Estimated number known: 65-80. Features one of the most powerful and dramatic representations of an eagle (the United States’ national bird) ever found on currency. Enough said? This next entry in our series following along with Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest American Currency compilation, we take a look at a top ten pick that has the above two traits and more attached to its list of reasons why authors Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman found it necessary to include it among all the other notes available.
#8 - Series of 1862 and 1863 $100 Legal Tender "Spread Eagle Note"
The motif of the $100 note features the spread eagle largely on the left side of the face with the denomination and other details acting as supporting characters. Engraved by J.P. Ourdan, it was issued in six different imprint varieties among the 1862 and 1863 series and has the reproduced signatures of Chittenden and Spinner. Two back varieties exist and are identified as the First Obligation and the Second Obligation. It is estimated that 130,000 were classified as the First Obligation and the 270,000 others said to have existed in the totality (400,000) of the series are Second Obligation.
It is said that from the serial numbers recorded from the series, it is possible that as many as 64 notes in New condition could exist. Examples sometimes appear on the market but not usually in Uncirculated (or New) condition.
Plates for the 1862 & 1863 Series $100 Legal Tender “Spread Eagle Note” were by the National Bank Note Co. as the denomination with rosettes is a National Bank Note Co. trademark.
Historic market value for one of these notes in a Gem Crisp Uncirculated Condition in 1960 was $1,500. By the publishing of this book (2006), it reached $180,000+.
