The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 33, August 13, 2006, Article 25

THE NUMISMATIC MISADVENTURE OF JACOB WEIGEL OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ

Last week David Gladfelter asked if anyone had access to Homans's
Merchants and Bankers Almanacs for 1865 and 1866, to look up the names
of the president and cashier of the State Bank at New Brunswick, New
Jersey at a certain point in time.

In response Dave Bowers provided some raw research data about the bank,
but unfortunately it did not encompass the particular date David sought.
But Dave's note did include an interesting story related to the bank
from the 1901 volume of The Numismatist which might interest collectors
and researchers of New Jersey, San Francisco and Canada paper money:

"The best part of three pages of space was devoted to the curious case
of Jacob Weigel, a New Brunswick, New Jersey numismatist who was arrested
for fraud in the connection with the passing of obsolete currency issued
years earlier by the State Bank of New Brunswick.

Although a "most convincing and binding chain of circumstantial evidence
had been forged around Mr. Weigel," it developed that all he was doing
was selling to collectors and other interested people these notes as
souvenirs. All of this was explained in due course to Secret Service
agents, and item by item all of the damning evidence points were wiped
away.

The problem came to light when some sharpies in California, who had
purchased the notes from Weigel, were passing them at face value in
San Francisco. It was stated that the idea was not a new one, and
other purchasers from Weigel had passed notes at face value in Montreal,
Canada (where Canadians mistook the notation New Brunswick as a
Canadian province, overlooking the words "New Jersey" in small letters).
After much embarrassment, Weigel's innocence was shown, but not until
after a Secret Service man unfairly seized many uncut sheets."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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