Two 1929 Type 1 $5 Nbn's From The Same Charter With Different Overprinting Plates

A couple months back I shared this 1929 Type 1 $5 NBN from McGehee, Arkansas.

On a NBN discussion group it was pointed out to me the use of a "superscript small cap C", which aligns with top of the other letters in the town name, and it was mentioned they'd only seen one other charter which used this variation for small size NBNs. Looking at images of past sales on Heritage, I saw that there were also notes from McGehee which had a "small cap C" which aligned with the bottom of the other letters in the name. I decided to keep watch for one of these.

As there are only 8 small-size notes in the census for this charter, I figured it would take a while. Surprisingly one recently showed up on Heritage and I managed to get it.

It turns out the overprinting plates, used to print the bank name, town, state, bank officer signatures and charter numbers, were made by different organizations.

Barnhart Brothers and Spindler (BBS) were originally contracted by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) to provide the overprinting plates. BBS couldn't keep up with the demand, so the Government Printing office (GPO) was contracted to make interim plates. Also, the BEP in some cases made their own overprinting plates. There are very many characteristics and variations which allows the maker of the plates to be identified, and my notes illustrate just a few of these.

My note with the "superscript small cap C" was printed using a GPO overprint plate, while my new addition was printed using a BBS overprint plate. Other than the difference in the "C", there are also other noticeable differences; note the size of the signatures, the spacing and layout of the letters in the bank name, and the difference in sharpness between the charter numbers, particularly the serifs on the "1" and "2".

If you're interested in learning more on this topic, I refer you to a presentation by James Simek from the 2010 Memphis International Paper Money Show. James was actually the person who pointed out the "superscript small cap C" variation on my original purchase to me.
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/549041

There is also a nice article "Series of 1929 Overprints" by Peter Huntoon and James Simek in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Paper Money, the journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors.