Between them, Gast and Company and Milton C. Johnson hit the market for Civil War imprint facsimiles early and hard. Many of the surviving MCJ imprints feature the same bemused young lady in a bonnet, with “REVENUE TINT” in the border at the top, and “Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1883 by MILTON C. JOHNSON in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington” in the border at bottom. Several other designs are known, with bank logos, leading to the conclusion that the printer may have had a template with a replaceable center.
Figure 1.) At least one MCJ sample check is known. It features an odd combination of a Kentucky dateline and bank with “Massachusetts” running up the left side.
Figure 2) The check shown above was certainly meant to be a sample as well, as it has a Johnson advertisement printed on back. This was shown in the FAC Primer itself.
Figure 3) Three California users of MCJ FACs are known. First, Los Angeles.
Figure 4) An unused San Diego check with an MCJ FAC.
Figure 5) A Nevada City, California check like the one shown as part of the FAC Primer, but not the same users.
Figure 6) Another Nevada City check style, but two of the signers of the Nevada City check in Figure 5 also signed it.
Figure 7) This check was used in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1884. Many of the used checks with MCJ FACs seem to have been used in the 1880’s, and none later than the 1890’s.
Figure 8) Silver City, New Mexico use in 1885.
Figure 9) Dunkirk, New York, 1884.
Figure 10) Richfield Springs, New York, 1884. Altered to Cooperstown.
Figure 11) Another Richfield Springs user, with a different style of check that appears to have had a printed name cut off at left. It was also altered for use at Cooperstown, but the signer is not the same as the one in Figure 10. The First National Bank of Richfield Springs did not go out of business in 1884, or any time near that, so it may be a coincidence that both were altered.
Figure 12) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1885.
Figure 13) Newport, Rhode Island, unused.
Figure 14) Brattleboro, Vermont, unused.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan check with an MCJ FAC was shown in the FAC Primer, as were two which sported the same wording in the FAC borders, but had bank logos in the center.