Kept in my family since Cassopolis, Michigan's First National Bank was chartered, this Dollar bill has a nice backside illustration of the Pilgrims landing- just in time for Thanksgiving today. The front illustration is of some question to me, perhaps someone else can tell for sure- Hand-signed by my Great, Great Grandfather, and his brother. on Left end in red-ink = "C480616" on Right upper side in red-ink = "361" Creases show -but it can't have been circulated much. I would like to know an approximate value, as I have not seen any others like it on the web so far. Many items have recently come to light from the bank, due to an estate auction- but I didn't see any other script. Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving ...hydnp
Wow! Cool story. The fact that you had family members that signed it would make it priceless in my opinion. I'm far from an expert on obsoletes, but I have done a lot of reading on them. There are so many different types that you almost need to find somebody that specializes in specific areas or states. The pilgrim landing scene on the back was also used on the series 1914 FRN $5 notes: http://cgi.ebay.com/LARGE-1914-5-BILL-FRN-NEW-YORK-NOTE-FR-851a-PMG-CHOICE_W0QQitemZ290372857349QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item439b922e05 Somebody else must have liked that design. There have been so many bank notes that it wasn't uncommon for some designs to get re-used in conjunction with other unique designs. The design on the front would be nothing more than symbolical in this case. There may be some meaning behind it but doesn't represent any actual event. At that time it was popular to use local scenes on currency or sometimes mythological characters to make them interesting or to instill confidence in the bank. There were many new banks that popped up all over back then. Some were legit and some were not. From what I've read, the further you got away from the east coast, the further they were away from regulators, meaning more phony banks the further west you went. Michigan had a lot of bad ones. Many banks just failed. Leaving many unused notes behind. Legitimate ones ended up cashing theirs in to the Feds and having them replaced in kind. Then it was destroyed. While the currency from most illigitimate banks is more plentiful because most of it would have survived. It wasn't turned over in exchange. Much of it was held onto as collectors items or filtered out to the public as souvenirs after the banks went bust. Supposedly, banks wanted to produce currency with interesting designs and intricate details in order to achieve more credibility within the public. It also would get the public's attention and get people talking. Some banks tried to out-do each other with the artwork, like a competition. You may want to send an e-mail and pics to this guy: http://www.donckelly.com/ He is nationally recognized and is an authority on currency. He could probably give you a good idea on value. Many of them like this are so unique that they won't be listed in price guides and there may not be much for recent auctions to guage the value off of. That's really nice looking. Thanks for sharing.
Actually, I told you wrong. That is a National as you say and would not be the same as an obsolete. He does have a $20 from Cassopolis listed here: http://www.donckelly.com/national/1812$20L.html You could also try posting this in the currency forum here. Basically, this note would have a lot of value to somebody that mainly collected or specializes in obsolete Michigan currency. Many people collect by state. While it wouldn't have as much value to the average, random currency collector, say in a shop in CA. In other words, if it was ever to be sold, it would pay to take your time and find the right buyer.
