THE EMPEROR NORTON SCRIP NOTE ENGRAVING

SURELY no single artistic depiction of Emperor Norton has been reproduced more times, over a longer period, than the "cut" of the Emperor that featured on the fronts of his promissory notes.

Numismatic scholars estimate that, in total, more than 3,000 of these notes were printed. Nearly all of them — including all of those signed and dated between January 1871 and the Emperor's death in January 1880 — featured the same engraving of him.

The two note printers of record are Cuddy & Hughes, who printed the extant notes Emperor Norton signed and dated between November 1870 and August 1877, and Charles A. Murdock & Co, who printed those signed and dated between January 1878 and January 1880.

Following is a view of a 5-dollar note by Cuddy & Hughes that Emperor Norton signed and dated on 25 January 1871. This note, in the California Historical Society Collection at Stanford, appears to be the earliest known example that features the engraving of the Emperor. Alas, the Trust does not have a scan of this particular note, and the image of it that currently is online nearly 20 years old and of 20-year-old size (small) and quality (poor) . Shown here is the note exhibited at our bicentennial talk/exhibit Will the Real Emperor Norton Please Stand Up? held at the California Historical Society on 1 February 2018:

 

The following unsigned and undated remainder of the same Cuddy & Hughes note shows a much clearer view of the engraving of the Emperor. Oddly, the "I" following "Norton" in the curving title above the engraving is not in the same ornate font as the rest of the title. Was the printer lacking a capital "I" in that font, having already used one in the word "Imperial"? Towards the bottom right-hand corner — between the border and the signature field — the imprint "Cuddy & Hughes, Printers, 511 Sansome Street, S.F." suggests no particular relationship between the firm and the Emperor:

 

Here's a Cuddy & Hughes example from later in the same year — signed 17 August 1871. Note that the Cuddy & Hughes imprint — centered along the bottom edge, below the border — now identifies the firm as "Printers to His Majesty Norton I":

 

Although there are Cuddy & Hughes-imprinted notes as late as August 1877, John Cuddy and Edward Hughes dissolved their partnership in July 1876. This suggests that Emperor Norton must have had a stock of blanks that he continued to use until they ran out.

Perhaps the most important circumstantial evidence in dating the engraving is the fact that the earliest Cuddy & Hughes notes did not feature a depiction of the Emperor.

Here's the earliest-extant Cuddy & Hughes note — signed and dated 11 November 1870:

 

The absence of a Norton cameo on the November 1870 note and the presence of one by late January 1871 suggests that Cuddy & Hughes had a cut of the Emperor purpose-made sometime between November 1870 and January 1871.

Pretty clearly, the artist modeled the engraving of the Emperor on an 1867 photograph of the Emperor by Bradley & Rulofson:

 

To read the complete article, see:
The Ubiquitous But Enigmatic Life of An Early Engraving of Emperor Norton (https://emperornortontrust.org/blog/2026/1/18/the-ubiquitous-but-enigmatic-life-of-an-early-engraving-of-emperor-norton)

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