PBA Galleries

Merchants Exchange, NY, Jan. 3, 1844. 2pp.+ stampless address leaf. To New York State Comptroller A. C. Flagg, Albany.
 

Certifying a package containing engraved plates for currency of the Butchers and Drovers Bank, New York, designed by Rawdon, Wright and Hatch, New York.

Freeman Rawdon (1801-1859) and his brother Ralph formed the most prominent printing and engraving firm in mid-19th century America, producing vignettes for scores of privately-issued bank-notes, laying the groundwork for the firm’s later incarnation as the American Bank Note Company. In 1847, they were also given the government contract for designing and printing the first U.S.postage stamps, While an executive of his company, Rawdon was also one of its finest line engravers, though little of the firm’s work was signed by him.