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3 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Clifton |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 3 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of the Niagara Suspension Bridge spanning a gorge with industrial scenery, flanked by numeral 3 rosettes at upper left and right. A portrait vignette of Queen Victoria in profile, wearing a crown, occupies the lower right corner, while a building vignette appears at the lower left. The bold letterpress inscription BANK OF CLIFTON arches across the centre with the denomination THREE DOLLARS below, all set against a lightly tinted underprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | THREE |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Clifton was one of several short-lived New Jersey free banking institutions chartered in the 1850s under the state's liberal banking laws — legislation that allowed almost any group of investors to establish a note-issuing bank against deposited securities. Many of these banks were thinly capitalized from the start, and Clifton was no exception. Whether this note ever saw meaningful circulation before the bank's failure is doubtful.
The American Bank Note Company plate work is the most durable thing about it. ABNC had consolidated several older engraving firms by 1858, and by 1859 was producing the bulk of American state banknote work out of its Nassau Street facility in lower Manhattan.