I should pre-face that I don't own this bill. But this FRBN has an unusual Bell/McCord signature combination, and this note seems to have been unknown until recently. From my reseach, Joseph McCord was Governor of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank from Oct 19, 1914 to Jan 10, 1919.. Milton Bell became a temporary cashier on Aug 1 1916, when Pike resigned. I believe at the time, Pike's cashier signature was still being printed, until Dec 15, 1918 when Bell took the title officially. I guess between Dec 15 1918 and Jan 10 1919, we could have arrived at this signature combination. http://currency.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=3505&lotNo=14944 Looks like PMG went on a whim and assigned it Fr. 788a. It's in Track&Price, although the census says Bell/Wellborn are the signatures, which is incorrect. What strikes me is the hand-stamped/hand-written signatures on this note. I have never seen this on any 20th century notes. Is there a chance this is a forgery? If not, why would someone have been compelled to have these two individuals sign the note, when the previous signature combination would have easily sufficed. Also, they would have had to print this note without any bank signatures in the first place! Does anyone know anything else about this note and how it came to be?
Also, according to http://www.uspapermoney.info/serials/b1915_q.html there are Pike/McCord notes that have later serial numbers than the note above (F60000A forward), making this an unlikely candidate for a transitional note.
I have an Atlanta $1 FRBN with Bell/McCord, so I know the sig combo exists. I completely doubt it as a counterfeit, not only because it still has to pass muster regardless of signature, but why would you use bogus stamp signatures? Doesn't make sense. The 1915's were printed without the sigs. You can find other stamped examples all over Heritage.
