Federal Reserve Bank Note

Not to be confused with Federal Reserve Note.

Federal Reserve Bank Notes are legal tender in the United States, together with United States Notes, Silver Certificates, Gold Certificates, National Bank Notes and Federal Reserve Notes. They had the same value as other kinds of notes of similar face value. Federal Reserve Bank Notes differ from Federal Reserve Notes in that they are backed by any one of the individual 12 Federal Reserve Banks instead of by the group of them collectively, sort of like National Bank Notes, but using Federal Reserve banks instead of chartered National banks. No non-Federal Reserve Notes have been issued by banks since 1971. The only type of banknote still in production is the Federal Reserve Note.

Series of 1929 Federal Reserve Bank Note

Large size Federal Reserve Bank Notes were first issued in 1915 in denominations of $5, $10, and $20, using a design that shared elements with both the National Bank Notes and the Federal Reserve Notes of the time. Additional denominations of $1, $2, and $50 were issued in 1918.

Small size Federal Reserve Bank Notes were printed as an emergency issue in 1933 using the same paper stock as National Bank Notes. They were printed in denominations of $5 through $100. A National Bank Note has a line for the national bank's president's signature. The small size Federal Reserve Bank Note printed a bar over the label for this line since Federal Reserve Banks had governors, not presidents. This emergency issue was prompted by the public hoarding of cash because of the many bank failures happening at the time. This also limited the ability of the National Banks to issue notes of their own. Small size Federal Reserve Bank Notes were discontinued in 1934 and no longer available from banks since 1945. As small size notes, they have brown seals and serial numbers, as do National Bank Notes of the era.