2290
Oregon Territory, Oregon City. '$5.00' Circulating Order Bond for 6% Interest. Dec. 13, 1848. Extrem
Currency:USD
Category:Coins & Paper Money
Start Price:500.00 USD
Estimated At:NA
SOLD
10,000.00USD+ buyer's premium (2,000.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Mar 15 @ 11:04UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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Lot: 2290
Title: Oregon Territory, Oregon City. '$5.00' Circulating Order Bond for 6% Interest. Dec. 13, 1848. Extremely Fine.
Header: RARE & IMPORTANT OREGON $5 CIRCULATING BOND
Precursor to Oregon Exchange Company Gold Coins, Signed by Founder William Kilborn
Description: Unlisted in Durand. Uniface on fine, pale blue-grey bond paper. 7 ¾ by 3 ¼ inches. Within a dotted border, the following form is typeset in a form, much like a modern-day check:
$_________, Oregon City,
OREGON TERRITORY
Promises to pay to the order of Dollars and Cents,
with interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, from date.
No. ___________________Treasurer.
This $5 bond was dated Dec 13th, 1848, issued to [illegible] Baker and signed by William Kilborn, Treasurer of the provisional government of the Territory of Oregon. Serial No. 914.
Bearing a seal pressed into the paper at the lower left that includes a flower and sheaves of wheat.
One of three known circulating bonds from the Provisional Government of the Territory of Oregon, and a direct precursor to the Oregon Exchange $5 and $10 gold pieces.
The Provisional Government of the Oregon Territory was formed in mid-1843, and was the first government instituted by westerners on the Pacific Coast of North America. Although the United States was ceded control of Spanish claims in the Pacific Northwest in 1821, the region was open to control by either Great Britain or the United States through the London Convention Treaty of 1818, which forbade either nation from creating any administrative structure that implied sovereignty.
Significant settlement of the area by U.S. citizens began in earnest around 1840, but soon, conflicts with British interests – specifically the Hudson’s Bay Company – began to crop up.
The Pacific Northwest had long relied on a barter economy, first using fur, then wheat as the preferred medium of exchange; however, Hudson’s Bay Company enjoyed an almost monopolistic influence over the value of these commodities. By 1843, it was clear that the United States preferred a policy of benign neglect in the region over any sort of provocation of British trade interests, so American settlers in Oregon took it upon themselves to establish an independent government in the hope of leveling the playing field with the British traders.
The provisional Government of the Territory of Oregon was forced to operate in an environment without circulating coinage, and needed to establish viable cash substitutes. In December of 1843, they enacted the Gray Currency Law, which made wheat legal tender, and soon privately-issued wheat receipts were being used as bills of exchange. In 1844, discarded flint left over from the manufacture of arrowheads was fashioned into quasi-coins by future governor George Abernathy. The cumbersome “rock money” made the rounds in the Willamette River Valley, but quickly fell out of favor.
Eventually, the Provisional Government issued circulating bonds that paid interest at 6% per annum. Many of these were reportedly issued at inconveniently high denominations, but the three known surviving examples - issued between 1847 and 1849 – are denominated at either $5 or $10.
All of this changed in 1848, when the California gold rush turned Oregon’s economy on its head. News of the discovery of gold in California reached Oregon during the summer of 1848, and immediately, a large number of Oregonians decamped for the gold fields. Ironically, those who stayed behind and supplied the starry-eyed prospectors with grain and supplies ended up awash in gold, with over $400,000 worth of dust and nuggets infusing the Oregon economy by January of 1849.
Hudson’s Bay Company still had a stranglehold on trade, and held the local gold price at roughly 2/3rds of its value at the Philadelphia Mint. In early February, Oregonians petitioned the Provisional Government to establish a mint at Oregon City, and the government planned to issue eagles and half eagles in the spring.
On March 3rd, Oregon was officially declared a Territory of the United States, rendering the planned mint illegal under the U.S. Constitution. William Kilborn, Treasurer of the Provisional Government and signer of this note, then formed the Oregon Exchange Company with seven other settlers for the express purpose of operating a legal, private mint. By late march, the now-legendary Oregon Exchange gold $5s and $10s were being struck.
The present example is the finest of only three known Oregon Territory circulating bonds, and offers a glimpse into the fascinating and incredibly complicated world of finance of the frontier during the first days of the California gold rush. An incomparable piece of Western Americana that is worthy of inclusion in a world class cabinet of Pioneer Gold.
Grading Company:
Gr:
Gr3: PMG
Gr3: 40 EX FINE
CAC/OGH:
Pedigree: FORD
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Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
20% |
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