Older U.S. Checks and Forms Have Special Attributes

Fiscal documents such as checks, bills of exchange and many other forms of securing payment have been with us for hundreds of years. Most of them bear dates of issue, but even if they didn’t, their appearance in most cases is typical for the years they represent. That’s to be expected; most things we use in everyday affairs can be considered the usual or expected format for the time.

This month, we’ll look at some U.S. issues of more than usual import. The earliest one to examine appears to date from 1783. The unusual characteristics include the fact that the name of the bank is printed as a counterfoil, vertically and only at the left-