Odd but Logical Title

ProofArtworkonCircs

I just came across a couple of mall size national notes that I don't remember being mentioned here.

The first one is charter 1162 type 1 THE GLOUCESTER / NATIONAL BANK / GLOUCESTER
Thos J Carroll President.

The second is charter 13604 type 2 GLOUCESTER / NATIONAL BANK OF / GLOUCESTER
Thos J Carroll President

The "OF" when the city name is already mentioned is unusual, but it might serve to identify the bank as a separate entity (along with the missing "THE").

STLNATS

As indicated by the different charter numbers these notes were issued by (legally) different banks. I don't have my references handy, but suspect 13604 was a successor of some sort to 1162. This was not uncommon in the 1930s as some bankers scrambled to salvage the best parts of a borderline/weakened institution by chartering a new bank (and leaving bad assets behind in a liquidation company for instance).



A name couldn't be reused, so the "the" was dropped and the "of" included to distinguish the two entities. And, the titles most likely mirrored what was written on the charter application for each institution.