A
fascinating Trompe l’Oeil painting of a Fr.111 1880 $10 Legal Tender “Jackass”
note will be featured in the Internet session of our Stack’s Bowers Galleries
November Baltimore Currency Auction on Monday November 13.
The
unsigned work, featured as lot #21356, is oil on board and measures 10”x6”
within a 13”x9” wood frame. It depicts a Tillman-Morgan signed 1880 $10 Legal
Tender Note in circulated condition resting on a wood-grain background. This is
a wonderful example of a uniquely American genre that originated in the late
1870s – the realistic, deceptive depiction of paper money as art.
The
Trompe l’Oeil movement began when Master William Michael Harnett first painted
a $5 Woodchopper note in 1877 and continued through the first quarter of the 20th
century. Roughly two dozen American painters specialized in this genre. While
this work is unsigned and its artist is unknown, our consignor suggests it may
have been Nicholas Alden Brooks, a prolific artist who made the $10 Jackass
note his subject on several occasions.
The
work was donated by Stanley De Forest Scott, and the auction proceeds will
benefit the endowment campaign for the Executive Director position at the
American Numismatic Society. It is estimated at $2,000-$3,000.
The Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Currency Auction of the
Whitman Coin & Collectibles Winter Expo will be Thursday November 9, 2017,
at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The Internet session
will close live on Monday, November 13. We are currently accepting consignments
to our 2018 auction season. If you are interested in consigning to an upcoming
auction, or have a currency related question, please contact Currency
Specialist Brad Ciociola at bciociola@stacksbowers.com or
Director of Currency Auctions Peter Treglia at petert@stacksbowers.com.
