A nice example from a common Iowa bank.

The Newton National Bank, Newton, Iowa was the last of 3 issuing banks in town. This bank opened in 1932 and is still operating today as FNNB Bank. 43 notes are recorded in the NBNC with only 3 of them being Type 2 $20s.

Former Dean Oakes.

Cashier, Orlo Louis Karsten (1888-1957) and President, Harry Calvin McCardell (1872-1943)

A nice example of Depression Scrip from Adel, Iowa. Adel is located just west of Des Moines. 600 examples of the 50 cent denomination were issued. This example still retains all 36 stamps.

Also shown is a letter written by a collector to the town to acquire the piece back in 1933.

The greatest Iowa small-size National?

I dreamed about owning this $100 note from The Merchants National Bank of Burlington, Iowa since I started collecting Iowa Nationals. I remember seeing it in the census and just wanting to view an image. What makes this note so special? It is the only survivor of the sole $100 sheet printed for the bank.

I later found out that this note belonged to Dean Oakes. However, there was a caveat to the story. Apparently, the note had been accidentally thrown out with some water damaged files after the Flood of 1993. Several years ago, I talked to Dean at an Iowa City show about the note. He confirmed the story that the note was most likely lost forever. He also mentioned that the note turned up at a Nebraska car dealership in the 1970s. I asked him if it was to show up, let me know. I put the it out of my thoughts. That was until it showed up in the recent Lyn Knight Celebration of Stars Auction. Dean had found it shortly before his passing.

As mentioned earlier, only one sheet (6 notes) of $100s was printed for the bank. This makes sense as the bank went under in May 1930. That short amount of time into the small issuing era and the lack of need for high denoms in those early days of the Depression explain the low print run. With this note having the “F’ prefix we know that the sheet was cut.

A complete Iowa small-size $100 set consists of 12 notes. If you take out Albia (2 sheets printed, no reported notes) this note is the key to the set. Coincidentally, for the 13-note Iowa $50 small set Burlington is also the key with only 1 reported as well.

Looking at issuers throughout the country, we find 7 banks issued 1 sheet of 1929 Type 1s and 8 banks issued 1 sheet of 1929 Type 2s.

These banks are listed below:

TYPE 1s
$100s
1. Charter 522 The Eighth National Bank of Philadelphia, PA – 1 reported
2. Charter 1744 The Merchants National Bank of Burlington, IA – 1 reported
3. Charter 3134 The First National Bank of Peabody, KS - 1 reported
4. Charter 3155 The First National Bank of Sauk Centre, MN
5. Charter 6400 The Athens National Bank, Athens, TX
6. Charter 8434 The First National Bank of Richwood, WV

$20s
7. Charter 10759 The First National Bank of Ravenswood, WV

TYPE 2s
$5s
1. Charter 6361 The First National Bank of Granger, TX

$10s
2. Charter 3079 The First National Bank of Tarkio, MO
3. Charter 3712 The First National Bank of Liberty, MO
4. Charter 5047 The National Bank of La Crosse, WI – 1 reported
5. Charter 6083 The Rural Valley National Bank, Rural Valley, PA
6. Charter 6318 The First National Bank of Clifton, IL
7. Charter 6843 The Dennison National Bank, Dennison, OH

$20s
8. Charter 86 The First National Bank of Germantown, OH

Why do I think it is the greatest small-size Iowa National?

1. It was rare from the day it was issued and statistically shouldn't exist.
2. While Iowa is home to some great town names like Coin, Lost Nation, Montezuma, Buffalo Center, etc., all those issuers issued enough sheets that several more notes are possible to appear. With this bank, there are only 5 more possibilities of another note coming forward.
3. It’s a high denom. If you are trying to put together a niche $100 bank set on the state, you need this note.
4. It’s a true miracle of survival. It circulated and wasn’t cut from a sheet held for years. It made it to Nebraska and survived a flood.
5. The only single-sheet issued Iowa small-size note.

An easy "Top 3" note in my Iowa collection and absolutely not for sale...unless you outlive me.

