Concord, New Hampshire. $10 1882 Date Back. Fr. 545. The Mechanicks NB. Charter #2447. PMG Choice Fine 15 Net. Signatures Redrawn.This is an extremely scarce note as a type and denomination, from this always desirable state capital, Just a single other note is in the census. We have traced three. One other, serial 1607, was reported by Dick Dolloff decades ago as VG-F and has not been traced since. The last, serial 5505, is slightly finer in grade than this and is held in a private collection. Considering that 27,600 were printed, it is amazing that nearly all have disappeared. Of course, the same could be said for many other series as we were dramatically reminded in our cataloging of the Joel R. Anderson Collection, Part IV of which will also cross the block at the forthcoming Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo.ppAlthough there is a healthy overall total of large-size pieces known for the bank, the rarity of this configuration cannot be understated. The eye appeal is nice for the near Very Fine grade, with just the signatures having been traced over at some point in the notes history. This is a negative, to be sure, but it is perhaps outweighed by the extreme rarity of this variety. The first public offering that we are aware of for this catalog number on the bank.ppThe Mechanicks National Bank of Concord was chartered on January 3, 1880, successor to Minot & Co., bankers, which for many years had continued much of the business of the old state-chartered, note-issuing Mechanicks Bank of Concord. The capital was set at $100,000. The premises of Minot & Co. in the relatively new (1873) brick Board of Trade building were occupied by the National Bank, a comfortable office in a central location. The bank name was nearly always spelled archaically as Mechanicks, including on paper money, but occasionally in print an apostrophe would be used, and a number of federal documents have it incorrectly as Mechanics, as do some modern numismatic citations.p
