Ilion Bank Check signed by E. Remington II or Jr. - Founder of Remington and Sons - 1852-1854 dated Autograph

This is a handsome mid-19th-century American bank draft/check issued by the Union Bank of Pliny, New York, dated February 20, 1854.

The check is an elaborately engraved example of early American banking and security printing. Across the top is the large title “UNION BANK”, with “PLINY, N.Y.” written beneath. The check appears to have been issued for $14.72. It is payable to the order of “D. D. Mess…” (the recipient’s surname is difficult to read with certainty). At lower right is a bold signature reading “E. Remington, Pres.”, indicating the bank’s president. The check is numbered 647 and bears contemporary handwritten endorsements, cancellations, and bank processing marks.

What makes the piece especially attractive is its extensive engraved imagery. At center is an allegorical female figure representing commerce or prosperity, seated beside agricultural produce, a cornucopia-like vessel, shipping and industrial scenes. Along the left border are several vignettes, including a stag/deer, a classical male portrait, and a bison/buffalo. At upper right is another male portrait surrounded by ornamental engraving. The small central vignette near the bottom incorporates a large numeral “1” with additional allegorical imagery. The printer’s imprint at the bottom appears to read “Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New-York,” one of the important American bank-note engraving firms of the period.

There is also an interesting historical connection here: the prominent E. Remington signature is worth researching carefully. Eliphalet Remington, founder of the famous Remington arms-manufacturing enterprise in upstate New York, was involved in banking and other local business interests during this period. If the signature can be confirmed as his, that would make this check considerably more historically interesting than an ordinary 1850s bank draft. The document appears to be in quite presentable condition for its age, with expected folds, handling, cancellation marks and some toning.

Eliphalet Remington (October 28, 1793 – August 12, 1861) founded what is now known as the Remington Arms Co., L.L.C. Originally the company was known as E. Remington followed by E. Remington & Son and then E. Remington and Sons.

Eliphalet Remington II was born in 1793 in the town of Suffield, Connecticut. He was the second child of four surviving children (but the only son) of Eliphalet and Elizabeth (Kilbourn) Remington, whose family origins lay in Yorkshire, England.

Eliphalet II followed in his father's footsteps and entered the blacksmith trade at the family's rural forge in Herkimer County, New York. The original family home at Kinne Corners, New York, built about 1810 and known as Remington House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.^[2]

The younger Remington worked with his father in the forge, and at 23 he hand-made a flintlock rifle using a firing mechanism bought from a gunsmith, but constructing the barrel himself.

The rifle received such a response that Remington decided to manufacture it in quantity. By 1840, when his three sons began to take a more active role in the family business, he formed the firm of E. Remington and Sons, which he headed until his death in 1861.

The company continued to grow and to develop its product and gradually began the manufacture of other sporting goods, such as bicycles. At the present time, the company is known as the Remington Arms Co., Inc.

Eliphalet Remington was married to Abigail Paddock, and they had three sons, Philo Remington, Eliphalet Remington III, and Samuel Remington, all of whom followed their father into the family business. He donated substantial sums of monies to then newly established Syracuse University.