19th century intaglio checks

But here's the big boy of the bunch! Not so much for the nice vignette (although it's a litho), but for the amount of the check: $500,000! That equates to well over $16 million in today's dollars. A member of another forum dug up a short article from a trade paper of the period. The check was for a loan to a major steel company.

All three of these together cost me less than $20, which is one reason I like check collecting -- lots of affordable items with eye appeal.

Any other members who'd like to add to this thread? Let's see your old checks!

 

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I posted these in the currency thread but I just realized this thread existed so I'm putting them in their proper place. 1850's/60's checks from the
Bank of Wilmington (NC)
Bank of Winchester (VA).

 

Nice! Thanks for posting.

 

1856 Farmers' Bank of Virginia (Alexandria branch)

 

I found an interesting connection to a check I posted way back on page 2 of this thread. The spread eagle was used on many items produced by American Bank Note, from checks to bonds. But today I found a variation on a piece of Mexican currency. The wings and face are essentially the same, but in this instance the head has been darkened and the bald eagle has become a condor fighting a snake. This is from the back of a 1909 National Bank of Mexico 100 peso note. How easily one national symbol becomes another!

 

It is still an eagle on the Mexican note. The symbol of Mexico is the eagle sitting on a cactus eating a snake. It was the sign the Aztecs used to site their capital.

 

Way cool. I've never seen anything quite like that. Good catch!

 

Thanks for the correction. Not a bald eagle, but an eagle none-the-less. I know ABN did do a version of this engraving as a condor, but it's rare. If I can find an image I'll post it.

 

Found it. I had to scan this from a 2007 Stack's catalog, but I knew I'd seen it. The condor version appears on an American Bank Note printing plate, engraved in the 1860s, and was used on an Ecuador note so rare I have never seen a picture of it. But this one can't be mistaken for an eagle!

 

Hmm, favorite checks:









That's enough and sorry not all are 19th century.

 

I have a check written by Walter Winchell to Elisabeth Arden "Eve". I think it's pretty cool.

 

A few for your viewing enjoyment:



Look a little familiar?


Another familiar one?



Enough for now

 

Let's see it!

 

Here's another nice engraved check I picked up over the weekend. I really like the seamstress on the left side, although I have yet to figure out what the machinery is for.

 

@techwriter that Devil's Tower check is nice. I may have to hunt one down.

 

Mitch, here's link to an eBay seller that I have bought from before and they are some of the good guys.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1892-Whitew...-Check-Used-/291487586831?hash=item43de039a0f

 

Guess I'll bump this old thread with a new acquisition. Got a nice price on this check from the Union Banking Co. in Philadelphia. I particularly like the cute curly top Shirley Temple look-alike.

The reason it was so cheap was that it was a wrinkled mess when I bought it. But I discovered that a little misting of water from a spritzer bottle flattened it out. After carefully blotting the excess moisture and pressing it in the pages of a heavy book for a couple hours, it is now much more presentable!

 

Nice work!

 

Found this on a Heritage auction. Fascinating thing about it is the REVERSE; sorry to post it in such manner but wanted ya'll to read it without having neck problems.
Gotta love the term "not paid for want of funds"
==

== notice the not paid for want of funds

 

They stiffed Western Union for $4.95? Maybe that meant "not paid" in cash, so they wrote a check instead - the date the invoice was "presented" (on back) is the same as the date on the front.