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3 Dollars City of Omaha
| Issuer | City of Omaha, Nebraska Territory |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1792-date) |
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| Obverse description | At lower left, a vignette of two allegorical female figures representing Liberty and Justice, seated beside a shield. To the right, a standing Amerindian figure holding a spear. The central text panel carries the obligation and interest clause in letterpress, with the printer's imprint of Wellstood, Hay and Whiting of New York at the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | City property pledged for the redemption of this note The City of Omaha Will pay THREE DOLLARS to bearer one year after date with interest at 10 percent per annum. Omaha City Nebraska Territory Mayor Recorder Wellstood, Hay and Whiting, New York |
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| Comments |
Omaha was barely five years old when this note was issued — the city had been founded as a speculative townsite in 1854, the same year Nebraska Territory was organized under the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Municipal scrip of this kind was a symptom of the chronic coin shortage on the frontier, where eastern banks were distant and hard currency rarely stayed put long enough to do commerce any good.
Wellstood, Hay and Whiting were a capable New York security printing firm of the period, later absorbed into the American Bank Note Company in the 1858 consolidation. The note predates that merger by roughly a year.