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10 Dollars Mechanics Bank - Tennessee
| Issuer | Mechanics Bank of Memphis |
|---|---|
| Year | 1854-1859 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries three intaglio-engraved vignettes along the lower register, each illustrating workers at different industrial or mechanical trades, separated by a large green guilloche X underprint serving as the central denomination indicator. The bank title and promise-to-pay legend are set in letterpress above and around the vignettes, with handwritten manuscript entries for the note number and state designation. The overall layout is characteristic of the Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson engraving house, with fine lathe-work borders framing the composition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 10 The Mechanics Bank Of Memphis Will Pay Ten Dollars to the bearer on demand Memphis No. ## State of Tennessee |
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| Comments |
The Mechanics Bank of Memphis was one of a cluster of Tennessee state-chartered banks that filled the credit vacuum left by the expiration of the Second Bank of the United States charter. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson — one of the most prolific antebellum security printers in the country — supplied notes to dozens of Southern banks simultaneously, working from a shared pool of engraved vignettes and border elements assembled into bespoke combinations for each client.
Tennessee's free banking law of 1852 loosened charter requirements considerably, and Memphis banks in particular expanded aggressively on the back of cotton trade finance. Whether the Mechanics Bank maintained adequate specie reserves against its circulating notes was a matter of ongoing public skepticism — a skepticism that proved well-founded for many similar institutions when the Panic of 1857 hit.