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Alamo National Bank statement fragments, April 1953

Torn scraps of an Alamo National Bank “statement of condition” dated April 20, 1953, laid out on OSB. The Resources column still reads clearly: Cash … $20,564,001.11 — the number that launched a thousand double-takes on Instagram — alongside U.S. government securities, loans, and municipal bonds. A footer strip shows MEMBER FEDERAL DEPOSITCORPORATION. The paper is holed and ragged, as if it had been stuffed in a cavity and forgotten until a wall opened. The joke in the caption is the puzzle of that cash figure; the serious note is that San Antonio’s Alamo National was a major correspondent bank in the era — this is a snapshot of mid-century balance-sheet typography, not the roastery’s books.

Instagram 2017-06-20: Bank statement stuffed in wall. Cash … $20,564,001.11 #puzzle