Negotiable Art

The bank check, that most businesslike slip of paper, has suddenly become something of a piece of art. In many parts of the U.S., checks are blossoming with multicolored pictures of snowcapped mountains, cactus-studded deserts, or even doves of peace.

The idea originated in--where else? --California. San Diego's United States National Bank has long used four-color pictures of a local statue, and in 1965 officials of the Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco offered checks decorated with the silhouette of a stagecoach. Check writers as far away as Laos sent in requests to open new accounts at Wells Fargo, which bears the name of the old stagecoach company. Last year the San Francisco affiliate of the Bank of Tokyo started using line drawings of pine, bamboo and plum trees. In the past month, Bank of America and Crocker-Citizens National Bank have introduced checks with four-color pictures of such California scenes as sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Diego skyline and surfing on the Pacific shores. During the first four weeks, the Bank of America received 60,000 orders for its scenic checks. Some Manhattan banks expect to offer full-color picture checks this fall.

The movement is expanding both pictorially and geographically. Check printers are turning out two-color "personality extension" checks that are supposed to give the account holder a choice of self-images: an American eagle for the patriot, cupids for the romantic, geometric patterns for orderly types. Manhattan's Irving Trust Co., Detroit's Bank of the Commonwealth and about 300 other banks now offer two-color checks decorated with hearts, psychedelic designs and even the peace symbol.

The arty checks help bankers lure customers from each other--at the customers' expense; banks generally charge a penny a check extra. Some picture checks may invite forgery, since a signature could get lost amid the busy patterns. That consideration has been overpowered, however, by the new checks' appeal to women, who are doing an increasing share of family banking, and to many people who hunger for any touch of individuality in the everyday things that they use.

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