Interesting about "fraudulent banks". I guess when every bank's money looked different, it would be fairly easy to pass these off as legitimate. And with no central authority backing up these notes, if a legitimate bank failed or these fraudulent notes were passed, it was the note holder who lost. Not a good system in my mind. Centralized currency is much better in this respect. Rob
Today's new pickup is a very nice Civil War state issue from Virginia - I do like a colorful overprint and there is alot going on with this note design wise.
Another obstacle to the merchants, farmers and employee's of an area is when a bank had their money stamped as counterfeit by another bank. It was said that competing banks close to state lines, did this regularly to discourage people from using the out of state bank from a near-by city. This was especially true with the farming community when the out of state bank was actually closer to them. Merchants from one out of state town wouldn't take the cash from the other bank because it would be returned to them. They would have to take it over to the other bank to get reimbursed. Then that bank would only give them their currency which caused an endless cycle of inconvenience and ill feelings, even between states.
Today's new pickup is another South Carolina obsolete from the early post Civil War era, this one is the 1872 issue which I believe was invalidated by courts and later issued again with an 1873 date. This one is nicely uncancelled. Great engraving and the colors pop of course...
Today's newpy is another obsolete, this an issued $20 note from the F&E bank in South Carolina, a rather prolific state when it comes to bank notes. This design is a little different with the main vignette shifted to the lower left, and has the bonus of a colored, printed back. Obsoletes always have nice design elements...
Those remainder notes are pretty classy looking and they're pretty old and in great shape it looks like. The grade on this one looks pretty high, nicely centered especially on the front. I have a few graded notes like this and if I had the money I would have a lot more.
Today's new get is an earlier obsolete from 1828, and in a fancy denomination to boot. I really like $2's in obsoletes but love $3's, such an unusual denomination. This early obsolete has a far simpler engraving design, you can tell it predates alot of the later fancier engravings. Still, and early $3 that is almost 200 years old is a winner to me...
Today's get is another obsolete note, this well-traveled $5 from the always plentiful state of Georgia. Love the huge note spanning vignette, has a train, bonus, a steamboat, bonus, an eagle, bonus, colored overprint bonus...
I've recently caught the Greece bug... here are two notes from the 1930s. I love how most Greek notes really showcase the country's history and culture. The 1000 Drachma note is UNC and the 50 is VF (Grr! I was told it was UNC when I purchased it on Ebay).
1856 is the date on that note UL, and I like your Greek pickups. I collect Greece heavily for the exact reason you mention - their cultural heritage is all over Greek notes. Today's new pickup is a Georgia obsolete, this $10 has the engraved profiles that look sort of 3D when I see them, always like those... plus a rampant Eagle, which is a big draw for me as well.
I received the following in the mail today. In addition to Greece I have been interested in ABNC notes from Central and South America and got these rather cheaply. The seller threw in the more modern Costa Rica note and, let me tell you, I wish our notes in the United States had such brilliant color. The ABNC notes are neat because they are so UNC they still have a little wave in the paper from where the ink from the press dried!
Okay UL, I am going to have to get a restraining order - I branched into Greece and then into the ABNCo notes from Costa Rica and Brazil. This is very Single White Female of you... Today's new pickup, if UL hasn't also gotten one as well, is a sharp looking Bank of America $2 remainder. On many of these older notes I try scanning against black first, then white if the paper is so translucent. This one looks better on the white background, makes the sharp engraving and great colored overprint really pop.
Well in celebration of no more currency stalking from UL, let's post a new pickup. This one is a $5 obsolete from the popular Cochituate Bank. These are fairly common but usually a higher demand note it seems, probably because of the nice desigs. It comes with various overprint styles, I already posted the Blue overprint, this is the red variety (and their are variations even among the same color). I do love the big paddlewheel steamer on the front... I am keen to add the $3 and other denoms from this bank but so far I am merely first underbidder over and over... and over.
Speaking of obsoletes, I got a decent 3 dollar note today, originating from Indiana. I like the canal scene juxtaposed with the train... old ways and new ways. I'm also left wondering how the guy on top of that hay bale would get down.