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2 Dollars Bank of Westfield - New York
| Issuer | Bank of Westfield |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Dollars (2 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out in the typical Free Banking Era style, with a circular vignette at the upper left enclosing an emblem, and a lower-left pastoral vignette with cows and sheep. A central agricultural vignette at the top depicts a farmer with two horses. The denomination numeral '2' appears in counter positions flanking the central text panel, which carries the bank title, issuing county, and promise-to-pay legend. The engraver's imprint of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Elson, New York appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Countersigned & Registered STATE OF NEW YORK Comptroller 2 A 2 BANK OF WESTFIELD CHAUTAUQUE COUNTY Will Pay TWO DOLLARS On Demand to the bearer WESTFIELD April 4 1852 SECURED BY THE PLEDGE OF PUBLIC STOCK OF THE STATE OF N YORK CASH! PRES! Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Elson New York. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Westfield operated in Westfield, Chautauqua County, in the far southwestern corner of New York State — closer to Erie, Pennsylvania than to Albany. Like hundreds of similar state-chartered institutions operating under New York's Free Banking Act of 1838, it issued its own currency backed by deposited securities rather than specie reserves, a system that produced both genuine commerce and spectacular fraud depending on the bank in question.
Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson — the firm's name is frequently misspelled "Elson" in secondary catalog sources — was among the most technically accomplished American bank note printers of the antebellum period, later absorbed into the American Bank Note Company in 1858.