The Series of 1928 was the first issue of small-size currency printed and released by the U.S. government. These notes, first released to the public on July 10, 1929, were the first standardized notes in terms of design and characteristics, featuring similar portraits and other facets. [1] These notes were also the first to measure 6.14" by 2.61", smaller than the large-sized predecessors of Series 1923 and earlier that measured 7.375" by 3.125". [2]
Certain one-dollar notes in this series were called Funnybacks.
Federal Reserve Notes featured a green Treasury Seal starting in 1928. This was the only type of currency that, at first, featured the seal over the large engraved word to the right of the portrait. [3]
These notes also carried a seal bearing the identity of the Federal Reserve Bank of issuance. The bank was noted in the black, circular seal to the left of the portrait. This can be seen in the picture at the upper right, with a "7" in the seal. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, responsible for the 7th district of the Federal Reserve System, issued this note. The regional seal is a design facet unique to Federal Reserve Notes, because almost all other types of notes were issued directly by the U.S. Treasury.
The 1928 Federal Reserve Notes were redeemable as per the following legend in the upper left corner of the note: Redeemable in gold on demand at the United States Treasury, or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank. While these notes were issued by the Federal Reserve Banks, they were still obligations of the U.S. Government, as stated: The United States of America will pay to the bearer on demand [so many] dollars. This obligation to exchange FRNs for gold ended in the early 1930s as the United States outlawed the private ownership of gold and left the gold standard in response to the Great Depression.
The $5, $10, and $20 denominations were the first to be issued.
All banknotes in the following table are Series of 1928 Federal Reserve Notes from the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution).
Value | Series | Fr. | Image | Portrait |
---|---|---|---|---|
$5 | 1928B | Fr.1952-J | Abraham Lincoln | |
$10 | 1928 | Fr.2000-G | Alexander Hamilton | |
$20 | 1928 | Fr.2050-G | Andrew Jackson | |
$50 | 1928 | Fr.2100-J | Ulysses S. Grant | |
$100 | 1928 | Fr.2150-G | Benjamin Franklin | |
$500 | 1928 | Fr.2200-G | William McKinley | |
$1,000 | 1928 | Fr.2210-G | Grover Cleveland | |
$5,000 | 1928 | Fr.2220-G | James Madison | |
$10,000 | 1928 | Fr.2230-B | Salmon P. Chase | |
Series of 1928 United States Notes were issued in $2 (through 1928G) and $5 (through 1928F) denominations until the early 1950s. [4] Also, for a brief period in 1933, Series of 1928 $1 United States Notes were issued as a response to the Great Depression. Most of these remained in storage before being released in Puerto Rico during 1948-9. [5]
Value | Series | Fr | Image | Portrait |
---|---|---|---|---|
$1 | 1928 | Fr.1500 | George Washington | |
$2 | 1928 | Fr.1501 | Thomas Jefferson | |
$5 | 1928 | Fr.1525 | Abraham Lincoln |
Series of 1928 through 1928E silver certificates were only issued in the $1 denomination. The design closely followed the 1923 $1 Silver Certificate.
1928 saw the last issuance of Gold Certificates to the public prior to their confiscation during the Great Depression. [7]
Value | Series | Fr | Image | Portrait |
---|---|---|---|---|
$10 | 1928 | Fr.2400 | Alexander Hamilton | |
$20 | 1928 | Fr.2402 | Andrew Jackson | |
$50 | 1928 | Fr.2404 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
$100 | 1928 | Fr.2405 | Benjamin Franklin | |
$500 | 1928 | Fr.2407 | William McKinley | |
$1,000 | 1928 | Fr.2408 | Grover Cleveland | |
$5,000 | 1928 | Fr.2410 | James Madison | |
$10,000 | 1928 | Fr.2411 | Salmon P. Chase |
Federal Reserve Notes are the currently issued banknotes of the United States dollar. The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces the notes under the authority of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and issues them to the Federal Reserve Banks at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Reserve Banks then circulate the notes to their member banks, at which point they become liabilities of the Reserve Banks and obligations of the United States.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Reserve Notes for the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank. In addition to paper currency, the BEP produces Treasury securities; military commissions and award certificates; invitations and admission cards; and many different types of identification cards, forms, and other special security documents for a variety of government agencies. The BEP's role as printer of paper currency makes it one of two Treasury Department agencies involved in currency production. The other is the United States Mint, which mints coinage. With production facilities in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is the largest producer of government security documents in the United States.
The United States five-dollar bill (US$5) is a denomination of United States currency. The current $5 bill features U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and the Great Seal of the United States on the front and the Lincoln Memorial on the back. All $5 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes. As of December 2018, the average life of a $5 bill in circulation is 4.7 years before it is replaced due to wear. Approximately 6% of all paper currency produced by the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 2009 were $5 bills.
