Recently I bought an appealing item on eBay that included something unexpected.
What I bought was an executed mortgage gold bond offered to those who were hoping that New Paltz, New York’s electric trolley would bring the future to Ulster County. That was in 1893 and the future would have to wait. The bond I purchased was almost entirely intact, save for the first four payments clipped for their semi-annual $15.00 payments. After the April, 1895 payment, the other 76 coupons remained unredeemed with the original debenture to remind us (of a certain age) that not all dreams work out.
But sometimes they do.
In the package, when I took the debenture out, a mint (in my opinion) Bank of Washtenaw (Michigan) 1854 $5.00 bill fell out. It was loose, unwrapped and unmentioned in the paperwork or in the description.
So, I felt it necessary to ask the seller, was this intentional or an error? If asked to, I would send it back.
Of course I called eBay, because I bought it on their platform, but telephone numbers for this purpose eluded me. Finally, I found a form that would let me complain and demand my money back. Of course I had nothing to complain about. I filled it out and soon heard I could return the debenture I liked. No thank you.
I waited another day or two and tried to find other ways to find the seller. No luck.
I then searched for ABAA dealers in Michigan. I did find a helpful chap who suggested it might not be worth a king’s ransom.
I then contacted Garret Scott, a dealer and gifted writer, wondering, if my ship has come in? Not yet! I explained that, after being rebuffed by eBay's automated questions/contact software I next needed to know what to do with it.
Here’s Garret’s note.
Bruce! Thanks for the note.
I tend to leave numismatic paper alone, so I am not entirely up to speed on Bank of Washtenaw notes and whether they pull any kind of premium. That they were printed back east would be a strike against them for most of my Michigan imprint collectors.
The bank president Elijah W. Morgan was one of the early settlers of Ann Arbor (I think he gave some of the land that became the campus of the University of Michigan) and he was also I believe involved in the Toledo Ann Arbor railroad.
(The current incarnation of the Ann Arbor Railroad primarily runs auto parts up and down from Toledo and through Monroe County with a turnaround in Ann Arbor. The number of grade crossings in downtown Ann Arbor means it often comes through at night and must blow its horn incessantly for crossings.)
But I wander from the point:
I assume the Bentley Library here at the University of Michigan has examples --
This version of the Bank of Washtenaw was not (I believe) one of the banks that crashed ca. the 1837 Panic -- but cf. what "Philander Doesticks" (Mortimer Thompson, an Ann Arbor boy) has written in passing of the bank failure elsewhere by way of "humorous" remark.
The Old Chapin house -- one time home of the bank -- was later home to the Wooden Spoon book shop (of lamented memory) so there is a book connection there at least. If you wanted to approach the local AADL archive to donate your note, they might be open to it! --
So, now I’m mentioning this (what I am now calling a GEM quality $5.- bill), in hope someone who might know the seller. The seller’s notes on its clear frame are in a distinctive handwriting that may be identifiable to folks in the field.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.