of being reported for delinquencies, and thus by sacrificing himself he pulled me through. “Such was his life as a cadet. As an officer of the United State army for two years, and as a soldier of the Lost Cause for four, he had no superior as a faithful, intelligent, energetic member of one of the highest scientific corps. He was an ordnance officer in both armies. It would be impossible for me, without access to crucial records, to give you even an outline of Colonel Wright’s services to the Confederacy. I will briefly say that he was one of our highest and best ordnance officers, and, next to General Gorgas, was considered the ablest provider of munitions of war to the armies of the Confederate States. He was especially successful in the manufacture of percussion caps, and, to my own personal knowledge, his promptness and energy enabled us to fight some of our greatest battles, which otherwise would have been disastrous retreats for want of munitions. “But I can not do my noble friend justice. Of all the men I have ever known, he came nearest to obeying the injunctions of St. Paul when he said: ‘Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things that are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.’” Maj. S. H. Lockett he South had notable leaders who were cooperative in nature and worked for the common good of their society. I deeply admire Wright, and we need more like him in Congress and our executive suites. But we must also note that Wright worked for the common good of a wealthy elite who owned slaves. We see the same problem today in our Congress and our corporate executives who off-shored our middle class jobs and then welcomed massive immigration to undercut the wages of the remaining service sector jobs. Our politicians and executives only pretend to care about the common good of Black, White, and Brown working Americans. We should not be surprised that our society is in steep decline on the 250th anniversary of our Revolution. Denmark is the textbook example of a cooperative and successful society based on a well regulated capitalism and socialism which works for the common good. Denmark realized that immigrants undercut the funding of their social programs and the cohesiveness of their culture, and they shut down immigration. There is an uncomfortable similarity in the attitudes of the wealthy Southern elite who immigrated Black slaves “to do the work nobody wants” and those today who support and profit from immigration. The Civil War still has much to teach us, and we are ignoring its message to our enduring decline.4 Carpe diem “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ― George Santayana, 1906 References: 1. Arthur Wyllie. Confederate Officers, self published in PDF format, 2007 (now out of print). Primary source: Journal of the Confederate Congress 1861-1865, Senate Document #234, 58th Congress, 2nd Session. 2. Atlanta History Center, atlantahistorycenter.com 3. Sixteenth Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, June 12th, 1885, Annual Reunion, June 10th, 1886, pp. 71-75. 4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt regulated our economy for the common good. The utterly false notion that everyone has a good inner core is now used to justify unregulated liberty and freedom. John Stuart Mill famously said that yelling “fire” in a theater is not liberty, it is license. Our notions of liberty have been corrupted by our wealthy elite to become the license to profit at the expense of our common good. I am a direct descendant of the Mayflower passenger George Soule, as was FDR. Our first pioneers acutely understood that human nature needs to be regulated. Different regulations suit different cultures, but the absence of regulation produces wealth inequality, social decline, and revolutions. T SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 343 $MALL NOTE$ By Jamie Yakes An Update on $10 Back Plate 1597 A few years ago, Pete Huntoon presented information about ten-dollar back plate 1597, an eighteen-subject plate that had intermediate plate serial numbers, or those that are abnormally sized compared to the size of plate serials on contemporary plates.1 In this case, the number 1597 on all eighteen subjects of the plate is noticeably smaller. How this can happen is simple. The plate serial numbers on eighteen-subject intaglio plates were added with a pantograph machine. This machine used a series of interconnected bars and the rules of geometry to allow an operator to reproduce a traced design onto another object at a scale different from that of the tem- plate. On currency plates, the serial numbers that appeared in the plate were reduced from a larger template. A crucial operating variable of a pantograph is to properly set the reduction factor. The operator who added the 1597 to plate 5125—the ten-dollar back plate assigned plate serial 1597—used an incorrect setting that produced numbers smaller than they should’ve been. Unfortunately, the plate his- tory records for eighteen-subject plates are incomplete, so we don’t know the exact dates of when back plate 1597 was in the press room. We do know that it was certified for use in August 1954, and canceled eight years later, in July 1962. