About Paper Money

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Features of current U.S. paper money

Changes in the presses and the designs of notes have resulted in variations in some features and not in others. Beginning in 1996, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began producing redesigned Federal Reserve notes. The first redesigned note issued was the $100 note, followed by the $50 FRN in 1997 and the $20 note in 1998. The redesigned $10 and $5 notes were released in 2000. The redesigned Series 2009 $100 will go into circulation in 2011. The $1 note is not scheduled to undergo the same redesign as the higher denominations.

Plate position numbers

The small capital letter and number that appear in the upper left-hand corner just below the denomination numeral on the face of most notes comprise what is referred to as the plate position number. This item designates the position of the note on the 32-subject face plate from which a particular bill was printed.

Each modern 32-note sheet is split into four quadrants, with two vertical rows of four notes each. The upper left quadrant is No. 1, the lower left, No. 2; the upper right is No. 3, and the lower right, No. 4. Within the quadrant, the left four notes, from top to bottom, are A, B, C, D; the right row is E, F, G, H. Thus, a note with position number B3 would be in the upper right quadrant, left row, second note from top. An H1 note would be from the upper left quadrant, right row, fourth note from top.

The story is a little different for $1 Federal Reserve notes produced on the BEP's experimental web-fed intaglio press. Changes were made to the look of the notes because of requirements of the press. On notes printed on the web-fed press, the quadrant number and plate position letter at the upper left of the face were removed. The plate position letter at the lower right of the face side of the note also was removed, leaving only the face plate number. On the back of the "web" notes, the back plate number appears above the E in ONE, rather than below it as on sheet-fed notes. These "web" notes were printed for Series 1988A, 1993 and 1995 $1 FRNs only.

Plate numbers

The small number in the lower right-hand corner relates to the face plate from which a note was printed. This is referred to as the plate serial number. This number is assigned in sequential order at the time the plate is manufactured. It can be used to determine the number of the press plate from which a particular note was printed. The letter preceding the plate serial number is always the same as the letter in the upper left-hand corner on sheet-fed notes. The back of the note also has a back plate number, located to the lower right on notes printed on the sheet-fed presses.

Series date

The series date on the face of each bill signifies the year in which the design of the note was adopted or other change was made. The series does not change each calendar year. The capital letter following the series year indicates that a minor change was authorized in a particular series.

According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the series date changes when a new secretary of the Treasury is confirmed or when there is a major redesign on currency.

Few noncollectors realize this, resulting in confusion and the spread of misinformation. During 1999, Coin World received a number of calls from noncollectors who had heard that the Series 1996 $20 FRNs, released in 1998, were being recalled because they had been given the wrong date. The rumor was based on the false assumption that the series designation on a note is analogous to the date on a coin. The Series 1996 refers to when the design changes were approved to the $20 FRN, not to the year the notes were first printed and released.

Today, when there is a capital letter following the series year, it indicates a new U.S. treasurer has been appointed but the secretary has remained the same, and a corresponding change is made in the signature of the treasurer.

The current practice of series designation is relatively recent; the process has changed over the years.

Prior to 1974, the series date referred to the year in which the face design was adopted, according to the Standard Handbook of Modern United States Paper Money by Chuck O'Donnell. O'Donnell wrote that the capital letter following the series designation reflected minor change in a specific series. Minor changes then included the introduction of the signatures of a new secretary of the treasury or treasurer.

That policy was changed when William B. Simon became secretary of the Treasury in 1974. He ordered that the series year be changed whenever a new secretary of the Treasury took office. However, that practice was not universally followed after he left office. The election of Jimmy Carter as president in 1976 resulted in a new treasurer and secretary of the Treasury, and a new series designation – 1977. However, when Carter's first Treasury secretary was replaced with his second secretary in 1979, the series designation became 1977A, not 1979, which would have been the case had the Simon policy been followed.

The policy of changing the series year with a new Treasury secretary and only the suffix letter with a change in treasurer began with the Reagan administration and has been followed ever since. The authorization of new design elements in 1990 (actually implemented in 1991) and 1996 (implemented in 1996, 1997 and 1998) have resulted in changes to the series year as well.

Size of currency

Currency of the present size was first issued in July 1929, replacing the old, large (7.50 inches by 3.125 inches) notes. The present size of a U.S. bill is 6.14 inches by 2.61 inches, and the thickness is .0043 inch. New notes stack 233 to an inch, not compressed, and weigh 490 notes to a pound. A million notes will weigh approximately 2,000 pounds and occupy approximately 42 cubic feet of space, with moderate pressure.

Serial numbers on small-size currency

On pre-1996 series notes, the two numbers, with prefix and suffix letters or "stars," in the upper right-hand and lower left-hand corners of all small-size currency are referred to as serial numbers. The letters in the Federal Reserve Bank seal and the prefix letter of the serial numbers are always identical on Federal Reserve notes.

Serial numbers are designed to foil counterfeiters and to accommodate the large volume of notes printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. No two notes of a class, denomination and series have the same serial number, except for error notes. Each serial number has eight digits and an alphabetical prefix and suffix letter.

