MORE ON THE CONGREVE PROOFS

Ten or so years ago I spoke at length with Eric Newman about these proofs which at that that time were in a single frame of eight proof backs. This probably was the exact frame offered to me at George Wait’s apartment somewhere around 1975. I had made an appointment with him to purchase some of his New England obsolete notes and I was to meet him there in Bloomfield, NJ.

George and another collector (I can’t remember the name of the other person) had brought along some other interesting notes (Interest -Bearing Treasury Notes of 1812-etc. along with this framed piece). At that time, I had never come across anything “Congreve” but figured it must be something historic. I didn’t consider purchasing the frame as that wasn’t my main line of interest. Evidently, Eric purchased it sometime after I had the opportunity. The thought of the frame stayed with me however, and after speaking with Eric I started to document the different banks that might have used this device and maybe even find the reason, why. I am still trying to figure the reason why this was used as I am sure other anti-counterfeiting devices would have been available at a lesser expense. And, that might be the reason its use was not so widespread.

This device for the back of Perkins Stereotype bank notes saw its first use late in 1833 or early 1834 soon after New England Bank Note Company absorbed the Perkins shop. It is interesting to note that some of these banks not only used the Congreve Check Plate backs but also the black and white Perkins Stereotype plate for the backs. And, some of the issues even had plain backs. Trying to sort out which back designs were used when, is a chore I have not yet had time to investigate.

It would seem that the plain backs were used first, the stereotype backs second and the Congreve backs, third. But, this might not be the case for all the banks. The items that will appear in the auction are not all of the Congreve backs available. There are at least four others that appear on bank notes and seem to have been executed at a slightly earlier time and on examination appear a bit more primitive. The older back plates are not numbered as most of the newer ones seemed to be.

The eighteen banks I was able to determine that used the Congreve Backs for certain notes are listed here.

• Bank of Bangor, Maine
• Calais Bank, Maine
• Canal Bank, Portland, Maine
• Eastern Bank, Bangor, Maine
• Mercantile Bank, Bangor, Maine
• Portsmouth Bank, New Hampshire
• Landholders Bank, Scituate, RI
• Essex Bank, Guildhall, VT
• Bank of Newbury, Wells River, VT
• Duxbury Bank, Mass.
• Fall River Bank, Mass.
• Bank of Norfolk, Roxbury, Mass.
• Northampton Bank, Mass.
• Northampton Bank, Mass.
• Railroad Bank, Lowell, Mass.
• South Bank, Boston, Mass.
• Taunton Bank, Mass.
• Nahant Bank, Mass.

The Haxby volumes list some of the Congreve bearing banks as having “Check Plate” backs. I have found that some of these actually had the “Congreve” backs so it is possible that notes from more banks that used the Congreve back may still turn up.

Very little written information has been found on Able Bowen’s experiment with the Congreve Check Plate but that all could have been lost when his print shop, the Boston Bewick Company at 47 Court St went up in flames in 1835.

C. John Ferreri

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE INGENIOUS CONGREVE METHOD (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n16a31.html)

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