During the first decades of the nineteenth century, coins often remained scarce, and neither the State of North Carolina nor the federal government issued a significant quantity of paper money. Private paper money produced by banks, merchants, and local governments flourished in this period until the Civil War. By the 1850s, paper money produced from engraved steel plates using the intaglio technique reached a peak of technical and artistic sophistication. The engraver produced vignette images of high artistic merit, and these were used in plate layouts of elaborate and ornate design. The fineness of line resulting from the engraved steel plate not only aided the designer artistically but permitted a degree of microprinting difficult for a counterfeiter to mimic.
Many of the images found on North Carolina's paper money during this time focus on technological progress and economic prosperity. Others depicted mythological beings or scenes, local or national personalities, or historical events.
Issues from this time are commonly referred to as "obsolete paper money." During the Civil War the federal government began to print an adequate quantity of reliable and stable paper money and discouraged private issues by taxing them.
Note that early paper money was usually printed on one side. Images of backs are not shown unless they are either printed or bear interesting annotations.
Five-dollar note, 1858
Issuer: Bank of Cape Fear, Branch at Salem, North Carolina
Printer: Bald, Cousland & Co., Philadelphia & New York
The Bank of Cape Fear, based in Wilmington, had many branches, with this note issued at Salem, now Winston-Salem, in 1858. The note features a reddish background and red protector "FIVE," both decorative and anti-counterfeiting devices. The portrait at left is William Augustus Wright, Wilmington lawyer and magistrate, and a president of the Bank of Cape Fear. To the immediate right of this vignette is a red cross, commonly found on Bank of Cape Fear notes from the Salem branch. The vignette of the sailor to the right is the type of stock image commonly used to adorn notes.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Three-dollar note, 1857
Issuer: Bank of Yanceyville, Yanceyville, North Carolina
Printer: Baldwin, Adams & Co. New York, and Robt. L. Bald & Co., Philadelphia
The 1857 Bank of Yanceyville note features a tobacco factory. The exact nature of the work represented in the vignette at left remains unknown. It may be a depiction of the process for manufacturing plugs of chewing tobacco. The tubular-shaped objects in the basket may be pressed "logs" of tobacco, which the machinery in this scene would flatten and cut into uniform sizes for packaging. The workmen in the background might be performing that packaging.
The portrait at right is Bartlett Yancey, Jr, a Democratic-Republican U. S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1813 and 1817. He founded Yanceyville in 1792.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Four-dollar note, 1857
Issuer: Commercial Bank of Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina
Printer: Danforth, Wright & Co. Philadelphia & New York
The Commercial Bank of Wilmington issued notes during the period of high-quality steel-plate engraving in the 1850s. The bank did not just use stock vignettes offered by every security printing company, but had custom vignettes engraved. The man in the lower right is bank president O. G. Parsley, who also signed the note. The figure at right in the central vignette represents liberty; left of her is a figure representing plenty or prosperity. The note has a printed back, which is uncommon for notes of this time.
North Carolina Collection Numismatic Fund, John Jay Pittman Fund
Five-dollar note, 1856
Issuer: Commercial Bank of Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina
Printer: Danforth, Wright & Co., New York & Philadelphia
Banks issued many different designs, and the public often was easily fooled by a new design that happened to be fraudulent. This is a counterfeit note altered from a genuine note from New Jersey. The whaling images were more fitting in New Jersey where whaling was more common than in North Carolina.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Four-dollar note, 1859
Issuer: Commercial Bank of Wilmington, North Carolina
Printer: Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York
This note exhibits a style that differs in some ways from most other contemporary designs. The very ornate “4s” to the right and left are perhaps the most unusual element. The use of green ink was also rare, red being more common. The central vignette displays the U.S. eagle and shield. The bare-breasted goddess was likely added for eye appeal.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
A design enhanced by color: Bank of Clarendon notes
Issuer: Bank of Clarendon, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Printer, 1855: Danforth, Wright & Co. Philadelphia & New York (top)
Printer, 1860: American Bank Note Company (bottom)
These two notes have a similar design, but one is enhanced by extensive use of color. On both notes, embodiments of Liberty and Plenty are in the central vignette. The 1855 Bank of Clarendon, Fayetteville, note includes a sophisticated, ornate design and uses color for the "FIVE" protector. The 1860 note enhances a very similar note with exceptional use of color. The American Bank Note Company was formed by the merger of several security printers. The company still exists today.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Three-dollar note, 1853
Issuer: Farmer’s Bank, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Printer: Danforth, Bald & Co. Philadelphia & New York
While the 1853 Elizabeth City note makes no use of color, the central vignette is quite exceptional in its elaborate design that covers the entire note canvas. The figure at left represents liberty and the United States. The hole punches likely indicate that the note was redeemed by the bank and cancelled.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Five-dollar note, 1861
Issuer: Bank of Commerce, Newbern, North Carolina
Printer: American Bank Note Company, New York
The Bank of Commerce, Newbern (now New Bern), 1861 note is unusual in its use of green ink, both as a background design and as a protector (a protector is a design element intended to confound counterfeiters). Red was much more common. The note includes nautical vignettes, appropriate for the bank's location on the coast. The vignette at left represents hope.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Ten-dollar note, 1860
Issuer: Miners & Planters Bank, Murphy, North Carolina
Printer: American Bank Note Company, New York
The 1860 Miners & Planters Bank at Murphy honors its name with mining and farming vignettes, both staple industries of North Carolina at this time. The portrait is of Henry Clay, the Kentucky politician known for his skilled oration. Vignettes such as this, widely found on both northern and southern notes of the time, were probably just stock images thought to be appealing.
