Question #7: What were the first US Government securities printed by the BEP? Answer #7: The 5/20 bonds of 1863 It is amusing the extent to which some of the participants embellish their answers to try to hide the fact that they have located one of th sources that I draw questions from online. I don't care where you find the answers. The point of this is to learn and have fun. Submitting more than one answer with an explanation will not even get you partial credit. I know there might be a complaint or two that the 5/20s were printed before the name Bureau of Engraving and Printing was adopted but that is reading to much into the question especially since it is evident those who answered have found that source online. Honestly, how many of you had ever heard of a 5/20 before researching this question? We also have a new particpant. Welcome lucyray to the contest. c10ck3r 2 gsalexan 5 clayirving 5 wiggam007 7 TheNoost 6 Krispy 6 Duke Kavanaugh 1 Kasia 6 RonTerry 4 Conder101 1 lucyray 1 Question #8: Crane and Co. of Massachusetts has been the exclusive supplier of paper for printing US paper money for many years. Sort of. During the 20th century, the BEP printed a short run of notes on paper that is known not to have been supplied by Crane. What company supplied the paper? Bonus question: What are the serial number range(s) for the notes printed on this paper? Deadline for answering is Wdnesday February 29, 2012 at 8:00pm Central. The Rules: 1. The contest will consist of a series of 20 questions about the BEP and its history. 2. One question will be posted at a time and run for five days. The closing date and time will be listed with the question. 3. Answers must be private messaged to me prior to the deadline. Answers received after the deadline will not be counted. Please do not answer on the board. 4. The correct answer will be posted when the time for answering has expired. 5. The person who answers the most questions correctly will win the first prize consisting of (1) the Durst reprint of the BEP Centennial book, (2) a CD-Rom of the Pick Catalog of World Paper Money Modern Issues and (3) a $2.00 note from the BEP 2008 series. Second prize will be the same without the Durst reprint book. Third prize will only be a $2.00 note from the BEP 2008 series. 6. If there is a tie at the end, the prize will go to the person who answered the first question correctly in the least amount of time. 7. I am the sole judge as to interpretation of the rules and whether an answer is correct. Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t201096/#ixzz1nOSPeSqf
I didn't know what a "5/20" was and this is the first time I am hearing/seeing that reference, so I obviously have more research to do. I ran a quick Google images search but didn't turn up any examples of these bonds. Could you point me in the direction of an image or images of these 5/20s. I was indeed looking for some grey area in the language on "securities" which bore the imprint of the BEP as printer and engraver of the security which did not say "note" on the piece. I would like help understanding why Refunding Certificates was incorrect, so I can understand the question better. I struggled to understand how US Government securities would not include notes and various certificates, the kind not used in typical transactions but which worked more as investment tools for earning interest. That's main why I settled with Refunding Certificates, though I did prepare to loose this round since certificates also include other forms of notes or certificates, like silver and gold. Thanks for the challenge to learn something new. On to the new round... Good luck everyone!
The question was taken from the History Timeline on the BEP website. Now that the "secret" is out you can expect the questions to get tougher as I will not be using that document as a source any longer.
BEP Timeline? Apparently, I've been spending too much time rummaging around in so many sites other than the Bureau's own! At least I've been managing the answers well up to now and I've saved some juicy currency sites that may be helpful for the increased challenge to come. :smile
Four out of Seven and I have a hard copy of that document LOL In my defense I got busy and missed the dead line on a couple of them. Hey Krispy we still have 13 more to go! I got lucky when the contest started, and I remember that photo in the B.E.P. time-line. It has a picture of all the directors. I actually keep a copy of the time line in my modern currency binders. I should upload the docs they gave me when I went on a tour. It's a complete walk though of plate making. I thought coins where nutty with all the shrinking of hub dies negative positive etc. I can't recall how many times they make positives and negatives, copper, nickel, chromium coatings yada yada. It's pretty complex to get to a drum of 32 dies ready for the printing machine.
I'm getting in on this late and enjoy learning everything I can about the hobby....good luck everybody and thanks for the questions/trivia lettow.
I must be the only one who found the answer offline -- my reference was "An Illustrated History of U.S. Loans" by Gene Hessler. Here's an image of one of the 5-20 bonds if you're interested.
Thank you for posting an image of the 5/20. I too have Mr Hessler's book, it's just not in my vicinity where I could reference it in the time of need. :thumb:
