MONEY MUSEUM OF THE NATIONAL BANK OF DETROIT

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V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 47, November 19, 2023, Article 14

"Some years ago I wrote this article about the Money Museum of the National Bank of Detroit.

"I originally took the photos with my Pentax using 35mm negative tungsten film, which were converted from slides to digital images.

"For years, I have been wondering what happened to the material. Did it get sold? Is it in storage in some bank vault never to see the light of day?

"I also have included images of the two covers of booklets that I still have in my library."

Thanks for sharing this. I had never been to the museum and wasn't familiar with it. Do our readers have anything to share? What became of the collection? -Editor

During one of my visits to see friends in Michigan in the 1990s, I stumbled across the Money Museum of the National Bank of Detroit. Other than errors & varieties, I owned quite a collection of primitive forms of money. So when I entered the museum, it was like a kid entering a candy store, since the majority of the displays were taken up by unusual forms of money from around the world, as these photos attest to.

The National Bank of Detroit (NBD) was founded in 1933 in the midst of widespread bank failures during the Great Depression. Spurred by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to help stabilize the nation's banking system, NBD's shares were initially equally owned by General Motors and by the U.S. government under the RFC. The bank opened for business on March 24, 1933. By 1945, GM had divested of its ownership in NBD and by 1947 the RFC had ended its involvement.

The National Bank of Detroit (NBD) was a bank that operated mostly in the Midwestern United States. It also had overseas branches in England (London), Canada (Toronto and Windsor) and Japan (Tokyo).

NBD merged with the First National Bank of Chicago in the mid-1990s; the combined bank was called First Chicago NBD. Branches in some states (e.g. Michigan) retained the NBD name, while branches in others (e.g. Illinois) changed to First Chicago. It was at the time of this merger that the numismatic museum was closed.

First Chicago NBD later merged with Bank One, which eliminated the NBD name. Bank One was itself purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. As of March 2006, all former NBD branches carry the Chase name.

The museum, which used to reside in the formerly-named National Bank of Detroit Building (later renamed Chase Tower) has, unfortunately, disappeared.

I've sold off my ephemera collection. The second pamphlet looks familiar, but I may be confusing it with a Chase Manhattan Money Museum publication. -Editor