Federal Reserve Bank Notes are

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that Standard of deferred payment, courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment in court for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything ...

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s in the United States that were issued between 1915 and 1934, together with

United States Note A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, is a type of Banknote, paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the United States. Having been current for 109 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper ...

s, Silver Certificates, Gold Certificates,

National Bank Note National Bank Notes were United States currency banknotes issued by national banks chartered by the United States Government. The notes were usually backed by United States bonds the bank deposited with the United States Treasury. In addition, ...

s and

Federal Reserve Note 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 Re ...

s. They were specified in the

Federal Reserve Act The Federal Reserve Act was passed by the 63rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. The law created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. After Dem ...

of 1913 and had the same value as other kinds of notes of the same denomination. Federal Reserve Bank Notes are different from Federal Reserve Notes in that they are backed by one of the twelve

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

Banks, rather than by all collectively. Federal Reserve Bank Notes were envisioned as a replacement for National Bank Notes, but that did not prove to be the case. They were backed in a similar way to National Bank Notes, using U.S. bonds, but issued by Federal Reserve banks instead of by chartered National banks. Federal Reserve Bank Notes are no longer issued; the only U.S. banknotes still in production since 1971 are the Federal Reserve Notes. Large size Federal Reserve Bank Notes were first issued in 1915 in denominations of , , and , using a design that shared elements with both the National Bank Notes and the Federal Reserve Notes of the time. Additional denominations of , , and were issued in 1918 as an emergency replacement for Silver Certificates, which were temporarily removed from circulation under the Pittman Act. Small size Federal Reserve Bank Notes were printed as an emergency issue in 1933 using the same paper stock as 1929 National Bank Notes. They were printed in denominations of through . The wording, "Or by like deposit of other securities" was added after the phrase, "Secured by United States bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States of America". This emergency issue of notes was prompted by the public hoarding of cash due to 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 have not been available from banks since 1945. As small size notes, they have brown seals and serial numbers, as do National Bank Notes of the era. But while they look very similar, and both have the words, "National Currency" across the top of the obverse, they had different issuers and are considered to be distinctly different types of bills.

Complete denomination type set of Federal Reserve Bank Notes

Large-size notes

Small-size notes

References

{{Federal Reserve System Banknotes of the United States

Bank Note A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commer ...

Currency lists Historical currencies of the United States Paper money of the United States