The Secret Mark on the 2¢ Jackson of the U.S. Bank Notes
National Bank Note Company
No secret markScott 135 and 146 - There is clearly NO color joining the line and ball to the left of "U.S." Note that the types can also be distinguished by the color. The Nationals are nearly always a reddish brown. This is a difficult issue to differentiate and a reddish brown color without the "gap" should be considered a Continental.
Continental and American Bank Notes
Secret MarkScott 157, 178 and 183 - There is a very light amount of color joining the line and ball to the left of "U.S." Since it is widely held that the "secret" mark does not appear on all Continental printings, this stamp must be distinguished by the color. The Continentals are nearly always a brown or dark brown. Scott 178 and 183 are of course orange and should not present a problem, and in fact may provide an excellent way to get a feel for the secret mark, since they MUST have the mark.
