Bank of Yanceyville twenty-dollar note, 1856

Twenty-dollar note issued by the Bank of Yanceyville on May 19, 1856; dual engraving and printing credit given below signature lines to Baldwin, Adams and Company, New York, N.Y., and Robert L. Bald and Company of Philadelphia; "XX" in top-right corner, "20" in ornate medallion at bottom left; vignette in upper left of three men in fifteenth-century style European attire conversing amid stacks of books and in background is a printing press and attending workman, below the men in foreground is a flowing ribbon inscribed "FATST [Johann Fust] GUTTENBERG [Johannes Gutenberg] SCHOEFFER [Peter Schoeffer]"; small oval portrait of George Washington in upper-right quarter and portrait of unidentified man (possibly Bank of Yanceyville President Thomas D. Johnston) in bottom-right corner; printed plate letter "A" and handwritten serial number "1677" below Washington's portrait, in bottom portion of note is handwritten issue date "19 May [18]56" above signature of the Bank of Yanceyville's president, Thomas D. Johnston, and to left is signature of the bank's cashier, Joseph J. Lawson. ; NORTH CAROLINA STOCKHOLDERS RESPONSIBLE. No. A Bank of Yanceyville Will pay Twenty Dollars to bearer on demand. Yanceyville 18 Cashr. Prest. ; The figures in the vignette in the top-left portion of this note represent (left to right) Johann Fust, Johannes Gutenberg, and Peter Schoeffer. Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, is credited with inventing in the mid-fifteenth century moveable type, a revolutionary improvement in printing that made it possible for craftsmen to mass produce books, documents, and other imprints. Both Schoeffer and Fust supported Gutenberg's early printing operations financially and with their own experience and skills in the craft. Gutenberg's most famous achievement in moveable-type printing is the Gutenberg Bible, which was released initially in complete form in Mainz, Germany, in 1454. ; Title supplied by respository