George & Martha Washington on US Banknote

Here in the United States, February 21 was Presidents' Day, which was originally the celebration of George Washington's birthday. So, let's look at the $1 Silver Certificate, Series 1896, part of what collector's call the Education Series.

The back shows the only married couple to appear on a US banknote: Martha and George Washington. Martha Washington is also one of the very few women to appear on a US banknote.

The face vignette is entitled, "History instructing youth." This note and the other notes in the Education Series are considered the most artistic notes created by the US. The faces were designed by accomplished muralists. The intention was to use high art as a security device: the vignettes would be so hard to counterfeit that no one would attempt it.

There were two practical problems with this note and the others of the series. One, bank tellers had problems rapidly identifying the note as the counters were not obvious enough and the images were so dense. This density led to the other problem. So, much ink was used in the complex intaglio that the notes never really dried before issuance. So, the images often blurred as the notes were used. This blurriness confounded the anticounterfeiting aim. No one could tell if a blurry note was real or counterfeit.

A beautiful note, none the less.