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1 Dollar Citizens' Bank of Louisiana
| Issuer | Citizens' Bank of Louisiana |
|---|---|
| Year | 1833-1857 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | At left, an oval vignette of a seated sailor; at centre, a vignette of a sailing vessel under full sail with oarsmen; at right, an oval portrait vignette of a figure, likely a statesman or bank official. Denomination numeral ONE appears at lower left and lower right, with the bank title arched across the upper portion of the note. The note bears printed signature lines for Cashier and President with a manuscript date space. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse, visible here as a show-through of the obverse design, appears to be unprinted, consistent with the blank reverse typical of mid-nineteenth-century American obsolete banknotes issued by the Citizens' Bank of Louisiana. |
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| Comments |
The Citizens' Bank of Louisiana was unusual among antebellum Southern banks in that it was chartered specifically to finance sugar and cotton plantations, with planters pledging their land — and enslaved people — as collateral for mortgage bonds sold on the Paris and London capital markets. The bank's notes circulated in this peculiar credit structure for over two decades before the suspension of specie payments in the 1850s eroded confidence in Louisiana paper generally.
The American Bank Note Company printed this series in New York, a routine arrangement for well-capitalized Southern institutions that wanted engraving quality beyond what local shops could supply.