Thursday, September 19, 2013

United States Paper Money of the Week: Cadiz, Ohio, $5 Original. Fr. 394, Only Known Original Series From the Watermelon Collection

Based on the lot description by Q. David Bowers, Chairman Emeritus

Stack’s Bowers Galleries is proud to present The Watermelon Collection Part II in our Official Auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Baltimore Expo. The sale will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center from November 5th through the 9th. Highlighting this collection is a $5 Original National Bank note from the First National Bank of Cadiz, Ohio, Charter #100. This example of Friedberg 394 has Serial number 1 and is graded by PCGS Very Good 10. Apparent. Minor Edge Splits; Tape Repairs on Back.

The Cadiz, Ohio Bank was chartered in October 1863 with a capital of $120,000 against a limit of $250,000. The first president was Joseph S. Thomas and the first cashier was James M. Watson. The institution changed its title to the Union National Bank and Trust Company on January 12, 1931, having by that time assumed the businesses of three other National Banks.

The note is pedigreed to lot 4071 in Barney Bluestone’s 1946 sale of the Albert A. Grinnell Collection. Bluestone, a Syracuse, New York dealer, sold the Grinnell Collection in multiple sections in what was considered to be the greatest sale of currency ever. Grinnell was the principal in Grinnell Brothers, a large musical retailer and wholesaler in Michigan with stores throughout the state, mainly in Detroit. The business prospered until the Depression, at which time he found himself in reduced circumstances.


You can view this exciting lot and the rest of the auction on our website in mid-October. To request a catalog please call our auction services department at 800-458-4646.

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