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing used it during the time they were printing Series of 1950A, 1950B, and 1950C Federal Re- serve Notes, as well as Series of Above: Normal back plate 1596 (left) and intermediate back plate 1597 (right). The difference in size between both numbers is apparent. Notice, especially, the position of each 1 relative to the curl. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 344 1953, 1953A, and 1953B Silver Certificates. In his article, Pete showed a pair of 1950As, including a New York star, or replacement, note. This past June the topic surfaced on the Paper Money Forum message boards and garnered interest from members.2 One member, Derek Higgins, a frequent contributor of small-size varieties for this column, showed his star, a 1950B Chicago (shown above). He also owns a Series of 1950C Boston note (shown below). Since news of the variety, a few series of Federal Reserve notes with back plate 1597 remain unreported, as are numerous districts. Silver certificates with back 1597, whose absence frustrated Pete back then, are still frustratingly elusive. 1 https://www.numismaticnews.net/paper-money/10-18-subject-intermediate-size-plate-serial-number-1597-backs. Accessed August 10, 2026. 2 https://www.papermoneyforum.com/post/back-plate-1597-on-1950ac-10-frns-and-maybe-1953-sc- 13843727?pid=1344746777. Accessed August 10, 2026. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 345 A Cashed Postal Note from Rushmore, Minnesota. (What a Rush!!!) By Bob Laub / Formatting by Skye State of Minnesota / Town of Rushmore: Minnesota is the 12th largest state in terms of land mass, and the 32nd state admitted to the Union, May 11, 1858. Shown to the right is a postcard of the town in 1910. The founding of Rushmore: The city was named after S.M. Rushmore, an early pioneer, successful merchant, and city planner. The town was founded with the construction of the Worthington and Sioux Falls Railway, when a New York financier, George I. Seney, established a town in southwestern Minnesota. When the Worthington and Sioux Falls Railway was planned, a station house was created. The station house was named Miller Station, in honor of ex-governor Stephen Miller, and for two years it had no inhabitants. In 1878, Seney, purchased large plots of railroad land in Dewald and Olney Townships. Seney colonized the land, bringing out settlers from New York City and other eastern points. On May 27, 1878, S. M. Rushmore arrived at Miller Station with his family. He established a store for the new colonists sent there by Seney. After Rushmore settled, he oversaw the construction of a railroad depot - and then went to grow the community. In August 1878, in honor of his efforts, the town was renamed Rushmore. A business directory from the fall of 1879 shows that Rushmore had a general store, a feed mill, an elevator, a hotel, a hardware store, a grocer, a lumber agent, a tin ware dealer, a notion store, a jeweler, and two blacksmiths. The town also had a new church and a new school. On March 27, 1900, Rushmore, with a population of 204, was incorporated and showed appreciable growth from the 99 residents represented in the 1880 census report. The 1910 report stated a population increase to only 237. In 2022, the population was only 264 residents. 1883-1894 Postal Notes: Postal Notes were a monetary device which allowed the majority of the populous an affordable means of forwarding small amounts of money more securely over variable distances. The amount forwarded, set by post office regulations was to be under five dollars. (Postal Notes could legally range from one- cent to $4.99) and each note encompassed a three-cent administrative fee, a constant throughout the series, in addition to the issued amount. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 346 Between Monday September 3, 1883, and Saturday June 30, 1894, the postal service issued over 70 million of these one-time usage documents. Of that number Minnesota’s contribution was 1,787,236. Thanks to a new census project compiled by two collectors from Texas, as of May, 2026, there are only 2404 known survivors from the entire series, with only 58 of them owing their geographic boundaries to Minnesota. Postal Notes were produced by three different private printing companies with each contract to span four- years. The final contract, awarded to the firm of Dunlap, and Clarke, based in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, however was cut short to 34 months as the government opted to discontinue further production. This note was one of those final printing contract notes. With serial #213 dated July 3, 1893, and was issued in the amount of $1.77 by Postmaster S. B. Bedford (Salathiel Boyd Bedford). Postmaster Bedford assumed that position three different times during his