The front of both varieties has the same central text "On the first day of July next, for value received, I promise to pay the bearer, in Strawberries, TEN CENTS, ONE QUART, to be delivered at the Garden."  Variety one, shown in Figures 1 and 2, is signed by M. Hunt, Gardner [sic], and indicates on the left what is apparently the strawberry variety, Wilson's Albany Seeding. The back of the note bears the text:

This note is issued for the purpose of selling Strawberries. It enables the purchaser to save twenty-five percent. by paying for them in advance. The price heretofore has been twelve and one half cents per quart. This secures to the holder one quart for ten cents. To guard against the contingency of a failure of the Strawberry crop, this and similar Notes, may at any time be converted to Current Bank Bills, by presenting the same, in sums of One Dollar and upwards, to T. BUCHANAN, Jr., 167 Genesee Street, Utica, N.Y.

The second variety is shown in Figures 3 and 4. The strawberry variety is replaced "PAID BY T. BUCHANAN Jr. AT THE SAVINGS BANK." Hunt's name is now printed and the spelling is Gardener. Furthermore, the note is overprinted by "Security Deposited with ONEIDA BANK." The back text is the same except for the last sentence, which reads:

To guard against the contingency of a failure of the Strawberry crop, this and similar Notes, may at any time be converted to Current Bank Bills, by presenting the same, in sums of one or more Dollars, to the subscriber, at the SAVINGS BANK, 167 Genesee Street, Utica, N.Y.

The italics are added to indicate the difference in the two texts, in addition to the owner’s signature on variety two.  Note that the address for Savings Bank on the second variety and that for T. Buchanan, Jr. on the first variety are the same.

Neil Shafer featured note variety two in his Note of the Month column in the April 2000 issue of the Bank Note Reporter. He wondered why the note was backed by both the Savings Bank and the Oneida Bank, an apparent redundancy. Comparing the varieties, we can propose an explanation. Even though both notes bear the same date, we might speculate that variety one was issued first. Perhaps it wasn't well received because people feared that a failure of the strawberry crop, a contingency noted by the issuer, could render the business insolvent, and redemption in strawberries or current bank bills at Strawberry Grounds unlikely. Realizing this, Buchanan may have bolstered the backing for the note by issuing variety two, which promises to redeem the note, in sums of a dollar or more, at the Savings Bank. But the Savings Bank has the same address as Strawberry Grounds, suggesting that Buchanan owned both businesses. Public faith in the Savings Bank, owned by a man who acknowledged the possibility and danger of a failed crop, might be lacking. This could account for the additional backing by the Oneida Bank. Lastly, variety two is signed by Buchanan, the apparent owner, instead of the gardener's signature featured in the first variety.

Haxby, in his Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes, 1782-1866, lists the Oneida Bank (NY-2795) in Utica, as active in 1862, but he lists no Savings Bank. This further suggests that Savings Bank was a less formal bank, perhaps part of Strawberry Grounds.

There are other differences. Variety two is printed in blue text, except for the strawberry, the 10 counter, and the Oneida Bank overprint, which are in red.  Variety one is much plainer, with all grayish purple text and strawberry.  The signatures on both notes are in similar brown ink.  Variety two also has the imprint Curtiss & White, Printers, Utica.

Both varieties of the Strawberry Grounds note came from paper money dealer Claud Murphy. I acquired the variety one example from him, which he had just acquired at the Chicago Paper Money Exposition in February, 2000. The variety two example, in much higher grade, is part of his own collection, and he never compared them side-by-side. Shafer saw the well-worn variety one example in Murphy's case in Chicago, and wanted to feature it in his column. Murphy sent him a copy of his much better condition variety two note, and this is what he published. When I saw Shafer's column, I compared it to my example, and only then were the differences apparent.

Thanks to Neil Shafer and Claud Murphy for contributions to this article.  The article with color pictures is at http://www.unc.edu/~rcs/strawberry/.

References

Haxby, James A, Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes, 1782-1866, Krause Publications, 1988.

Shafer, Neil.  "Note of the Month,"  Bank Note Reporter, April, 2000, Krause Publications.

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