Reader’s Showcase: Restamped Serial Number

Lately we’ve been running a few examples of the newly recognized distinctive C-prefix letters used in the paging machines that were employed to stamp serial numbers on Series of 1929 replacement notes. These Cs have a round shape rather than appearing bent in on the right side. The round Cs are the only prefix letters on type 1 replacement notes that differ from those used on the production numbering presses for currency of that era. What contributor Adam Stroup discovered here is a truly exotic example. Notice on this note that the C on the left is a standard C printed from a production press whereas the C on the right is from a paging machine. This is a case where the C005300A sheet was misprinted in such a way that the right serial number on this note, and probably all the other numbers on the right side of the sheet, were omitted, probably by something that partially covered the sheet as it passed through the production press. Rather than discard the sheet, they took it to a paging machine and had the woman operator stamp the missing numbers on the right side.

The blowup illustrates that the right number has the telltale rubber stamped appearance of a replacement serial, although this is a well-formed, well-centered example. A number of notes from such salvaged sheets that were handled in this fashion have been found, but this is the first from the C-position on a type 1 sheet that has been recognized. The feature that makes this find so special is that Stroup got samples of both Cs on the same note. Icing on the cake is that the Reading bank was one of only three in the entire country to receive notes prepared with two different fonts in the bank name.