The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 14, April 2, 2006, Article 15

JP MORGAN CHASE's NUMISMATIC HOLDINGS

A subscriber writes: "Referring to the article which appeared
in this week's E-sylum about the $10,000 bill, I read the original
article in the Krause Newsletter.  I was a frequent visitor to the
Chase Manhattan Money Museum as a kid back in the 1950's.  I think
these visits whetted my numismatic appetite and accelerated my
desire to be a more advanced collector.

While reading the Krause article, I was struck by the fact that
JP Morgan Chase didn't own a $10,000 bill.  This would have been
a wonderful item for the museum, a real drawing card for the public,
and with the portrait of the bank's namesake.  I couldn't believe
they didn't have one of these.  I e-mailed Gene Hessler, the last
curator of the museum.  He said the Chase Manhattan Money Museum
had owned a $10,000 and also had a $100,000 bill on loan from the
Treasury.  As you probably know, the $10,000's are legal for
anyone to own, whereas the $100,000's were only for Treasury and
Federal Reserve use.

According to Gene, when the museum folded, the only material he
could convince the bank to retain in their archives were the items
pertaining to the bank's history (such as National Bank notes of
banks absorbed by Chase Manhattan).  Commenting on the Krause
article's statement that the bank is considering a new museum,
Gene said they would never be able to approach what they once had.
As I recall, the museum was founded during the 1920's by acquiring
the collection of Farran Zerbe, who then became the museum's first
curator."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum