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20 Dollars Federal Reserve Note, small portrait
| Issuer | Federal Reserve System |
|---|---|
| Year | 1928-1934 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of Andrew Jackson in an oval intaglio portrait frame, with green Treasury seal to the right and a green Federal Reserve Bank seal to the left. Two serial numbers appear in green — one at lower left and one at upper right — against a finely engraved guilloche underprint. The obligation text and issuing bank district designation are printed in black letterpress across the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A detailed intaglio vignette of the White House, rendered in green, occupies the central field, flanked by ornate guilloche cornerpieces each bearing the numeral '20' in oval frames at all four corners. The legend 'WHITE HOUSE' appears in a small cartouche directly below the architectural vignette, and 'TWENTY DOLLARS' is engraved in bold lettering along the lower margin above a fine lathe-work underprint. |
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| Comments |
The "small portrait" designation reflects the 1928 redesign that shrank U.S. currency from the large-format "horse blanket" notes to the dimensions used ever since — a Treasury Department cost-cutting measure that reduced paper consumption by roughly 30%. The change was not universally welcomed; older Americans accustomed to the larger notes for decades found the new size disorienting enough that counterfeiting concerns briefly spiked, with the public less certain what "real" money should look like.
The series spans a politically turbulent window: issued through the Depression, the 1933 banking holiday, and Roosevelt's Executive Order 6102 restricting gold redemption. Notes from the 1928B and 1928C dates are considerably scarcer than 1928A owing to lower print runs during the worst contraction years.