3 Dollars City Bank of Hartford - Connecticut

Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. was among the most technically accomplished bank note engravers operating in antebellum America, and their work for Connecticut state-chartered institutions in the early 1850s reflects that — fine lathe-work borders, tightly rendered vignettes, and the kind of geometric engine turning designed specifically to defeat contemporary counterfeiters. The City Bank of Hartford was chartered under Connecticut's general banking laws, which by 1854 required note-issuing banks to maintain specie reserves, a rule more honored in theory than in practice during periods of credit expansion.

The $3 denomination was a nuisance to counterfeiters precisely because it was odd enough to invite scrutiny from recipients.