Catalog
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| Issuer | The Farmer's Joint Stock Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1849 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 2 - 2 AUTHORIZED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT THE FARMER`S JOINT STOCK BANK - ing Company, will pay the bearer on demand TWO DOLLARS at their Office in Toronto, for Value Received Toronto Feb: 1st 1849. TWO UPPER CANADA Manager - Pres. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York |
| Reverse description | The reverse is otherwise plain unprinted paper, bearing a single red letterpress overprint in large block lettering across the centre field, consistent with the 'UPPER CANADA' or denomination overprint practice typical of Upper Canadian chartered bank issues of the period. |
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| Comments |
The Farmer's Joint Stock Bank operated out of Weston, Ontario County, New York — a rural community whose agricultural economy made two-dollar notes genuinely functional for everyday farm transactions at mid-century. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson were among the most technically accomplished security printers in antebellum America; the same firm would later merge into the American Bank Note Company in 1858.
New York's Free Banking Act of 1838 permitted any group meeting minimum capital requirements to issue notes backed by approved securities deposited with the state comptroller. The Farmer's Joint Stock Bank was a direct product of that law — and so was the wave of failures it eventually enabled.