The SilverTowne Vault Blog

100 Greatest American Currency Notes Series: Portrait of a Numismatist $100 National Bank Note, Series of 1902, Red Seal

Published 03/31/2026

We often see American currency notes featuring presidents or those central to the founding of the United States. Most of those individuals are recognizable; some are not. However, Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest American Currency Notes Series gives us the opportunity to learn more about how rare notes came to be and who is featured on them. That is certainly the case with this next middle of the road pick in the series. Authors Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman will clue us in on the early 1900s note.

#59 – Portrait of a Numismatist $100 National Bank Note, Series of 1902, Red Seal

A portrait of John Jay Knox appears on the face of the $100 Red Seal note. A comptroller of the currency (1872-1884), a financier, and an intelligent numismatist, Knox was the mastermind behind the Coinage Act of 1873. The Act demonetized silver and pushed the nation towards the gold standard, and authorized the...read more