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1 Dollar & 75 Cents Fall River Union Bank - Rhode Island
| Issuer | Fall River Union Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1853 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 160 × 76 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is divided into three vertical registers: the left panel carries a circular vignette of a classical allegorical figure, while the right panel bears a corresponding allegorical vignette in the same style. The large central vignette presents an engraved maritime scene with sailing vessels on open water near a rocky coastline, rendered in fine intaglio line work typical of mid-nineteenth-century American banknote engraving. Denomination counters reading '$1,75 Cts' appear in the upper corners and fractional counters '75/100' in the lower corners, with the bank title 'THE FALL RIVER UNION BANK' in bold letterpress across the centre, below which the promise-to-pay text, place of issue 'TIVERTON', date, and manuscript cashier and president signatures appear. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain expanse of aged paper with no design, text, or ornamentation of any kind. |
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| Comments |
Fall River, Massachusetts — not Rhode Island, despite the name on this note's header suggesting otherwise to the uninitiated. The town sits on the state line, and the bank's "Rhode Island" designation reflected its original 1825 charter jurisdiction before Fall River's annexation to Massachusetts was definitively settled. By 1853 the legal geography had long been resolved, but the institutional branding lagged.
The fractional denomination — one dollar and seventy-five cents — was a practical response to chronic small-coin shortages in New England mill towns, where textile workers needed exact change for company store transactions. Banks in the region routinely issued odd fractional amounts that would be considered absurd under any consolidated national system, which arrived a decade later.