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3 Dollars New England Commercial Bank - Rhode Island
| Issuer | New England Commercial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1850-1860 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 3 Dollars (3 USD) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Overprint |
| Protection description | Green letterpress denomination overprint (THREE) applied to the reverse as a counterfeit deterrent |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The New England Commercial Bank operated out of Newport, Rhode Island, and like most small New England state banks of this period, existed within a system that actively encouraged note proliferation. By 1860, there were over 1,500 state-chartered banks in the United States each issuing their own paper, creating a circulation nightmare for merchants trying to discount unfamiliar notes. A Newport-issued three-dollar bill would have traded at a fraction of face value in Boston, let alone further west.
The Haxby G60a designation places this among the genuinely issued — as opposed to altered, spurious, or remainder — notes of the series. The overprint security feature was a modest hedge against counterfeiting, common among smaller Rhode Island issuers who lacked the budget for more elaborate intaglio work.