A nice example from a common Iowa bank.
The Newton National Bank, Newton, Iowa was the last of 3 issuing banks in town. This bank opened in 1932 and is still operating today as FNNB Bank. 43 notes are recorded in the NBNC with only 3 of them being Type 2 $20s.
Former Dean Oakes.
Cashier, Orlo Louis Karsten (1888-1957) and President, Harry Calvin McCardell (1872-1943)
The greatest Iowa small-size National?
I dreamed about owning this $100 note from The Merchants National Bank of Burlington, Iowa since I started collecting Iowa Nationals. I remember seeing it in the census and just wanting to view an image. What makes this note so special? It is the only survivor of the sole $100 sheet printed for the bank.
I later found out that this note belonged to Dean Oakes. However, there was a caveat to the story. Apparently, the note had been accidentally thrown out with some water damaged files after the Flood of 1993. Several years ago, I talked to Dean at an Iowa City show about the note. He confirmed the story that the note was most likely lost forever. He also mentioned that the note turned up at a Nebraska car dealership in the 1970s. I asked him if it was to show up, let me know. I put the it out of my thoughts. That was until it showed up in the recent Lyn Knight Celebration of Stars Auction. Dean had found it shortly before his passing.
As mentioned earlier, only one sheet (6 notes) of $100s was printed for the bank. This makes sense as the bank went under in May 1930. That short amount of time into the small issuing era and the lack of need for high denoms in those early days of the Depression explain the low print run. With this note having the “F’ prefix we know that the sheet was cut.
A complete Iowa small-size $100 set consists of 12 notes. If you take out Albia (2 sheets printed, no reported notes) this note is the key to the set. Coincidentally, for the 13-note Iowa $50 small set Burlington is also the key with only 1 reported as well.
Looking at issuers throughout the country, we find 7 banks issued 1 sheet of 1929 Type 1s and 8 banks issued 1 sheet of 1929 Type 2s.
These banks are listed below:
TYPE 1s
$100s
$20s
7. Charter 10759 The First National Bank of Ravenswood, WV
TYPE 2s
$5s
$10s
2. Charter 3079 The First National Bank of Tarkio, MO
3. Charter 3712 The First National Bank of Liberty, MO
4. Charter 5047 The National Bank of La Crosse, WI – 1 reported
5. Charter 6083 The Rural Valley National Bank, Rural Valley, PA
6. Charter 6318 The First National Bank of Clifton, IL
7. Charter 6843 The Dennison National Bank, Dennison, OH
$20s
8. Charter 86 The First National Bank of Germantown, OH
Why do I think it is the greatest small-size Iowa National?
An easy "Top 3" note in my Iowa collection and absolutely not for sale...unless you outlive me.
Cashier, Esco Walker Wichhart (1890-1946) and President, James L. Edwards (1864-1946)
Appanoose County, Iowa issued 600 pieces of scrip out of Centerville in 1933. They only issued the 50¢ denomination. This piece - formally of the Dean Oakes Collection - was the first one issued.
Really happy to add this piece to my collection from a local auction as I don't see Iowa Depression Scrip (other than the nauseatingly common Clarinda issues) that often.
Issuer, Paul Ashton Varner (1892-1963)
Chairman of the Board, Leroy Joseph Gray (1873-1963)
County Auditor, Clyde Lane Erskine (1891-1952)
A little over a year ago I was doing census work on eBay when a seemingly common entry from The Exchange National Bank of Tampa, Florida caught my eye.
Many times I have to edit photos by cropping them. While the image was blown up before the crop, I noticed there was no face plate number. Now it is fairly easy to remove these numbers with an eraser. The seller scans were actually quite nice and I couldn't see any signs that the note was messed with. So I took a chance and bought it. In hand with magnification there were no signs of paper disturbance. Even in low grade, signs would be there of abrasion.
I brought the note to the NBN Conference at Heritage and had Fred Bart look at it. He believed that it was not messed with and is of the era when missing plate numbers are known. He suggested I show it to Bianca at Central States which I did. She also believed that it had not been altered. Until more show up you can't call it an engraving error which also means you can't call it an obstruction (it would have to be a PERFECTLY placed obstruction) so the terminology for now is "missing face plate number".
Check your "E" plate position $5 nationals and FRBNs. Another one turning up could help determine if it is indeed an engraving error.
73 smalls are recorded in the NBNC on this charter that operated from 1894 to 1979 when it became part of Bank of America.
Cashier, Thomas Goodwin Mixson (1893-1986) and President, James Arthur Griffin (1874-1958)
BINGO!
I had a deja vu moment when typing in the serial and the charter into the search when I picked up this "Bingo" note (serial matches charter) a few months ago while doing census work on eBay.
While somewhat common on low charter numbers, these types of notes appear by luck on other charters. This being a high denom example adds a certain cool factor as well.
The Farmers Deposit National Bank of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a goliath of a bank. Currently 858+ small notes are recorded in the NBNC.
Read more about the bank here:
Cashier, Joseph Harry Jones (1875-1961) President, Arthur E. Braun (1876-1976)
Notes from The First National Bank of Fontanelle, Iowa come up sporadically at best. Only a handful of public offerings of large notes have occurred in the last 30 years.
Currently 12 Large and 5 small are reported in the NBNC for this Adair County bank. Open for business on January 1, 1904 until it's liquidation on August 12, 1930 the bank produced 36,112 Large size notes and 2,394 Small size notes of the $5, $10, and $20 denominations.
The city is named for chief Logan Fontanelle of the Omaha tribe, son of the French fur trader Lucien Fontanelle of the American Fur Company and an Omaha tribeswoman
The note features proud pen officer signatures of Cashier, William Arthur Addison (1881-1930) and President, John Fred Baudler (1855-1937)
I picked this note up last weekend at the Des Moines Coin Club Show.
The German-American National Bank of Arlington, Iowa is a unique Iowa bank. It is the ONLY ethnic-titled bank in the state. Iowa had a high German immigrant population (reference: my last name). Up until World War 1 it was not uncommon to have newspapers, church programs, etc. printed in German and for it to be commonly spoken. My grandma, born in Iowa in 1918, did not speak a word of English until she went to school. During the war, Anti-German sentiment was prevalent. Schmidts became Smiths and the alternate German printed literature went away. Ethnic titled banks like this one also dropped "German" from their names. On July 1, 1918 the bank became The American National Bank of Arlington, Iowa.
Only 4 notes are recorded in the NBNC with this first title and of course one is in the Higgins Museum. The survival rate for the first title is low due to the fact that not many notes were issued under it. Only 4,400 $5s 2,640 $10s, and 880 $20s split between 02 Date and Plain Backs passed over the counter.
The sigs have faded, but I can still make out the "H" of Assistant Cashier, Hoyt Ryan Young (1890-1967)