Downtown Bank Invites Public To "Check" Out Historic Exhibit

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Huntington Bank in the Grant Building has some very high-priced checks. But their value has more to do with who wrote the checks, than the amounts themselves.

The bank is celebrating its new flagship center with a display of monetary documents dating back to George Washington, who paid $500… for something.

Branch manager Chris Eberlein says another check may be the last document Abraham Lincoln signed before he was assassinated. The historic checks were acquired from a Cleveland bank in 1982.

"To have these in our possession, to be able to display them, and have them here in Downtown Pittsburgh is tremendous," he says.

Both presidents named Roosevelt inscribed their signatures on checks in the collection, and Susan B. Anthony made a purchase for the Women's Suffrage Association. The 31 checks on display were selected from the bank's collection of 70.

One check was signed by the famed author of Huckleberry Finn. We're talking about Mark Twain, of course. Although, he signed it with his real name: Samuel Clemens.

The branch manager says there's a history behind the check that Lincoln signed.

"The $800 check signed by Abraham Lincoln was actually used to pay some of his wife's debt. As many know, his wife was quite the spender," Eberlein said.

He says it is worth a lot more than $800 today.

"That's appraised at about $20,000. And then, the George Washington check is appraised at $10,000," he said.

No, they're not for sale. But the public is invited to "check" them out, through May 29, during "banker's hours."

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