One of the coolest things I've bought in this business.

COINS MAKE CENTS

So in the 15 years I've been a dealer, today I bought something that Is high on my list of pretty neat purchases. Not super expensive or anything, and I originally bought it for inventory but na going in a frame in the office....

A 1792 original check from the Bank of North America. This bank was the first charter Bank in our country. It lasted from 1781 to 1929 before merging.

Just think it's an awesome piece of history,and not something I was expecting to be offered at my show this weekend.

WaterSport

That was a BIG check then.

WS

COINS MAKE CENTS

@WaterSport said:
That was a BIG check then.

WS

I agree, someone was conducting some pretty serious business

PerryHall

I assume those were 66 Spanish milled dollars since the US Mint didn't start striking dollar coins until two years later.

NumisOxide

Way cool!

dunkleosteus430

I'm not sure if they still have it, but a local coin shop I visit had a check from the 1700s with an amount of one or two thousand dollars. I can only imagine what it was used for.

johnny9434

Way cool 😎

pocketpiececommems

Neat find. That’s what makes collecting fun. And I doubt if to many people can write in that style anymore let alone legibility

ricko

Now that is unique.... and an interesting bit of history. Thanks for showing us. Cheers, RickO

COINS MAKE CENTS

@pocketpiececommems said:
Neat find. That’s what makes collecting fun. And I doubt if to many people can write in that style anymore let alone legibility

Believe it or not that's pretty much how I write on a day to day bases. My wife hates it. I write in a style of calography that's tough to read in paragraph form

WinLoseWin

@PerryHall said:
I assume those were 66 Spanish milled dollars since the US Mint didn't start striking dollar coins until two years later.

Maybe it was cashed using 1,330 1792 Half Dismes.

sellitstore

The vast majority of dollars in circulation at the time was in bank issued currency, not U.S. coin.
"Cashier of the Bank" was printed on the check when the Bank of North America was the ONLY bank in the U.S. By the time that this check was written, the Bank of the United States had opened, so "of North America" was added by hand to specify at which of the two Philadelphia banks this check was payable. These two banks probably had a circulation in the hundreds of thousands by the time the first U.S. coins were issued. So this check would have been paid in bank notes, or some in specie, if you were lucky.

And if it were issued three years earlier, it would have been denominated in 90ths of a dollar because there were only 90 cents to the dollar for a year or two around 1788-89.

Steven59

@keyman64 said:
What is the amount? $66.X0 is that 50 cents?
Neat item.

Looks like 50¢ - Look at the check number - 508

OAKSTAR

You gotta love that Script and Cursive writing! A lost art!!

Shamika

So it looks like $66.50 in 1792 is equal to $2090.84 in today's dollars.

Onastone

Love the cursive loops and fancy signature!!!! Today's signatures pretty much all look like scribbling.

silviosi

Very nice Modern British Gothic written. The No are really Gothic and this calligraphy I think was lost at the begin of the 1930.

logger7

Some think we should be able to redeem this with the Colonial and other notes.

tcollects

cool item... is this a check like we're familiar with today or bearer paper where the holder - whoever it is - could go to the bank and get the money without an endorsement? is it endorsed on the back?

joeykoins

Namvet69

Nice piece of paper. It does say "or bearer", which is interesting. And it's a fill in the bank format, so might have been from a money handler/ business/ accountant, who wrote bearer notes to various financial entities. Peace Roy

Jimnight

That's nice!

sellitstore

@tcollects said:
cool item... is this a check like we're familiar with today or bearer paper where the holder - whoever it is - could go to the bank and get the money without an endorsement? is it endorsed on the back?

It's actually a check, but yes, it could legally circulate. The earliest checks and banknotes from the first few banks sometimes have this wording but "or bearer" was soon phased out on the banknotes as these were intended to circulate and had a payment clause that promised to "pay the bearer".

The format is that of a check, although some of the earliest banknotes were quite simple and sometimes had no vignettes-just lettering and "devices" or designs.

airplanenut

That bank isn’t around anymore to cash the check, so I’ll give you $20 for it.