1 Dollar New England Commercial Bank - Rhode Island

The New England Commercial Bank operated out of Newport, Rhode Island, and this note falls within the period when Rhode Island's banking laws were notoriously lax — the state had chartered so many institutions by mid-century that the sheer volume of circulating paper made note authentication a practical impossibility for ordinary commerce. Counterfeiters thrived in exactly this environment.

The New England Bank Note Co. of Boston printed for dozens of New England institutions during this period, which meant that engraved elements were routinely shared across unrelated issuers — a cost-saving measure that ironically made forgery detection harder, not easier.