The Treasury Note (also known as a Coin Note) was a type of representative money issued by the United States government from 1890 until 1893 under authority of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $1,000. [1] It was issued in two series: an 1890 series with $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $100 and $1,000 denominations, and an 1891 series that added the $50 denomination. [2] A $500 note was designed but never issued. [3]
The government issued the Treasury Note to individuals selling silver bullion to the Treasury. Unlike other redemption notes like silver and gold certificates (which stipulated whether the note was backed by and redeemable for silver or gold coin, respectively), Treasury Notes stipulated only that they were redeemable in coin. This allowed the Treasury to fulfil the note's obligation in silver coin, gold coin, or both, at its discretion when the note was redeemed. This flexibility allowed the Treasury some control over releasing gold or silver when the relative value of the two metals fluctuated. The origin of the term "Coin Note" to describe the note is unclear – it may refer either to the coin it could be exchanged for, or derive from the fact that it was issued to pay for silver that would later be turned into coins. [2]
Treasury Notes are large-size ("average" dimension is 7.375 by 3.125 inches [187.3 by 79.4 millimetres]) banknotes. [4] The portrait of General George Meade on the $1,000 Note was engraved by renowned artist and line engraver Charles Burt. [5] [6] The 100 Greatest American Currency Notes, a 2006 book by Q. David Bowers and David Sundman, put the $1,000 Treasury Note (Fr#379b), nicknamed the "Grand Watermelon", at the top of its list. [7] Of the seven "Grand Watermelon" notes known to exist today, only three are available to collectors: two of the Large Brown Treasury Seal variety (Fr#379a), pictured above; and only one example of the Small Red Treasury Seal variety (Fr#379b). [8] [9]
A distinguishing feature of the Series 1890 notes (and one that greatly appeals to collectors) is the extremely ornate designs on the reverse side of the notes. The intent of this was to make counterfeiting much more difficult, but opponents of the design argued that the extensive detail would make it more difficult to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes. Consequently, the reverse designs were simplified on the Series 1891 Treasury Notes issued the following year.
On January 10, 2014, at the annual Florida United Numismatist convention, in Orlando, Florida, Heritage Auctions sold a Series 1890 $1,000 Treasury Note (Fr#379b) for $3,290,000, setting a new world record price for paper currency. The same note had set a record in December 2006 when it was sold for $2,255,000 in a private sale. [7] [8] The note was previously auctioned in 1944 for $1,230 and in 1970 for $11,000. [7] [10]
The other variety of $1,000 Treasury Notes, Series 1891 "Open Backs" (Fr#379c), represented by just two notes, has also been involved in the recent string of record-breaking sales. While one of these two notes is owned by the Smithsonian Institution (pictured at bottom), the only Series 1891 $1,000 note available to collectors had set the world record in March 2006. [7] It again set the record in April 2013, when it was sold at public auction by Heritage Auctions for $2,585,000 at the Central States Numismatic Convention, in Chicago, Illinois. [11]
The Treasury Notes pictured below are from the 1890 and 1891 series. Images are from the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution).
| Value | Series | Fr. [nb 1] | Image | Portrait | Classification/variety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | 1890 | Fr.347 |  | Edwin Stanton | 347 – Rosecrans and Huston – large brown. |
| $1 | 1891 | Fr.351 |  | Edwin Stanton | 350 – Rosecrans and Nebecker – small red. |
| $2 | 1890 | Fr.353 |  | James McPherson |
|
| $2 | 1891 | Fr.357 |  | James McPherson |
|
| $5 | 1890 | Fr.361 |  | George H. Thomas |
|
| $5 | 1891 | Fr.365 |  | George H. Thomas |
|
| $10 | 1890 | Fr.367 |  | Philip Sheridan |
|
| $10 | 1891 | Fr.371 |  | Philip Sheridan |
|
| $20 | 1890 | Fr.374 |  | John Marshall |
|
| $20 | 1891 | Fr.375a |  | John Marshall | 375 – Tillman and Morgan – small red. |
| $50 | 1891 | Fr.376 |  | William Seward | 376 – Rosecrans and Nebecker – small red. |
| $100 | 1890 | Fr.377 |  | David Farragut | 377 – Rosecrans and Huston – large brown. |
| $100 | 1891 | Fr.378 |  | David Farragut | 378 – Rosecrans and Nebecker – small red. |
| $500 | 1891 |  | William Tecumseh Sherman | 379 – Bruce and Roberts – small red. | |
| $1,000 | 1890 | Fr.379a |  | George Meade |
|
| $1,000 | 1890 | Fr.379b | George Meade | *379b - Rosecrans and Nebecker - small red | |
| $1,000 | 1891 | Fr.379c |  | George Meade |
|
A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, is a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the U.S. Having been current for 109 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money. They were known popularly as "greenbacks", a name inherited from the earlier greenbacks, the Demand Notes, that they replaced in 1862. Often termed Legal Tender Notes, they were named United States Notes by the First Legal Tender Act, which authorized them as a form of fiat currency. During the early 1860s the so-called second obligation on the reverse of the notes stated:
This Note is a Legal Tender for all debts public and private except Duties on Imports and Interest on the Public Debt; and is receivable in payment of all loans made to the United States.
The United States ten-dollar bill ($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. The reverse features the U.S. Treasury Building. All $10 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes.
