[Rarebooks] fa: [BANKING] 1797 MS. CHEQUE drawn on THOMAS COUTTS & CO., Bankers of London

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 6. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/y7n6m7v3

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


An autograph drawn note, or cheque, dated September 25 1797, drawing on an account at the legendary banking house of Thomas Coutts & Co. "To Messrs. Thomas Coutts & Co[.] Pay to Frederick Anders[?] or Bearer the Sum of one Hundred and sixty Pounds and place it to my Account. [signed:] Frederick." On laid paper, measuring 186 x 93 mm.

The house of Thomas Coutts & Co. was one of the foremost banking firms in late-Georgian and Regency London, and certainly the most famous. Situated in the West End, it dealt mostly with the aristocracy, gentry, wealthy lawyers, literary celebrities, the government, and the royal family (as it still does today, Queen Elizabeth II being a client). Other clients included George III and George IV, Voltaire, Lord Byron, and (later) Charles Dickens and Phil Collins. Reputedly the seventh oldest bank in the world, the firm was established by John Campbell, a goldsmith, in 1692, and only took on the name of Thomas Coutts & Co. in 1775. Thomas himself lived until 1822, bequeathing a controlling interest in the bank to his much younger widow, Harriot, at  which time the firm shortened its name to Coutts & Co., by which it is known today.