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First National Gold Bank of Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara,

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Paper Money - United States Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,500.00 USD
First National Gold Bank of Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara,
IMPORTANT NOTE ON BUYERS PREMIUMS:

Lot 100 to 343 have a premium of 15%.

The rest of the sale is 19.5% as noted in the listing.

Lot Pick Up: Holabird-Kagin Americana,
3555 Airway Drive Ste #309,
Reno NV 89511,
Sunday - December 9, 10am-4pm
1873 - Stock certificate #3. Incorporated in California in 1873, issued 22 August 1873 to John Edwards at Santa Barbara for 10 shares. Signed by Mortimer Cook, president and H. L. Lincoln, cashier. Vignette of bird’s eye view of early Santa Barbara at upper left. Cancelled by 12 tiny holes in margins above signatures, no print affected. Certificate No. 3 indicates to us that Mr. Edwards was one of the key and one of the first investors in the bank.

Mortimer Cook opened the first bank in Santa Barbara in 1871, the Bank of Mortimer Cook. Known as the “town father of Santa Barbara”, he had come to the California goldfields to seek his fortune. In 1857, when the Fraser River rush hit British Columbia, he was off to that rush where he met some life-long friends and partners. He went to Southern California in search of a gentler climate and easier business opportunities.

Cook transformed the Mortimer Cook Bank into the First National Gold Bank in 1873 – the first gold bank in Southern California. John Edwards was one of his partners, who was later on the Board of the County National Bank & Trust (1875), which also formed into a National Gold Bank in 1880. The timing of the latter is possibly no coincidence. Cook’s bank was not doing well, and there is a distinct possibility that Edwards was somehow involved in the County Bank & Trust converting into a National Gold Bank just as FNGB Santa Barbara converted to National Bank status. More research is necessary.

Meanwhile, with Cook’s bank not doing well, he began buying timber land in remote Washington territory. He sold his house in 1884, left the banking business, and moved north to the timberlands, where he joined his old partners.

This certificate may be the only First National Gold Bank certificate known today, though several copies from this bank are known. -62258