Catalog
10 Dollars Detroit Bank - Michigan
| Issuer | Detroit Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1806 |
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| Value | 10 Dollars (10 USD) |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed note in black ink on white paper, with a decorative floral border running along the top and bottom margins. The word MICHIGAN is printed vertically along the left margin, while the denomination counters 10 B 10 appear vertically along the right margin. The central text panel carries the promise-to-pay legend in period typography, with manuscript blanks for date, payee, cashier, and president signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | TEN DOLLARS The President Directors Company of the DETROIT BANK promise to pay _______ or bearer on demand TEN DOLLARS DETROIT ____________ 18____ _________Cash.r ________ Pres.t |
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| Comments |
Detroit Bank was Michigan Territory's first chartered bank, established in 1806 — the same year this note was issued. The territory had barely been American soil for a decade, having passed from British control following Jay's Treaty, and a functioning local bank was as much a political statement as a commercial one. Hard currency was chronically scarce in the Northwest Territory, making these early paper emissions genuinely necessary for trade rather than merely convenient.
The Kelly reference places this within a documented series, but survivorship is poor. Notes from frontier territorial banks of this period were handled hard and rarely preserved with any care.