Catalog
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!
| Issuer | Summit County Bank |
|---|---|
| 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 | Printed in blue-black ink by lithography, the obverse is framed by a fine wavy guilloche border. An engraved vignette of a standing stag in a landscape occupies the left half of the note. The bank title appears in bold curved lettering at centre-top within a scroll cartouche, with the denomination numeral '25' set in a dark oval panel at upper right; the redemption clause, place of issue, date, and a handwritten authorisation signature are arranged on the right field, with the printer's imprint 'Lith. by A.S. Sanford Cleveland O.' at the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and bears only the blind show-through impression of the obverse design visible through the thin note paper, with no additional text, vignette, or security device applied. |
| 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 |
Summit County Bank operated out of Akron, Ohio, and like dozens of Ohio state-chartered banks in the early 1860s, it leaned on fractional denominations when federal coin disappeared almost entirely from circulation after mid-1862. Hoarding was immediate and near-total once the war began driving up metal prices — even copper cents vanished. Small-denomination scrip from local banks briefly filled that void before postage currency and the federal fractional notes pushed most of it out.
A.S. Sanford was a minor Cleveland job printer, not a specialist security engraver. Notes from this shop lack the intricate lathe work of contemporaries like Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, making them comparatively easier to counterfeit — a real concern at the time.