By Christopher Dahncke – Currency Auction Associate, Stack’s Bowers Galleries ……
The Stack’s Bowers Galleries Spring 2022 U.S. Currency Auction will be an impressive sale, with quite a few high-grade rarities within the catalog, including a neat CH#3694 The First NB of Palestine, Texas 1902 Date $100 in PCGS Banknote Choice Extremely Fine 45.
The First National Bank of Palestine was chartered on May 5, 1887, issuing $1,604,060 through the end of the National Currency period, with just $5,780 in large size reported outstanding in 1935. The City of Palestine was established in 1843, with the Texas legislature designating Palestine to serve as the seat for newly established Anderson County in 1846. Palestine was supposedly named after the city in Illinois by preacher Daniel Parker, although other sources attribute the name to a migrant from the same Illinois city. The city’s main income came from the timber trade, which was stimulated when the International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad were built in the early 1870s and passed through Palestine.
This Date Back $100 is special, as it is the only high denomination note currently known for the bank. The note is reported in Track and Price’s census, so it must have been seen by a collector at some point, but there is no auction history for it. This will be the first time National collectors will get to bid publicly on this treasure. The signatures are hand-penned in dark brown ink, and they stand out quite well on bright paper. The appeal is good for the assigned grade, with mostly even circulation. The primary design is dark, along with the blue overprints. Found on the back at the center is a bald eagle perched above the shield of the United States, with allegorical figures at left and right and flags on opposite sides. The “100” counters are in each corner with arch and column designs making up the border design in dark hunter green ink.
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Stack’s Bowers is currently taking consignments for our monthly auctions. To consign your U.S. paper money and world paper money to a future sale, contact a consignment specialist at 800-458-4646 or visit StacksBowers.com. For more information on viewing lots or for assistance in registering to bid, email your inquiry to: [email protected].
Odds are good that the signatures were written in iron gall ink. Goes down pale (or blue, if dye is added), ages to black in a day or so as the iron oxidizes, then over decades turns brown. Iron gall was often legally required due to permanence- it still is for public records in the UK.