Fullerton, Nebraska. $10 1882 Value Back. Friedberg 577 (W-1397). The Fullerton NB. Charter #5384. PCGS Currency Gem New 65 PPQ.This truly fantastic 1882 $10 Value Back exhibits everything you could hope for in a note of the type. It is broadly margined and displays boldly penned bank officers signatures and vividly printed design features. The electric blue overprint is deeply embossed into the crisp creamy white paper.<p><p>The motifs on the face tell much about the times in which this note would have been used. The Second Industrial Revolution was in full swing as electricity lit up the world and drove innovation. The importance of electricity was illustrated in the vignettes <em>Franklin and Electricity</em> at left (depicting the founding fathers famous kite experiment) and <em>America Seizing the Lighting</em> at right. The green printed back design features the denomination spelled out at center, hence the "Value Back" nickname these notes are known by. To the left is a portrait of Secretary of the Treasury William P. Fessenden while a mechanic is shown at right.<p><p>The Fullerton National Bank was chartered in June 1900 with the low capital of $25,000 under new Treasury regulations (the earlier requirement was $50,000). The bank issued $593,060 into circulation through the end of the National Currency era in 1935. By that time just $3,690 in large notes were outstanding on the charter. PCGS Currency has graded just two examples of the catalog number at this grade level with one finer. Only two $10 Value Backs are graded finer by the service for all catalog numbers combined. This note resided in a PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ holder when it sold for $8,625 in our November 2007 auction. This is an exceptional example of a type that is incredibly difficult to locate in Uncirculated grades.<p><p><strong>PCGS Population:</strong> 2, 1 finer.<em>From Heritage Auctions sale of May 2002, lot 3412; Stacks sale of November 2007, lot 3254. </em>