Serial numbers on Series 1996 $100, $50 and $20 notes are located in the upper left and lower right on the face of the notes. Because that series introduced a universal Federal Reserve seal an additional letter-number combination was added below the serial number to indicate the series and the Federal Reserve Bank for which the note was issued.

When a new series of Federal Reserve notes is initiated, a new number sequence generally begins (although serial numbers continued from Series 1977 to 1977A). The first of the sequence is 00 000 001A, with a prefix letter indicating the Federal Reserve district issuing the note. The second is 00 000 002A, the hundredth is 00 000 100A, the thousandth 00 001 000A, until the number 96 000 000 A is reached, at which point the suffix letter changes to B and the numbering system starts over. The letter O is never used as a suffix letter because it could be confused with the digit 0.

Serial numbers do not advance sequentially from note to note on an individual sheet, but from sheet to sheet. On a sheet, the numbers advance 100,000 digits from note to note, since sheets are overprinted in 100,000-sheet runs.

On United States notes and silver certificates, the first note is numbered A 00 000 001A, continuing in numerical sequence with the prefix and suffix letters remaining the same. When the number A 99 999 999A is reached, the suffix letter A is retained and the prefix letter changes alphabetically until 25 blocks of 99 999 999 are printed, each with a different prefix letter of the alphabet from A to Z, omitting O.

Federal Reserve symbols

On the face of every pre-1996 series Federal Reserve note, the black seal to left of the portrait identifies the particular Federal Reserve Bank that issued the bill.

The Series 1996 redesigned notes introduced a universal Federal Reserve seal for all denominations higher than $1 that doesn't differentiate between Federal Reserve Banks (see serial numbers). The $1 FRNs continue to use the older Federal Reserve seal.

There are 12 Federal Reserve Banks, each identifiable by a letter and a number, with the letter corresponding to the number, as follows:

1 A Boston

2 B New York

3 C Philadelphia

4 D Cleveland

5 E Richmond

6 F Atlanta

7 G Chicago

8 H St. Louis

9 I Minneapolis

10 J Kansas City

11 K Dallas

12 L San Francisco

The Federal Reserve Bank number, which appears four times, is repeated in the upper and lower and the left and right sections of the bill for identification purposes. These numbers are not on Series 1996 notes and beyond.

The Great Seal of the United States

Both the obverse and the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States are reproduced on the backs of $1 bills. The Great Seal was adopted in 1782.

Its obverse depicts an American eagle breasted by a shield with the national colors. The eagle holds in his right talon an olive branch of 13 leaves and 13 berries, symbolic of peace. In his left talon he holds 13 arrows signifying the original Colonies’ fight for liberty. A ribbon flying from the beak of the eagle is inscribed with the Latin motto, "E Pluribus Unum," which is translated "One out of many," in reference to the unity of the 13 Colonies as one nation. Over the eagle’s head is a constellation of 13 five-pointed stars surrounded by a wreath of clouds.

The reverse of the seal depicts a pyramid, with the Roman numerals "MDCCLXXVI" on its base — 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence. The pyramid represents permanence and strength. Its unfinished condition symbolizes that there was still work to be done to form a more perfect government and signifies the expectation that new states would be admitted to the Union.

The eye in the triangular glory represents an all-seeing Deity. The words "Annuit coeptis," translated as "He (God) has favored our undertakings," refer to the many interpositions the founding fathers saw of divine providence in the forming of the government. "Novus Ordo Seclorum," translated as "a new order of the ages," signifies a new American era.

In God We Trust motto

In October 1957, $1 silver certificates bearing the motto "In God We Trust" were first placed in circulation.

The suggestion to include the motto on U.S. paper currency was presented to the Secretary of the Treasury George W. Humphrey in November of 1953 by Matthew H. Rothert of Camden, Ark. Like the Baptist preacher who wrote to the secretary of the Treasury in 1861 suggesting mention of the Deity on U.S. coins, Rothert also directed his inquiry to the secretary of the Treasury. He followed through with letters to several senators and representatives and to his personal friend, Thomas Weeks, secretary of commerce.

Rothert's idea came to him while he was attending church on Sunday morning in Chicago. As the collection plate was passed, it occurred to him that only the coins in the plate had this motto. He then thought that since U.S. paper money has a much wider circulation abroad than U.S. coins, a message about the country's faith in God could be easily carried throughout the world if it were on United States paper currency.

The 84th Congress passed Public Law 140 and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law on July 11, 1955. The law provided, "At such times as new dies for the printing of currency are adopted in connection with the current program of the Treasury Department to increase the capacity of the presses utilized by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the dies shall bear, at such place or places as the secretary of the treasury may determine to be appropriate, the inscription 'In God We Trust,' and thereafter this inscription shall appear on all United States currency and coins."

The dollar sign

The origin of the $ sign has been variously accounted for, with perhaps the most widely accepted explanation being that it is the result of evolution, independently in different places, of the Mexican or Spanish "P's" for pesos, or piastres, or pieces of eight. The theory, derived from a study of old manuscripts, is that the "S" gradually came to be written over the "P," developing a close equivalent to the $ mark, which eventually evolved. It was widely used before the adoption of the United States dollar in 1785.