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3 Dollars Somerset and Worcester Savings Bank - Maryland
| Issuer | Somerset and Worcester Savings Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York, United States |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black intaglio on pale paper with a bold red overprint reading THREE DOLLARS across the lower centre, accompanied by a large ornate red lathe-work panel. At upper left, a finely engraved portrait vignette of a young woman wearing a floral wreath frames the corner, while at lower left and upper right appear two elaborate guilloche counters each bearing the numeral 3. The central upper vignette depicts an allegorical industrial scene with male and female figures engaged in textile or mechanical labour. At lower right, a second female portrait vignette shows a woman in profile with a headscarf, and the bank name SOMERSET AND WORCESTER SAVINGS BANK is set in bold serifed lettering across the centre, flanked by the state designation MARYLAND at left. The border consists of repeated micro-lettered THREE panels, and the imprint of American Bank Note Co. New York appears at the bottom centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THREE 3 MARYLAND THE SOMERSET AND WORCESTER SAVINGS BANK Will pay THREE DOLLARS to bearer on demand. Salisbury, Nov.ʳ 1,ˢᵗ 1862. CASH.ᴿ PRES.ᵀ American Bank Note Co. New York |
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| Comments |
Somerset and Worcester Savings Bank was a Maryland institution, but in 1862 it was issuing currency — a function that technically blurred the line between savings deposits and circulating bank paper at a moment when the federal monetary system was fracturing. The Civil War had gutted confidence in state-chartered banks, and notes like this one competed against a flood of emergency scrip, shinplasters, and, from late 1861, suspended specie payments across most of the Union.
The American Bank Note Company imprint carried real weight with the public. ABNCo had consolidated much of the security printing market in 1858 by merging seven rival firms, and their New York production gave even small regional institutions access to sophisticated anti-counterfeiting engraving that few forgers could replicate.