The First $2 Note Ever Printed

Fr. 41a $2 1862 Legal Tender PCGS Very Good 8. 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 2005 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. As a reference, earlier this year the first 1901 $10 Legal Tender "Bison" note sold for $80,500. This wasn't the VERY FIRST $10 note ever printed by the government, mind you, but simply the first of a design. With that in mind, an estimate on such a significant item as this, the VERY FIRST $2 note, can be daunting. If historical importance and rarity are any guide, we would not be surprised to see the hammer fall in the area of...

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