The $50 Legal Tender Note issued under the Series of 1869 is rare and for good reason. A short-lived issue, roughly 70 survivors are known, with a number of those are held within institutional collections such as the ANA Money Museum in Colorado Springs or various Federal Reserve Banks. That figure can theoretically be narrowed again when one considers that this series and denomination was counterfeited extensively in the early 1870s. These counterfeits were highly deceptive and led to the retirement of this design and its replacement with an entirely new design with the Series of 1874. The Series of 1869 $50 Legal Tender Notes were systematically withdrawn from circulation and retired as they came into banks and subtreasuries across the United States.
The diagnostics for these period counterfeits are easy to overlook and are further compounded by the fact that census databases like Track & Price record simply by serial numbers.
William P. Koster an expert in Contemporary Counterfeits wrote in a 1973 article for Paper Money “Counterfeit-Proof (?) Currency Designs of 1869 and Later Years” that the coloration of the serial numbers is darker than the bright blue coloration seen on genuine specimens and that certain fine details were “almost a solid mass.”
As for current collectors, much attention should be paid to any ungraded example of this design in the unlikely event that they see one. A Contemporary Counterfeit is still worth something as a numismatically significant item that sought to imitate a popular design and denomination when it originally circulated. But, it is still worth only a fraction of a genuine specimen.
Collectors will have the opportunity to bid on an uncommonly attractive example of this popular and short-lived design. From Part I of the Shores Collection, featured in our Spring 2025 Showcase Auction, comes a most attractive specimen graded Very Fine 30 by PMG. A single comment for a “Tear Repair” has been applied but this should not matter to collectors who concern themselves with eye appeal first and foremost.
The entire Spring 2025 Showcase Auction will be available for viewing and pre-sale bidding in the very near future. For more information about our auctions or to consign your numismatic items, please call 800-458-4646 or email [email protected].
