Catalog
1 Dollar
| Issuer | Bank of Clifton |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a monochromatic blue-violet tone and mirrors the general layout of the obverse, with the central equestrian vignette visible as a ghost impression through the thin paper stock. The design elements are largely obscured by the blue tint of the back printing, with numerals and panel borders faintly discernible. |
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| Variants | S1663a - dated 01.09.1860 S1663b - dated 01.09.1861 |
| Comments |
The Bank of Clifton was one of dozens of short-lived New Jersey free banking institutions that sprang up under the state's 1850 free banking law, which allowed virtually anyone to back note issues with approved securities deposited with the state comptroller. The system was notoriously loose, and a number of these banks — some skeptics called them "wildcat" operations — were thinly capitalized from the start.
The New York Bank Note Co. handled the printing, a firm that supplied a large share of the antebellum small-bank note market before consolidating with competitors in the 1860s. Clifton's issues circulated only briefly; the bank did not survive the disruption of the Civil War years.