1869年50元债券 PMG Choice AU 58
Fr. 151. 1869 $50 Legal Tender Note. PMG Choice About Uncirculated 58 EPQ.Just 604,000 1869 $50 Rainbow Legal Tender Notes were printed and today fewer than 70 are known to survive. This example is among the very finest known of this rare and highly desirable type. It is the second finest graded by PMG, only bested by a 65EPQ which if compared side by side, are identical and are only eight serial numbers apart. In fact, this example has sold previously, on three different occasions, as Gem Crisp Uncirculated. We suspect a very light trivial corner fold is all that is keeping this peach from that same Gem grade. The colors on the note are truly exceptional with bold reddish-pink overprint inks including on the large spiked Treasury Seal at center and the serial number panels to the lower left and upper right. The overall aesthetics are enhanced by the blue tinted security paper. An allegorical female is seen at left holding an olive branch in her right hand and a small statue of Mercury in her right. The vignette is titled Return of Peace and was engraved by Charles Smith. A cornucopia is portrayed at the bottom center of the note flanked by the signatures of Treasury officials Allison and Spinner. At right is a portrait of statesman Henry Clay, engraved by Alfred Sealy. The back is ornately engraved, with anti-counterfeiting and Legal Tender clauses found at left and right respectively. A large 50 is at center while smaller ones inhabit the corners of the back design. Imprints of the American Bank Note Company are at top and bottom center. This type was heavily counterfeited likely hastening the redemption of circulating genuine notes. Likewise, the face and back designs of this type were not used for any later series of notes, making this a one year only type. This is one of the finest examples of the type that will ever become available to collectors. This note last traded publicly for $176,250 in a 2013 auction. Since that time appetites for high-end currency rarities such as this have grown in a market that remains dynamic.