AMERICAS FIRST $2 BILL 1862 SERIAL 1 SERIES 1 PP #A

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One of the most mind blowing pieces of Americana ever offered. This first of a kind, Serial Number One note is a true miracle of survival, and has obviously spent countless hours, days and years traveling throughout our systems of commerce. Referencing the 2005 Memphis catalog by Smythe, this note has now had four owners in the past one hundred years, two of whom have owned it for approximately seventy of those years. It can originally be pedigreed to ANA Member #187 Abe Hepner, who owned the note for the first half of the 20th Century. He sold the note in the 1950's. The note was exhibited by the second owner at the 1971 and 1972 ANA Conventions, as well as the 1973 Greater Eastern Numismatic Association show, then quietly resided within the collection of an unnamed third owner, who eventually offered the note in Smythe's 2001 sale. The note was catalogued and graded raw as a Very Good. PCGS has now encapsulated the note, and has agreed with the original assessment. Double Serial #1, along with plate position A confirms this is the top note from the first sheet printed. The note has some edge roughness and pinholes, which are the typical characteristics of a VG note. A wallet-type stain is noted on back, which gives the impression the note was folded into fourths, then tucked away, perhaps for years. While Serial Number One Nationals will typically turn up in the majority of auctions, it is miracle that a type note such as this be presented at auction. When the Legal Tender Series of 1862 was first released, the very first $1 note was indeed saved, and, according to reports, resides with the Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, most likely never to be auctioned to the public. The reasoning is simple with that note, in that Salmon P. Chase is depicted on that note, as the bank was originally named in his honor, even though he had no financial interest in the bank. This note was simply turned out into circulation with the release of the $2 Legals, which, along with the $1, were the very first denominations of their kind printed by the U.S. Government, as the Demand Note Series of 1861 released the first $5, $10 and $20 notes the previous year The very first $2 Bill Issued by the United States of America. The top note from the first sheet from the first type of USA $2 bills!! Americans have always had a love/hate relationship with the $2 denomination. It was considered bad luck (perhaps due to $2 window bets at the race track), and store cash drawers had no place for it. People would often tear off a corner of a duece to ward off and eradicate the associated bad luck. Even leather wallets of the 19th century with partitions for various denominations generally ignored the duece. It was part of colonial currency, common in private and state issues of obsolete currency, as well as confederate currency, indicating both an early need and acceptance for it, yet in authorizing Americas first national currency in 1812 Congress ignored the denomination, and it stayed curiously ignored up until the civil war. With the first issue of Legal tender Notes in 1862 the denomination was revived. Though seldom encountered in circulation, the denomination has endured ever since. In national currency, banks were forced to issue a lazy $2 note for every 3 $1 bills issued. Most banks thus opted not to issue lower denominations, leaving the legal tenders as the only commonly available dueces in circulation. In choosing to honor important individuals by placing their portraits on currency, Congress chose Alexander Hamilton for the $2 note. Hamilton was a man of strong conviction with powerful opponents. Yet Hamilton prevailed, becoming the first secratary of the treasury. He was an early supporter of the Bank of The United States, and architecht of the fiscal model on which our nation is based. As Hamilton was the greatest financial genius of his time, honoring him was a forgone conclusion. Fittingly, Hamilton is today buried in the Trinity churchyard at the foot of New York's Wall Street, at the heart of wor... read more

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