I received this in a lot today and research varies between nothing and a small amount. At first I thought it must be fake as it is not signed, but looking at a couple sites, this appears to be the way they came. This bill is in great condition, but not 100% it is authentic. The material almost seems like a tissue paper. Does anyone have experience with these?
Back in the day, banks created their own money - called obsolete currency. You might also hear the term broken bank notes. This is an example of an undated/unsigned remainder. These were printed but never issued. I can't comment on the paper, however.
It is likely a "remainder" a note that was printed for use by the bank but never ended up getting signed, numbered and released into circulation. This note is a Civil War era issue, and National Banking Act of 1864 prohibited non-Federally chartered banks (ie State Chartered banks) from issuing their own paper money. Subsequently any notes that were on hand but not issued would end up in storage etc to be found and sold off sometimes decades after they were printed. Remainders from this bank are reasonably commonplace.
Correct - circulated notes would be signed and dated. Remainders are blank -- or sometimes they were partially filled out in advance but not completed.
Unfortunately you will find "remainders" that were signed, numbered etc - but far after the fact. I have seen people take 150 year old Canal Bank notes and fill in the serial numbers and sign signatures on them in ball point pen! The ink is usually the giveaway - even if they use a fountain pen or quill like they would have at the time, ink ages over time. Also ink during the 19th century was a bit acidic and reacted to the paper over time, either through discolouration or worse yet - deterioration around the signature.
Thanks! Are these notes generally more valuable in an unsigned state then a signed and circulated state?
With obsoletes collector interest and of course what is available are the determinate factors in the price of a note. With these Bank of Michigan notes they are much more common as remainders than they are as issued notes. An original issued note in the same condition is going to go for more money in this instance. But conversely a bank that went bust and left lots of issued notes out there is going to be far more affordable for an issued note. With this particular bank I am not quite sure of the history other than knowing it has many remainders. Perhaps if another member has the Haxby reference they can recount some of the history of the bank. The current "Bank of Michigan" was founded in 1887 - so this earlier bank must have gone belly up during the Civil War era. Some of the most common notes from this era are from Canal Banking Co of New Orleans, that bank didn't go belly up - but has lots of remainder notes from the antebellum era - the bank survived the Civil War and is now part of BankOne.
I see those notes all the time on eBay. I don't understand how they can sell for as much as they do. As common as they are, they ought to be dirt cheap.
The uninitiated buy stuff at ridiculous prices all the time. At one time I had a denominational set of the Canal notes in sheet form, there were five sheets from $5 to $100 but I sold it years ago. I sort of wish I had them - they would look cool on the wall as artwork.
