2215

Banking House C.A. Cook & Co. 20 cent Scrip (Territorial)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Banking House C.A. Cook & Co. 20 cent Scrip (Territorial)
SOLD
1,700.00USDto h*******2+ buyer's premium (382.50)
This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 11 @ 10:49UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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While several proof examples exist (as seen in the Ford Collection), this may be the only issued piece of this denomination in existence. Issued December 1st, 1862. Dateline Denver, C.T. (Colorado Territory). No. 2167 or 2467. Very poor condition: creases, soiling, tears, portions missing. Extremely rare possibly unique. Approx. 2.5" x 6"



This particular note may have belonged to famous New York numismatist Edgar H. Adams (author of Private Gold Coinages of California, 1849-1855 : Its History and Its Issues, 1911-12). Adams wrote to E.B. Morgan (president of the Colorado Historical Society) about a 20 cent Cook note: "So far as I can learn, it is the only note of the Cook issue extant and I was much gratified to come in its possession at the Chambers sale held in Philadelphia a year or two ago...It is certainly a very interesting piece of Colorado paper currency, but what it will bring I cannot hazard a guess."



The Rocky Mountain News reported on the issuing of these notes, but fails to mention the 20 cent denomination: "Our people suffered great inconvenience in their business transactions in consequence of the great scarcity of small change. To remedy this difficulty in measure, C.A. Cook & Co., bankers of this city, have gotten up very neatly lithographed notes of the denomination of ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents, and one dollar, which they redeem in current funds, when presented in the sum of five dollars. They will prove a great convenience to the business of our city, and the well-known integrity and responsibility of this house will secure them in general circulation." (December 13, 1862)



Mumey discusses how "the Cook notes, which circulated from 1861 to 1863, were redeemable and lawful currency at their place of business. Nearly $2,000 were issued up to the time of the big fire in Denver, which occurred on Sunday, April 19, 1863...The Cook building was the first to be burned to the ground. It is not known how many of the scrip notes were destroyed in the disastrous fire, nor how many were saved from the conflagration. During the fire, Cook and Sears rushed into the burning building and rescued their cashbox...[They] withdrew the notes from circulation, redeemed all that were brought to them, and ceased issuing their scrip." (Colorado Territorial Scrip)





City: Denver
State: Colorado,
Date: 1862

FHWAC#: 27202