Banknote vignette proofs

I searched google images for a good couple hours this weekend looking at old architecture and while similar to many old buildings I couldn't find a match to that 'city hall' vignette. That's a tough one without the building having any easily identify able features name or flags showing.

 

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Bump!!

 

Chris, thanks for your intrepid Googling -- if you can't find something it probably can't be found. For the moment my posting will be curtailed. My Mac died last night and all I have is my phone. Stay tuned!

 

I'm back! And I have a new Mac that's a speed demon! Should make editing images a breeze.

Tonight, some odds and ends:

The first is an eagle, produced by the Continental Bank Note Co. -- this is the only proof I have from Continental. I haven't found this vignette on anything yet.

Another from the animal kingdom: "Deer Drinking" by National Bank Note. This is one of my favorite vignettes. I believe this was engraved by James D. Smillie -- two engravings of his are titled "Deer" and "Drinking at the Brook" but I haven't found supporting artwork. In any case, this vignette appears on several bonds of the Mohawk & Malone Railway Co. from 1902. you'll find more on this vignette here: http://www.cointalk.com/t104589/#post872023

The Indians greeting Europeans in the canoe looks to be from the same period as Gen. Marian's sweet potato dinner. The subject matter is very much like another vignette found on many Rhode Island municipal bonds.

"Midsummer" is another nice landscape, engraver not identified. I would put this in the early 1850s judging by the look of the train in the background.

Last is a more modern vignette that I would guess was engraved on the theme of electric power. The dynamo next to the women is similar to many of the vignettes found on power company stocks and bonds.

 

Really like that last one, the woman on the left has a mischievous look

 

Trains and trolleys

Some fun ones today -- I've always loved locomotives and have a number of obsolete stocks and bonds that these appear on.

The first is a Franklin Bank Note engraving, circa 1880s. It appears on many stocks, including a number of certificates from the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Co.

Next, an engine built by the Baldwin Locomotive Co. (it says so on the coal car). The engraving was done by Continental Bank Note Co. and it appears on an 1875 bond of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Co.

I don't have an ID on the third locomotive, but it's a more modern vignette, judging by the 1920s style automobile in the background.

"Trolley Car" was engraved in 1894 by William Brown for American Bank Note. It appears as the signature vignette on many stocks of the Consolidated Traction Co. of Pittsburgh.

The last trolley vignette was engraved by Edwin Gunn in 1899 for American Bank Note. I haven't found it on any bank note security -- yet.

 

Okay, last batch -- I've strung this out long enough. This is another mixed bunch, but a couple more train vignettes.

The locomotive in the station is an American Bank Note vignette; I have it on a blank stock certificate that ABNCo produced for other companies to finish.

"Freight Car" is another ABNCo engraving. I was trying to identify the rail line -- looks like "T&U RR" on the boxcar, but I can't figure out what that stands for.

No information on the vignette of the maiden overlooking the harbor, but I'll wager it's by the same company as the two ladies beside the dynamo posted earlier. The paper backers are identical.

Indians stalking deer is one of only two I own that depict Native Americans. It was engraved in the 1850s by Jocelyn, Draper, Welsh & Co., a predecessor to ABNCo.

Lastly, one of my favorites, an allegorical vignette of three female figures in the clouds. I've seen this on a number of obsolete notes, but alas, I didn't write down the issuing banks. Any help is appreciated.

So there you have my entire collection of vignette proofs -- hope you enjoyed looking through them. No doubt I'll begin to find examples of usages on these, which I'll try to post for reference. I welcome other collectors to post related images, as well.

 

Beautiful collection! Thanks so much for posting them all for us to see.

With what looks like oil derricks in the background of that box car scene, I wouldn't be surprized if, "T & U R.R." turned out to be something like a Texas & Utah rail company. Of course I just made that up for example sake, but perhaps the barrels being loaded on the train car are even barrels of crude. Also, the flatbed car connected seems to read something else, "F T R.R."??? Always an interesting thread in these to follow, and an answer for them does lie somewhere, waiting to be found. :smile

 

Hey, I found a usage on one of the vignettes. I've attached an image of an 1867 New York Bounty Bond -- paid to Army volunteers 10 years after they joined. Just for illustration, not in my collection.

 

How have I missed this thread.
Really nice cards there gsalaxan!!

And I too have that "sweet potato dinner" note but did not realize that that proof was on it til RickeyB pointed it out.

Please keep them coming as I am enjoying it!

 

That Owl is sweet have you ever seen it on a banknote? By the way I own the original printing plate to your eagle I bought it several years back its a great peice

 

Really! Which eagle, the Continental or the one in the first batch I posted? I would love to see that plate sometime! Maybe you could post a scan or a photo. Any idea what it was used for?

As to the owl, I've never seen it on a banknote -- or any of the Excelsior vignettes for that matter. But I did find it on a 1978 USPS Commemorative Panel: http://www.stampprof.com/cp/cp101.jpg So somewhere along the line, American Bank Note acquired the plates of the the Excelsior Bank Note Co.

I always point collectors to these panels whenever I can. There's a wealth of historic vignettes on them and they're dirt cheap:
http://www.cointalk.com/t160644/
http://www.cointalk.com/t180182-3/#post1259856

 

Found it! I was thumbing through my collection of Commemorative Panels and came across a building that looked familiar. This is actually the New York State Capitol! You'll notice there's a difference between my vignette proof and the one on the panel, which was engraved by the Western Bank Note Co. The Victorian tower has been replaced with a dome. Apart from the dome I don't think anything else was reengraved.

What I learned from Wikipedia is that the massive central tower was never built! Construction began in 1867 and took more than 30 years to finish. During that time the designs changed and the dome was discarded because the building was already so heavy that cracks were appearing and it was beginning to slump downhill.

So both of these designs are fantasies -- but a lofty piece of architecture none-the-less.

 

Well done! That is a great bit of history and comparison of the two vignettes as well! I sure didn't recognize it from the engravings nor though my own online images searches for this building.

Here is a pic from Wikipedia of the NYS Capitol:

 

Hey, I discovered another vignette proof tucked away with my mining stock certificates. This one looks like an ABNCo vignette but there's no printer's imprint. A stock certificate, circa 1879, for the Plymouth Rock Mining Co. uses a rough lithograph copy of the vignette, but I haven't found an engraved usage anywhere just yet.

 

I like that one but I do not recall seeing it anywhere either.

 

I'm going to give this thread a little bump. I had the chance to look through a large catalog of obsolete notes and found quite a few that matched the vignette proofs in my collection. Note: the banknotes are not in my collection, I just show the images here for comparison.

 

And a few more...

 

Found another usage of one of my earlier vignettes, this time on a life insurance policy. This is a plate proof I just picked up recently, with a number of other insurance-related items. I posted some other scans in the New Acquisitions thread.

 

And two more: The freight car vignette shows up on a policy for the The Home Insurance Company. And the woman and globe appears on a Bank of Kentucky stock certificate, which I rediscovered as I was putting together a thread on National Bank stocks.