If you are not dedicated to the collection, curation, and research it takes to be a real deal paper money collector, things can get overwhelming fast. From early American paper currency encompassing paper money of the first colonies and Continental currency to late 20th-century bank bills and federal notes, the extensive list of series and redeemable notes and much, much more is enough to make anyone’s head spin. But when researchers and scholars actively pursue that particular lane within numismatics and make a list involving all types of currency, you pay attention.
In our first of many more blog editions of the top 100 Greatest American Currency Notes series, we explore an early pick in the roster that occupies a particularly unique niche within the federal paper money realm. With authors Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman in the driver’s seat of Whitman Publishing’s only publication so far, we will explore a rarity in the Redeemable in Gold Coins series.
#12 - Redeemable in Gold Coins $5 National Gold Bank Note, Original Series
When it comes to National Gold Bank Notes, denominations were produced from $5 all the way through $100. $5 notes were the most popular from the original issues and also in terms of the surviving notes from the very rare series. The face designs for all of the notes are similar to the Original Series and Series of 1875. In this $5 denomination instance, the plate was made by the National Bank Note Co. in New York City with the other denominations being created at the American Bank Note Co. Each back has a special vignette, or small illustration, for which each denomination has the same design.
All the denominations of the National Gold Bank Notes are rare. $5 notes specifically were laid out very close to each other on the printing plates, which gives those that are still in existence very close margins. From this publication printed in 2006, the survivors of these notes recorded by Don C. Kelly in the National Bank Note Census totaled 364 of the Original Series $5 denomination. As the denominations increase, the number of notes decreases. The $5 denomination made up for all the other denominations combined as the Treasury confirmed that over 3,400 notes were unredeemed.
Gold and silver coins in the 1850s were preferred as the distaste for paper money came as a result of the prohibition of the issuance of paper currency by banks in California. Federal paper money issues in circulation in the 1870s were deemed useless as the Forty-Niners and others who were around for the failed banking systems recalled. The Act of July 12, 1870, became the compromise as it allowed for exclusive National Gold Banks in California to issue paper money that specifically allowed gold coins to be redeemed.
In historic market values, this $5 National Gold Bank Note in a Very Fine condition was valued at $550. The market value in 2006 when this series was published and considered current rose to $10,500. In an Uncirculated condition, this same note in 2006 was valued at over $25,000.
