Innehållsförteckning för April 2022 från Banknote Reporter

APRIL 2022 U.S. Paper Money Price Guide The past month, there were no major auctions, so I reviewed smaller auctions looking for different patterns. Major auctions are dominated by deep pocket collectors looking for finest known notes and great rarities. Those collectors generally don’t review minor auctions. By looking at that action I can get a feel for what more modest collectors are looking for. They want uncirculated common notes and seek out better notes in Fine to Very Fine condition. This helps me value mid-grade notes. Folks that crave Very Fine Buffalo or Indian Chief notes are valuable to the hobby. Currently, Small Size $500 notes are in much demand in Very Fine grades, as they are in high grade in major auctions. Large Size notes are popular in…

The Series of 1882 had just begun, and it was the heyday for George Casilear’s reign as Chief Engraver at the BEP. His imprint on currency manufacturing was the use of his patented lettering process whereby the BEP engravers created a plethora of alphabets of widely different styles. The siderographers took up the individual letters on rolls so when they had to spell something out on a plate, they simply used those rolls to efficiently roll in the needed letters one at a time. The technique lent itself particularly well to laying in title blocks on national bank note plates. The First National Bank of Nashua was chartered during 1882 so the $5 plate made for it sports a classic Casilear patent lettering layout. In time, those layouts were deemed…

This spectacular pair of Haitian notes sport identical serial numbers. This type of occurrence is very rare and when it does happen usually it is not noticed as the notes go by. What is fabulous is that the full story of this discovery is known. Discovery stories are rarely documented, so it is exactly the type of tale I like to chronicle. This pair was discovered by Elcie Assad. Her father Marcel Assad built and owned the Park Hotel at 23 Rue Capois in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Port-au-Prince faces west toward a large bay that dominates the west coast of the island. The hotel is a highly recommended popular attraction in itself centrally located within Port-au-Prince. Elcie managed the hotel so was in charge of the payroll for…

The Industrial Revolution began in the United States sometime between 1820 to 1870. During this period the manufacture of all sorts of thing grew exponentially and led to the invention of things like the telephone and the light bulb. This advertising note shown here is a survivor of the Industrial Revolution as it represents yet another aspect of the booming economy during the mid-1800’s. Pen manufacturers began to appear in the United States about 1858. One of these was the Washington Pen Company situated in New York. As with many firms, some years saw more business while at other times, especially with political uncertainty and the Civil War looming, things were more difficult. So it was with the Washington Pen Company; by late in 1860 it was not doing a…

Meanwhile the printing of the 50 kopeck notes was progressing according to schedule and on Jan. 21, 1919, Serge Ughet, the financial attaché, sent one of the bills to the State Department for examination. Unlike the larger denominations these new bills simply stated their value in subsidiary silver which did not seem to offend anyone. On March 12 some 40,000,000 of them were shipped to Vladivostok from San Francisco while April 5 would witness another 10,000,000 being sent. The notes were duly received by the agents of Kolchak at Vladivostok and quickly sent on by railway to Omsk. A large quantity was immediately put into circulation without any signatures or stamped in any way. Although exact figures are not available, it seems likely that Omsk used at least half of…

Kellogg, Idaho, is a silver mining town founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1907 in the panhandle of Idaho. It lies astride the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County. The largest mine there, the Sunshine, produced 360 million troy ounces of silver before closing in 2001. Since then, mining activity in the area has contracted severely and Kellogg is attempting to redefine itself as a tourist/resort town. The main attraction is the Silver Mountain alpine ski area complete with a 3.1-mile gondola lift. The Sunshine Mine suffered a fire in May 1972 in which 91 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning, one of the worst mining tragedies in the country. Two men survived for eight days where they had discovered a fresh…

Auction firms have been seeing success across the board. From Heritage Auctions’ world currency sale to Stack’s Bowers Collector’s Choice auctions, to World Banknote Auctions’ sales’ prices realized have been showing a healthy market. U.S. and world currency alike expectations are high going forward. World Banknote Auctions Live Sale 23 has a wonderful selection of colorful notes. There is sure to be something for every world note collector. Meanwhile, Stack’s Bowers beautiful array of U.S. currency featuring part 5 of the “Gnat” Laguna Coast Registry and Rarity Collection is sure to please U.S. bank note collectors. Heritage Auctions isn’t to be overlooked with their April sale of world bank notes. World currency has much appeal for their vibrant colors and rich histories. The excitement in collecting world bank notes is…