Checks: Set of two bank notes and one check featuring Jenny Lind

Set of two bank notes and one check featuring Jenny Lind. Like contemporary checks, checks in the 1800s often displayed personalized images chosen by the owner. Bank notes were designed by the banks and could feature any number of images. Prior to standardized currency, banks would cut their own notes for use as legal tender. Jenny Lind's popularity meant she was placed on both with some frequency. The first item is a check, dated to October 20, 1852 for a total of $155. It comes from Sisson and Chapman Banking Office. A portrait of Jenny Lind is placed on the left hand side of the check. On the upper right of the image is a group of three women centered around a portal of sorts that has an eagle on top of it. Through the portal is a wide open sea. The woman on the right is likely a figure of Justice. On the back on the check is an additional note. The second item in the set is a one dollar bank note from the Springfield Bank and is dated June 4, 1856. A portrait of Jenny Lind is in the lower corners of the note, and in the center of the note above the words The Springfield Bank is a man and his dog. Last in the set is a two dollar bank note for the Western Bank, dated to July 15, 1853. A portrait of Jenny Lind is in the lower right corner. In the left corner are two men walking in the woods. Centered above the words The Western Bank is an image of a city with a bridge, a river, and a boat in a decorative oval, with two women flanking it on either side. This note has been placed on white paper that reads Danforth, Wright and Co., New York and Phil 1853-1858. These were the printers of the bank note. Some writing is visible on the back. Jenny Lind (October 6, 1820-November 2, 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, known as The Swedish Nightingale. The exceptional quality of her voice was recognized when she was young, and she received training at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Sweden, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She reached high acclaim in Europe, and eventually P.T. Barnum engaged her for a tour of America in 1850-1851. Lind, previously unknown in the US, was promoted by Barnum, creating insatiable demand for concert tickets and the innumerable consumer products that were manufactured with her name. Halfway through the tour, Lind married replacement pianist Otto Goldschmidt. The couple had three children, and Lind became a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in London. She is buried at the Great Malvern Cemetery in Malvern, Worcestershire, England.