PO Box 619999
Dallas, TX 75261-6199
Street Address:
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75261-4127
(Northwest corner of W. Airport Freeway [HWY-183] & Valley View Lane)
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877-HERITAGE (437-4824)(214) 528-3500
Fax: (214) 409-1425
Auction Name: 2025 October 19 Fall U.S. Currency Obsolete Banknotes Showcase Auction
Lot Number: 95018
Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/62418*95018
Tuscumbia, AL- Franklin House / Knight & Bell 50ยข Apr. 4, 1838 Gunther-Derby UNL Rosene-UNL PMG Very Fine 20.
The Franklin House hotel was opened in 1837 and remained in business, changing hands a number of times, into the 1880s. The partnership of Knight & Bell was the proprietor from Spring of 1838 to perhaps 1842, when another person was listed as the owner in March of that year. This note clearly lists both the hotel name and partnership in the lower right margin. Your cataloger believes that Knight & Bell bought up a batch of left over remainder notes locally in Tuscumbia that had been used by an earlier unrelated merchant with some connections to Nashville and simply modified the text for their own use locally (note that, for example, "store" has been crossed out, since Knight & Bell did not have a store, but rather a hotel). There is no evidence of any connection between Nashville and Knight & Bell and there may be other notes out there that have not yet been discovered on the Tuscumbia merchant who originally used these notes. Further research may be needed to sort this all out. The design is a stock Morris design, with different customers being accommodated by changing the text in the lower center portion of the note. This design features a vignette of an early passenger train flanked by vignettes of a Native American warrior brandishing a tomahawk at left and a farm girl standing in a field at right. The note is fully issued and repair-free, without any meaningful impairments. We are unaware of any other examples of any kind from this issuer.
From The Jerry Loegler Collection
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