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"Educational Series" is the informal name used by
numismatists A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
to refer to a series of United States silver certificates produced by the
U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
in 1896, after its
Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Rese ...
chief Claude M. Johnson ordered a new currency design. The notes depict various
allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
motifs and are considered by some
numismatists A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
to be the most beautiful monetary designs ever produced by the United States.


Design

The obverse of the notes depict a neoclassical allegorical motif, which dominates the front of the note. The motifs are meant as representations of the theme written on the note. The back contained the profiles of two American figures (usually famous Americans) set against an ornate background. Denominations of $1, $2, and $5 were produced. In addition to $1, $2 and $5 notes denominations of $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 were also planned. Designs for a $10 and $50 denomination were being prepared but were never completed or produced before the series was abandoned and replaced by the series of 1899. The term "Educational" is derived from the title of the vignette on the $1 note, ''History Instructing Youth.''


Design and production credits

$1 ''History instructing Youth''
Front Face Designer:
Will Hicok Low Will Hicok Low (March 31, 1853November 27, 1932) or Will Hicock Low was an American artist, muralist, and writer on art. Biography He was born at Albany, New York. In 1873 he entered the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme in the École des Beaux Art ...

Engraver: Charles Schlecht
Rear Back Designer: Thomas F. Morris
George Washington Vignette Engraver: Alfred Sealey (1867)
Martha Washington Vignette Engraver: Charles Burt (1878)

$2 ''Science presenting steam and electricity to Commerce and Manufacture''
Four artists were commissioned by the BEP to produce key artwork including E. H. Blashfield, Will H. Low, C. S. Reinhart, and Walter Shirlaw.
Other design and engraving work is as follows.
Central Vignette Designer: E. H. Blashfield
Central Frame and Background Designer: Thomas F. Morris
Vignette Engraver: George F. C. Smillie
Border Engraver: Charles Schlecht
Rear Back Designer: Thomas F. Morris
Robert Fulton and Samuel F.B. Morse Vignette Engraver: Lorenzo J. Hatch

$5 ''Electricity as the Dominant Force in the World''
Central Vignette Designer: Walter Shirlaw
Border Designer: Thomas F. Morris
Central Vignette Engraver: G. F. C. Smillie
Border Engraver: Thomas F. Morris
Rear Back Designer: Lorenzo J. Hatch and Thomas F. Morris
Rear Back Engraver: G. F. C. Smillie
Ulysses S. Grant and Phillip Sheridan Vignette Engraver: Lorenzo J. Hatch


Controversy

The naked breasts of the female figures on the $5 silver certificate reportedly caused some minor controversy when several
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
society ladies took offense to the design. Some bankers reportedly refused to accept the notes in transactions, and the term ''
banned in Boston "Banned in Boston" is a phrase that was employed from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, to describe a literary work, song, motion picture, or play which had been prohibited from distribution or exhibition in Boston, Massachuset ...
'' allegedly originates from the $5 silver certificate. In response, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prepared a "draped" bosom $5 vignette design for a proposed 1897 series. The redesign also included a highly modified front face but was never utilized. Also for the first time in 1893, Bureau authorities invited a small group of outside artists and engravers to submit design proposals for the new series of notes. The presence of the outside group caused tremendous creative problems within the BEP. Great personality conflicts and jealousy could be one reason that, although the $1 design was approved in July, 1894, the remaining two notes were not accepted until late 1895. At one point during the process, BEP designer Thomas Morris resigned. Coupled with being banned in Boston, the notes were quickly replaced by the Series of 1899 notes.


Notes


References

:Stacks Bowers Auction Catalog "The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection Part V", August 17, 2011
https://web.archive.org/web/20120421131411/http://stacksbowers.com/auctions/auctionlots.aspx?auctionid=115&sessionid=212 :GREYSHEET & CPG PRICE GUIDE, U.S. Currency / Large Size Notes / 1896 Silver Certificates
https://www.greysheet.com/coin-prices/series/silver-certificates--large/1896


External links

* ''A Guide Book Of United States Paper Money: Complete Source for History, Grading, and Prices'' by Arthur L. Friedberg (Compiler), Ira S. Friedberg (Compiler), and Q. David Bowers. {{ISBN, 0-7948-1786-6
FRBSF Currency Exhibit
''Portions of this article used material from the
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (informally referred to as the San Francisco Fed) is the federal bank for the twelfth district in the United States. The twelfth district is made up of nine western states—Alaska, Arizona, California, ...
website, which is in the public domain.'' Paper money of the United States 1896 in the United States