The SilverTowne Vault Blog

100 Greatest American Currency Notes Series: Dramatic Sea-Adventure Motif Polar Bear Note

Published 06/25/2026

One of the most unique and “fiercest” vignettes appear on the currency note we will look at today as part of our blog series covering Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. Authors Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman not only talk us through the design but also the overprint “as a matter of peripheral interest.”

#24 – Dramatic Sea-Adventure Motif “Polar Bear Note”

Several varieties of the Polar Bear Note exist on different denominations. The scene specifically shows a polar bear attempting to board a small boat while seal hunters try to ward off the ferocious beast. In the distance is the larger mother ship. According to authors Bowers and Sundman, the motif was influence by the Kane expedition to the Arctic, which was led by Elisha Kent Kane, and which was ultimately unsuccessful as it searched for the missing British explorer Sir John Franklin.

In other interest of the note is the overprint, which is called Canada Green tint. Patented in 1857, the process makes the ability to...read more