Cashier, Esco Walker Wichhart (1890-1946) and President, James L. Edwards (1864-1946)

A tough looking, tough note!

Here is a scarce Iowa obsolete issued by the Dubuque and Sioux City Rail Road Co. The line later became the Iowa Division of the Illinois Central and is still in service under the Canadian National RR.

Most of the notes issued were redeemed/cancelled, so uncancelled notes are naturally more desirable.

I love the bright orange overprint and the vignettes on this issuer’s notes.

--- Other than "rare" the most over and misused term in numismatics is "dealer"...

I bought these profit sharing half certificates from two different stores in Clarence, Iowa - which is my home county - a few months ago on eBay.

Both the Clarence Clothing Co. and Phelps & Engelking were in business from the early 1900s to the 1920s.

You don't see any "actual" scrip from Clarence, so these will do. These functioned similarly to trade/good for tokens of the era

Appanoose County, Iowa issued 600 pieces of scrip out of Centerville in 1933. They only issued the 50¢ denomination. This piece - formally of the Dean Oakes Collection - was the first one issued.

Really happy to add this piece to my collection from a local auction as I don't see Iowa Depression Scrip (other than the nauseatingly common Clarinda issues) that often.

Issuer, Paul Ashton Varner (1892-1963)
Chairman of the Board, Leroy Joseph Gray (1873-1963)
County Auditor, Clyde Lane Erskine (1891-1952)

A story of persistence...

These 3 notes from The National Bank of Milton, Iowa appeared on Reddit back in December. After some initial messages I found that the notes were locally here in Des Moines. The poster was a descendent of bank president Henry Clay Taylor. After 6 months of back and forth, my offer was agreed to and they went home with me.

I found out the notes spent more than 70 years mounted in a frame. Each note has some mounting pulls on the back from this method, but it is also the reason they survived....

Van Buren County, Iowa is one of the toughest in the state to get a note from. Only 2 banks issued: The NB of Milton and The FNB of Farmington. Notes from either bank show up very seldom, and when they do they are snapped up quickly. I would be lucky to get A note from Milton - let alone 3 in one shot. The bank was a short-lived venture lasting from 1912-1932. The extreme southeast part of of Iowa is very rural and Milton was and is a small town. Favoring $10s and $20s, issuance naturally wasn't high with only 4,460 large and 810 small size taking up space in the vault at one time or another. Circulation also never breached $7,000. Currently the NBNC is even with 6 large and 6 small reported. One of each is housed in the Higgins Museum.

Cashier, Ulysses Grant Rice (1864-1937) and President (faded on the PB), Henry Clay Taylor (1859-1934)

A little over a year ago I was doing census work on eBay when a seemingly common entry from The Exchange National Bank of Tampa, Florida caught my eye.

Many times I have to edit photos by cropping them. While the image was blown up before the crop, I noticed there was no face plate number. Now it is fairly easy to remove these numbers with an eraser. The seller scans were actually quite nice and I couldn't see any signs that the note was messed with. So I took a chance and bought it. In hand with magnification there were no signs of paper disturbance. Even in low grade, signs would be there of abrasion.

I brought the note to the NBN Conference at Heritage and had Fred Bart look at it. He believed that it was not messed with and is of the era when missing plate numbers are known. He suggested I show it to Bianca at Central States which I did. She also believed that it had not been altered. Until more show up you can't call it an engraving error which also means you can't call it an obstruction (it would have to be a PERFECTLY placed obstruction) so the terminology for now is "missing face plate number".

Check your "E" plate position $5 nationals and FRBNs. Another one turning up could help determine if it is indeed an engraving error.

73 smalls are recorded in the NBNC on this charter that operated from 1894 to 1979 when it became part of Bank of America.

Cashier, Thomas Goodwin Mixson (1893-1986) and President, James Arthur Griffin (1874-1958)

Looking for Iowa Depression Scrip! Let me know what you have!

BINGO!

