Proof of the Month: May 2023

This is a proof of the highest denomination in the Series of 1878 silver certificates. No issued Series of 1878 $1,000s are known to have survived. There are two interesting features on these notes that are readily observed on this proof. The notes were issued against silver dollars deposited in Treasury offices in New York, Washington, and San Francisco. Those locations had to be overprinted on the notes and the overprint was placed over the lower part of the Treasury seal in the space below the words “The Assistant Treasurer of the U.S.” Furthermore, there was a large space for a signature labeled: “For, Assistant Treasurer U.S.” to the left of the engraved signatures of Schofield and Gilfillan. Clearly, the initial intent was for assistants to the Assistant Treasurer at the particular offices to hand sign each note as the final step in monetizing it. This proved to be nonsense in practice. At the time, it appears that the Treasury officials were grappling with exactly which device on a note actually monetized a Treasury note, a signature of some Treasury official or the Treasury seal. Ultimately, the Treasury seal prevailed in the early 1880s. At first, on the 1878 notes, the Assistant Treasurer’s signature was overprinted and later engraved on the high-use plates. The difference between the 1878 and 1880 series was that the Assistant Treasurer’s signature was replaced with an engraving that reads “Series of 1880.” Also, the location of the issuing office was engraved on the plates instead of being overprinted.