Reader’s Showcase: May 2023

This note from Walker, Minn., charter 8476. represents a high priority report for me because it is from one of Van Belkum’s “not marked as to type” entries in his national bank note serial number issuance data set that is used throughout our hobby. The problem was that the clerks failed to write the years for many entries in the National Currency and Bond Ledgers during the date back to post-date back transition period. In this case, the entire date is missing. Consequently, Van Belkum was unable to assign those printings to a type when they straddled the changeover. This example involved sheets 1501 through 1650. We can see from the note that the printing consisted of 1902 blue seal plain backs and the Treasury serial number reveals that the order was printed in 1916. We started with about 1,200 sheet combinations from over 800 banks with unassigned printings when Van Belkum finished his compilation. I have been able to work that list down to 419 combinations from 347 banks over the ensuing decades. The needed sightings come in glacially one at a time these days. I’ll never live to see the deck cleared. Icing on the cake is that this is a note from a small bank with a circulation of $18,000 at the time this note was issued. Walker is a small town of about 910 people located in north-central Minnesota on a protected cove off large Leech Lake. The note sports exceptional penned signatures of vice president F. L. Wilcox and cashier W. W. Olson. Walker originated as a frontier logging town with bars and brothels to service that clientele. This find was reported by Mark Drengson via Glen Jorde.