career with the first employment beginning July 6, 1880 – June 25, 1894 (His first term began three-years prior to the postal note series, and ended five-days shy of the series discontinuation). He was then reappointed June 26, 1908 – December 5, 1910, and finally came back as an Acting Postmaster February 27, 1925 – March 10, 1926. During Postmaster Bedford’s earlier years his annual salary was $228.84, and was in direct proportion to the annual revenue generated at that post office. An Added Allure: This lofty issued amount of $1.77 was obviously intended as some form of commercial usage, but the intrigue of this postal note does not end there. It has the added distinction of being cashed in Fairmont, MN., but payment did not transpire until May 3, 1894. (184-days beyond the cashing in allotted time). Allotted time is referenced as a note needing to be cashed within three-months from the last day of month of issue, or an application for a new note must be rendered with an additional three-cent administrative fee. The distance between Rushmore, MN. and Fairmont, MN. Is only 73-miles which does not seem it would have played a major part in the cashing in tardiness of the note. Pertinent Cashing in Facts: On the lower obverse one can clearly see the words “Received the above amount” with a signature of J.A. Smith who was presenting this note for payment. Also on the obverse is the “star” area, an engraved section incorporated to help prevent cashed notes from being fraudulently resubmitted for payment. The left side reverse clearly shows a date stamp for the issuing office. While the other circle demonstrates the paying office of Fairmont, MN. Postal Note Cashing Regulation: The postal regulation which governs the cashing process of all postal notes is clearly stated on the reverse side of every note. “This note once paid by whomsoever presented, will be worthless in the hands of any subsequent holder if not paid within three months from the last day of the month of issue. The holder, to obtain the amount thereof less an additional fee of three cents, must deliver it to the postmaster at any money order office, and sign an application for a duplicate payable to him by such postmaster to be issued by the post office department” (Speculation): I assume this postal note was spared destruction due to it having been forwarded back to the pay-out post office, in Fairmont, MN. This would have transpired due to the excessive amount of time between the initial issue date, and payment. Even though all the other boxes seemed to be checked off properly, an additional SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 347 three-cent fee along with an application for a newly issued postal note had to be adhered to. If the Postmaster at Fairmont neglected to comply with the Auditor Department’s request in Washington, D.C., it would have resulted in the Postmasters account not being credited the $1.77 amount. A hefty sum and equivalent to more than two- weeks of a then laborers pay. In Conclusion: Given the overall scarcity of the series, then compounding it with cashed notes surviving destruction then returned back into collectors’ hands eventually (less than 40), is nothing shy of AWSOME. I wish to thank my fellow writer Rick Melamed for helping to bring my article to the next level with additional images. Well done! I hope you have found some enjoyment in my latest installment of this rare series in Numismatic Americana. Comments and questions are always welcomed at: briveadus2012@yahoo.com. I would also be interested in hearing about any Postal Notes or related material you may have as well. Many thanks. SPMC.org * Paper Money * Sep/Oct. 2026 * Whole Number 365 348 For further information please contact: PCDA Susan Bremer – Secretary 16 Regents Park * Bedford, TX 76022 (214) 409-1830 * email: susanb@ha.com Or Visit Our Web Site At: www.pcda.com Dustin Johnston #18229. BP 22%, see HA.com 90166 DALLAS  |  NEW YORK  |  BEVERLY HILLS  |  CHICAGO  |  PALM BEACH LONDON  |  HONG KONG  |  MUNICH  |  TOKYO  |  PARIS  |  AMSTERDAM  |  BRUSSELS  |  GENEVA  Always Accepting Quality Consignments in 50+ Categories Immediate Cash Advances Available 2 Million+ Online Bidder-Members U.S. CURRENCY SIGNATURE® AUCTION GACC – Dallas | October 7-9 Highlights from Our Official GACC Auction View All Lots & Bid at HA.com/3602 For a free appraisal, or to consign to an upcoming auction, contact a Heritage Expert today. 214.409.1001, Currency@HA.com or HA.com/Currency. Scan to View All Lots & Bid Serial Number 1 San Diego, CA - $20 1882 Brown Back Fr. 494 The Consolidated National Bank Ch. # 3056 PMG Extremely Fine 40 Fr. 1217 $500 1922 Gold Certificate PCGS Extremely Fine 40 Portland, OR - $50 1902 Red Seal Fr. 665 The First National Bank Ch. # (P)1553 PMG Very Fine 25 Lafayette, IN - $50 Original Fr. 442a The National State Bank Ch. # 930 PMG Very Fine 20 Fr. 1219e $1,000 1907 Gold Certificate PMG Very Fine 20 New York, NY - $100 1875 Fr. 457 The National Broadway Bank Ch. # 687 PMG Very Fine 25