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Lovelies from Early America

The Kentucky Insurance Company $5 1816

The Kentucky Insurance Company was started in 1802 in the city of Lexington, Kentucky. While the primary business was to be insurance, they branched off into banking, and would be the first bank west of the Alleghany Mountains. By Early 1817 the banking end of the business was wound down and the company only continued the insurance part of the business, which they would stay in until the end of the company in 1868. This note has a very early vignette - indeed one of the first printed on a banknote with a feminine subject.

This note was printed in Philadelphia by Murray, Draper, Farman and Company and appears to have been printed with a very early steel plate engraving - in an era that still saw notes being printed on copper plates. The details of the engraving are just sharper and suggest that steel plates were used.

As noted above, the bank technically failed in 1817, but apparently notes were still being received for redemption after that date as the notation on the reverse of the note would attest to. This has "Filed August 13th 1819, A Gamble, Clerk

The New England Commercial Bank

The New England Commercial Bank was founded in Newport RI in 1818 and mid century was a well organised and reliable institution that issued notes up until the time of the Civil War. This lovely young miss graced the $5 denomination, this note being a remainder or unissued note.

The centre vignette appears to be a bit older than the printing of the note with the green underprint would suggest. This banknote was printed using plates that appear by the design to date into the 1850's. This note was printed by New England Bank Note Co. of Boston, a company which was formed in 1833 and was merged with Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson in 1847 and later into American Banknote Company in 1858.

The New England Commercial Bank outlived the obsolete or broken banknote era, but became a victim of not so sound accounting practice in 1914 when business was wound up and the institution closed by regulators.

Bank of Desoto, Desoto Nebraska

The mid 19th century saw some of the loveliest vignettes ever to appear on American paper money, this stirringly popular image is titled Morning and appeared on banknotes from Georgia, and Vermont and Connecticut in addition to this note issued from Desoto Nebraska in 1863.

Obsoletes are banknotes that were issued by private banking institutions prior to creation of the National Banking System in 1864, which basically taxed private bank issues out of existence, the last notes were state issues from Tennessee in 1883. These notes are also known as broken banknotes, because many of the banks that issued them were on shaky standing to begin with and subsequently failed. Quite a number of banks from this era survived into the National Currency era and issued National Currency under their institution's names. A notable bank that issued many banknotes, which mostly only remainders exist, is Canal & Banking Company of New Orleans, which still exists today as part of BankOne.

Similarly this young girl's vignette appeared on numerous banknotes during the mid 19th century up until the middle of the Civil War.

Brunswick And Albany Railroad $1 1871

Despite legislation passed in 1864 that effectively made all commercial banking establishments give up the right of note issue by 1865 and become National Banks chartered by the Federal Government, the South of the United States - recently re-joined to the Union often evaded such laws. Private banks, municipalities and even railroads got in on the act and issued their own currency. Of course feminine vignettes were near obligatory.

Brunswick and Albany Railroad from Georgia was begun in the 1850's, devastated during the war, and rebuilt in the post-bellum years. This note was printed by Continental Banknote Company of New York and issued in 1871. But the railroad grew too quickly, too quickly for it's revenue to catch up and it was taken into receivorship by 1873 and these notes rendered worthless.

A lovely vignette of the American 4-4-0 with it's ubiquitous tall smokestack - an image of a revolution in transport in the latter half of the 19th century - one that quickened travel and shipping of goods to market that literally changed the country.

City of Mobile Alabama $3 1875

This note was issued in the postbellum southern city of Mobile Alabama. These notes were first issued as early as the summer of 1865, obviously by a reconstructionist government that was probably pro-Union in sentiment. But the vignette is very memorable for the symbolism of the "Union" with her flag greeting the South, with their swords cast to their feet - an obvious allusion to the just ended conflict that tore the nation apart.

This lovely and fascinating banknote was printed by American Banknote Company of New York. Municipal and state issued banknotes continued in the United States until the last issues in Mississippi in 1896. While effectively they were currency, they were often masked as railroad ticket fares, or special warrants in order to circumvent the prohibition of non-government or National Bank issued currency.

Notice the centre vignette with the now sharecroppers, apparently gathering sugar cane? I love the denomination of the note, the $3, the symbolism of the North and South embracing, but coupled with the other vignettes that are so descriptive of the postbellum Southern dilemmas. This note was one of those that of course skirted the legislation of 1863 that forbid the issuance of banknotes without the obligatory tax payment. Of course this was common in the south right after the cessation of hostilities, but notes after 1870 got pretty scarce.

Sight Draft from Adams & Co San Francisco, 1854

Not really a piece of paper money but a rare sight draft from gold rush era California, this sight draft was printed by Toppan, Carpenter & Casilear of New York City. The feminine vignette with the three ladies was used on several obsolete era banknotes, even after Toppan Carpenter became part of American Banknote Company in 1861.

As noted previously, this vignette was also used on notes from Tennessee as well as other states. Basically it was a stock image that was available and cost less than images created specifically for the contract.

This is the state seal from California, an interesting addition to the draft.

Placer miners with sluice boxes are featured in this vignette which surely was created for this particular print job. Adams & Co Express was founded in New England in 1839 as a courier transporting monies, goods etc. The office in San Francisco was a subsidiary of the larger company, but not being under it's direct management failed later in 1854 to the consternation of Californians because large sums of money were lost in the failure. Adams Express Company still exists though, as a private fund management company headquartered in New York.

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