A July the 4th special ;)

Generally I stay away from paper money from the United States because I find that I don’t get a good bang for my buck in terms of appearance. However, there are exceptions, and this banknote is one of them. It is a Federal Reserve note from 1914 and on the face side it is just as boring as most other US money: Andrew Jackson is showing off his awesome haircut. However, the back features two scenes divided in the middle by a watermark. The left scene is that of a farmer plowing using a team of horses while the right side of the back shows a factory with many smoke stacks billowing out smoke. Its interesting because it is a US analogy of agriculture and industry, and not just another rendition of the white house.

The front also features a blue seal. If the seal was red the value of this banknote would be eight times as much.

United States p360b from 1914 ($10)

I was lucky enough to win an eBay auction for a collection of 4 banknotes from Mozambique. The notes included 10,20, and 50 centavos all dated 1914 and 10 escudos dated 1945. Note the 50 centavos has an oval shaped over stamp. Usually these notes sell for a minimum of $10 each, so I was really happy to win this lot for $24.50. Also, because they were a single lot the shipping charges were reasonable. I’ve added several banknotes from Mozambique recently, but none of this era so affordably. Here they are:

Mozambique Old Paper Money Collection (1914 and 1945)