Who was Leonard J. Arrington?
Dr. Arrington was the Historian of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1982.
Prior to his call in 1972 as official historian of the Mormon Church, Dr. Arrington was a professor of economics at Utah State University. Thereafter he was the Lemuel H. Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History at Brigham Young University. (Full biographical summary online at BYU.edu, and on Wikipedia.)
His first major book -- The Great Basin Kingdom --was published by Harvard University Press in 1958. It became a classic in Mormon historical studies, and a foundational study in understanding the economic and religious development of Utah. He was a founder of the Mormon History Association. Over decades Dr. Arrington was the author of dozens of books and essays about important people and enterprises in the land early Mormons called "Zion." Notable among his later works is his biography of Brigham Young: American Moses, and his late-life personal history about his work, Adventures of a Church Historian.
Leonard, as historian and economist, took interest in early Mormon money, especially from the important Kirtland period of LDS church history. When he found such early Kirtland bank notes, he added special examples to his modest personal collection.
This collection, in its entirety, is now for bid and sale. We do not want to offer individual items in auction. We are searching an experienced collector who values this entire collection.
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What is in this Collection of Kirtland Bank Notes?
Dr. Arrington published several articles about the Mormon monetary legacy. His authoritative essay about this history is published in the Utah Historical Encyclopedia. In that article, speaking about the history of Kirtland Bank Notes in early Utah, he wrote,
The church also had a supply of engraved Kirtland, Ohio, bank notes which bore the signatures of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and decided to reissue these with the additional signatures of Young, Kimball, and Whitney. Thomas Bullock, clerk of Brigham Young, also put a private mark on the bills to authenticate those issued against gold dust. Some 135 of these bills in $1.00 and $3.00 denominations were placed in circulation on 10 January 1849, and 256, mostly of the $5.00 denomination, were in circulation before fall, bearing a face value of $1,331.00.
Dr. Arrington collected a special few examples of those Kirtland notes. The resigned and issued $3 dollar notes are among the most rare. Arrington obtained one of the most extraordinary, and perhaps most unique examples of this note: a re-signed and apostolically sealed and "double resealed" $3 Kirtland note. No collector we know has every before seen a clearly double-sealed note like this. It is truly unique.
Leonard. Arrington left this entire collection to his heirs. And now, after a few decades in the vault, it is for sale.
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Leonard Arrington's entire small collection of Kirtland Bank notes is now available for bid and purchase.
This collection comes with a certified statement of provenance from his family.
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One of of the Kirtland Bank notes Arrington collected over his years as a Mormon historian is extremely rare, and probably "one of a kind" surviving. This jewel is a re-signed and clearly "double-sealed" Kirtland Bank $3 in excellent condition.
This bill is truly "one of a kind."
The re-signed and "double-sealed" $3 is probably the only such Kirtland Bank note surviving and clearly showing the apostolic seals. It is unlikely most collectors have ever seen a clearly embossed apostolic seal upon a re-signed note.
No collector we have encountered has ever seen a re-signed Kirtland bill that is clearly double embossed with the apostolic seal twice, on both ends, as is clearly visible on this crisp note.
This Arrington collection also includes several Kirtland "Anti-Bank" $1 and $3 notes in fair condition, all of substantial value.
Minimum bid for the entire collection is $35,000.
The collection comes with a certified document of provenance from the Arrington family.
If seriously interested, please contact us at the following email address:
notes@kirtlandbanknotes.com
Scans of all notes in the collection are available on request to interested bidders.
(Parts of proceeds of this sale will be contributed to support the Leonard J. Arrington Archive at Utah State University.)