Santa Claus on Notes.

 

While we might find it rather frivolous to find Santa Claus depicted on bank notes, that was the case in a number of instances for those of private U.S. banks, particularly around the 1850s. At the time, of course, the "Jolly Old Elf" was rarely called "Santa Claus" but rather "Saint Nicholas". The derivation of the name we now commonly use was by way of the Dutch, particularly the "Knickerbocker Dutch" of upper New York state, who were great Christmas celebrationists. "St. Nicholas" to them was "Sant Nikolaas", which evolved into the child's "Sante Klaas", which became our "Santa Klaus" or "Claus".

 

 

The above is from an uncut sheet issued by the Iron Bank of Plattsburgh , New York (right on the Canadian border with Quebec ). The completed note would have the serial numbers, date and signatures entered by hand - but the dates for such notes are all in the 1850s.

This particular Santa Claus vignette is now called Type III (there are at least six) and was engraved by George Baldwin for the bank note company Baldwin, Adams & Co. of New York . A few years later, this firm became part of the larger conglomerate called the American Bank Note Company.

Today, there are enough different obsolete notes - generally from New York or Massachusetts - depicting Saint Nicholas (including one such institution called "The Saint Nicholas Bank") that their collection has become a specialty within the larger field of such obsolete notes by state, in general, or whatever. Such a collection is reasonably difficult to assemble for they have always been popular and this tends to have been expressed in higher prices than normal for what is, in large part, an extremely limited supply. Rarer still are the vignette cards themselves of the various designs; most of them exist in quantities of not more than a few - and then only because the large selloff of the ABNCo archives several years ago.

 

Shown above is the Type III vignette, officially termed "Design V 41281" by the American Bank Note Company. This one is printed on India paper glued to a card. Below is another die proof vignette from the same company - "Design V 46218" - which has come to be termed "Type IV" by collectors. Not nearly as popular as Type III, it is rather sinister in that a thin, unbearded "Santa Claus" is shown sneaking into the children's bedroom; perhaps it is actually Dad doing Santa's work for him.

 

 

 

The above design (shown in closeup), called the "Type VI", is apparently found only on this note: the $2 denomination of the Knickerbocker Bank, New York City , this one hand-dated June 1, 1852 . So far as we know, only two finished notes and one proof exist of this particular $2 issue. This one sold for $24,150 back in 2006. "Santa Claus" notes can be expensive!

Our modern idea of Santa's appearance goes back to the description in Dr. Clement Clarke Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas", written in 1822 to cheer up his daughter, then very ill. It did. Without his permission, the poem was sent to a newspaper where it was widely printed. Dr. Moore didn't admit authorship until 1838, by which time most children could recite it by heart. Visually, Santa's appearance was established by the illustrator Thomas Nast who, during the period 1863-86, drew his version (and now very much ours) for Harper's Weekly .

Wayne Jacobs is numismatic expert. He is the award winning author of numerous articles. He is the secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.