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50 Cents 'Fractional Currency' - 3rd series
| Issuer | United States Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864-1869 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ACT APPROVED MARCH 3D 1863 ENG. & PRINT. AT THE TREASURY FURNISHED ONLY BY THE ASSISTANT TREASURERS AND DESIGNATED DEPOSITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. FIFTY CENTS RECEIVABLE FOR ALL UNITED STATES STAMPS. FRACTIONAL CURRENCY |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | UNITED 50 STATES THIS NOTE IS EXCHANGEABLE FOR UNITED STATES NOTES BY THE ASSISTANT TREASURERS AND DESIGNATED DEPOSITARIES OF THE UNITED STATES IN SUMS NOT LESS THAN THREE DOLLARS. RECEIVABLE IN PAYMENT OF ALL DUES TO THE UNITED STATES LESS THAN FIVE DOLLARS EXCEPT CUSTOMS. |
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| Comments |
The Third Issue Fractional Currency emerged from one of the stranger episodes in American monetary history: a wartime coin shortage so acute that the public was using postage stamps as small change. Congress formalized the practice briefly, then handed production to the newly established Bureau of Engraving and Printing — its earliest major contract, and one that shaped the BEP's institutional development for decades.
Two distinct 50-cent types account for the Pick split: one carries a perforated edge, the other does not. The perforation was abandoned mid-series after it proved both expensive and fragile in circulation. Surcharge varieties and fiber paper experiments complicate the picture further, making this one of the more technically involved series in U.S. small-denomination paper.