2 Dollars Bank of America - Rhode Island

The Bank of America in Providence — not to be confused with its modern namesake — was a state-chartered institution operating in an era when hundreds of New England banks issued their own currency. Rhode Island had relatively stringent redemption laws compared to many states, which kept most of its circulating notes closer to face value than the heavily discounted paper flooding in from western wildcat banks during the same period.

The National Bank Note Company, active from the late 1850s, was among the more technically sophisticated security printers of the period. Their work on Rhode Island state bank issues preceded the firm's later consolidation into the American Bank Note Company in 1879.