NCC Numismatic Fund, John Jay Pittman Fund
Twenty-dollar note, 1852
Issuer: Bank of Washington, Washington, North Carolina
Printer: Danforth, Bald & Co., Philadelphia & New York
The Native American contemplating a landscape altered by European Americans occurs as a theme on many notes. The man at lower left is William H. Graham, an 1824 graduate of the University of North Carolina. He was governor from 1845 to 1849 and candidate for vice president of the United States on the ticket with General Winfield Scott in 1852.
Gift of Alexander B. Andrews, Jr.
Mount Hecla Steam Cotton Mills note, 1837
Issuer: Mount Hecla Steam Cotton Mills, Greensboro, North Carolina
Printer: E. Morris, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Scrip is paper money issued by organizations such as businesses or schools. The term is usually not used for notes issued by banks. Most scrip is produced using technology such as lithography or letterpress, more readily available and less expensive than steel plate intaglio printing. Mount Hecla Steam Cotton Mills in Greensboro produced this example. Observe the proudly billowing smoke from the factory chimneys. The production quality of this scrip note is better than that of most others of the time.
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Five-dollar note, 1839
Issuer: L.R. Tate, businessman, Greensboro, North Carolina
Printer: E. Morris, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
L.R. Tate of Greensborough (now Greensboro) issued these notes in 1839. The note is very high quality for scrip. Note the dual portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, who promoted English colonization of North America, and the fine engraving of an early train. When an issuer could afford to have notes customized, he often chose images of local interest, such as Raleigh on this note. This is an unissued example, with neither date nor signature.
North Carolina Collection Numismatic Fund, John Jay Pittman Fund
Four-dollar note, 1856
Issuer: Bank of Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina
Printer: Draper, Welsh & Co., Philadelphia
The Bank of Charlotte issued a four-dollar note in 1856 that has two local references. In the background, to the left of the magnificent eagle, is the United States Mint at Charlotte. The federal facility was established in 1835 to produce gold coins from North Carolina gold mines. Between the eagle's wings is "MECKLENBURG DECLARATION 20TH MAY 1775." The eagle represents America and patriotism. The Mecklenburg Declaration is a document allegedly produced on May 20, 1775 in which the residents of Mecklenburg County declared themselves "free and independent people."
Andrews-Rankin Collection
Depictions of enslaved people
Ten-dollar note, 1859
Issuer: Bank of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina
Printer: American Bank Note Company
Two scenes of Black individuals, likely enslaved, appear on this 1859 issue of the Raleigh-based Bank of North Carolina. Idealized depictions of African Americans at work, common on Southern notes, were included to support the South’s false claims that enslaved workers were healthier and happier than free workers in the North.
The portrait is of William Gaston of New Bern, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
North Carolina Collection Numismatic Fund, John Jay Pittman Fund
Twenty-cent note, 1816
Issuer: State of North Carolina
Printer: Murray Draper Fairman & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The State of North Carolina issued a few small change notes in the period 1814 through 1824. The vignette shows farm equipment with a house in the background. This 1816 note was fairly sophisticated for its time. The light vertical line about one third from the right side was produced from a paper fold during printing.
North Carolina Collection Numismatic Fund
Ten-dollar note, 1876
Issuer: Bank of Mecklenburg, Charlotte, North Carolina
Printer: American Bank Note Co., New York
This note is unusual because it was made in 1876 after the government taxed notes printed by private companies and banks. The note used a stock vignette of African Americans working in a cotton field. The vignette on the left shows the goddess Liberty holding sword and staff with liberty cap. A young Justice is below.
North Carolina Collection Numismatic Fund, John Jay Pittman Fund