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5 Dollars The Arlington Bank
| Issuer | The Arlington Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1855 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Danforth, Wright & Co. |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed note on aged paper with a central allegorical vignette of three classical female figures, one bearing a staff, set against a lightly engraved cloud ground; an eagle and cherub vignette occupies the upper left corner. At lower left, a large ornate "V" within guilloche-work bearing a "DOLLARS" legend, while at lower right an oval portrait of a young woman sits within a lathe-work border surmounted by a bold numeral "5" in a rosette panel. A red-ink cursive underprint reading "FIVE DOLLARS" runs across the center field, over which manuscript date and hand-applied cashier's and president's signatures appear. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries no intentional printed design; faint show-through impressions of the obverse vignettes and lettering are visible through the thin paper stock, and a manuscript endorsement in ink appears on the plain surface. |
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| Comments |
Danforth, Wright & Co. operated out of New York during a relatively brief window before merging into the American Bank Note Company in 1858 — making any note bearing their imprint dateable to a narrow production period. The Arlington Bank was a state-chartered institution operating under the looser regulatory framework of the Free Banking Era, when virtually any group meeting minimum reserve requirements could issue currency backed by deposited bonds rather than specie.
Bond-backed free bank notes were only as sound as the securities behind them. If the deposited bonds lost value — as many state bonds did — the notes became worth less than face, and holders had little practical recourse.