My US Bank Note Type Set

You are welcome. Your progress should be appreciated.

I've been collecting currency for 43 years & have seen your journey laid out here on CCF. Your appreciation of US banknotes has been fascinating to observe. It's been very engaging to track (& I appreciate your well centred 1957 star note). I look upon the SC's as one of the more colourful moments of BEP's output.

Never underestimate the odd gift passed down to us.

Going back to Fractionals. Someone once asked why were there so many different issues of Fractional Currency? And the answer is simple:

"COUNTERFEITING"

Yes as soon as they were released they were counterfeited hence the different paper, different printing and different methods of producing them. Without counterfeits we would only have 1 issue, but because of it we have 5 beautiful releases(well 1 beautiful, 2 nice ones, a some what blah one and another that a mother (or Spinner) loved.)

Today we go back to the 5th issue and my favorite person (under than nudes and Columbia). Yes William Morris Meredith.Mr. Meredith was born on June 8, 1799 and Died August 17, 1873.

While Mr. Meredith wasn't happy having his portrait taken as can be seen by the 10 cent note, he was a very intelligent man. Graduating from college at 13 and passing the bar at 18 (they used to drink much younger back then) . Mr. Meredith fathered 5 children including the poet William Meredith Sr. Mr. Meredith was appointed by President Taylor as Secretary of Treasury from 1849 to 1850. He then served as the Pa. state attorney general from 1861 to 1867.

Meredith received one of only two 1849 Double Eagles while serving as Treasury Secretary. That 1849 Double Eagle is a pattern coin. The other coin is on display at the Smithsonian Institution. The coin was auctioned as part of his estate but its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.

In honor of all he did he added as a portrait to the 5th issue of fractionals. A total of 199,899,000 10 cent notes were issued and as this was the last series they were actively collected. There are 3 seperate versions of the 10 cent note:

FR 1264 - Green Back
FR 1265 - Long thin key on the treasury seal
FR 1266 - Small think key on the treasury seal.

As Captain Coffee stated, I was missing this one....

So just by luck my LCS got this in stock. This is a CU note. Its condition is excellent. Paper is super crisp and while it looks like there is a small fold/break on the front, its actually a large fiber with the printing on top. Nice margins on the front, ok margins on the back. Overall I am VERY happy with this one.

Beautiful Spinners!

From the 5th issue we go to the 3rd issue. This is the 5 cent. These were printed at the end of the Civil War. They were printed between January 1865 and April 1866. In total about 13 million notes were printed. The portrait on the note is of Spenser Clark.

Spenser Clark was born on June 3, 1811 and died December 10, 1890. Clark is most famous for doing something he shouldn't have done. Spenser as as appointed head of the currency bureau was supposed to put William Clark (the explorer from Lewis and Clark) on the 5 cents, instead he put his own portrait on the 5 cents. This caused a lot of uproar resulting in congress enacting a law that no living person may be on any currency or stamps. Well you ask yourself ....(you probably don't as most people don't really know that much about fractional currency)

"How did Fessenden and Spinner have their portraits on the 3d issue? Weren't they alive at the time?"

And the answer is yes, but the law was written that for any stamps or notes that the plates were already created they could proceed. Hence why we have a Spinner and Fessenden note but not a Grant and Sherman 15 cent. Since the plates weren't created for the Grant and Sherman note.

The things one learns while collecting currency.

There were 4 issues of the 5 cent notes:
FR 1236 - Red Back
FR 1237 - Red Back with Letter A on the front
FR 1238 - Green Back
FR 1239 - Green Back with Letter A on the front

This is FR 1239. You can see the a on the left side by the 5.

No notes today, but like I said I really like packages with stamps. This was from the last 2 groups I ordered.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I was at the LCS last friday picking up angry Meredith. At the same time there was a person selling off her fathers collection. In the collection was a lot of gold coins and a few notes. As the LCS was appraising the gold coins I was droolingon the notes. Several that I wanted included a few Nationals from NJ, a red seal from 1953 that I didn't have and a large national from a bank in Newark, NJ.

I let the LCS know I was interested but she hasn't accepted the offer, so I wait. These are notes I was never expecting to find locally (well the red seal is common) but the nationals are just not found. No updates today, but you never know

This note was never on my list. Although not rare, its more costly than my budget would allow. When the local coin shop got it in, they let me know and offered it to me at a great price. The pictures the LCS sent were pretty bad so I was concerned and started a thread. After checking it out, it met my criteria. I'm pretty certain it will grade VF 20. Although soft corners the paper has body and the stains aren't as dark as the picture I had before. After getting it, I do like it and it's one I wasn't expecting to find. And like I've done with a few others, if its not a grade I like at a future time, I can always sell it.

This is the 1899 $2 silver certificate.This is F258 with the Speelman and White signature.