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The Earliest Utah Printing: A Great Salt Lake Valley Note Signed by Brigham Young

[Printed "Valley Note" Currency in Denomination of $2.00, with Printed Heading: "G.S.L. City, Jan, 20, 1849"].

Young, Brigham.

[Salt Lake City]: 1849.

Price: $3,500.00

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About the item

Small printed paper slip. 1 vols. 2 x 3-3/4 inches. The Earliest Utah Printing: A Great Salt Lake Valley Note Signed by Brigham Young. Overall condition is excellent. Blindstamped with the official seal of the Twelve Apostles, and signed in manuscript by Brigham Young, Thomas Bullock, and Heber C. Kimball. N.K. Whitney is named as payee in manuscript. No serial number. Mcmurtrie, The Beginnings of Printing in Utah, pp.13-20; Rust, Mormon and Utah Coin and Currency, pp.60-65; Streeter Sale 2285 (Five Pieces of Currency); Streeter, Americana Beginnings 69 (Ref.); Saunders, Deseret Imprints 3.

Item #313088

This small piece of paper money printed by the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City is an example of the earliest recorded printing done in Utah.  Called a "Valley Note" by Alvin E. Rust, this form of paper currency was printed in several denominations, using a font of script type of the style used for calling cards.  McMurtrie quotes a passage from a manuscript history of Brigham Young which describes the interesting circumstances under which this paper money was printed:
"They had gold dust, but many refused to take it, as there was a waste in weighing it for exchange.  To meet this want, we employed brother John Kay to coin the dust, but upon trial he broke all the crucibles and could not proceed.  I then offered the gold dust back to the people, but they did not want it.  I then told them we would issue paper till the gold dust could be coined.  The Municipal Council agreed to have such a currency, and appointed myself and President Heber C. Kimball and bishop N.K. Whitney to issue it.  The first bill, for one dollar, was issued on the first of this month [January 1849].  The bills were signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, & Thomas Bullock, clerk."
"It is definite enough that the first use of the press by the Mormon settlers was in January, 1849, for the production of paper currency.  Furthermore, it is gratifyingly definite that the first printer was Brigham H. Young, with the perhaps unskilled aid of Thomas Bullock.  Brigham H. Young at that time was a young man of about 25, the nephew of Brigham Young the governor and leader" - McMurtrie.
Very rare.  According to Rust, only 204 valley notes in the two-dollar denomination were issued without a serial number.