Cedarville Button Factory $3 Company Note 1830’s

Description

This Cedarville Button Factory $3 Company Note circa 1830’s is of local interest. The factory existed in Cedarville, Cumberland County which is the next county over from our’s. There is a Factory Road in Cedarville but little information to be found about this factory. I will be invesigating further. This is one of my favorite motorcyle riding areas in the vicinity.

The bill is of thin paper, a blank reverse and in uncirculated condition with a bit of mounting residue on the back. It is 6 inches wide by 2 1/2 inches high and features three vignettes. On the left a steam boat, center a woman seated on rocks with a bouquet of some sort in her right arm and a branch or piece of plant in her left. On the right is a vignette of a steam powered vehicle towing a stagecoach type trailer full of passengers. There are no pinholes, rips or tears, and the bill has clean edges. Serial number 183 and the phrase “Payable at our Office in Bank Notes current in the City of Philadelphia”. This phrase makes it seem as if this was a form of wage payment instead of silver, gold or the current US paper of the period.

A quote from a New York Times article on a button maker;

“What used to be a thriving industry with 150 mother-of-pearl button factories in the United States, mostly along the East Coast, has dwindled to two companies”.