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5 Dollars Federal Reserve Note, Brown Seal - Hawaii
| Issuer | Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Year | 1934 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Bureau of Engraving and Printing |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on white cotton paper with brown serial numbers and brown Treasury seal to the right. A portrait vignette of Abraham Lincoln occupies the center, flanked on the left by the Federal Reserve Bank seal and Treasurer's signature, and on the right by the Secretary of the Treasury's signature. The word HAWAII appears as a black overprint at the far left and right margins, serving as a wartime emergency identification measure. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FIVE DOLLARS |
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| Comments |
The Hawaii overprint series was authorized following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The logic was straightforward and cold: if Japanese forces invaded and seized U.S. currency stocks, Washington needed a mechanism to declare those specific notes invalid. The brown seal and "HAWAII" overprints on both faces — applied to pre-existing Federal Reserve inventory, including notes printed as early as the 1934 series — created a geographically demonetizable supply. Military and civilian personnel in the islands were required to exchange their regular currency for the overprinted version.
The 1934A series is considerably more common than the 1934; fewer of the latter were overprinted and released into Hawaiian circulation.