I had a deja vu moment when typing in the serial and the charter into the search when I picked up this "Bingo" note (serial matches charter) a few months ago while doing census work on eBay.

While somewhat common on low charter numbers, these types of notes appear by luck on other charters. This being a high denom example adds a certain cool factor as well.

The Farmers Deposit National Bank of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a goliath of a bank. Currently 858+ small notes are recorded in the NBNC.

Read more about the bank here:
https://banknotehistory.spmc.org/wiki/Farmers_Deposit_NB,_Pittsburgh,_PA_(Charter_685)

Cashier, Joseph Harry Jones (1875-1961) President, Arthur E. Braun (1876-1976)

Notes from The First National Bank of Fontanelle, Iowa come up sporadically at best. Only a handful of public offerings of large notes have occurred in the last 30 years.

Currently 12 Large and 5 small are reported in the NBNC for this Adair County bank. Open for business on January 1, 1904 until it's liquidation on August 12, 1930 the bank produced 36,112 Large size notes and 2,394 Small size notes of the $5, $10, and $20 denominations.

The city is named for chief Logan Fontanelle of the Omaha tribe, son of the French fur trader Lucien Fontanelle of the American Fur Company and an Omaha tribeswoman

The note features proud pen officer signatures of Cashier, William Arthur Addison (1881-1930) and President, John Fred Baudler (1855-1937)

I picked this note up last weekend at the Des Moines Coin Club Show.

The German-American National Bank of Arlington, Iowa is a unique Iowa bank. It is the ONLY ethnic-titled bank in the state. Iowa had a high German immigrant population (reference: my last name). Up until World War 1 it was not uncommon to have newspapers, church programs, etc. printed in German and for it to be commonly spoken. My grandma, born in Iowa in 1918, did not speak a word of English until she went to school. During the war, Anti-German sentiment was prevalent. Schmidts became Smiths and the alternate German printed literature went away. Ethnic titled banks like this one also dropped "German" from their names. On July 1, 1918 the bank became The American National Bank of Arlington, Iowa.

Only 4 notes are recorded in the NBNC with this first title and of course one is in the Higgins Museum. The survival rate for the first title is low due to the fact that not many notes were issued under it. Only 4,400 $5s 2,640 $10s, and 880 $20s split between 02 Date and Plain Backs passed over the counter.

The sigs have faded, but I can still make out the "H" of Assistant Cashier, Hoyt Ryan Young (1890-1967)

Dunlap is tough, one bank western Iowa town. Four banks issued in Harrison County with Dunlap being the toughest by a country mile. Only 9 notes are reported in the NBNC with 1 in the Higgins Museum. The FNB of Dunlap opened in 1889, bowed out in 1926, and was absorbed by the Dunlap Savings Bank. The bank favored $5s, $10s, and $20s issuing 54,564 notes spread across 1882 Brown Backs and 1902 Date and Plain Backs.

This example is the first 1902 Date Back to come forward and in a grade that is typical of survivors from the charter. Despite ample circulation the note presents itself well.

Strong stamped purple sigs of Cashier, Arthur Nathan Jordan (1873-1954) and his father President, Thomas Frederick Jordan (1841-1927)

This note from The First National Bank of Audubon, Iowa showed up on eBay back in February. It was listed for an insanely low BIN.....and I missed it by 15 seconds. About a week later it showed back up with BIN closer to retail, but still high. After some negotiations, we agreed on a price and it came home to me.

12 large notes (and 13 small) are listed in the NBNC. However, 2 of those are in the Higgins Museum. Auction appearances are sporadic at best so I was glad I was able to snag this ...and a nice example at that! This is currently the only $20 Date Back reported of 1900 issued.

In business from 1893-1933, the bank issued 53,248 large and 3,540 small size notes. After liquidation in January 1933, it was succeeded by the First State Bank of Audubon. It was one of 3 issuing banks in Audubon County in Western Iowa.

Nice pen sig of Cashier, Frank Stevens Watts (1861-1918) and stamped sig of Edwin Stanton Van Gorder (1871-1937)