Ever since I started collecting Paper Money over a decade ago, I've always been enamored by the Legal Tender Issues of the 1870s due to the rich floral seals that dominate the face side. Even though I've attended dozens of coin and currency shows and visited many local coin dealers over the years, I've only ever seen a handful of these notes offered for sale in person. Unfortunately, these examples were far outside of my financial means and remain so even now. However, as I vaguely alluded to in a thread by a fellow Cointalk member, I've made a rather notable addition to my collection of American paper money thanks to eBay. Even though this particular specimen isn't the best compared to higher-end examples that tend to populate search results. I'm quite satisfied with my purchase since I was able to find one of my "white whales" that I have wanted for over a decade. With all that being said, if you have any Legal Tender Notes from the 1870s/80s or anything else you deem relevant, please don't hesitate to share your examples.
A lot of notes don’t hold up sight wise as that note. It is actually very lovely and presentable example.
Going off of what you said @scottishmoney, it looks much better in hand than it does in the scans that I posted.
Suppose I had to guess why this particular note graded a 15 was more than likely due to the nicked margin above Jefferson's portrait and the nature of the folds. Regardless, it certainly looks great, even though it's 147 years old.
In case you didn't notice -- the plate number on this note is A1, the top note of the very first plate created to print this series. Very nice!