Glossary of Currency Terms

Glossary of Terms

Here are some terms used in collecting US currency. If we missed anything, let us know.

Allegory: Many of the vignettes on US currency are allegorical references to other things.
The Following List (although Incomplete) describes some of the Allegorical References.

$5.00 Demand Note Series 1861 - Vignette to left represents "Freedom".

$10.00 Demand Note Series 1861 - Vignette to right represents "Art".

$1.00 Silver Certificate Series 1896 - Face Design of Woman and Child represents "History Instructing Youth".

$2.00 Silver Certificate Series 1896 - The Portrait of George Washington sits between the figures representing "Mechanics" on the left and "Agriculture" on the right.

$5.00 Silver Certificate Series 1896 - Face Design represents "Electricy as the Dominant Force in the World".
Block: A block refers to one of the hundred million potential notes printed with the same serial number suffix and prefix letters. So, if a note is printed with a serial number of G23718976B, it is said to be of the "G-B" block.
Broken Bank Note: Back in the bad old days, when banks issued currency, it was fairly common for a bank to go out of business, either by ill fortune or fraud, leaving the currency they issued worthless.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP): The government agency in charge of printing our money and postage stamps, and many of the other official looking value bearing government documents with all sorts of frilly bits a over them. Prior to its creation, our money was often printed by private companies, such as the American Banknote Company or National Banknote Company. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, or BEP, started printing money in 1877. By 1910, it had assumed responsibility for printing all US currency.
Changeover Pair: When a letter is appended to a series year, probably in response to a change in the signatures, the serial numbering is not reset to A00000001A, but is instead continued from the previous note. Thus, we may see a Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate, serial number H15982026A followed by a Series 1928A $1 Silver Certificate, serial number H15982027A. This is a "changeover pair," in that it represents the change in the series of the note. It may surprise the non-collector that there can actually be many such changeover pairs for a given pair of series, as the assignment of serial numbers hasn't always been absolutely sequential, and because some older plates were known to have been used, even when a newer series was current. For this reason, there are also "reverse changeover pairs," in which the higher serial numbered note is of an older series than the note it "follows."
Check Number: A number indicating the plate number used to print the note. This can be found inside the artwork border, on the lower right of both the face and reverse of the note. The front check number is usually prefixed by the plate position letter as well. There is no relationship between the plate numbers on the face and reverse, and little relationship between the plate numbers of notes with sequential serial numbers. Occasionally, notes printed with a particular plate will be considered to be more valuable than similar type notes.
Demand Note: One of the first types of currency issued by the United States Government. See the page devoted to this currency type.
District Set: A collection of notes of a particular denomination of series that contains one example from each of the 12 federal reserve districts. If not all the federal reserve districts issued that particular denomination/series, then a district set consists of a collection of all that did.
E. Pluribus Unum: Latin phrase translated as "Out of Many, One." referring to the thirteen colonies uniting into a single nation.
Educational Note: Educational notes were a series of Silver Certificates issued at the end of the 19^th century. These notes came in $1.00, $2.00 and $5.00 denominations, and had very intricate artwork, depicting historic themes. The $1.00 note depicted a woman and child, intended to be history instructing youth. The $2.00 notes depicted more scantily clad women and children, this time science presenting steam and electricity to industry and commerce. The $5.00 note depicted more scantily clad women, ok, one almost completely naked, representing electricity as the dominant force in the world. The presence of the naked ladies made them a bit controversial, and they were allegedly discontinued because the public felt that their money shouldn't look like racy French playing cards.
Error Note: A note with a printing error, ink smudge, or some other major imperfection. While the Bureau of Engraving and Printing inspects its output for such errors, mistakes often slip through. After all, they do print a lot of money. Error notes can be quite valuable, depending on the nature and rarity of the error. Some collectors specialize in error notes.
Experimental Note: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is seemingly always horsing around with the printing process and the paper content. The term "experimental note" generally refers to tests conducted by the BEP to see how well different paper formulations work. They'll release these experimental notes in circulation, and see what sort of shape they're in when they're returned (and how quickly they wear out).; The easiest experimental notes to identify were among the Series 1935A $1.00 Silver Certificates, released to circulation in June, 1944. These notes had either a red "R" (for "regular"?) or red "S" (for "special"?) printed in the lower right of the face. Apparently, people found these so interesting that few stayed in circulation for very long. Not surprisingly, most of the other runs of experimental notes aren't so obvious. These include $1.00 Silver Certificates in series 1928A and 1928B (XB, YB and ZB blocks) and in Series 1935 (AB, CC and CB blocks).; A more recent test was conducted in 1981 on series 1977A $1.00 and $10.00 Federal Reserve Notes. These are identifiable by serial number.
Federal Reserve Bank Note: A type of note issued by one of the Federal Reserve Banks. See the page dedicated to this type of note.
Federal Reserve Note: A type of note issued by the U.S. Government, released into circulation by one of the Federal Reserve Banks. See the page dedicated to this type of note.
Fractional Currency: This refers to notes issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents during the Civil War. Apparently, coin was getting scarce, although it's unclear whether this was because the metals were needed for armaments, or if people were just hoarding what coin there was.
