1874 J.B. Gray Lumber Check Pa. Natl Bank Chester Co. $425 Jefferson Stamp For Sale

A check issued by J. B. Gray, a lumber merchant based in Renovo, Pennsylvania, drawn on The National Bank of Chester County in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and dated February 11th, 1874. This financial instrument offers a tangible connection to the commercial infrastructure of the post-Civil War era, specifically documenting the flow of capital within the burgeoning lumber industry of central Pennsylvania. The check is made payable to M. Jeffers & Co. in the amount of Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Dollars, a substantial sum for the period, reflecting the scale of transactions within the timber trade. The check number, 457, has been applied in a red ink, while the body of the document, including the date, payee, and amount, is filled in a legible brown ink. An orange-hued two-cent U.S. Internal Revenue documentary stamp, featuring a portrait of Thomas Jefferson within an oval frame, is affixed to the document, serving as a federal tax on the financial transaction and a hallmark of the era before the repeal of such stamp taxes. The check was printed by the firm of Rickman & Hammond, printers in West Chester, Pennsylvania, whose credit appears in fine print at the bottom center. The primary text is executed in a green ink, a common practice for bank checks of the period to deter forgery. The check shows typical signs of age, including a slight yellowish-brown toning to the paper and several horizontal and vertical folds, consistent with having been stored in a ledger or folded for mailing. This item is a primary source artifact from the era of the National Banking Act, illustrating the use of nationally chartered banks and the specific business networks operating between the lumber regions of north-central Pennsylvania and the financial centers of Chester County. The name J. B. Gray, associated with the lumber trade in Renovo, a town that grew rapidly with the railroad and timber industries in the late 19th century, anchors the document to a specific time and place in American industrial and economic history. The reverse side of the check bears a faint vertical handwritten inscription reading “M. M. Alfred Owen,” possibly an endorsement or a subsequent owner’s mark, alongside very faint, upside-down printed text that appears to include the words “FREE” and “ADVOCATE,” suggesting the paper may have been repurposed or filed alongside printed materials.