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15 Cents 'Fractional Currency' - 4th series
| Issuer | United States Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1863 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio vignette of a bust of Columbia at left, wearing a laurel wreath and crown, printed in black on a red guilloche underprint bearing the large numeral '15' at right. The denomination 'Fifteen Cents' appears in bold script across the centre, with the text 'United States' above in decorative lettering. Facsimile signatures of the Register and Treasurer appear at lower centre, with the printer's imprint along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THIS NOTE IS EXCHANGEABLE FOR UNITED STATES NOTES BY THE ASST. TREASURERS AND DESIGNATED DE- POSITORS of the UNITED STATES IN SUMS NOT LESS THAN THREE DOLLARS RECEIVABLE IN PAYMENT OF ALL DUES of the UNITED STATES, LESS THAN FIVE DOLLARS, EXCEPT CUSTOMS AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. N.Y. |
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| Comments |
Fractional currency was a wartime improvisation. The hoarding of coins after 1861 — silver and gold vanishing almost immediately from circulation as metal premiums spiked — left the Union with no practical means of making change. The 4th series, introduced in 1869, was itself a corrective measure: earlier issues had proven easy to counterfeit, and the Treasury added a Treasury seal and reworked the intaglio work accordingly.
The National Bank Note Company's involvement reflected the same security contracting logic driving the period's larger currency reforms. Spinner's flamboyant signature — a deliberate anti-counterfeiting flourish he cultivated over decades — appears on this note as it does across the fractional series.