First Reported Number 1 Florida Red Seal
This knockout fresh-as-the-day-issued note not only is the first reported number 1 Series of 1902 red seal from Florida but also the discovery note from the bank.
It certainly is a supreme highlight in the Jeff Macpherson collection.
In order to fully appreciate this note, it must be placed in the context of the Ocala during which it was issued. To that end, we’ll kick this article off with a brief history of Ocala, then follow with a sketch of the banking history of the town. Ocala was a frontier Florida town with small to modest population at the outset of the note-issuing era. I’ll include some descriptions of the streets and buildings to hint at the ambiance and even charm of the place. The story of The Central National Bank played out before Florida became the hot house mecca that you know today.
The history presented here is abridged from an unusually good historical summary provided by the City of Ocala on the website that is cited below. Details on the signers of the note and the fate of the bank were provided by Mark Drengson using data he compiled and posted on the Society of Paper Money Collector’s Bank Note History Project website. Mark found the obituary for signer president Ford.
