US Treasury specimen book

The function of specimen books or presentation albums initially served as a business-generating artist's portfolio to be given to bank presidents or heads of foreign national banks.[1] Prior to specimen books, engraving company salesmen presented potential clients with engraved broadsides highlighting their abilities. Examples of these salesman's sample sheets exist from the mid 1820s[2] and 1830s.[3][4] While specimen books were introduced in 1850s and 1860s, examples of the salesman sheet are known through the 1880s.[5]

BEP-US Treasury Department Specimens (c. 1881), standard title page

Literature on US Treasury Department specimen books is very scarce. An auction record from 1891 described a BEP specimen book with 103 engravings ("46 portraits and 57 vignettes") as either coming from the collection of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, or having been presented to him.[6] A 1921 auction catalog documents the offering of a BEP specimen book which contained about 145 engravings ("about 100 portraits and 45 plates and views").[7] In 2001 the numismatic community knew of 47 BEP specimen books and suspected the existence of 10 to 15 more.[1]

A WorldCat search of library records found eight BEP specimen books.[8] Based on available information for five books, they range in size (i.e., number of engraved illustrations) from roughly 125[9] to 145[10] engravings. One library record noted a presentation inscription to James B. Beck.[11]

Between 2005 and mid-2014 available records indicate at least 18 BEP specimen presentation albums have sold in public auction.[nb 1] Albums vary in length from a single volume of 24 portraits[22] to a four volume set containing roughly 400 engraved images.[24] The content of each album varies and may contain one or more of the following: portraits of presidents,[22] cabinet members,[21] founding fathers, government officials,[25] and Civil War generals;[23] vignettes and allegories found on various issues of US paper currency[24] and other government securities; and engravings of significant and historical architectural structures.[21] The interior of a BEP presentation album is generally described as containing "intaglio die proof vignette pulls on thick gilt edged cards, each with intervening integral tissue guards for protection".[19] The illustrations below come from a single two-volume presentation album reportedly given to Treasury Secretary Lyman Gage.

United States banknotes issued from 1861 to the present depict 53 people[nb 2] including presidents, cabinet members, Founding Fathers, jurists, military leaders and members of congress. Thirteen presidents[nb 3] and 12 treasury secretaries[nb 4] have been depicted on US banknotes. Some have appeared on bonds.[nb 5] Many presidents had more than one official engraving. A side-by-side comparison of these engraved portraits and the notes on which they appeared can be seen at Art and engraving on United States banknotes.

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• Barrett, William; Hessler, Gene (2001). "A Gift Fit for a Czar – An ABNCo Presentation Book". Paper Money. Society of Paper Money Collectors. pp. 319–32.
• Friedberg, Arthur L.; Friedberg, Ira S. (2013). Paper Money of the United States: A Complete Illustrated Guide With Valuations (20th ed.). Coin & Currency Institute. ISBN 978-0-87184-520-7.
• Hessler, Gene (1993). The Engraver's Line – An Encyclopedia of Paper Money & Postage Stamp Art. BNR Press. ISBN 0-931960-36-3.

• Stauffer, David M. (1907). American Engravers Upon Copper and Steel. The Grolier Club of the City of New York.