1840-S Planters & Mechanics Bank South Carolina $10

I don't know enough about these to give you an educated answer. I've messaged a friend that I consider an expert on Obsoletes with a link to this thread and am awaiting his reply.

Russell messaged be back with his opinion.

Hi Steve,

Yes, it looks like the contemporary counterfeit to me. Written portions closely match written portions of the counterfeit in Haxby. Overall engraving quality isn't as sharp as it should be, particularly in the medallion heads, central vignette and portrait at left and small vignette at bottom center. These should all be sharp and dark with clearly engraved individual tiny lines to create the shaded appearance, not grey and indistinct. That sharpness should be retained, even on a worn note, such as this.

This is still a pretty darn scarce counterfeit note with no genuine examples known (at least to Haxby in 1988). I'd guess that it's a rarity 5, with 10-24 known. Let's see what Austin Sheehan said in his South Carolina Currency reference. He says rarity 6, which he defines as 5-15 known. I'd defer to his expertise. Mr. Sheehan illustrates a proof in his book, plate "C", along with the counterfeit, A comparison of the side by side photos leaves no doubt that this is the counterfeit. This example is still probably worth $50-$100. Heritage got $164.50 for the linked Newman example in 2016, which is a somewhat nicer.

Bowers, in "Obsolete Paper Money, Volume 6", lists the same note as "URS-3", which is defined as 3-4 known. I suspect that this number is too low.

Hope that this helps.

-Russell