Samuel Morse Die Proof Engraving on india, Continental Bank Note Co.

This is an intaglio die proof portrait of Samuel F. B. Morse, the prominent American inventor of the single-wire telegraph and co-developer of Morse Code. Produced by the Continental Bank Note Company in New York, this engraving exemplifies the high-security intaglio printing techniques used for 19th-century bank notes and postage stamps. The image shows a bearded, elderly Morse in a three-quarter view, characterized by the fine, meticulously cross-hatched lines typical of the period’s expert engravers. The original CBNCo die number was 216 and the updated number V 48205 indicates its origin as a die proof pulled in 1923 with the renumbering of all dies in the possession of the American Bank Note Co. The die was likely created between 1873 and 1879 before the Continental Bank Note Company was absorbed by the American Bank Note Company.

This is an ORIGINAL nineteenth-century die proof; not a reproduction or contemporary print. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.