RCC/The Bank of the United States in North Carolina

The Bank of the United States in North Carolina

There were literally tens of thousands of different issues of obsolete paper money between 1800 and 1865, the end of the obsolete era. Notes issued by banks are the most familiar, but there were many other categories of issuers: States, counties, municipalities, courts, railroads, toll roads and canals, and more. Perhaps the largest and most varied issue came from merchants of every type. The notes mainly served as small change in an era when coins were very scarce. A merchant who wanted to issue money simply contracted with a printer to design and print the notes, and then issued the notes as needed, generally by numbering, dating, and signing the note. The notes could be redeemed for merchandise, for "current notes," meaning whatever paper was then circulating, and rarely for specie, or coins. Such notes were frequently accepted elsewhere in the community, and provided a general if confusing circulating medium.

But some merchants either couldn't afford to have a note designed or for some other reason didn't do so. The merchant still had the option of issuing a note using a "stock" or "stationery" note. This was a note produced by a printer without a merchant name. The merchant then added his name, and issued the note the same way as a custom-made note.

Figure 1

There were variations. Sometimes the stock note had a printed state, municipality, or partial date. The rather ragged 25 cent note in figure 1 has Brooklyn printed, and the rest filled in by, apparently, Harman Cook & Co. It is redeemable "in goods at retail cash prices."

Figure 2

The 12 ½ cent note issued in New Bedford (MA?) in 1837 (Figure 2) is also a stock note with no pre-printed identifying information. The merchant name is cut out, probably a form of cancellation. This note is also remarkable as a rare depiction of a Spanish coin obverse, but that's another story.

Figure 3

The two and three dollar notes in Figures 3 and 4 are of special interest. Each was issued by Lano and Marsh (?) in Groton, New York on April 1, 1856. It seems apparent that these notes, each with the same serial number 33, survived together for almost 150 years. Perhaps. But the amazing fact is that I acquired these notes from two different dealers about four years apart. The three dollar note was acquired from R. M. Smythe in August 1997 and the two dollar note from eBay, from a person calling himself Marzcoins, in July 2001.

Figure 4

Perhaps these notes survived in quantity, and I just happened to find two with like serial numbers. I searched eleven years of catalogs issued by Hugh Shull, perhaps the biggest dealer in obsolete paper money, and I found not one instance of this issuer. So the notes are at least scarce, perhaps rare.

Could the notes have survived together for many years in some collection until they were sold into the hands of one of these two dealers, then one to the other dealer, and I just happened to find them? Who knows? Could all or many of the notes be numbered 33, perhaps falsely filled in later? Perhaps. The numbers may be in a different hand that the other filled-in items, and they do appear to be from a different pen. This is just one small mystery that will probably never be solved. But it's the kind of strange and fascinating occurrence that maintains my interest in obsolete paper money.

To read more articles from the Odd and Obsolete series visit Bob's webpage at http://www.unc.edu/~rcs/odd/index.htm

The RCC grants permission to reprint any articles not copyrighted by the author for non-profit educational purposes only, provided the Raleigh Coin Club and the author are cited as the original source.