Why So Many Max Mehl Checks on the Market?

philographer

I guess the guy wrote a lot of checks!

A simple google search reveals many cancelled check images. They come up for sale time and again on eBay, at Heritage, and even on the BST.

What happened to Mehl's records after his business disbanded? Is there one source for all this ephemera?

ECHOES

I can't answer your question, but I have one...

CaptHenway

A. Mehl advertised to buy nationwide, including via his Star Rare Coin Books. He bought a lot of coins
B. It is good to save your cancelled checks as proof of payment.
C. When his estate was settled, somebody had the good sense to wonder if collectors might buy a check with a coin on it.

cmerlo1

I was given mine a few years ago by a collector buddy who had obtained a number of them, some with secretarial signatures. I don't know who he got them from, though. See my numismatic ephemera post to see what I did with it.

JBK

I want one but need to wait until a cheap one shows up on Ebay.

Any idea what the secretarial signatures looked like? Were they easy to spot?

dadams

@JBK don't know why I have so many of these?! Shoot me a PM with your addy and I'll get one out to you.

cmerlo1

@JBK said:
I want one but need to wait until a cheap one shows up on Ebay.

Any idea what the secretarial signatures looked like? Were they easy to spot?

Yes, completely different than the ones posted here. The signatures here match images of checks Mehl used in advertising.

ECHOES

@dadams said:

@JBK don't know why I have so many of these?! Shoot me a PM with your addy and I'll get one out to you.

Cool...😺

philographer

@dadams said:

@JBK don't know why I have so many of these?! Shoot me a PM with your addy and I'll get one out to you.

The sweetness of the forum. How nice of you!

ricko

I have seen these for sale on ebay and offered on another coin forum... Just never interested me. Coins, medals, tokens.... Hard metal - precious or not - with designs. The only real paper I collect are books. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

I think MFeld may have some relevant information.

JBK

@dadams said:

@JBK don't know why I have so many of these?! Shoot me a PM with your addy and I'll get one out to you.

Thank you - you are far too kind!

I will post a pic when it arrives.

JBK

A belated (public) thank you to @dadams for his incredibly generous gift. It arrived quickly but I did not get to photograph it and put it in my album until today.

I don't know what Grace Odgen was selling but $621.15 in 1948 was about 2 1/2 months salary for the average American. She had one heck of a pay day!

jmlanzaf

Back in the day, all checks had to be physically returned for payment. They were often warehoused by banks. They also could have been warehoused by the individual if they were returned to him. If someone bought the archives of B. Max Mehl's bank or of Max Mehl himself, they would have obtained all of the checks that he ever wrote.

Right now, I have in my possession tens of thousands of checks from a single bank. I haven't looked through them. But if anyone famous banked there, I have all of their checks from ca. 1890.

MFeld

@jmlanzaf said:
Back in the day, all checks had to be physically returned for payment. They were often warehoused by banks. They also could have been warehoused by the individual if they were returned to him. If someone bought the archives of B. Max Mehl's bank or of Max Mehl himself, they would have obtained all of the checks that he ever wrote.

Right now, I have in my possession tens of thousands of checks from a single bank. I haven't looked through them. But if anyone famous banked there, I have all of their checks from ca. 1890.

I'm not famous, but if it's the bank I'm thinking of, I banked there at that time.

Dave99B

I always thought these checks were cool pieces of numismatic-related history. If only they could talk...

Dave

oih82w8

Those are nice pieces of history from a well-know numismatist. I may have to look for one myself.