Banknote Reporter April 2022

This month, I thought I would take you on a visit to a state about which I have never written before: Rhode Island. It is the smallest state in our union, and one from which I own just a single national bank note, but it is a nice one, and the town it hails from is adorably New England charming. So, let’s take a trip to quaint Wickford, R.I. Tucked away by the harbor in North Kingstown, R.I., Wickford Village -- established in 1709 -- embodies everything that is good about New England and what many people expect this region to look like. Located in Washington County on the west side of Narragansett Bay, just about a 20-minute drive across two bridges from Newport, R.I., Wickford features one of the largest…

This spectacular pair of Haitian notes sport identical serial numbers. This type of occurrence is very rare and when it does happen usually it is not noticed as the notes go by. What is fabulous is that the full story of this discovery is known. Discovery stories are rarely documented, so it is exactly the type of tale I like to chronicle. This pair was discovered by Elcie Assad. Her father Marcel Assad built and owned the Park Hotel at 23 Rue Capois in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Port-au-Prince faces west toward a large bay that dominates the west coast of the island. The hotel is a highly recommended popular attraction in itself centrally located within Port-au-Prince. Elcie managed the hotel so was in charge of the payroll for some 20 employees…

Meanwhile the printing of the 50 kopeck notes was progressing according to schedule and on Jan. 21, 1919, Serge Ughet, the financial attaché, sent one of the bills to the State Department for examination. Unlike the larger denominations these new bills simply stated their value in subsidiary silver which did not seem to offend anyone. On March 12 some 40,000,000 of them were shipped to Vladivostok from San Francisco while April 5 would witness another 10,000,000 being sent. The notes were duly received by the agents of Kolchak at Vladivostok and quickly sent on by railway to Omsk. A large quantity was immediately put into circulation without any signatures or stamped in any way. Although exact figures are not available, it seems likely that Omsk used at least half of the…

APRIL 2022 U.S. Paper Money Price Guide The past month, there were no major auctions, so I reviewed smaller auctions looking for different patterns. Major auctions are dominated by deep pocket collectors looking for finest known notes and great rarities. Those collectors generally don’t review minor auctions. By looking at that action I can get a feel for what more modest collectors are looking for. They want uncirculated common notes and seek out better notes in Fine to Very Fine condition. This helps me value mid-grade notes. Folks that crave Very Fine Buffalo or Indian Chief notes are valuable to the hobby. Currently, Small Size $500 notes are in much demand in Very Fine grades, as they are in high grade in major auctions. Large Size notes are popular in all…

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Kellogg, Idaho, is a silver mining town founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1907 in the panhandle of Idaho. It lies astride the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County. The largest mine there, the Sunshine, produced 360 million troy ounces of silver before closing in 2001. Since then, mining activity in the area has contracted severely and Kellogg is attempting to redefine itself as a tourist/resort town. The main attraction is the Silver Mountain alpine ski area complete with a 3.1-mile gondola lift. The Sunshine Mine suffered a fire in May 1972 in which 91 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning, one of the worst mining tragedies in the country. Two men survived for eight days where they had discovered a fresh…