First National Bank Of Tombstone Note Is To Die For

Numismatic News - The Tombstone, Arizona Territory, note illustrated here has absolutely everything going for it.



The town name itself is a knockout. Not only is the town name evocative, it conjures up the mythical Wild West immortalized in the shoot out at the OK Corral in 1881 between outlaw cowboys Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury and opposing lawmen Virgil Earp and his brothers Wyatt and Morgan Earp, aided by Doc Holliday. The territory label on the note lofts it to the stratosphere because it certifies that the note originated on the frontier. Only 19 Arizona banks operated during the territorial era.

The First National Bank of Tombstone had a circulation of $6,500, just $250 above the minimum allowed by law, when this note was issued in 1912. The bank had been chartered in 1902, with M.D. Schribner, as president, and T.R. Brandt, cashier. C.L. Cummings had assumed the presidency in 1906.

Notice that both Cummings and Brandt penned signed this note. Brandt was the operating officer and was assisted by his son Bradford. The bank was situated on the east side of Fifth Street between Allan and Fremont streets. The streets were dirt.

Observe Brandt's flamboyant signature. Obviously here was a confident self-possessed individual, the epitome of the stereotypical rugged western man we project to have populated such a dusty, sun-drenched berg at the nether reaches of civilization.

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