It's the proverbial mix of art and commerce: a museum exhibit dedicated to a financial printer.
The Museum of American Financial History, located near the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan's financial district, is celebrating the bicentennial of the American Bank Note Co. with an exhibit of its works.
The firm, which dates back to the first printers of the Bank of the United States, has printed bank notes and stamps for the United States and foreign governments, as well as securities and travelers checks.
The museum's exhibit - on view through May - ranges from antique stock and bond certificates to modern credit cards. The items include some of the first U.S. postage stamps, the 1847 5-cent Franklin stamps; travelers' checks from 1905 to the present, and stock and bond certificates dating as far back as the 1820s.