| 拍品描述 |
Friedberg 18 (W-11). 1869 $1 Legal Tender Note. PCGS Currency Gem New 66 PPQ.The 1869 Series of Legal Tender Notes are among the most desirable issues in all of American federal currency. Instantly recognizable by their beautiful hues of green, blue and red, bills from this series are popularly referred to as "Rainbow Notes." The $1 offered here portrays George Washington within an oval frame at center. The portrait was engraved by Alfred Sealey and was based on the famous painting by Gilbert Stuart. At left is the vignette emColumbus in Sight of Land/em as engraved by Joseph P. Ourdan. Green tints are seen along the top border of the design and a green serial number panel is to the lower left. A large red spiked Treasury Seal is at right. The serial numbers are in red and found to the lower left and upper right. The type features the engraved signatures of Treasury officials Allison and Spinner at the bottom left and right respectively. The back is intricately printed in green with the imprint of the National Bank Note Company at bottom center. Legal Tender and anti-counterfeiting language are found in a panel at right. These notes come on blue tinted security paper based on Wilcoxs 1866 patent. Series of 1869 notes were issued from October 19, 1869 to July 25, 1874. Nearly 42 million examples of the $1 denomination were printed.pThe presently offered note is among the finest PCGS Currency has graded. They have certified just one example finer, that piece receiving a Superb Gem New 67 PPQ designation. Likewise, PMG has graded just a single note at the Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 EPQ level. The Anderson note features broad, even margins and strictly original paper surfaces. The colorful overprint inks which lends this series its "Rainbow" nickname are fully displayed in their intended brilliance. pThis is a wonderful example of a very popular large size federal design type. The present piece is about as nice a note as one could hope to obtain.pstrongCoins and Currency in 1869/strongpWhen the Civil War ended in April 1865 there was widespread hope that silver and gold coins would return to circulation. Due to uncertainties of the war, gold coins had disappeared from circulation at the end of December 1861. The Legal Tender Act of March 1862 made matters worse. Legal Tender Notes, eventually issued in denominations from $1 to $1000, were exchangeable at face value only with other Legal Tender Notes. A $100 note could be exchanged for two $50 notes, five $20 notes, or in other combinations, but not for silver or gold coins. Public fear accelerated due to this and also to Confederate victories. The outcome was uncertain. Silver coins disappeared from circulation in the spring. Amazingly, by the second week of July even one-cent pieces, which had little intrinsic or melt-down value, disappeared as well.pFor the first time since the Mint opened in 1792, the Eastern and Midwestern United States were completely coinless! The gap was filled a number of ways. On July 17 the Treasury Department made ordinary postage stamps legal tender for certain transactions. John Gault issued encased postage stamps-brass frames enclosing stamps from 1 cent to 90 cents on the front, protected by a pane of mica. The Treasury Department issued Postage Currency in 1862, followed in 1863 by Fractional Currency. In the meantime hundreds of varieties of paper scrip notes were issued by merchants, towns, and banks. Copper and brass tokens, today called Civil War tokens, were paid out by nearly1,000 merchants (and today are widely collected).pThe return to gold and silver did not happen in 1865. Citizens felt that the condition of the Treasury remained precarious and held on to their coins. Copper Indian Head cents had returned to circulation in 1864 as it was realized that they had little intrinsic value.pIt was not until after April 1876 that the situation stabilized and Legal Tender Notes were redeemable with silver coins at par. It was not until after December 1878 that such could be exchanged at par with gold coins.pppFrom Currency Auctions of Americas sale of January 2001, lot 1204. |
