Texas national with double sigs

gsalex

I've been reading the thread about Nationals with no signatures, but what do you make of this one? It's a $5 national from the Republic National Bank of Dallas, with double signatures. Would this be a rubber stamp error? The sigs look identical. What's the relative scarcity of something like this -- would it even be considered an error?

STLNATS

Looks like the sheet was fed twice into the the machine or press overprinting the sigs. Perhaps misfed the first time and they were trying to figure out exactly how to feed the sheets to get the sigs printed correctly. A full double printing like this is very scarce, at least in my part of the world. It is an error, but of the bank's printer and not the BEP. I like these sort of things (including the offset sigs on the notes' backs which are much more common) and always try to add them to my collection if they're realistically priced.

gsalex

I don't have access to a census, so I don't know the scarcity of this bank, but these were printed in sheets of four, so potentially there could be three others out there. Has anything like this been reported already?

Berny

There are 26 $5 PB's in the NBNCensus and a total of 61 PB's. Of the ~20 images, none was a double signature. Yours is not in the census. The closest serial number is about 57 below yours.

STLNATS

Originally posted by: gsalex

I don't have access to a census, so I don't know the scarcity of this bank, but these were printed in sheets of four, so potentially there could be three others out there. Has anything like this been reported already?

A quick search turned up this lot (18688) in the September 2015 Heritage auction that had not only double sigs, but the one had the top was inverted to boot. This is the most recent I've seen for sale altho I've seen a few other examples over the years.



link





edited to add: According to my records I have 2 1902 PB $10s on 4178 with double sigs. The notes are at the bank, but here's the only scan - only of the signature area - I have to hand. It appears that the first overprint was high and an effort was made to erase it before a second try was made.

JimFitz

If memory serves, the Republic NB eventually added "and Trust Company" to their title, and I believe was the 2nd largest issuer for all Dallas banks, behind Charter 3623 and their various name changes - my Kelly is at the show, as I'm replying from my hotel room.



There are actually similar "errors" like this on the Fort Worth National Bank, as the last one at auction brought almost crazy money - yes it's a mechanical error, but an error nonetheless...

DoctorPaper

Here's an oddball-one signature OK, the other upside-down. Presumably they were using individual sig stamps rather than running the notes through a signature machine putting both signatures on the notes simultaneously.

gsalex

Originally posted by: JimFitz
If memory serves, the Republic NB eventually added "and Trust Company" to their title, and I believe was the 2nd largest issuer for all Dallas banks, behind Charter 3623 and their various name changes - my Kelly is at the show, as I'm replying from my hotel room.

There are actually similar "errors" like this on the Fort Worth National Bank, as the last one at auction brought almost crazy money - yes it's a mechanical error, but an error nonetheless...

Jim, can you point me to the auction where that last Fort Worth note sold?

CaptHenway

Kewl!

gsalex

So, I will admit to playing coy on this one, although I may have tipped my hand by even posting a photo. This note was up for bid today in a non-numismatic auction, but was not recognized or identified as an error note in the auction catalog. It just sold for about $1090 including buyer's fee. I was an underbidder and clearly someone else with sharp eyes recognized its rarity. I wouldn't be surprised to see this one show up again, graded and in a major paper money auction.



Live and learn!

numbersman

I own an example of the Ft Worth Jim mentioned.It is for sale.

Tookybandit

I really like that charter number!