Homer Lee

Homer Lee, an engraver, artist, inventor, and entrepreneur, was born in 1856 in Mansfield, Ohio.

He was the founder and president of the Homer Lee Bank Note Company in New York City, also vice president of the Franklin Lee Bank Note Company, and president of the Hamilton Bank Note Company. Married to Charlotte Riddle in 1891, daughter of a prominent Philadelphia-area cotton manufacturer, he had two sons: Leander and Homer Jr. Socially active, he invented the Homer Lee rotary steel plate printing system, as well as numbering devices used by the United States Treasury.

In 1883, his company was awarded the first four-year contract to engrave and produce Postal Notes, an early form of money order, for the post office department. His company produced notes catalogued as Types I, II, II-A, and III. Type III is the rarest design of the 1883-1894 series. His company was purchased by the American Bank Note Company in 1891. He died at the age of 73 on Thursday, January 25, 1923, and is buried next to his wife in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, NY.

References

• Who's Who In America (1903)
• New York Times, Friday, Jan 26, 1923 (obituary);
• 10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z by William R. Denslow;
• The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Paper Money by Gene Hessler;
• The Coin World Almanac, fifth edition