Giddings, Texas. $5 1882 Brown Back. Fr. 471. The First NB. Charter #4410. PMG Very Fine 25. Serial Number 1.This is a really exciting piece to offer towards the tail end of a sale that has been chock full of fresh national banknote finds. This exact note is the pocket piece carried by the cashier Edward J Archinard; see more about Archinard in the Manchester, MO red seal lots. This 1882 $5 brown back is in the identical grade to the only other second charter note known on this one bank town. The other note, which has a generic serial number, sold for $14,100 in 2017. The banknote we are offering is from the first sheet of brown backs issued after charter 4410 moved from Elgin to Giddings. The two towns are 30 miles apart down Highway 290, both between Austin and Houston. I have no doubt that if Mr. Archinard and Mr. Fields were alive today that they could tell us the exact reason, but we will just have to speculate that something about business in 1890 Elgin wasnt quite right, so after a year of operating in Bastrop County they relocated to Lee County. The bank clearly ran a successful business, because they made it through the entire note issuing era (ending in 1935) and are still open today. That long existence makes it even more shocking that this first issued note is just now coming to light and that survivors are so rare. This discovery becomes just the fourth large size note found. There is the previously mentioned $5 brown back, an UNC blue seal held by the Moody Foundation, and another blue seal listed without a grade and with no auction history. This is of course a very important numismatic item and it is likely one of the most valuable and significant pieces of Lee County history. But unlike so many pieces of Texana, this one you can actually own!
