Some forum members may be familiar with Terry Cox and his database of railroad stock and bond certificates, which grew from his book "Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads." His website actually goes far deeper than the database and includes a wealth of information on the art of banknote engraving. There is a great deal of crossover between obsolete notes, early federal currency and stocks/bonds. Terry recently announced that he would be using his blog on the site to answer some of the common questions he's received from collectors over the years and repost some long buried nuggets of information. Look for one or two posts each week. I highly recommend taking a peek. His latest blog post is a detailed overview of the famous vignette "The Crossing." Students of engraver James Smillie will recognize it immediately; here it is on a rare $500 Confederate note.
That is very appealing to me. There is a lot of things going on, in great detail. Shows the 'biggest thing' of the era. I like it.
Very interesting: the vignette on that check appears to be a litho that was directly "borrowed" from the NBN engraving! But they did an excellent job.
