Jay Cooke & Company Mouse Pad
Add a note of financial history to your desk with this Jay Cooke & Company mouse pad. The Philadelphia bank was founded in 1861 and became a major seller of Union government bonds, using telegraph messages to help coordinate sales across the country. After the war, the firm turned toward railroad investment, and its exposure to Northern Pacific bonds contributed to its collapse in 1873. A practical desk accent for collectors who appreciate the connected stories of banking, communications, and rail expansion.
Jay Cooke founded Jay Cooke & Company in 1861 with William E. C. Moorhead, with ownership divided two-thirds to Cooke and one-third to Moorhead. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the bank also had branches in New York City and Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, it sold hundreds of millions of dollars in Union government bonds, including the Treasury’s 5–20 bond issue, using agents across the country. Its telegraph-based confirmations helped coordinate securities sales from Philadelphia, earning it a reputation as the first “wire” brokerage house. After the war, the firm continued selling U.S. treasuries, then turned to railroad investment. In 1870, the Northern Pacific Railroad appointed it exclusive bond agent. Difficulty selling those bonds left Cooke’s firm heavily exposed: it came to own 75 percent of the railroad and could not meet obligations tied to expected bond proceeds. Withdrawals followed, operations were suspended, and bankruptcy began soon after the 1873 collapse. The failure helped trigger the Panic of 1873 and a wider chain of bank runs and failures. The supplied article describes no merger or successor company.
| 9" × 8" | |
| Width, in | 9.00 |
| Height, in | 8.00 |
| Depth, in | 0.06 |
Product features
- Smooth, low-friction surface for effortless mouse movement
- Full-front color print with bright, accurate reproduction
- Ultra-thin 1/16" (1.58 mm) high-density foam core
- Non-slip rubber base that grips the desk
- Rectangular shape with one-sided print
Care instructions
- Use warm water and dish soap to clean spots off your pad. It's not necessary to soak the whole pad. For hard-to-clean spots use a soft-bristled brush.
EU representative: HONSON VENTURES LIMITED, gpsr@honsonventures.com, 3, Gnaftis House flat 102, Limassol, Mesa Geitonia, 4003, CY
Product information: Generic brand, 2 year warranty in EU and Northern Ireland as per Directive 1999/44/EC
Care instructions: Use warm water and dish soap to clean spots off your pad. It's not necessary to soak the whole pad. For hard-to-clean spots use a soft-bristled brush.