Ryan Baum is a 17-year Wells Fargo man, a Sr. VP in Asset Management. He's a U.S. Navy veteran and a leading member of Wells Fargo's Veterans Resource Group. He has been a coin and currency collector since the age of five. This is his third blog about National Bank note history and Wells Fargo's place in it. (CR)
Growing up in Southern California, I never realized how much the car culture turned so many things into proper nouns — those formal names preceded with "The." Traffic reports always talked about "The San Diego Freeway," "The Golden State Freeway," "The Hollywood Freeway," etc. When I would give directions to such places as downtown, I would advise the driver to take "The 405 to The 10." Only when I moved to Northern California did I realize directions could be given without the article, as simply numbers: "take 80 to 980 to 880."
As it turns out, some objects of affection in the financial world get elevated to proper nouns, too.
In 1875 four Comstock Lode bonanza kings 
capitalized a San Francisco-based bank. John Mackay , James Flood , James Fair and W. S. O'Brien endowed the bank with the inconceivable amount of $10 million dollars, and named it the Nevada Bank in honor of the source of their wealth.
Of course, even unlimited capital is no replacement for experienced management, so eminent Los Angeles banker Isaias W. Hellman was enticed north to run the institution in 1890. Under Hellman's leadership, the Nevada Bank received national charter #5105 in 1897.
But the best was yet to come eight years later....
The banking operation of Wells Fargo & Company had long been viewed as a secondary component to the more visible transportation business. Over several years, railroads controlled by Eastern magnate E. H. Harriman had amassed large blocks of Wells Fargo Express stock, as payments for express franchises on his railroads.
Not one to be a sentimentalist, Harriman analyzed Wells Fargo and used his controlling force to divest the Bank from the Express. An agreement was struck with the Nevada Bank, and the two financial institutions merged on April 22, 1905, as the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.
Clearly this name sounds like a proper noun, even though the article "The" did not appear in the institution's formal name. But when printing plates for banknotes were drawn up by the Treasury Department in 1905 — and reviewed by the firm — the name began to appear as "The Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank."
This name was retained through several different issues. Only when a new set of plates were made in 1917 was the less formal, but more proper, name corrected to its original without "The."
According to the most recent note census, collectors can forage among 333 different notes that bear the "The Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank" name. There are 149 different notes that bear the later "Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank" imprint. All of these notes are the pre-1929 "large size" notes: Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank merged with the Union Trust Company in 1923, and dropped its national bank charter in favor of a more liberal state charter. This ended Wells Fargo's era of issuing Federal banknotes.
Although the roughly 500 surviving notes from this 1905-1922 period are the only National Bank notes with the embedded Wells Fargo name, in future articles, I'll explore many other national banks which are now part of the Wells Fargo family.
Ryan, thanks for the interesting series of posts! I have a few questions: refering specifically to the artwork, who designed the bank notes? Did every bank have a different design, or did the treasury have a standard design/template for bank notes into which they incorporated the bank name, or did the bank submit its own artwork or design suggestions when they ordered the plates from the treasury? What does the artwork on the $10 note on this post represent. Does it have any significance to Wells Fargo history or is it just the standard artwork that came with the plates from the treasury durring a particular period of time?
Thanks!
Dave
The artwork for national banks were standard across banks and during the same issuing periods and were provided by the Treasury Department. Between 1862 and 1929, the large size notes had a few different eras. The original intent was to have designs that would educate and convey a sense of American history.
This $10 note is considered a Series 1882 Brownback since it was issued by a bank chartered between 1882 and 1902 (remember that Nevada National Bank's original charter was 1897; the plate date of 1905 reflects the merger with Wells Fargo). The left design represents Benjamin Franklin flying his kite while the right picture is an allegorical representation of electricity. Notice that there are ten stars around the number ten to assist someone who couldn’t read.
The $5 note is considered a Series 1902 Plainback. The portrait is of President Harrison given his death the prior year in 1901. Although this is a nice note, it doesn’t contain the ornate designs of the earlier series.
If you look at the National Gold Banknote from my earlier post, you’ll see the picture of Christopher Columbus discovering the new world on the left with an allegorical picture of the New World being introduced to the Old World.
On the goldnotes, many an observer has assumed the paper has aged. The paper used was actually yellow to symbolize the gold backing and the back design was of a mound of gold coins.
Absolutely fascinating! Is there a book that describes the history of bank notes?
Ryan,
Another intresting subject. If there is not a book on the history of bank notes, I think you should begin one. I believe a lot of history buffs would be intrested.
is there fake wells fargo bank notes?