25 Cents Northborough Bank

Northborough Bank was a Massachusetts institution operating under the state's free banking framework, and fractional notes like this 25-cent piece were a practical response to the severe coin hoarding that swept New England in the early Civil War years. Silver disappeared from circulation almost overnight after 1861 as citizens anticipated currency instability, leaving merchants and small businesses scrambling for any workable substitute.

Ferd. Mayer & Co. handled a substantial volume of similar small-denomination scrip for regional banks during this period. The firm later reorganized and became better known under successive partnerships, but its 1862 output represents some of the more competently executed private bank printing from wartime New York.