Boston, Massachusetts. Abel Bowen Congreve Patent Check FIVE Plate Back. ND. $5. PCGS Currency Choice New 63. Apparent. Small Holes at Bottom Right, Mounted on Woodblock.This is an extremely rare and colorful test or essay proof, once part of a set of eight different that were printed by Abel Bowen in Boston. The William Congreve patent was conceived earlier in England from a competition. This is a complete back essay proof for a $5 FIVE note which would have been the verso design for a Perkins Stereotype Steel Plate face for a particular bank. The most widely seen example of this would be notes from the Nahant Bank, Massachusetts. Of the eight test proof backs, this is the most colorful and significant in our view. Ex Newman Internet Part 3 sale and obtained by Eric Newman at the NASCA T. James Clarke Sale, June 26-29, 1978, as part of lot 2050. An important Perkins and Massachusetts obsolete currency type.