The United States one-hundred-dollar bill ($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 launched in 1914, alongside other denominations. Statesman, inventor, diplomat, and American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin has been featured on the obverse of the bill since 1914. On the reverse of the banknote is an image of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which has been used since 1928. The $100 bill is the largest denomination that has been printed and circulated since July 13, 1969, when the larger denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were retired. As of December 2018, the average life of a $100 bill in circulation is 22.9 years before it is replaced due to wear.
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$1), sometimes referred to as a single, has been the lowest value denomination of United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional currency notes in 1876. An image of the first U.S. president (1789–1797), George Washington, based on the Athenaeum Portrait, a 1796 painting by Gilbert Stuart, is currently featured on the obverse, and the Great Seal of the United States is featured on the reverse. The one-dollar bill has the oldest overall design of all U.S. currency currently being produced. The obverse design of the dollar bill seen today debuted in 1963 when it was first issued as a Federal Reserve Note.
Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable for their face value of silver dollar coins and later in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but still valid legal tender at their face value and thus are still an accepted form of currency.
Gold certificates were issued by the United States Treasury as a form of representative money from 1865 to 1933. While the United States observed a gold standard, the certificates offered a more convenient way to pay in gold than the use of coins. General public ownership of gold certificates was outlawed in 1933 and since then they have been available only to the Federal Reserve Banks, with book-entry certificates replacing the paper form.
A Demand Note is a type of United States paper money that was issued from August 1861 to April 1862 during the American Civil War in denominations of 5, 10, and 20 US$. Demand Notes were the first issue of paper money by the United States that achieved wide circulation and they are still in circulation today, though they are now extremely rare. The U.S. government placed the Demand Notes into circulation by using them to pay expenses incurred during the Civil War including the salaries of its workers and military personnel.
National Gold Bank Notes were National Bank Notes issued by nine national gold banks in California in the 1870s and 1880s and redeemable in gold. Printed on a yellow-tinted paper, six denominations circulated: $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and $500. A $1,000 note was designed and printed but never issued. During the issuing period of national gold banks (1871–83), the U.S. Treasury issued 200,558 notes totaling $3,465,240. Today, National Gold Bank Notes are rare in the higher denominations with condition generally falling in the good-to-fine range. Approximately 630 National Gold Bank Notes are known to exist, and roughly 20 grade above "very fine".
The Confederate States dollar was first issued just before the outbreak of the American Civil War by the newly formed Confederacy. It was not backed by hard assets, but simply by a promise to pay the bearer after the war, on the prospect of Southern victory and independence. As the Civil War progressed and victory for the South seemed less and less likely, its value declined. After the Confederacy's defeat, its money had no value, and both individuals and banks lost large sums.
Fractional currency, also referred to as shinplasters, was introduced by the United States federal government following the outbreak of the Civil War. These low-denomination banknotes of the United States dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876, and issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents across five issuing periods. The complete type set below is part of the National Numismatic Collection, housed at the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Compound interest treasury notes were emissions of the United States Treasury Department authorized in 1863 and 1864 with aspects of both paper money and debt. They were issued in denominations of $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000. While they were legal tender at face value, they were redeemable after three years with six percent annual interest compounded semi-annually. In the absence of efficient investment banks, the hybrid nature of these instruments allowed the government to directly distribute debt by paying the notes out to creditors as legal tender, and then relying on interest-seeking parties to eventually remove them from circulation in order to redeem them with interest at maturity. Thus, in theory, the notes did not contribute to monetary inflation as did the greenbacks.
Greenbacks were emergency paper currency issued by the United States during the American Civil War that were printed in green on the back. They were in two forms: Demand Notes, issued in 1861–1862, and United States Notes, issued in 1862–1865. A form of fiat money, the notes were legal tender for most purposes and carried varying promises of eventual payment in coin, but were not backed by existing gold or silver reserves.
Bills of credit are documents similar to banknotes issued by a government that represent a government's indebtedness to the holder. They are typically designed to circulate as currency or currency substitutes. Bills of credit are mentioned in Article One, Section 10, Clause One of the United States Constitution, where their issuance by state governments is prohibited.
Interest bearing notes refers to a grouping of Civil War era paper money-related emissions of the US Treasury. The grouping includes the one- and two-year notes authorized by the Act of March 3, 1863, which bore interest at five percent per annum, were a legal tender at face value, and were issued in denominations of $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000. The grouping also frequently includes the early civil war treasury notes which matured in either sixty days or two years and bore interest at six percent and the seven-thirties which matured in three years and bore interest at 7.3 percent—though both of these latter issues lacked legal tender status. Reference texts used by currency collectors will also sometimes include compound interest treasury notes and Refunding Certificates in this grouping as well.
Banknotes of the United States dollar are currently issued as Federal Reserve Notes (1914–).
In early 18th century Colonial America, engravers began experimenting with copper plates as an alternative medium to wood. Applied to the production of paper currency, copper-plate engraving allowed for greater detail and production during printing. It was the transition to steel engraving that enabled banknote design and printing to rapidly advance in the United States during the 19th century.
US Treasury Department Specimen books, also known as BEP presentation albums, were published by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) from the mid-1860s through the 1910s. Prepared upon request of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, albums were generally presented to Cabinet members, select Members of Congress, diplomats and visiting dignitaries. Some extant albums still in their original binding bear the name of the recipient impressed in gold lettering on the cover. While no two presentation albums have exactly the same contents, each book usually contained portraits, vignettes, and/or images of buildings. Specimen books which contain whole proof images of currency are extremely rare.
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 ($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 the circa 1818 painting Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull.
