5 Dollar Real Estate Banking Co. Note, 1839
date: label: date made
content: 1839
notes: label: Description
content: The Real Estate Banking Company of Clinton in Hinds County, Mississippi, issued this five dollar bank note on January 25, 1839. The note was printed by the firm Draper, Toppan, Longacre & Company of Philadelphia, and features a central motif of two seated allegorical female figures. The left and right sides of the note are decorated with a cotton bush. Over the image of the figures, the text reads “On demand, five months after date.” The note is signed by the bank’s cashier, Joseph Davenport, and its president, Cowles Mead. The Real Estate Banking Company was one of the many banks that sprung up after the dissolution of the Second Bank of the United States, and like many of these banks it failed spectacularly within a few years. Cowles Mead served as a congressman from Georgia before becoming governor of the Mississippi Territory, where he was infamous for arresting Aaron Burr for treason after fleeing prosecution for killing Alexander Hamilton. When Mead’s bank failed, its cashier, Joseph Davenport, went to Philadelphia on the pretense of securing a loan to continue the bank’s operation, but never returned.
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 several are held in the National Numismatics Collection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Mississippi, Clinton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
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content: American Enterprise
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Library of Congress
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.NU76258
label: catalog number
content: NU76258
label: accession number
content: 248278
label: serial number
content: 5559
objectType: label: Object Name
content: note
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7.6 cm x 18.5 cm x .01 cm; 3 in x 7 9/32 in x in