Old Checks

Very interesting!

Beautiful specimen, GregAlex!

Finally a couple new checks! (Well, new to me.)

This first one is quite early -- 1815 -- which really pre-dates the invention of banknote engraving. There was no typical size for checks at that time and this is only about 6" x 2". It was issued just a few months after Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans, marking the end of the War of 1812. Very nice handmade laid paper.



The other is unusual for its deep blue paper color. These seemed to be popular in the 1890s; I have another blue one from that period. I liked it for the nicely engraved portrait of Washington. Printed by Western Bank Note Co.

Here's a new addition with a vignette I hadn't seen before.

Here's a few checks from Bank of LaPorte that was located in LaPorte California. LaPorte was a large mining town in the mid to late 1800's with around 10,000 in population. It had its own brewery and main street had eleven saloons and three hotels.

My family first arrived in the late 1940s and we've been there since. Population today I think is around 10-15 people year round.

Thank you Greg! Yeah it is pretty far up in the mountains but that's how I like it lol.

Here's an interesting check that arrived today! The design is quite plain, though it does have a nice revenue imprint. But take note of the amount: $197,600 in 1866! That represents the buying power of nearly $4 million in today's dollars.

I believe this was probably a large gold transaction. Exchange broker C.S. Sloane was in business in NYC as early as 1849. In October 1864, C.S. Sloane & Co. was listed as a member of the New York Gold Exchange. In September 1869, The Banker's Magazine reported the firm had failed, most likely due to the gold panic that August. But apparently they settled up with their creditors, as the company was still in business in 1886. Not much info on Ward & Co. of New York, but I think this was John and William Greene Ward acting as private bankers during the 1860s.