April 2023: Proof of the Month

This proof is a real jewel from a neighborhood bank seven miles south of the center of Chicago facing Lake Michigan. Hyde Park hosts the University of Chicago. Spacious Washington Park abuts it to the west and Jefferson Park with a lagoon, Museum of Science, beaches and other amenities is to the east along the lake. The only problem with this proof is that although a plate was made, the bankers never took out circulation thus depriving Chicago collectors of some great notes. The bank was organized on Aug. 1, 1928, right at the end of the Series of 1902 era, so as such the plate carried the rare Woods-Tate Treasury signature combination. Only nine banks in the entire country issued notes with the Woods-Tate combination, the second to last used on large size nationals, but none were in Illinois. Sigh.