Original Series $100 from New Jersey
Unique for the State
Salem, New Jersey. $100 Original. Fr. 454a. The Salem National Banking Company. Charter #1326. PMG Choice Very Fine 35 Net. Restoration.
A prohibitively rare type and denomination that is seen with the utmost irregularity even among our offerings and those of other auction houses. Even with just under 40 genuine examples recorded by the National Bank Note Census most are tightly held by a cadre of well-heeled collectors who rarely ever part with their more impressive holdings. Of those survivors most hail from a handful of states with most of those recorded from the East Coast. But even among the "common" banks of the East Coast which issued $50 and $100 Original Series Nationals, a note from a state most would assume to be a prevalent issuer of First Charter Period notes stands as the ultimate rarity accounting for the sole example of this denomination and type for New Jersey. A miracle of survival in any case, this example displays evidence of only moderate circulation and retains vivid penned signatures from Cashier H.M. Rumsey and President Constant M. Eakin indicating that this note was issued at some point between 1881 and 1884 as one of the 575 Original Series $100s issued by this institution which had $4,930 outstanding in 1935. The odds of another Original Series $100 ever surfacing from the Garden State are astronomically slim and as such anyone of means with an interest in New Jersey Nationals should carefully consider the magnitude of this offering and bid accordingly. About the Vignettes Engraved by Louis Delnoce and similar to an 1865 painting done by William Henry Powell, the vignette officially entitled as Commodore Perry's Victory, but better known to collectors as the Battle of Lake Erie, Perry is depicted transferring his flag from the USS Lawrence which was disabled to the USS Niagara at the height of the battle. Perry whose figure is unmistakable is seen near the front of the dinghy holding the American standard defiantly as his crew navigates the conditions of the battle which would soon be resolved in favor of the Americans who captured the entire British squadron that was sent to oppose the Americans. At right, a personification of America and Liberty, the winged Goddess Union is seen with a fasces at her feet emblazoned with "The Union" in the foreground along with the phrase "MAINTAIN IT!" to the right of Union with rays of light emanating from the phrase itself. Unmistakable symbolism for a nation that had only just emerged from a devastating civil war. On the back a vignette engraved by Frederick Girsch depicting the Signing of the Declaration of Independence adapted from a portrait of the same name executed by John Trumbull can be observed. A depiction which has long been depicted on banknotes from the state chartered Obsoletes of the Antebellum era to the present day albeit slightly modified from its original form as encountered on the $2 Federal Reserve Note. PMG Comments "Restoration."

Estimate: $100000.00- $150000.00