Minister of Finance Checkbook Cover
This concept for a Minister of Finance Checkbook cover was actually around from the very start! One of the surprises I came across in Catalogue #1 was a Minister of Finance Checkbook Cover; We don’t know what the original looked like exactly, though the drawing does tell us the insignia of the Minister of Finance was in the lower right corner rather than the middle. It did not come with the wonderful pen that the later model had.
The concept would be revisited in the 1985-87 catalogs with a big embossed logo and it is one of my favorite accessories BR ever produced. The pen is so perfectly BR: A ballpoint pen made to look like an old pencil sold in a mall store made to look like a jungle outpost!
The BR Checkbook Cover was usually sold on the order form of the catalog, the sweet spot for inexpensive impulse buys. It was only $12.00!
The above photo is from my collection and the leather has been conditioned from handling. A mint condition, never-used cover came up on eBay you can see the leather is lighter and matches the catalog painting.
The Minister of Finance was one of the favorite characters and he appeared in the brand across the years. It was one of the four diplomatic corps shirts and he showed up to berate slacking catalog subscribers as seen on this Summer 1987 catalog reminder cover.
I totally forgot I had this checkbook cover, and used it for years, along with the pen. The leather had the most wonderful patina. I remember buying it at a Banana outlet near LA in the early 2000s.
Wow, how unusual to find that in the 2000s!
I’ve got one of those covers, new, in bag, untouched… Wonder what it’s worth on eBay?