Engraved MPC designs on souvenir cards

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing designed Military Payment Certificates using a variety of images at their disposal. Designs from earlier U.S. currency, stamps, and other securities were creatively repurposed. Because MPCs were all produced lithographically, collectors are generally out of luck if they want to obtain examples of MPC vignettes in their original engraved form, unless they have the funds to purchase some expensive early notes. But there is another solution: souvenir cards.

In an earlier thread Mpcusa inspired me to comb through the designs of MPC to see which ones were matched on engraved souvenir cards. An inventory of 90-some MPC revealed more than a dozen connections, which I will post forthwith! I include three from Series 701 -- though this series was unissued, a few notes have crept into the market and I thought it might be interesting for those who may not have seen these before.

While I am an avid collector of souvenir cards, I don't actively collect MPC. The notes shown here are only representatives of their various series and are not owned by me. Some are probably unattainable for all but the most persistent MPC collector. The catalog numbers used below are from the Souvenir Card Collectors Society.

MPC.....Matching souvenir card(s)

Series 481 $5 and $10.....B77
Series 521 $5.....B296
Series 651 5¢ - $10.....B189
Series 681 5¢ - 50¢.....B244 (front) and B36 (back)
Series 681 $10.....B246
Series 692 5¢ - 50¢.....F1973B (issued by the BEP for the 1973 Plate Printers convention)
Series 692 $1.....B47 and B270
Series 692 $10.....B131(front) and B210 (back)
Series 692 $20.....FM-13 (issued in 2005 for the BEP's Federal Managers Assn.)
Series 701 $5.....B84
Series 701 $10.....PV305 (from the BEP's series of Portrait-Vignette cards)
Series 701 $20.....B38

Below is Series 481 $10 and B77. This vignette is entitled "The Mechanic."

 

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Series 521 $5 and B296.

 

Series 651 $10 and B189. All the notes in series 651 include The Minute Man statue on the left hand side; the $10 note shows the least obscured version.

 

Series 681 25¢ with B244 (front) and B36 (back). This is one of the few MPCs with souvenir cards that match both sides. The astronaut has been flipped, but the image is the same.

 

Series 681 $10 and B246. The vignette was engraved by Charles A. Brooks in 1966.

 

Series 692 50¢ and F1973B. Here's another example of an alteration to the original design. The engraving of a statue at the Archives Building in Washington, DC was reversed for use on the MPC (I flopped the original for comparison). The four statues were engraved and printed in different colors for the 1955 convention booklet of the International Plate Printers and Die Stampers Union. They reprinted a card for public consumption at their 1973 convention.

 

Series 692 $1 (back) and B47. A later card, B270, shows the same note featuring the bison. I'll post a close-up of the bison later.

Series 692 $20 and FM-13. For many years, the BEP printed and sold an annual souvenir card with proceeds benefiting the Federal Managers Association. This one, featuring Ute Chief Ouray, was the last card of the series.

 

Series 692 $10 with B132 (front) and B210 (back). The only other MPC with both sides matched. The portrait of Chief Hollow Horn Bear, engraved by L.S. Schofield, is one of the finest Native American depictions, imho. Sorry, I don't have a close-up of the eagle on B210 -- I will try to post one later.

 

The image of The Mechanic is not quite the same. He shaved for the MPC. He is missing his moustche!

 

Series 701 $5 and B84. Franklin discovering electricity was depicted on the 1882 $10 National Currency note. For those who can't afford this particular National, here's the next best thing. Franklin was engraved while Alfred Jones and Louis Delnoce were with the American Bank Note Co. and the plates were subsequently turned over to the BEP for later printings.

 

Series 701 $10 and PV305. This card doesn't strictly qualify as a souvenir card; it is one of the BEP's Portrait-Vignette cards, which are still available to the public. It's interesting to note that the version of Mt. Vernon on the MPC has been altered, with the porch on the near end being removed.

 

Series 701 $20 and B38. Robert Fulton is depicted on the back of the $2 Educational (along with Samuel Morse) and is one of several inventors featured in the unissued final series of MPC.

 

Of course! The military wants their men clean-shaven.

 

Two more!

After going through my Federal Manager cards I found another match. The arch figures in the upper right and left corner of the Series 481 $1 can be found on FM-10, issued in 2002.

 

Then, on B188, one of my largest souvenir cards measuring 11x14" (my scanner cropped the margins), I discovered the top figure shared the same head as the one found on the back of Series 541 5¢ - 50¢. The massive engraving, executed by Marcus Baldwin, was the central vignette of an even larger piece, the Award Diploma for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. That one, which I have framed near my front door, measures 23 1/2 x 18 3/4".

 

A couple more notes...

The Great Seal of the United States appears on MPC throughout Series 461, 471, and 481. It can also be found on numerous souvenir cards including B57, but apparently the BEP engraved many versions of this seal and those on MPC don't seem to match those on the cards.

The woman on left side of the $2 Educational Note (found on B18 and B135) clearly shared the same model for the head on the Series 641 and 651 $10 notes. However, the head on the MPC is much larger and proves to be a different engraving when closely compared.

 

Very nice!

 

Here is a close-up of the famous bison from the $1 Series 692.

Interesting story behind this vignette. According to the artist, Charles Knight, he happened upon a man in the American Museum of Natural History sketching the mounted bison on display. Workmen had actually removed the glass from the display to provide him a direct view. That man turned out to be Bureau engraver Marcus Baldwin. Knight was a notable artist at the time, primarily for his paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. When he asked what Baldwin was up to, the exasperated engraver explained that he was having a terrible time capturing an acceptable drawing to use as a model for his engraving. When Knight suggested he might give it a try, Baldwin responded with relief, "Would you?" Baldwin quickly got permission from his supervisor at the BEP, Knight headed over to the Washington Zoo and sketched an American Bison from life. Baldwin with thrilled with the results and Knight's drawing became not only the model for the 1901 $10 U.S. Note, but also for a 30¢ stamp issued in 1923.

Wikipedia refers to the bison as "Black Diamond" but the BEP titles the vignette "Pablo."

 

I realized today that the "Liberty" card in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's 2013 Intaglio Print series includes two vignettes that appear on MPC:
• The portrait in the left oval appears on the front of the $1 MPC Series 521.
• The large lower vignette appears on the back of the $10 MPC Series 591.

I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on this card, but it's the last one of the series and won't be issued until August.

 

I've got my order in, hopefully I can get a hand done card at the WFoM!