 'THE GLORY BANK, In the City of WASHINGTON, promises to pay TWENTY DOLLARS IN GLORY to MARTIN VAN BUREN, or bearer, TWENTY DOLLARS IN GLORY'. 'Washington, May 1, 1834'. Printed on white bond paper. 145mm by 65mm. When note is viewed looking downwards, the ornate borders, with small diagonal frame lines, mimic the lid of a coffin. This note has the corners turned back to heighten the effect. At the top center, the title 'THE GLORY BANK' is laid upon rays of light and flanked by framed '20' counters. Above are the city, date and below 'EXPERIMENTAL CURRENCY'. Within the ''coffin lid'' top are engraved signatures of 'A. Kendall' and 'A. Jackson' as 'Cashier' and 'President'. Along the perimeter of the borders, at the top and bottom 'TWENTY' and at the ends 'GLORY' 'GLORY'. At each end inside the frame line is 'to Counterfeit is death!!'. Penned deftly in the lower right margin is ''N. Biddle & Co.''
Rulau HT-N16M (page 249). Not in the Leidman Sale, but slightly similar to Leidman Sale lot 4036. From the face, fine looking. However, this type of paper took the hard folds with some splitting that is heavy at the left. That left quarter fold was crudely rejoined with verso glue and there is some resulting staining on the face nearly three quarters of the way up. The rest of the note has just hard folds with some splitting. Overall, Fine or so for this rarity.
N(icholas) Biddle was, of course, Jackson's bete noir and his satirical signature is another not-so-subtle lampoon.
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