5 Dollars, Kirtland Safety Society Bank, Ohio, United States, 1837
date: label: date on object
content: 1837-02-10
label: date made
content: 1837
name: label: issuing authority
content: Kirtland Safety Society Bank
notes: label: Description
content: The Kirtland Safety Society Bank of Kirtland, Ohio, issued this five dollar note on February 10, 1837. The note’s plates are printed by Underwood, Bald, Spencer & Hufty of Philadelphia. The note is decorated with a central motif of a man seated on a log with a dog. The identical end panels depict a young boy with a shovel over his shoulder. The note is signed by the bank’s cashier, Joseph Smith, and its president, Sidney Rigdon.
label: Description
content: The Kirtland Safety Society Bank was formed by Joseph Smith and other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 2, 1836. The bank’s constitution established the capital stock of four million dollars, a severe overextension of the available specie in the area. With the closing of the Second Bank of the United States in 1836, many states allowed “free banking,” however, Ohio still required banks to be granted a charter from the state legislature. When Ohio’s legislature declined a charter for Kirtland, the officers formed their own “anti” bank. Like many banks at the time, the Kirtland Safety Society Bank failed spectacularly in the general financial crisis of 1837.
label: Description
content: From 1790 to 1863, states and private banks issued their own currency to supply capital in a young nation without a national currency. This currency was backed by the hard money the banks had on deposit, and was only used locally where the bank and its operators were trusted in the community. However, banks often oversupplied notes, and this overextension caused bankruptcy among private and state banks when financial panic struck, particularly in 1837. Currencies from these failed banks are known as “obsolete bank notes” or “broken bank notes,” and many are held in the National Numismatic Collection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Kirtland
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Schlein, Richard S.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0281.1635
label: accession number
content: 1992.0281
label: serial number
content: 770
label: catalog number
content: 1992.0281.1635
objectType: label: Object Name
content: note
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7.8 cm x 17.4 cm x .01 cm; 3 1/16 in x 6 27/32 in x in