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5 Dollars West River Bank - Vermont
| Issuer | West River Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars (5 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Upper-left vignette bears a portrait of a woman within an oval frame, while the upper-center vignette presents five cherubs each associated with an 1854 Seated Liberty dollar coin. The lower-right vignette shows a colonial American man holding a sextant and a Native American man holding an ax, both seated before a maritime background with sailing vessels; a large ornamental "V" appears at the lower right. A bold red letterpress "FIVE" overprint runs across the center of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, without any printed design, vignette, or lettering. |
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| Comments |
The West River Bank operated out of Jamaica, Vermont — a small hill town with no particular commercial weight, which made it typical of the hundreds of minor New England institutions that obtained charters primarily to issue their own paper. Vermont's free banking environment in the mid-nineteenth century meant that note redemption was often inconvenient by design; a bank seated far from major trade routes could rely on distance to slow the return of its paper.
The dual printer attribution here reflects a common practice: Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson supplied earlier plates that New England Bank Note Company subsequently used or adapted after absorbing much of that firm's business following the 1858 consolidation into the American Bank Note Company. The G8B designation suggests a later printing run from existing plates.