Series U S currency

A series of U.S. currency is a set that is designated with a year, and sometimes a letter to indicate a minor difference. Only certain years exist as series designations. This is because series years are modified only when a new design gets made. The year the bill is first circulated isn't always the same as the series year. For example, Series of 1882 gold certificates were being printed as late as 1927.

The first series date that was printed on a bill was 1869, printed on the United States Notes introduced in that year. Before that, the bill was identified only by the act authorising it. The most prevalent act was that of March 3rd, 1863. The serial number uniquely identified the bill, except for some issues that exceeded one million. For those, the serial number was reset, and an extra overprint of 'Series 1' was added. When one million more were made, 'Series 2' was used, and so on. 'Series 187' is the highest of this sort of identifier, on the United States Notes of 1863, of $5 denomination.

Other notes were identified by a date of issue, which was the date the bill was first circulated. Interest-bearing notes were carefully identified as to the date of issue, because they reached maturity a fixed amount of time later. Gold Certificates, issued upon the government receiving a deposit of gold, were dated by hand, and also the depositor was identified. Only the depositor could redeem an early gold certificate. Starting with the Series of 1882, Gold Certificates were made payable to the bearer.

National Bank Notes were given a date as well. However, this was not when the bill was first circulated, but rather when the bill was sent from the federal government to the issuing bank, which could then release it at its own convenience. National currency, issued and unissued, has a series date (corresponding to when the design was last changed) and a release date.

The first series printed by the Federal Reserve was Series 1914. It contained a $5 bill with Abraham Lincoln, a $10 bill with Andrew Jackson, and a $20 bill with Grover Cleveland, all of which were large-sized notes.

The next series was Series 1918, which had large-sized notes in denominations from $50 to $10,000. The portraits were the same as the ones mentioned in United States dollar with one exception; the $1000 bill had Alexander Hamilton.

The next series was Series 1928, which was the first to have small-sized notes. All the portraits were now the same as those in the United States dollar page.

For the next 70 years, there were more series with various changes. For Series 1996, 1999, and 2001, all denominations except the $1 and $2 bills had a new appearance to prevent counterfeiting.

For Series 2004, the same bills will get another new appearance to stop counterfeiting. The Series 2004 $20 bill is already in circulation and the Series 2004 U.S. fifty dollar bill will be in circulation in the fall of 2004.

At least since standardizing on the small-sized notes, the most common reason for a new series is because there is a new United States Treasurer, and/or a new United States Secretary of the Treasury, and the signature(s) on the bill need to be updated. A letter (for example, series 1988A) implies a "minor change", while a new year is a "major change". Over the years, these two definitions have varied to the point where making sense of them is impossible.

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