3 Cents 'Fractional Currency' - 3rd series

The Fractional Currency program was a direct response to coin hoarding that began almost immediately after Fort Sumter. By mid-1862, specie had vanished from everyday commerce — people were using postage stamps as small change until the gum made them unmanageable. The 3-cent denomination tracked the contemporary 3-cent postage rate and the copper-nickel 3-cent coin it was effectively replacing in transactions.

Third Series notes were printed on paper with pink fibers embedded as a rudimentary anti-counterfeiting measure — a response to the embarrassingly successful forgeries that had plagued the First and Second Series. The Bureau also added a red Treasury seal to this series specifically because of that counterfeiting problem.