Proof of the Month
There is a run of 104 $5 Educational Tillman-Morgan silver certificate 4-subject proofs among the BEP certified proof holdings in the National Numismatic Collection. The first three were not certified so the plates weren’t used. They tell a very interesting story. The three have a distinctly darker appearance than those that, pages 96-117, and the just published Benjamin Hellings February 2021 Numismatist article document that the early versions of the dies for the $1 and $5 produced overly dark printed images. Considerable work was undertaken by several BEP engravers to lighten them up. None of the dark $1 plates went into production. Until now, our literature didn’t recognize that the problem wasn’t corrected on the $5s until after the first of those production plates were made. This glitch caused unwelcomed, costly, time-consuming delays at the BEP. The proofs of the Educational face plates provide an unambiguous timeline. The dark $5s are plates 5489, 5492 and 5496. The first light $5 is 5770 certified April 29, 1896. The first $1 production plate proof is 5741, also certified April 29, 1896. The first $2 is 5917 certified June 25, 1891. Clearly, the manufacture of the production plates progressed forward from the $5 to the $1 and finally to the $2. When the proofs for the $5s revealed that the images were too dark, the engraving staff went to work to correct the $5 master die and obviously determined the same problem affected the $1s so that master die also was altered. In contrast to the $5s, no $1 plates were made before the problem with the $1 master die was remedied. Notice that certification of the first plate made from both the repaired $1 and $5 dies occurred on April 29th. The overly dark problem didn’t occur on the $2 master die based on the lack of dark proofs in the Hessler and Hellings works. Plate numbers 5488 and 5490, which sandwich the first dark $5 Educational plate 5489, were assigned to $1 Tillman-Morgan Series of 1891 SC plates, respectively certified September 24 and October 9, 1895. This reveals that the first $5 plate was made back then so the dark/light problem caused a 7-month delay in turning out the first plates in the Educational series that were sent to press. This is collaborated by the fact that the series dates on the $1 and $5 master dies were changed from 1895 to 1896. Shown is a full proof of the dark version and a few pairs of details contrasting some of the differences between the dark and light versions.
