Fr. 247. 1896 $2 Silver Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ.

Fr. 247. 1896 $2 Silver Certificate. PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ.，A stunning note with bold color throughout and broad margins all around. The few unprinted areas in this complex design are clean and bright. Traces of embossing are seen on the back and the corners are sharp. It would be difficult to find a more attractive example.<p><p>This entry in the prized "Educational" note series offers an exceptionally beautiful design. The face features the thoughtfully executed vignette, <em>Science Presenting Steam and Electricity to Commerce and Manufacture</em>, an allegorical scene in the finest traditional style -- emblematic of the waning years of Victorian art and expression, perhaps with a hint of the Art Nouveau style introduced in Paris by Alphonse Mucha. The vignette underwent several developmental design modifications before this final version was adopted, including a change from the originally submitted design as a $50 denomination that was never issued. This was not pleasing to the designer Edwin Blashfield, who complained in writing to engraver G.F.C. Smillie in April 1895, "In regard to changing [the] denomination of my fifty, please tell Mr. Johnson [Claude Johnson, Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, who had made the decision to change the denomination] that in addition to my other reasons given before and which are the same today as then, I also object distinctly on artistic grounds to the change from fifty to a two. You can easily see that the 50 is an important compositional factor in the building up of my design…the result of such a change would be that from a design which is my work and which I endorse as the best I was able to do at the time, it would become a design not mine compositionally and which I could not endorse."<p><p>In keeping with the educational theme, the back of the note features engravings of Robert Fulton and Samuel F.B. Morse, both remembered for their important contributions to science and technology. <p><p>This is another note of exceptional grade for the variety, correctly identified by the collector of the Vanderbilt notes back in 1966 as one of the finest he would likely find. Today, PMG has graded only three notes finer, all by a single grade point. This is remarkable not only for the collectors ability to ferret out such notes long before the advent of technical numeric grading, but also very noteworthy in the context of the appeal of the Educational series in general. This is one of the finest examples from one of the most popular and handsome series. A prize for the condition rarity enthusiast.<p>，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Earlier from Stacks, June 1966, by direct sale.，