Paper Money: New Acquisitions

Always liked the Aztec calendar and Gypsy Mexico notes, just a good look about them (and why not, it was ABNCo)...

Today's new pickup is this $2 obsolete from the heavily counterfeited Pocasset Bank. This note in fact is a likely counterfeit, and apparently this note was SO counterfeited folks were advised to refuse all notes, real or not, on this bank. Thanks alot counterfeiters... but you can see why it was, cool design, a US dollar over a 8 Reales Spanish silver coin, nice big deuce overprint...

 

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Picked these 2 up from an old street seller. Very cheap and in great condition.

 

Very nice! I’ve found all denominations below 5 RMB in circulation in China when I was younger, but I’ve never seen 5 and up in person!
Chinese money was beautiful before the Chairman graced every single note from 1 to 100 RMB...

Great pickup!

 

Not real new just sort of got "lost" in my office muddle:

 

Another "lost" in the office chaos of my office:

 

Today's new pickup is this well weathered $5 Pennsylvania obsolete from The Harrisburg Bank. Now, most of the notes I have found like this are uncommon and a well liked design, but all seem to be from a prior printer (I think that was acquired by ABNCo) and had an 185x date at top right. This is the only one I've seen from 1860 and has American Bank Note Company at the bottom. I'd inquire about counterfeit status but that would be a weird thing to counterfeit... so wondering if this is just a later issue with the rebranded ABNCo at bottom.

 

Today's new pickup is the first of a passle of Revolutionary Mexico notes from 1914-15, this one a Peso note the state of Guadalajara. The money says Ejercito Constitucionalista and I believe it is money issued by the Constitutional Army, one of the factions of the revolution (and the eventual victors). It's definitely seen travels and is well worn. Like most revolutionary notes the engraving isn't ABNCo standard but they still have some nice touches, always love a street scene, a colorful reverse, and I've always liked the eagle grasping the snake in Mexican coat of arms displays (often on a cactus). Remember when playing Wheel of Fortune in Guadalajara, when buying a vowel, choose an A...

 

MEC2, I love Mexican notes! Thanks for sharing, I hadn't seen that one before.

Here's a similar Revolution-era note.

1915 Chihuahua 20 Pesos.

Mexico appears to have operated similar to the old United States, with both a National Bank as well as a whole slew of State Banks.

This 20 pesos is from the State of Chihuahua. It is interesting to trace the history of Chihuahuan notes from 1913 to 1915 and beyond.
There is a very popular series of 5,10 and 20 peso notes from Chihuahua engraved by ABNCo.

The older note marked "The Bank of the State of Chihuahua," while the newer note does not even mention the Bank of Chihuahua at all.
Translating some of the Spanish finds that the older note claims that it is "legal tender in accordance to a decree of December 1913."
Below the vignette it says "valor oro nacional," which means something like "valid in national gold."
In other words, the 1913 note appears to be a Gold Certificate, redeemable for Gold Pesos at the Bank of Chihuahua.


Contrast this with the 1915, Revolutionary note. As mentioned before, this note does not mention it being issued by a bank at all. Instead, it claims legal tender due to a military decree of February 1914.
Nowhere on the note does it mention being redeemable for gold or silver pesos, which likely means that this note was not backed by precious metals.
Additionally, the 1915 note is not engraved by ABNCo - not surprising, as ABNCo either stopped doing business with revolutionary Mexico, or the various governments were not wealthy enough to afford quality ABNCo products.


The obverse of the Revolutionary note features vignettes of two men, who I would assume to be revolutionary leaders of some kind.


The reverse of the note features what is likely the governmental building, in a vignette flanked by two very high-quality, ABNCo-esque griffins.

The stamp on the left is the seal of the General Treasury of Chihuahua - again, not the Bank of Chihuahua.
There is also an exact date stamped on the reverse, in this case being April 1, 1915.

It's astounding that within 2 months - from December 1913 to February 1914, Chihuahuan notes changed from beautiful, high quality ABNCo works of art to much lesser products.

 

Not really new, just sort of found them in a 'to be scanned' box:

 

Couple more from the 'to be scanned' box:

 

Today's new pickups are a couple more Mexican revolutionary notes, these two single peso notes from the State of Oaxaca. Someone obviously raided Ms. Diaz's fifth great composition class for paper for the top note, which I cannot tell but seems maybe more desirable of the two designs? I don't know enough to say, the non-ledger paper took the design better. All I know is this one is, well nice as can be for being on ledger paper? Nothing says this paper is legit than vertical college rule...

 

Three radars for the collection

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-1-DOL...109088?hash=item33f5f99ea0:g:zxEAAOSwDxZbg3Sw

 

I have watched this note on eBay for some time, and don't see any bids. I still don't really know the value of true binaries like this one.

 

The true value is whatever people are willing to pay.

I doubt there’s true numismatic value for these.

 

How much do people pay?

 

By the way, techwriter, did you find the top one in circulation?

 

One of my latest buys is my first really low s/n note. It's a nice 1928 $1 Fr1600 (FA Block) note, with SN F00000091A, PMG 63EPQ. A dealer I had just bought another note from offered me a quick deal on this one, and I grabbed it. It looks great on the page under my 1928 $1 Star Note.

 

I've also been working on a short set of notes from 1934, my birth year. So far, I'm only going up to a $20 1934 DGS Star Note, Fr2054-L*, in PCGS 25 Very Fine, and a 1934B FRN Fr2056-I (IA Block), in PMG 66EPQ. These are with a 1934 $1 Fr1606* (A* Block) in PMG 55 AU, and a $10 1934 FRN (E* Block), and a 1934A Fr2309 Silver Cert., in PCGS 55 Choice About New.

These are in my "to be scanned" pile, but I can post any if someone is interested.

 

Last, but not least, is another North Africa note, a 1935A $1, to go with my 1935A $10 NA note. I really like these WWII notes.