Souvenir cards

Hello, here's some info on a couple of the vignettes appearing on these new BEP souvenir cards:

PEACE - Left oval vignette

Large Size note: $10 Interest-Bearing Notes of 1863 (Act of March 3 1863) (Friedberg F-196) [ABNCo.]
These notes are exceeding rare, if not the rarest of all US paper currency.




JUSTICE - Left oval vignette
Liberty loans - Used to finance World War I: $1 Bond Coupon, USA (1917)



For the above two examples, Heritage Auctions archives may offer hi-res images to see how these vignettes appeared on the original notes.

The portrait of capped Liberty (left vignette) looks very familiar, but I'm unable to pinpoint where else it appeared. The style reminds me of fractional notes, perhaps something from that era or another early national bank note.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Great to hear from you again Chris, and thanks for the info on the vignettes.

Bruce

 

That portrait on the Liberty card looked really familiar to me, too, Chris -- and today I tracked it down! It appears to be the same vignette as the one on the $1 MPC Series 521.

 

Nice stuff guys.
I always like it when I see this topic gets a hit.

 

I guessed wrong! I just got word from my contact at the BEP that the large vignettes below will also be intaglio engravings. These are going to be some spectacular cards!

 

More on that Liberty card here:
http://www.cointalk.com/t221756-2/#post1700352

 

I thought I'd post something new for any $100 FRN fans. This card was issued by the BEP for the Interphil 76 stamp show in Philadelphia. It's a small souvenir card (6x9") and actually came bound into the show catalog that visitors got for free. It's listed in the SCCS numbering catalog as B35.

Though this isn't considered a numismatic card, it does feature a nice engraving of Independence Hall, the same one that appears on the back of our small size $100 notes. This would be a good companion piece for anyone who collects those -- I've seen the Interphil 76 catalog sell for $10 or less on eBay and online booksellers.

 

The BEP included that Independence Hall engraving in the $10 note set they put out recently. That's where I recognize it from - I rarely see a $100 note!

 

The latest issue of the Souvenir Card Journal arrived yesterday, with an added bonus: the annual souvenir card! These limited edition, intaglio cards are given each year only to members of the Souvenir Card Collectors Society. There are currently less than 400 members, making the cards quite scarce and and a strong incentive to stay up to date on the $25 annual dues.

I don't have details on all the engravings, but the one to the left is titled "The Standard Bearer," engraved by George Baldwin for Continental Bank Note in the 1860s. It appears on the 1863 and '64 $500 Compound Interest Treasury Notes, which are so rare, I could only find an example of a proof.

If you're interested in joining the SCCS, send your dues check to our president/treasurer: William Kriebel, 1923 Manning St., Philadelphia, PA 19103. Frequently the threads I post on this forum end up as articles in the journal.

 

Great card.
I've never seen the bill it was on so it might be the only way to get one.

 

Time for a bump! Tonight I'll post a few more of what's been categorized as "forerunner cards" -- souvenir cards issued before the official programs began (although, in fact, the "F" cards are still ongoing in the SCCS numbering system).

These are all Union cards, issued for conventions of the Int'l Plate Printers and Die Stampers Union, in 1973, 1975, and 1981. At each convention, attendees would receive a specially bound booklet or a loose folder usually containing souvenir cards featuring the work of the DC, New York and Philadelphia unions -- which included the BEP and ABNC. It was a way for members to show off their skills.

Beginning in the 1970s, the Union started catering to collector interest and would print quantities of one or two cards from the booklets, which would be sold to the public. Some of these are terrific cards and still fairly easy to find at affordable prices.

My favorite among these is the 1981 card showing the 1862 proposed design of the $2 U.S. Note, depicting "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims." I think this note would had rivaled the Educational series had it been issued.

The 1973 card shows an American Bank Note reprint of the invitation tickets to the 1916 Plate Printers Annual Ball. And the 1975 card (also ABNC) features an early obsolete note from the Lewiston Falls Bank in Maine. All excellent representations of the art of banknote engraving.

 

Here's the BEP 2013 Intaglio Print program


:

 

I just got Liberty in the mail today!

 

Great! Liberty is my favorite.

 

Hello! I was at the ANA World's Fair of Money and purchased the 3 spider press souvenier cards and won the lottery to purchase the limited edition /100, numbered and signed one by the Spider press operator, Mike Beck. In Fact, the Director of the Treasury was there and she signed my other 3 "generic" limited to 1000 cards.
I was wondering what the value of the set was? I planned on framing all 4 together with a $1 and $2 bill signed by the the Dir of the Treasury.... whatis the value of these cards all together in a set like this?

 

The standard issue cards are still available through the BEP store, so their intrinsic value is what you paid. I don't really know what the autograph adds in value -- maybe $5 at this point? The spider press card is the high value item. Were they selling those for $50 to lottery winners? Typically the retail is at least $100 and they will increase depending on demand over the next few years. You can find a lot of retail pricing info on Ken Barr's website: http://www.kenbarr.com/souvcd.html

I would really like to see a scan or photo of the spider press card if you're willing to post one!

 

Yes... I will post the card in a few days, but i dont think that my scanner scans in color! Maybe I will try to take a picture of it! We actually won twice, so i have 2 sets. I plan on keeping them though, it really is a nice memory of the show. But i was wondering what they were worth... there were several "professional sovenier card" collectors at the ANA Money show in Rosemont, probably from the club, they offered me $20 for my winning ticket, but my kids were too thrilled to win, so we kept em.
And yes, the BEP charged $51 for the set of 3 like the ones above) and $50 for the Spider press limited edition. They sold out of the 3 BEP cards pretty quickly on the 2nd day of the show, in fact, i got the last 2 sets.

 

There are always a few dealers looking to buy from the spider press lottery winners. They offer a buyer $20-30 profit, then turn around and sell the cards for way more. If indeed the series has sold out (and it shows "Temporarily Out of Stock" on the BEP Store site) then dealers will probably start to retail them for twice the purchase price or more. Hard to know whether they will increase over the long haul. I've seen the rare ones (like the spider press cards) creep up, but many other common cards have fallen below their original sale price. It's all supply and demand.

 

Here is a scan of the Chicago ANA card. My wife and I won in the same drawing, #53 and #59, which was a nice surprise. The color didn't come through too good on the printer scanner and all 100 were signed and numbered. There was a guy there really pushing to either buy the ticket you were given to go buy what you won or buy one of the cards both days we were there.

 

Nice! So the hand-pulled cards were purple rather than teal?