Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum


The Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum was a money museum in New York City from 1928 to 1977.

History

The core of the collection was acquired by the Chase National Bank from numismatist Farran Zerbe in 1928, who became the first curator of the new museum, and contained legal tender in a variety of forms, including wampum, ancient and modern coins, and paper money.
In 1939, Zerbe retired and Vernon L. Brown became the curator of the museum. After several moves, the museum opened at the Rockefeller Center on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City on July 10, 1956. After Vernon Brown left the museum in 1963, Don Taxay was appointed curator in April 1964.
The museum closed in 1977 and most of the collection was donated to the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution on 16 January 1978. Some of the collection went to the American Numismatic Society, including an 1804 U.S. dollar. An 1862 $1 Legal Tender note with Serial Number 1 is now in the Chase Bank.
Gene Hessler was the last curator of the museum, serving from 1967 to 1975.