Cool Counterfeit With Corresponding Letter
MWallace
Posts: 4,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
MWallace
Posts: 4,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
MWallace
Posts: 4,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
Fantastic !
That’s a first for me. I had know idea people were still using Obsolete notes as late as 1912. I would have thought their era was long over by then. Thanks for sharing @MWallace .
I'd bet that someone found it in 1912 and sent it to the bank for redemption.
I'm so glad you reached out to PMG and had these put together Mike! What a great piece of history and a perfect way to keep them together.
You really should share the backstory on this too.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
I'd like to get a national from that bank to go with the obsolete!
Really glad PMG accepted your submission without a problem. 👍
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
PMG has been great and very accommodating to my request for items such as this. Kudos to them.
About 2 years ago I bought the already graded counterfeit note. It came with the letter but the letter was loose. After recently having PMG holder the Label Set pictured below, I got the idea to get the letter holdered with the counterfeit note for posterity reasons. My motive was to have them holdered together so that they could never be inadvertently separated. I contacted PMG before shipping to them to see if they'd agree to holder them together. They immediately said "yes" and as they say, the rest is history. I am so pleased to have the note and letter holdered together. What a great piece of numismatic memorabilia.
Stephen Nagy was a well known numismatist in 1912 when he attempted to redeem this note. It was worth perhaps 50 cents to a collector back then and was a tough sell at that. Although not in widespread circulation since the 1860s, obsoletes were still being redeemed by their national bank successors, so it was well worth it to try to redeem it. The national bank correctly identified it as a contemporary counterfeit.
Thanks for posting this interesting pair.
Wow! Thank you so much for the info. I will print it and keep it with the note.
@sellitstore
I googled "stephen nagy numismatist". Got quite a few hits. Lots to read. Thanks again.
God I love this place! Thanks @sellitstore
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
One of my favorite fractionals....a receipt from the treasury for a deposit and a returned counterfeit Lincoln fractional deducted from the total.
Nice!! They would look great together in a PMG holder.
Very interesting background. Were they redeeming at full value? Seems like a worthy project for a knowledgeable numismatist of that era.
As I started reading your comments I thought you were going to tell us that Nagy undertook this exercise in order to create a bit of numismatic ephemera. Many years ago that was my intention when I sent a WWII Japanese invasion note to the Japanese Embassy in Washington to see if they'd redeem it. Of course they did not, but the reply was interesting. (I've still got it somewhere).
Generally, yes, they were redeemed at full face value although there are exceptions. In New York, it depended on what secured the notes. Real Estate and bonds fluctuated in value and sometimes the security held by the bank wasn't sufficient to cover the face value of the outstanding notes presented. In these cases, where the state took over the assets of a failed bank and the assets weren't enough to pay off all of the notes, only a percentage of a the face value of the notes was paid out. If the bank went on to become a National Bank, then it had cleaned up its outstanding obsolete circulation, leaving only a few strays for possible later redemption.
I like the idea of creating numismatic collectibles by presenting notes for redemption. Maybe try some German inflation currency with the German embassy. They are probably used to answering that inquiry.
Thanks for more great insight on how that process worked.
I'm sitting on a supply of 1922 and 1923 German hyperinflation banknotes that I've been using for another project. I've been thinking of sending one off, and I think I'll definitely give it a try after the holidays. Maybe I'll try the same thing with an old US silver certificate.
Wonderful piece.
Lowball Sacagawea Dollars (PO01-XF45)
--- SUCCESSFUL BST TRANSACTIONS ---
braddick, Omegaraptor, JWP, EagleScout2017, OAKSTAR, Twobitcollector, boxerdad, OKCC, Fancycashcom, JimW, MWallace, Tookybandit, TeacherCollector, jeffas1974, mainejoe, kansasman, Cent1225, SurfinxHI, Soldi, Histman, CurrenSee, jclovescoins, Outhaul, Timbuk3, LEMONHEAD_PENNY, daverickey, Maxcrusha, RedSeals
Super cool notes and letter, nothing like history and provenance, congrats
Love the letter!!!! So cool
I sent in two WWII defense savings stamp for redemption and received a check for $.20.
Six months later I received a letter from the Bureau of Public Debt letting me know that I had not cashed it (which I knew, of course).
Mike always has some really neat stuff. What a great display item too. Thanks for an interesting post.
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
The check and notice make a nice pair.
Perhaps a display of checks that were likely to never get cashed?
Certainly worth 20 cents and a bit of effort.