April 2023: Reader’s Showcase

The pair of Series of 1899 $1 silvers illustrated was pulled together by former SPMC president Shawn Hewitt and represents a case of paying attention and perseverance. These notes purchased from entirely different sources are from the top position on consecutive sheets. The remarkable feature of them is that the top note (serial ending 65) is a make-up replacement note, whereas the bottom note is a normal production piece. The two are distinguished by their serial numbers. Compare their serials and note the differences between the shapes of the 2s and 4s. The 2s and 4s on the upper note are definitive for number wheels on paging machines used to number replacement sheets for misprints whereas the 2s and 4s on the lower note are characteristic of the numbering wheels on regular production 4-subject Potter rotary numbering presses. Hewett found the replacement, then started watching sales for other serials that might be nearby. You can’t do better than a regular note from the next sheet, unless of course, you are a die-hard perfectionist who must have the M80102468 replacement note from the bottom of that sheet or the M80102464 from the bottom of the preceding supposedly normal production sheet. Prior to the introduction of 4-subject Harris sealing, numbering, and cutting machines in 1910, misprints that were caught were replaced by make-up sheets numbered on paging machines operated by women who stamped the needed serials on those sheets one at a time. You have to give the woman who made up this replacement high marks because she got the two serials perfectly level. Star notes were introduced in 1910 with the advent of the use of the Harris presses. These Vernon-Treat notes were numbered in 1908. Hewitt found the replacement note on e-bay in November 2013 and the regular production note in a December 2020 Heritage sale. If the topic of makeup replacement serial numbering on large size type notes is new to you, read the details in Huntoon, Peter, and Shawn Hewitt. May-Jun, 2015, Identification of make-up replacement type notes: Paper Money, v. 54, p. 178-190.