Gold Certificate: A note backed by and redeemable in gold - but not anymore. See the page dedicated to gold certificates.
Hawaii Note: Like North Africa Notes, Hawaii notes were a special currency restricted to the islands, as a way to ensure that US money wouldn't fall into enemy hands should the Hawaiian Islands be lost. These notes were easily identifiable with the treasury seals and serial numbers printed in brown ink, with the word "HAWAII" overprinted on both the reverse and face. Currency not marked in this manner was prohibited from circulation in Hawaii until October, 1944.
Horse Blanket: Slang for a large size note.
Large Size Note: Older US currency that was physically larger than the current size of US paper money. It measured 3.125" x 7.4218". If this doesn't mean much to you, think of the size of an old IBM punch card. This is no coincidence: back in the 1890s, when Mr. Hollerith was busy creating a new system for the national census, he figured he'd make his punched cards the same size as US currency, working under the assumption that it would be easier to find things to fit pieces of paper that size.
Mule: Once upon a time, someone decided the check numbers on small size currency were too small to read (my aging eyes would tend to agree). Back in those bad old days, the check numbers were printed in a font 0.6mm tall. A decision was made in 1938 to change the digits to something a little larger (1mm). This was actually cause for a change in the series designation, as it constituted a change in the face design of the note. Of course, the face and reverse aren't printed on the same day (or week, or possibly month or year), so it was inevitable that some notes would be printed with one size check number on one side, and the other size on the other. These notes are called "mules" by collectors.; The existence of mules just adds to the number of types of currency: in addition to there being, for instance, a Series 1935 $1 Note and Series 1935A $1 Note, there are also Series 1935 Mules (large number on back, small on front), and Series 1935A Mules (large number on front, small on back). Being a mule doesn't necessarily make the note more valuable than its non-mule counterpart (although some definitely are), as there were lots of mules printed.; More recent "mules" have been reported, due to similar, but much less obvious changes.
National Bank Note: Currency issued by your neighborhood national bank.
North Africa Note: North Africa Notes were a special issue of Silver Certificates (in $1.00, $5.00 and $10.00 denominations), to be used by the American troops in North Africa and Sicily during the US's initial involvement in the war. These are readily identifiable, as they're Silver Certificates printed with yellow treasury seals (rather than the blue treasury seal characteristic of silver certificates of the era). This was done to protect the money supply in the event that the bad guys got hold of all that currency; it could be easily identified (and disavowed) if necessary.
Plate Position Letter: Normally found inside the artwork border, in the upper left corner of the face of the note, this letter, or letter number combination designates what position the note occupied on the sheet on which it was printed. This designation can be either a single letter (A through R), or a letter (A through H) and a number (1 through 4). In the case of currency printed since the Series 1957 $1 notes, expect to see the letter/number combo. The exception to this can be found with a "Web Note," which has no plate position designation, owing in part to the fact that it was printed on a continuous sheet.
Radar Note: A note with a palindromic serial number (that is, a serial number that's the same, forward and backward), prefix and suffix letters excluded.
Repeater: A note with a serial number composed of repeated blocks of digits, such as "12341234."
Series: A note's "Series" is not an indication of the year of printing, but the year in which the face design was authorized. Often, a change in series on a note is due to minor changes, such as a change in the signatures of the Treasurer of the United States, or the Secretary of the Treasury. Such a change in series would involve either increasing the suffix letter (changing from "Series 1963A" to "Series 1963B"), or changing the series year (from "Series 1988A" to "Series 1993").; Because people often misconstrue the meaning of the series, we often end up with urban legends, such as the claims that the new $20 notes were being recalled due to an erroneous series year of 1996. In truth, this design for the $20 note was authorized in 1996, so it (correctly) carries the series designation of that year.
Serial Number: This probably doesn't even need defining, but... The serial number is the unique identifier number of the note. On small size notes, this will be at least 8 digits, prefixed and suffixed by letters (or a star). The serial number uniquely identifies the note within the note's series designation. On the newer (Series 1996 and above) $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes, an additional prefix letter has been added to uniquely identify the note across all series. On large size notes, the serial number isn't nearly as regularized, but it's the same general idea.
Small Size Note: The current physical size for US paper money - 2.61" x 6.14" (x .0043"). This term does not refer to the denomination of the note. All US currency printed since Series 1928 has been small sized.
Star Note: A "replacement note." If a note has been found to have been misprinted before it leaves the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, it is replaced by a note with a special serial number. In this case, the serial number contains an Star ("*") in place of one of the letters in the serial number (exactly which letter depends on what type of note it is). Star Notes often have a higher value than a similar, non-replacement note, simply because Star Notes are less common.
Web Note: A $1.00 Federal Reserve Note printed on an experimental "Web Press," which printed on a continuous roll of paper. This experiment was apparently a disaster, yielding far too many errors. "Web Notes" were printed in Series 1988A, 1993 and 1995. They are easily identified by the lack of a plate position letter or number, normally found on the upper left side of the face of the note. Web Notes have been extremely popular with collectors of late.
Wide, Wide I, Wide II: Refers to some extremely subtle changes made in the design to the reverse of some notes.