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Obsolete United States Paper Money

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  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 15, 2023 5:03AM

    I can also remember seeing "A penny saved is better than a penny earned" on a note but don't recall which one. Again, it was a slight variation on the more popular version.

    Are there other Franklin quotes on other notes?

    (Actually, a little research attributes this quote to Martin Luther. Maybe Franklin repeated a variation.)

    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
  • berylberyl Posts: 131 ✭✭✭
    edited October 15, 2023 11:47AM

    I know of no other notes with Franklin quotes except of course the ones on Colonial Currency. Would love to see a note with any motto encouraging saving.

    As far as "Time is Money" the owners of the Franklin Bank used the aphorism to connect their "Franklin Bank" to the revered Benjamin Franklin.

    According to Wikipedia though: "the phrase was already in print in 1719 in the Whig newspaper The Free-Thinker: "In vain did his Wife inculcate to him, That Time is Money..." and indeed likely the idea had been around at least since Classical Greece.

    I like to spend my time (and money) on currency

  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,905 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A Congreve back on a $50 note is VERY rare. I don't think that I've seen one before and certainly not in this high grade. Thank you for sharing it. Only a few banks in Maine and Massachusetts issued them and they are usually lower grade and denominations.

    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
  • gsalexgsalex Posts: 218 ✭✭✭

    @MaineMoneyMan said:
    Interesting info.
    I have no notes with this or anything similar.
    I have not been on the forums much lately.
    I was able to add quite a few substantially important notes to my collection i 2023, including 2 congreve backs on Maine notes, which is not an easy feat.

    Does this have anything on the back? I'm wondering if it was actually a promotional note showing the security capabilities of the printing house.

    Intrigued by all things intaglio.
  • This IS the back of the note. . Yes, it has an obverse.
    It is an unlisted Maine note. I acquired it from the direct descendent of the bank cashier, amongst other notes of the same bank, and other notes from Maine. The annotation is from the Cashier. The other notes have similar annotations.

  • Steve_in_TampaSteve_in_Tampa Posts: 1,969 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 10, 2023 10:42PM

    A closeup of the annotation.

    “This bill was never issued by the bank - but was a spare one received from the engraver.”

  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 9,310 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @sellitstore said:
    Dog and safe vignettes are a common theme on obsoletes as well as this check.
    I found the title on this ebay item amusing:
    "Bank Check Union Trust Company 1874 Dog W/ Key By Radio"

    Reminds me of the RCA image with the dog "His Master's Voice".

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • @Steve_in_Tampa said:
    A closeup of the annotation.

    “This bill was never issued by the bank - but was a spare one received from the engraver.”

    I have 5 notes form this bank of different denominations. All of them are annotated "Spare bill never issued by the bank" with one of the notes annotated "Spare sheet from the engraver, spare bill never issued by the bank."
    The 50 is described in the references, but none with the congreve back. All denom's are none known in this particular style, however notes of this design would have to have been issued early on as the bank was in business from the 1830's up to 1865.
    I believe these are proof notes, not remainders as in hand they have a very thin rice paper feel.

  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 8,268 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I like obsoletes - a very interesting area.

    Coins & Currency
  • gsalexgsalex Posts: 218 ✭✭✭

    @MaineMoneyMan - What was the bank that these notes were printed for? Could you post a couple other examples?

    Intrigued by all things intaglio.
  • MaineMoneyManMaineMoneyMan Posts: 23 ✭✭
    edited November 22, 2023 12:57PM

    Here are some bad pictures, I have not scanned them in save the 50. Only the 50 has the Congreve back. The others are plain back.
    I also have what I believe is a proof sheet from the same bank of the later style. The condition is slightly tattered.
    The 3 is underneath the 2. The 2 is missing the upper right piece. All other notes are complete, save the POC’s, and all are annotated with similar notes.

  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 29, 2023 5:11AM

    Stolen on Ebay last night for $57. (not me)

    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
  • gsalexgsalex Posts: 218 ✭✭✭

    This has to be one of my favorite banknotes, front and back -- the locomotive, the lathework, and the overall design really pop. This note was released in 1873, which was during Reconstruction. Is there any agreement on when the obsolete era ended? How would you refer to a note outside the typical period?

    Intrigued by all things intaglio.
  • Nice looking note. Seems as though it’s a railroad ticket..that’s pretty sweet.

    State bank issued notes effectively died after the nation banks came into existence, and further in 1866, when a 10% tax was imposed on all use of state bank notes…Banks redeemed the outstanding bills over the ext few years and in some cases years past the requirement. Some state banks chartered as national banks and some did not.
    In the case of the Veazie Bank of Bangor, the bank simply ignored the requirements of the tax and continued into, if I remember correctly, well into the 1870s. They protested the right of the government to impose the tax and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. It is a case that is still referenced. They lost.

    I once rode a train from Boston to Florida, but my tickets didn’t look that cool!

  • Steve_in_TampaSteve_in_Tampa Posts: 1,969 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The back of the note is mind boggling. They kinda got carried away with the lathe work. There’s circles and squares and diamonds and an oval in the center. Incredible engraving.

  • gsalexgsalex Posts: 218 ✭✭✭

    Although the note is technically a "ticket" these circulated as currency. The $5 I posted is a remainder, but here's a $1 that saw a lot of use. (The company also issued 2, 10, and 20 denominations, all just as ornate.) I think this was a clever way for cash-strapped Southern businesses to create their own form of "banknotes" that circumvented the taxes imposed on banks. Eventually this type of note was also taxed into oblivion, though I'm not sure when Congress took that action.

    Intrigued by all things intaglio.
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,553 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 11, 2024 12:07PM

    Even though Meriden National Bank had a National Charter, they still issued notes in contravention of the law - this note was rather illegal in that it evaded the 10% tax which was applied as a stamp on the note and used the National Bank title. Enforcement on non National and non-Federal notes was lax until 1896 when the federal government cracked down on Mississippi issuing notes.

    Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,553 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 11, 2024 12:11PM

    Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 21, 2024 7:12AM

    One out of three ain't good. I hope that the buyer didn't think that they were buying NC notes. You would think that either buyer or seller or certification company would realize that there is no "Lamville" County anywhere in the U.S. but there is a Lamiolle County in VT. It's where Stowe is located. At $225 each for the 25 and 50 cents and $175 for the 10 cent, these are way overpriced. And they come from the collection of the deceased author of the SPMC VT book-Mayre Coulter. They were sold on ebay yesterday.



    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
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