When you have reached the point where only the rarest will do then this should be your purchase. Number 1 notes have always held a special fascination for the highest level of type note collectors, and this Bison type is generally acknowledged to be the most significant of the "personality" notes. The note itself is impeccable, with deep original embossing, hand cut margins, and perfect color.

Previously from the 1969 sale of the George Blake Collection where it was lot 14. Only three number one Bison notes are known for all nine signature combinations, but this note is the most important of the group, since as a Fr. 114, it is the very first Bison note printed...the "A" position note from the first sheet of four. The number two note from the sheet is known. The number three note has never been seen on the market. And the number four note is in the Smithsonian Institution. This note is irregularly cut along the top, but the margin is sufficiently broad in all places, so the eye appeal of the piece is well maintained. The original embossing is also easily seen. It is clear that the note has never circulated, although the storage folds it has acquired make the assigned 30PPQ grade exactly accurate. It is difficult to overstate the importance of the first issued example of one of the premiere personality types in US currency. While the fever for number 1 type notes has calmed considerably in the past few years, The three #1 Educational silver certificate sheets recently traded at public auction for $1,265,000. and then again privately for nearly $2 million.  While I love them, and seriously considered acquiring them, the Bison note is far more famous and iconic than the beautiful Educationals. This presents an incredible opportunity for one well-heeled, forward-thinking collector to acquire what no one else can ever possess: The Very First Bison ever. Spectacular opportunity, from my collection to yours.

This issue commemorates the explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, whose portraits appear on the face of the note. President Thomas Jefferson chose Lewis, his private secretary, to lead an expedition into the territory recently acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. William Clark, a U.S. Army officer, was selected as co-leader, and together they crossed America from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River (1804-1806).

In a curious numismatic coincidence, the same bison that was the model for the 1901 Legal Tender $10 note also served as the model for James Earle Fraser in 1912 when he created the "buffalo" nickel (first minted in 1913). By that time this ponderous quadruped had little time to live. A 1915 account noted:

"Black Diamond, the famous bison of the Central Park Zoological Garden, New York City, whose image adorns one side of the nickel, will be slain within a few days, but his massive head will be preserved and mounted. The animal has been the model for many sculptors and painters. Despite his fame, there were no bidders when he was put up at auction, but recently the bison was sold to a dealer in poultry and game for about $700. Black Diamond was born 19 years ago in the Zoological Garden and weighs something more than a ton. He is docile and considered a splendid specimen of his kind, but has outlived his usefulness."

Then, in December 1915, The Numismatist printed this, from "magnificence to meatballs," to paraphrase Frank Rowsome, Jr.:

"Black Diamond, the aged buffalo, whose likeness is printed on our $10 Legal Tender notes and is stamped on the last issue of five-cent pieces, was put to death in New York on November 17. He was about 20 years old and the largest bison in captivity. He had been an inmate of the Central Park corral for many years. Black Diamond's hide, which measured 13 by 13 feet, will be made into an automobile robe. The bison weighed 1,500 pounds, from which 750 pounds of dressed meat was obtained. The teeth were in a remarkable state of preservation. The head, which will be mounted, sold for a considerable amount of money. The bison was killed because of old age. He was sold in the surplus livestock auction last summer and was left at the park subject to the call of his purchaser."

