19th century intaglio checks

Just plugging that language into Google turns up some examples pertaining to various city ordinance codes with regards to finance and tax matters,

"All warrants lawfully drawn upon the City Treasurer and not paid upon presentment for want of funds and properly endorsed by the City Treasurer with the date of such presentation shall bear simple interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of such presentation until such warrant is called for payment according to law."

 

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Western Union endorsed it to A. McArdery.

The warrant came from the states general fund. Warrants were typically issued by states when money was not available or had not been appropriated yet. They would then circulate as a medium of exchange by endorsement until the money was available or be held by the initial payee.

 

Very educational -- thank you both! Now I know the difference between a warrant and a check.

 

Paid too much for this in a recent Heritage Auction. Got swept away in the bidding.

 

lettow, I was an underbidder on it, happy to know you won.

 

Beautiful piece! I can see how you might get carried away. Who is the dour gentleman in the upper right?

 

I believe it is Alexander Randall, the 22nd Postmaster General.

 

Found this at the big coin show today. Looks somewhat familiar to the one on first page of this thread, in fact it is only 25 numbers earlier on July 6, 1874
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Here's a nice intaglio (reprint) that a friend found and sent to me. It's an authorized American Banknote Co. issue as indicated on the reverse.
Hmmm, maybe we should have a $1.75 note today.
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Do you know how rare this piece is, it was used on July 2nd, the 2nd day the tax was reinstituted for Documentary articles such as checks and drafts, and it has the Battleship Documentary stamp which was not available at a lot of the banks at the time the tax took effect (July 1st 1898). Nice score on your part. I have several checks from different banks around the country dated on July 1st, which are very rare

 

Thanks for the info, conder, I had no idea! I picked up the check for it's images and paid no attention to the tax stamp. Any idea what the premium would be on this?

 

A second day use would be worth from 200 to 350 depending on the look of the check
First Days start at 500

 

This one should be of interest to any Ohio collectors out there. It's an 1871 check from the Vinton County Bank in McArthur, Ohio. It was printed by American Bank Note Co, but features engravings that are much older than the check. The left vignette is called "The Calmady Children" engraved by Joseph Ourdan and based on a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The right vignette features a map of Ohio, engraved by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson in 1857. In reality, this is only about 3 inches wide, but the engraver still managed to fit in all the county names and include the main rail lines!

 

Btw, Les, here's some background on your banknote reprint. Souvenir cards

 

I picked up some pretty cool checks at the ANA Anaheim show and I'm just getting around to scanning them. My favorite is this 3rd sight draft (can someone explain that?) from Adams & Co. Express, a rival of Wells Fargo. This one is unissued
but the company operated from 1850 to 55, during the heyday of the California gold rush. I've seen checks from branches in Sacramento and Marysville, and I know they also had a branch in Portland, Oregon.

The central vignette shows a sluice with miners panning and a mining camp in the background. Great piece of history.

 

I think I see Tony Beets, and Todd.....and look, there's Parker

 

Super find! Very detailed vignette. I like that little Eureka porthole/seal vignette, too.

 

Here's another check I picked up. Federal checks are harder to find and definitely more pricey. This one was printed by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. The Farragut portrait also appears on the $100 1890 (baby watermelon) Treasury Note. I thought it was interesting to see all the plate printer's initials on the left side of the check stub. That's an indication of how many press runs this plate had -- quite a number! The watermark for the U.S. Treasury Dept. is also very apparent in the paper.

 

I picked this up due to its relationship to a CW store card I had from Troy, NY for Oliver Boutwell.

 

Can't quite read the printer's insignia on that one. Is it Continental?