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National Bank Notes > Colorado

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Cortez, Montezuma Valley NB, 9100
Fr. 1800-1 $5 1929T1 #B000001A
Grade: PCGS Gem New 65 PPQ    

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Here is a lovely serial #1 note from this High Desert community. Just 13 small notes are recorded, with nearly half the pieces known coming from this first sheet of $5s. It is an admiral goal to add a Gem #1 note to one's collection, especially when it is from a small Western town. From the Rocky Mountain Collection. ---- Cortez is the seat of Montezuma County. That area of Colorado has been settled since about AD 600, and had a population estimated to be around 100,000 in the 1100s. By 1300 nearly all permanent settlements had been abandoned and the land was fought over by the Ute and Navajo tribes for the next 500 or so years. When Montezuma County was formed in 1889, the Colorado Legislature named it in honor of the Aztec Indians in Mexico since at the time, the ruins in Mesa Verde National Park were thought to be of Aztec origin. Following that little mistake, the town took its name for the 16th century Spanish conqueror of Mexico.

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