EMPEROR NORTON BOND IN KAGIN'S SALE

San Francisco’s Own Emperor Norton I Featured in Kagin’s West Coast Auction

One of the finest examples of the famous “Emperor Norton I” bond or banknote is being offered for sale Friday, September 21, by Kagin’s Auctions in conjunction with the Santa Clara Expo Coin and Stamp show held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The 50 Cent Bond, dated August 1, 1878 is just one of less than 40 known. It is estimated to bring $15,000-$25,000.

There are few historical figures more intriguing or beloved than that of Joshua Norton, the prominent 19th century business man turned eminent eccentric, and our nation’s first “Emperor” Presiding over San Francisco in the years following the Gold Rush, Norton is today known best by his self-assumed title as Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

The Early History of Joshua Abraham Norton

Born in London in the aftermath of the French revolution and Napoleonic Wars, the infant Joshua Abraham Norton (1818-1880) relocated with his family to Cape Town, South Africa in 1820. With the execution of Louis XVI and other members of the French royal family during the revolution, rumors of missing heirs to the French throne were common. In a particular mental quirk, the young boy grew up believing he was one, hidden for safety within a Jewish family. Years later, in 1886, Norton revealed this long-kept “secret” to a South African friend in San Francisco. Norton told him that he was “a crown prince to the throne of France.” In memory of his not-so-humble origins, Norton carried a silver 1828 Bourbon franc till his dying day.

An undistinguished stint as a shopkeeper and the death of his father inspired Joshua Norton to use his inheritance to build a fortune elsewhere than South Africa. He caught gold fever and arrived in San Francisco in November 1849, where he promptly became a commission merchant. He could judge the market for goods when ships arrived from varied cargoes, sought out buyers, and sold the merchandise for a percentage of the sale price.

Norton’s profits went into real estate, and soon he had three of four corners at the intersection of Sansome and Jackson Streets. A rice mill, the first in the city to hull this grain, grew on one; a cigar factory, which turned cheaply-imported tobacco into a saleable product, sprouted on the second; and an office building opened on the third. His water lots – purchased with the hope that encroaching bayfill would make them the city’s new waterfront – in the meantime held the abandoned brig Genesee. As the great sidewheel steamers of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company docked semi-monthly next to this small two-master, Norton wisely made it into a storeship.

Growing wealth and prominence led to Joshua Norton’s participation in civic affairs. In the summer of 1851, noted business leaders formed a Committee of Vigilance to suppress crime. Norton was member #339, but he abhorred summary justice. His persuasiveness and devotion to civil rights convinced the Committee to allow the accused to present a defense.

Emperor Norton I’s Regime

Joshua Norton’s educated demeanor, wealth and business skill made him an esteemed member of San Francisco society. When talk turned to politics, Norton defended the English monarchy and declared, “If I were Emperor of the United States, you would see changes.” His friends quickly dubbed him “Emperor,” but Norton actually was not joking. Later, he decided his reign had begun in 1852.

That year also brought him financial disaster. In December, in an effort to corner the rice market, Norton bid 12.5 cents a pound for a recently arrived cargo of then scarce rice. Within days, inexplicably, ship after ship glutted the market with excess rice, reducing the selling price to 3 cents. Not only did Norton initially lose money, but the business depression of 1854, financial panic of 1855, long legal battles over the rice contract, and avaricious bankers drained his resources entirely. Fewer and fewer commissions came his way, and in 1856, 1857, and 1858, Norton declared bankruptcy.

Obviously depressed, Norton exited from society. He reappeared however on September 17, 1859, apparently reborn, when he delivered a document to the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Now a self-styled savior for the ills of society, Norton announced “the peremptory request of a large majority of citizens of these United States. I, Joshua Norton…declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U.S.” Norton called a convention to be held February 1, 1860, in order to “ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability.” From then on, he was Norton I.

“In order to give weight, Precedence and legality to our Orders,” Norton proclaimed on June 10, 1862, “We do hereby Command the Leaders of the Hebrew, Catholic and Protestant Churches to sanctify and have us crowned Emperor of the U.S. of America and Protector of Mexico.”

While one may say he was a bit delusional, he was also quite prescient, suggesting the bridging of San Francisco Bay as well as tunneling underneath it; two ideas which came to fruition long after his death in the building of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Transbay Tube.

Norton I advocated religious and social tolerance. “Religion is like a beautiful garden,” he declared, as he worked in 1871 for “the establishment of a Universal Religion.” The next year, Norton “Hereby prohibit[ed] the enforcement of the Sunday Law,” since it discriminated against Germans and Jews.

Norton was also an early advocate of racial integration. As the post-Civil War fight for school integration heated up in the mid-1870s, he reasoned, “Whereas the American nation having acknowledged the citizenship of the colored people, their children are entitled to admission in the public schools.”

Norton I’s Royal Treasury Bonds

Though Norton was welcomed by most everyone, the Imperial Treasury remained sparse. Free lunches, gratis transportations, and admission to shows and lectures, coupled with taxation through Imperial bonds, allowed Norton to meet his daily needs. These “Bonds of Empire” are unique. In the 1860’s, when President Abraham Lincoln undertook to circulate greenbacks during the Civil War, Californians disdained them, paying as low as 38 cents in gold for $1 in paper. In contrast, the Emperor was the first to successfully circulate a paper money that found immediate acceptance – with no discount – among gold-loving San Franciscans.

Norton I issued the first note in late June 1869. Between January 1870 and 1876, printers Cuddy & Hughes created three designs for the Emperor’s popular 50-cent bond. All showed the Emperor and paid seven percent interest, collectible in 1880. Some have an inked “seal” most likely made from a coin.

The earliest 50-cent note to survive carries the date November 11, 1870. Printed in bright red, it shows a large Columbia in front of a San Francisco scene. A dog, presumably Norton’s, lies next to a safe.

From 1877 to 1880, Charles A. Murdock was the Emperor’s favorite printer. In the almost ten years of his reign, His Majesty issued over 3000 Bonds of Empire. Today, we know of only thirty-five. There are a total of nine types with various scenes and other denominations including $5, $10 and $100 notes. While retaining the 1860s cut of the Emperor on the left, Murdock added the California State seal to the right. Murdock saved the empire money when he reduced the rate of interest from seven to five percent. When the 1870s bonds matured in January 1880, Murdock and the Emperor solved a possible embarrassment by rolling them over at reduced interest. On the day he died, January 8, 1880, Emperor Norton issued 50-cent bond #3042, payable in 1890, at only 4 percent.

Emperor Norton I was also a mason, a member of the drinking society, e. Clampus Vitus, and nationally beloved. When he died, ten thousand people turned out for his funeral.

Since Norton’s death, his subjects have vastly increased, while 50-cent Imperial bonds bring $15,000--$20,000 on the collector’s market. His Empire was illusionary, but he was not as mad as some thought; Norton’s advocacy for tolerance towards others and religious and racial equality and is a wonderful legacy for our first Emperor.

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