Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
Apr 8, 1817
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 84
Notes:
Jacob Perkins (1766-1849) was an American inventor, mechanical engineer, and physicist. Perkins created some of the best steel plates for engraving and started a printing business with engraver Gideon Fairman. In 1809 he bought the stereotype technology (prevention of counterfeit bills) from Asa Spencer, registered the patent, and then employed Spencer. Perkins made several important innovations in printing technology, including new steel engraving plates. He made currency for a Boston Bank, and later for the National Bank. In 1816 he set up a printing shop and bid on the printing of currency for the Second Bank of the Unitesd States in Philadelphia. (Wikipedia; Greville Bathe and Dorothy Bathe, Jacob Perkins, His Inventions, His Times & His Contemporaries (Philadelphia, 1943)
Pictured here is a page from Perkins' Bank Bill Test (Newburyport, Mass., 1809) / https://archive.org/details/perkinsbankbillt1809jaco/page/n1/mode/2up
