Language is a learned skill, especially the language of numismatics. We all have to start somewhere and that is true for individuals interested in collecting paper money notes.
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Images courtesy of Stacks Essay notes bear rejected designs, depicting a partial or complete note design that differs from the issued design. Paper money essays are likened to coin patterns. The 10 cent essay plate proof is an example.
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Image courtesy of HeritageAuctions.com Specimen notes are issued to let other banks and treasuries know about newly issued notes that are about to be released. All are stamped or perforated specimen. Specimen notes are not legal tender and do not have a face value. Some lack serial numbers, exist with serial numbers of all zeroes or have numbers in sequence.
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Image courtesy of Stack's. Proof of a face essay plate was printed for a Fourth Issue 50-cent fractional currency note depicting Abraham Lincoln. It was printed on India paper, which differs from the paper used in printing circulating fractional currency. Souvenir cards have featured essay designs and are an affordable alternative to the real notes.
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Here's a hint. If a paper money collector asks you about an essay note, they are not looking for a three-page report that is double-spaced with footnotes. Or if you are asked for a proof note, you do not have to provide evidence to defend yourself. And if a paper money collector wants a specimen note, well, they are not asking you to go into a medical lab to provide a sample of body fluids.
What they are talking about are three types of noncirculating notes that have lived different types of lives than the typical paper money note that becomes currency. In fact, an essay, proof and specimen note might be considered stages in the life of a paper money note's design.
While "essay," "proof" and "specimen" are three words that might pop up in any conversation on a variety of topics, each has a special meaning to paper money collectors, and examples of the notes have considerable monetary value.
Proof notes
Proof notes are partial designs printed to test the paper, inks, colors, engraving styles, new presses or other items. They can be made or "pulled" to check the progress of an engraving.
"When an engraver is in the process of cutting an image into a steel plate, he or she must check the progression of that design. An impression of that partial image is called a progress proof. Progress proof impressions let the engraver know how the engraving is progressing and when it is finished," Gene Hessler explains in the July 24, 2000, issue of Coin World.
Hessler adds that paper money proofs are printed on paper that is softer than the paper of issue. Most often face proofs and partial back proofs are printed in black ink, while complete back designs are most often printed in the issued color. Progress, partial and final proofs are recorded and placed in a file.
"Until the turn of the century, designers and engravers at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and later at private bank note companies, were often permitted to have a few examples of their work. These examples at times included a set of progress proofs," Hessler states. Modern-day proofs for U.S. paper money are almost unknown outside the BEP, but proofs for notes from other countries can be found on the market occasionally.
"Paper money proofs are sought after by collectors, but are not made for them," Hessler explained, estimating that a paper money proof could be unique or rare, with at most 10 to 12 made.
Specimen notes
Specimen notes display a completed design, usually lacking serial numbers, although some specimens exist with serial numbers of all zeroes, numbers in sequence or even with conventional serial numbers, and are marked specimen on the face and back, according to Hessler, in his book U.S. Essay, Proof and Specimen Notes.
"If you want to collect something that is easy to locate, this subject is not for you," Hessler writes. "If you have or wish to develop an appreciation for the art of security engraving, you might consider becoming one of a specialized fraternity of collectors."
Modern-day specimen notes are made primarily for Federal Reserve branches and central banks in other countries for comparison if necessary. Specimen notes also are issued to let other banks and treasuries know about newly issued notes that are about to be released. Hessler states that some may be printed on bank note paper or heavier stock, while Rob Kravitz, author of Collector's Guide to Postage and Fractional Currency, states that specimen notes are printed on paper that is much thinner than would have been used to print the notes if they were to be issued. All are stamped or perforated specimen.
Specimen notes are not legal tender.
Fifteen-cent specimen fractional currency notes depicting Union Civil War Gens. William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant were printed in the 1860s, but not issued because a newly implemented law banned living persons from appearing on paper money.
Essay notes
Essay notes bear rejected designs, depicting a partial or complete note design that differs in any way from the issued design.
Hessler refers to them as "notes that might have been." Paper money essays are likened to coin patterns, but are rarer.
Bureau of Printing and Engraving souvenir cards in 1994 featured a theme of "Unfinished Pieces." The cards featured essay designs and offered collectors an intaglio-printed, affordable alternative to the real notes.
Essays also appear to be mistaken for official issues, occasionally.
Ronald J. Benice writes in the March/April 2000 issue of Paper Money that theories attributing partially dated 1861 Florida notes to carpetbaggers are incorrect. The notes are essays and are precursors of the first issue.
Sometimes, the original artworks on which essays were based surface. In relating one such incident, Victor C. Seibert explains "The Case of the Missing Polish Bank Note Essays" in the first quarter 1970 issue of Paper Money.
Two unique essay paintings for a new issue of Bank of Poland paper money turned up in Kansas. According to Seibert, the paintings for the 10- and 50-zloty notes were spoils of war. A White Army (loyalist forces opposed to the Bolsheviks in revolutionary Russia) soldier returned home to Manchuria, moved to Hong Kong and eventually Australia. Upon his death, the paintings were given to a friend in Kansas.
