Commercial Bank of Wilmington five-dollar note, 1856; period alteration

• Main Author: Commercial Bank of Wilmington.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Carolina Collection Gallery, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1856
• Subjects: Sailing ships; Whaling; Whales; Harpoons; Sailors; Hats; Danforth; Wright & Co.; North Carolina; Bank Notes; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/numismatics,525

Five-dollar New Jersey note altered to look like an issue from the Commercial Bank of Wilmington issued on December 1, 1856; credit to engraving and printing firm Danforth, Wright and Company of Philadelphia and New York along bottom edge; two-color ink on face with two black “5” at opposite corners in upper half and two large red “5’s” in lower half; circular and ornately framed image of a frigate (a three-masted warship) at bottom-left corner; central vignette depicts a boatload of sailors, including a black oarsman, hunting and harpooning a spouting sperm whale, in background is the whaling vessel with dark smoke rising from deck and indicating the processing of earlier kills; half-figure portrait at bottom right of sailor wearing a straw hat (a classic “boater”) and steering a ship’s wheel; printed serial number “9814” and plate letter A in middle of note with counterfeit signatures of bank cashier and president handwritten near bottom. NORTH CAROLINA COMMERCIAL BANK OF WILMINGTON No. A Will pay FIVE DOLLARS to the bearer on demand. WILMINGTON, September 1st., 1856. Cashr. Prest. The signatures of Cashier Timothy Savage and Bank President Oscar G. Parsley on this bank note are counterfeit, although the note itself is classified as being an altered specimen, not technically a counterfeit. It was printed from an engraved plate that someone altered in the nineteenth century to produce what appears to be a genuine issue from the Bank of Wilmington. That North Carolina bank never circulated a note decorated with a scene of sailors harpooning a whale, but the Commercial Bank of New Jersey at Perth Amboy did issue a five-dollar note exactly like this one. Some highly skilled, dishonest person replaced every reference to New Jersey with North Carolina inscriptions. Beneath “FIVE DOLLARS,” “WILMINGTON” was engraved over “PERTH AMBOY.” The dark traces behind WILMINGTON indicate the original lettering for PERTH AMBOY. The serial number “9814” and issue date on this specimen are also printed. The serial numbers and issue dates on paper money released by the Bank of Wilmington during this era are invariably handwritten. Title supplied by respository