The United States ten-dollar bill (US$10) is a denomination of U.S. currency. The obverse of the bill features the portrait of Alexander Hamilton, who served as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, two renditions of the torch of the Statue of Liberty, and the words "We the People" from the original engrossed preamble of the United States Constitution. The reverse features the U.S. Treasury Building. All $10 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes.
The United States twenty-dollar bill (US$20) is a denomination of U.S. currency. A portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president (1829–1837), has been featured on the obverse of the bill since 1928; the White House is featured on the reverse.
The United States fifty-dollar bill (US$50) is a denomination of United States currency. The 18th U.S. president (1869-1877), Ulysses S. Grant, is featured on the obverse, while the U.S. Capitol is featured on the reverse. All current-issue $50 bills are Federal Reserve Notes.
The United States one-hundred-dollar bill (US$100) is a denomination of United States currency. The first United States Note with this value was issued in 1862 and the Federal Reserve Note version was first produced in 1914. Inventor and U.S. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin has been featured on the obverse of the bill since 1914, which now also contains stylized images of the Declaration of Independence, a quill pen, the Syng inkwell, and the Liberty Bell. The reverse depicts Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which it has featured since 1928.
Large denominations of United States currency greater than $100 were circulated by the United States Treasury until 1969. Since then, U.S. dollar banknotes have been issued in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
The United States one-dollar bill (US$1), sometimes referred to as a single, has been the lowest value denomination of United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional currency notes in 1876. An image of the first U.S. president (1789–1797), George Washington, based on the Athenaeum Portrait, a 1796 painting by Gilbert Stuart, is currently featured on the obverse, and the Great Seal of the United States is featured on the reverse. The one-dollar bill has the oldest overall design of all U.S. currency currently being produced. The reverse design of the present dollar debuted in 1935, and the obverse in 1963 when it was first issued as a Federal Reserve Note.
On banknotes of the United States dollar, the series refers to the year appearing on the obverse of a bill, indicating when the bill's design was adopted. The series year does not indicate the exact date a bill was printed; instead, the year indicates the first year that bills of the same design were originally made. For example, $2 bills bearing the series year of 1928 were printed until the early 1950s.
Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable for their face value of silver dollar coins and later in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but still valid legal tender at their face value and thus are still an accepted form of currency.
Gold certificates were issued by the United States Treasury as a form of representative money from 1865 to 1933. While the United States observed a gold standard, the certificates offered a more convenient way to pay in gold than the use of coins. General public ownership of gold certificates was outlawed in 1933 and since then they have been available only to the Federal Reserve Banks, with book-entry certificates replacing the paper form.
The history of the United States dollar began with moves by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America to establish a national currency based on the Spanish silver dollar, which had been in use in the North American colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain for over 100 years prior to the United States Declaration of Independence. The new Congress's Coinage Act of 1792 established the United States dollar as the country's standard unit of money, creating the United States Mint tasked with producing and circulating coinage. Initially defined under a bimetallic standard in terms of a fixed quantity of silver or gold, it formally adopted the gold standard in 1900, and finally eliminated all links to gold in 1971.
This page is a glossary of notaphily. Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes.
A Funnyback is a type of one-dollar silver certificate produced in 1928 and 1934 in the United States. People referred to the note as a "Funnyback" based on the significantly lighter green ink and unusual font printed on the reverse.
A silver certificate is a certificate of ownership that silver owners hold instead of storing the actual silver. Several countries have issued silver certificates, including Cuba, the Netherlands, and the United States. Silver certificates have also been privately issued by various mints and bullion companies. One example was the Liberty Dollar issued by NORFED from 1998 to 2009.
The United States two-dollar bill (US$2) is a current denomination of United States currency. A portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States (1801–1809), is featured on the obverse of the note. The reverse features an engraving of John Trumbull's painting Declaration of Independence.
The United States one-hundred-thousand-dollar bill (US$100,000) is a former denomination of United States currency issued from 1934 to 1935. The bill, which features President Woodrow Wilson, was created as a large denomination note for gold transactions between Federal Reserve Banks; it never circulated publicly and its private possession is illegal.
The United States 1000 dollar bill(US$1000) is an obsolete denomination of United States currency. The bill was recalled in 1969 but it is still legal tender.
The United States 10,000-dollar bill(US$10000) (1878–1934) is an obsolete denomination of the United States dollar. The $10,000 note was the highest denomination of US currency to be used by the public and was no longer issued after 1969. These notes are valuable to collectors and, since they are still legal tender, banks will redeem the notes for face value.