A United States Note (known popularly in its day as a "greenback") is a fiat paper currency that was issued directly into circulation by the United States Department of the Treasury. These bills of credit were also known as Legal Tender Notes because of the inscription on each obverse face stating "This Note is a Legal Tender." They were among the first nationalUnited States currency, authorized by the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and began circulating during the American Civil War. After the death of Abraham Lincoln on 15 April 1865, additional "first charter period" (i.e. banks chartered between 1863 and 1882) National Bank Notes and Gold Certificates of 1865 were issued. The notes were issued until January 1971, after which they were entirely replaced by the Federal Reserve Notes which had circulated alongside them since 1914. Despite the fact that in modern times the word "greenback" usually refers to any United States paper currency (all noted for their use of green ink on the reverse side of bills), the original origin of the term is from United States Notes, which were issued with green backs. The later Federal Reserve Notes and also gold certificates and silver certificates in the United States, were printed with distinctive green reverse sides to mimic the United States Note. On a United States Note, theTreasury seal and the note's serial number are printed in red (as contrasting with Federal Reserve Notes, where it appears in green). United States Notes have been printed in the following denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, and $10,000. The Treasury Department issued these notes directly into circulation, and they are obligations of the United States Government. The issuance of United States Notes was subject to limitations established by Congress. In order to stimulate the economy, the Currency Acts of July 10, 1862 and March 3, 1863, and May 3, 1878(among other legislation) established a statutory limitation of $346,681,016 on the amount of United States Notes authorized to be outstanding and in circulation. This currency was not backed by any deposit in any bank or government reserve, in contrast to the gold certificates at the time. They also do not bear interest, unlike the appropriately titledInterest Bearing Notes of 1861 to 1865. While $346,681,016 was a significant figure in Civil War days, it is now a very small fraction of the total currency in circulation in the United States. Besides Abraham Lincoln, influential Americans who have from time to time advocated a government-issued currency include President John F. Kennedy, President Andrew Jackson, inventor Thomas Edison, inventor Peter Cooper, and American economists Henry C. Carey, Edward Kellogg, and Nobel-prize winner Milton Friedman. William Jennings Bryan is remembered as saying in his 1896 Cross of Goldspeech "When we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other reform will be possible, but until this is done there is no other reform that can be accomplished." Both United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes were parts of the national currency of the United States and both were legal tender. Both were used in circulation as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them came from different statutes. United States Notes (like the later Federal Reserve Notes) were fiat currency, in that they were never redeemable explicitly for any precious metal. The difference between a United States Note and a Federal Reserve Note was that a United States Note represented a "bill of credit" where the currency was transferred into circulation free of interest. Federal Reserve Notes are based on debt, and thus bear interest to bank with stockholders which serves as a lending intermediary between the Government and the citizenry. The American economist S.G.Fisher once commented that 'the Greenbacks were the best currency that ever a Nation had.' American U.S. Note greenbacks were first authorized by the Legal Tender Act of 1862 to pay for the American Civil War. They were issued directly by the U.S. Treasury but were subject to limitations established by Congress which approved three further issues on July 10, 1862 March 3, 1863, and May 3, 1878. Greenbacks were not backed by gold, or bank deposits, or government reserves and bore no interest. During the American Civil War, banking interests did not want United States Notes to be a legal tender to pay the national debt, so the Senate depreciated the currency by putting in an exception clause, which allowed Government creditors to be paid in gold. Thaddeus Stevens, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Ways and Means which authored the original United States Notes bill to be a legal tender for all debts, denounced the Senate's amended exception clause, calling the new bill "mischievous" because it made United States Notes an intentionally depreciated currency for the masses, while the banks who loaned to the government got "sound money" in gold. However, it appeared necessary to allow the banks the exception clause, or else perhaps there would have been no other way to fund the civil war effort. At the end of the Civil War, the Radical Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln and his economic advisor Henry Charles Carey sought to make the Greenback System permanent. In March 1865 Carey published a series of letters to the Speaker of the House of Representatives entitled The Way to Outdo England Without Fighting Her in which he called for the two-pronged financial strategy for post-war reconstruction of raising the Bank Adequacy Ratio to 50% and issuing public credit in the form of Greenbacks. However, Lincoln was assassinated in the next month and the United States then began to move towards a gold standard and contract the supply of greenbacks. U.S. notes were not immediately redeemable in gold. However, while the United States was on the gold standard, it was possible to redeem them for gold indirectly by exchanging them for a currency of a different obligation, for example a Gold Certificate. Whoever accepted the exchange was left with the less-trusted fiat currency. At the time United States Notes were issued, this was a serious concern, as the government sought to strike a balance between coin shortages and fiat currency. The greenback traded at a substantial discount from gold, which prompted Congress to pass the short-lived Anti-gold futures act of 1864 which was promptly repealed after it seemed to accelerate the decline of the greenback. United States Notes were used before the creation of the modern Federal Reserve System as a way of moderately influencing the money supply by federal government fiat. For example, during the panic of 1907 president Theodore Roosevelt attempted to increase liquidity in the markets by authorizing the treasury to issue more greenbacks. After the end of the gold standard in 1933, all types of issued currency (silver certificates, Federal Reserve Notes, and United States Notes) were redeemable only for silver. This ceased to be the case in 1963-4, during a time in which all U.S. currency (both coins and paper currency) was changed tofiat currency. At this point, the United States Note became obsolete and began to be removed from circulation. No more were issued after January 21, 1971.

For those who love rare money, you've come to the right place. If you cannot leave us positive 5 star DSR feedback after our transaction is complete, please contact us prior to leaving feedback so that I may rectify any complaint. We offer free domestic economy shipping. We exclusively use registered mail internationally at $18. No exceptions at this time except we ship express both USPS and FedEx upon request both domestically and internationally at actual cost. If you purchase multiple items, please ask us for a combined shipping invoice prior to paying. We recently shipped next business day, but an office romance and other personal issues forced a staff shakeout. I still expect to ship within a few days unless I get overwhelmed with orders such as Mondays, after holidays, when we cannot immediately locate the item, are away at a trade show, or on higher value items that I keep in bank vaults. While I believe my asking prices are reflective of the current market, it is my desire to place notes with those who will most appreciate them. Feel free to make any counter-offer through the eBay system if you would like to purchase our item. We do set automatic reject usually at around the price I am a buyer at, but will usually consider any offer we receive over that number. What you see is what you get. We do not use stock photo's except listings that offer multiple lots. We cheerfully accept returns for up to two weeks, no questions asked. Due to our business schedule and family obligations we are not always instantly accessible, but we almost always respond to questions within 72 hours. If the auction title does not match the face scan, or you see exact duplication of listings, any other obvious or potential errors please tell us, and allow us to correctly edit or relist before bidding. If you bid in error, you may retract your bid. Those who repeatedly retract bids, will be warned, then blocked, as we want our other bidders to feel secure that we are not attempting to ascertain their high bids, and that are auctions are fair, and transparent. We believe in customer service, fair play, and we aim to please. In very rare cases, we fail to delist fixed price/best offer listings after we've sold them through other venues. In these rare instances we refund immediately upon the realization that it occurred. We solicit want lists. I am a collector myself and understand and appreciate other collectors. We use factory settings on our scanners, and cameras, the item you receive will almost always usually look far better than the internet scan. I have long experience in numismatics, and in depth knowledge about the items, people, grading, and inner workings of the rare coin and currency business. I aim to be both informed and informative, and I share non proprietary information freely. I am a strong enthusiastic competitive buyer of collections, hoards, accumulations, & entire dealer inventories. We want collecting to be fun and spread the joy it has brought us. We hope our enthusiasm shines through each and every listing, transaction, and interaction. Thanks for your interest!