Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
25 Cents Mechanics Savings and Loan Association
| Issuer | Mechanics' Savings and Loan Association, Savannah, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain typeset scrip note printed entirely in letterpress on yellowed paper, without vignette or ornamental underprint. The institution name MECHANICS' SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION appears in large bold capitals across the upper portion, flanked at left and right by the numeral 25 in contrasting typefaces; the right margin carries TWENTY-FIVE in vertical orientation. The body of the note comprises the deposit certificate text in a mix of italic and bold type, dated SAVANNAH, MARCH 15, 1862, with the denomination TWENTY-FIVE CENTS set in heavy display type at centre, followed by the interest and redemption terms, and concluded by two manuscript signatures with a manuscript serial number at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | MECHANICS' SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION 25 [upper left] 25 [upper right] SAVANNAH, MARCH 15, 1862. THIS CERTIFICATE sheweth that WM. H. DAVIS has deposited TWENTY-FIVE CENTS with this Association, bearing four per cent. interest after thirty days' notice, payable to bearer on return of this Scrip, in current Bank bills. For H. Roberts, Pres't F. J. Thompson TWENTY-FIVE [vertical, right margin] |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Savannah's Mechanics' Savings and Loan Association was one of dozens of Southern mutual savings institutions that pivoted to scrip issuance in 1861–62 as specie vanished from circulation almost immediately after secession. The Federal blockade had choked off coin imports, and Confederate Treasury notes hadn't yet penetrated daily commerce at the small-transaction level — somebody had to fill the gap for streetcar fares, market purchases, and wages.
Local printing on this note almost certainly means one of Savannah's handful of job printers, likely working under material constraints — ink and quality paper were already becoming difficult to source by mid-1862. Survivors show uneven impression quality as a result.