OK, I really like these old brown sealed notes...but I was hoping someone can clear something up for me. Now, I have seen notes that were issued from state banks such as this note issued from the National Bank of Portland Oregon (I found this image online...it's not my note sadly): But, I also have seen similar looking notes that were issued from the Federal Reserve Banks such as this one (I borrowed this picture from RickieB's collection without permission...I hope he doesn't mind). Are these notes the same type of note. By, that I mean did the same legislation create both? If so, why did state banks issue their own notes when the federal banks were also doing so. Also, is that Oregon note legal tender elsewhere...such as in Washington (and if so, was it when it was new)? Finally, I have read that the state notes have 2 types...do the FRB National notes have 2 types as well? I know that was a lot, but I really like these notes and I would like to learn as much as I can about them!!!
you should get the Friedberg book on US notes. it has alot of great detail on these notes.... Both notes say National currency, but the second note is a Federal Reserve Bank note. Both notes also have a different obligation text on the reverse. the first note is an exampl eof notes printed by and for banks after having their securities put in place as collateral, the second (i believe) is a note printed by and for the US govt.
Hi RichieB... No problem on using the image at all.... The answer is that there are 2 types of notes that were issued on the small size nationals...The images you posted depicts them both!! Just that simple...and both types are very desireable!! On all Nationals the Banks had to put up escrow in $$$ to get the Charter listing. The Number you see on one of the notes is the Charter Number...I believe in 1935 all these notes were called in..... National Bank Notes were issued from 1863-1935 by private banks with federal charters as "national banks." Small-size National Bank Notes issued from 1929-1935 have brown Treasury seals, are inscribed "Series 1929," and bear official U.S. Treasury signatures at the top left and right (Jones-Woods). The faces of the notes are overprinted with the bank name, two bank signatures at the lower left and right, and the bank`s charter number at the left and right edges (Type 2 notes also have charter numbers next to the serial numbers). This Series 1929 $20 National Bank Note (Type 1) was issued by Philadelphia National Bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. http://www.coinworld.com/news/100906/bw_1009.asp Here is a link to a nice article in Coin World a while back... RickieB
RickieB, in RichieB's post, the top note ... were they printed BY the banks themselves after appropriate depsots were made tot he US treasury? and if not, who actually printed them. And for the second note in his post? (basicaly, is what i posted above correct, or way off base lol) i ask only because the Friedberg books makes it a bit confusing ....
Everything was printed at the BEP in Washington. The notes were then issued to the banks in the form of six-note sheets. If you go back to the equivalent large-size notes, before 1929, then the lower two signatures--those of the officials of the individual bank--were generally not printed at the BEP. Small banks, that issued few notes, usually had their officers hand-sign each note; larger banks would have stamps or lithographic plates made up to apply the signatures. A few of the largest banks paid a fee for the BEP to engrave the signatures right into the intaglio printing plates and thus save the bank the trouble. When the small-size designs came out, the BEP itself began using lithographic plates for the bank titles and charter numbers, and so they included the bank officers' signatures in those plates for all banks. Large-size Federal Reserve Bank Notes actually say both "National Currency" and "Federal Reserve Bank Note" on them, making clear that FRBNs are a subtype of Nationals. The small-size FRBNs say only "National Currency", mostly because they were printed as an emergency issue to get more cash into circulation during the Depression, so there wasn't time to modify the plates to show the correct type designation. Type I and Type II 1929 Nationals differ primarily in the layout of the charter numbers. The FRBNs, of course, don't carry charter numbers at all, so they don't come in two types.
so in a sense i was sort of correct in my original post, the lower note in the OP was a FRBN i was just waaaaay off on the origin of the notes lol i do like your explanation better though
