NOTOFILIA Numismatics and Notaphily
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Vintage map of the United States on parchment showing the twelve Federal Reserve districts, a 1914 ten-dollar note, a passport, and a 1913 postage stamp

Virtual collection

1782–1866

Obsolete notes

After the Constitution, everyday paper did not come from a central bank: it came from state-chartered banks, canal companies, and other local houses. Thousands of plates — often engraved in New York or Philadelphia — circulated with uneven convertibility. Collectors call that paper obsolete notes or broken banknotes. James A. Haxby numbers it by state, bank, and plate variety.

It is not federal paper after 1861, nor the Confederate grayback: Demand Notes, United States Notes, Fractional Currency, gold and silver certificates, and National Bank Notes have chapters of their own. In this case the object is state paper. The $1 remainder of the State Bank at New Brunswick, serial 9890 · B; the $5 remainder of the City Bank of New Haven, Haxby CT-265 G52b, plate A, with no serial; and the $50 remainder of the Canal Bank of New Orleans, Haxby LA-105 G46a, plate D, with no serial and the red “Redback” reverse, already have note pages.

State banks and broken banknotes

The First Bank of the United States (1791) was only the first of many. Howard Bodenhorn describes an antebellum system in which each state set charters, reserves, and branches in its own way. Louisiana distinguished commercial banks, property banks, and improvement banks: the Canal Bank of New Orleans paid for its charter by digging the New Basin Canal. In New Jersey the act of 28 January 1812 authorized six State Banks; New Brunswick is one of them.

Trust was sought in the engraving. The National Bank Note Company, the American Bank Note Company, and Toppan, Carpenter — later Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. — filled the face with allegories, harbors, locomotives, and color protectors. The vignette was institutional propaganda and, at the same time, an obstacle for the counterfeiter: the same device that appears on the three records in this case.

When the bank could not pay in coin, the paper stopped being money. That is the source of the nickname broken banknote. Not every bank “broke” in the sense of failure: the 10 percent tax and the nationalizations also left unsigned sheets. The remainders in this case — an 18__ date, one signature or none, a blank or stock serial — are that leftover plate, not a circulating census.

The 10 percent tax and the National Banking Act

The American Numismatic Society places the end of that plurality in the Civil War. The National Banking Act of 1863 — and that of 1864 — authorized federally chartered banks to issue National Bank Notes secured by Treasury bonds. A 10 percent tax on private paper, in force in 1865–1866, made state issue ruinous. The federal successor of this paper is the National Bank Note, in its own chapter. This collection does not yet hold a documented one.

Anyone looking for greenbacks, shinplasters, or gold and silver certificates should open those chapters of the United States case. A Haxby number is not a Friedberg number: the first catalogues state paper; the second, federal paper.

How to read an obsolete note

Five marks that recur on the three records and on almost all Haxby paper in this case:

  • Haxby. The number runs by state, bank, and variety (NJ-350 G16a, CT-265 G52b, LA-105 G46a). A Pick number or a year does not identify the object.
  • Remainder. A printed 18__ date, a blank No. box or a stock serial, and one signature or none. Distinct from a specimen and from a proof.
  • Plate. The letter (A, B, D) marks the position on the sheet. It is read; it is not invented.
  • Imprint. NBNC, Toppan, Carpenter, or ABNCo. The green back of the New Brunswick note is NBNC’s, not a National Bank Note of that town.
  • Serial. When it can be read, it is the identity of the piece. When the box is blank, the record says so and does not fabricate a number.

Notes in the collection

Each record describes a physical object. A Haxby number or a year does not identify the specimen: the serial does, when it can be read, or the fingerprint — bank, type, plate — when the box was left blank.

  1. $1 · State Bank at New Brunswick · Haxby NJ-350 G16a · N#334975 · Serial 9890 · B · Remainder
  2. $5 · City Bank of New Haven · Haxby CT-265 G52b · Plate A · Serial — · Remainder
  3. $50 · Canal Bank, New Orleans · Haxby LA-105 G46a · N#206863 · Plate D · Serial — · Redback · Remainder
  1. Face of the $1 remainder, Haxby NJ-350 G16a, serial 9890, plate B: locomotive, agricultural allegory, and the red serial.

    $1 · State Bank at New Brunswick

    Cat. Haxby NJ-350 G16a · N#334975 · Serial 9890 · B

    Open the note page →
  2. Face of the $5 remainder, Haxby CT-265 G52b, plate A: harbor with a sidewheel steamer, red FIVE protector, and a blank No.

    $5 · City Bank of New Haven

    Cat. Haxby CT-265 G52b · Serial —

    Open the note page →
  3. Face of the $50 remainder, Haxby LA-105 G46a, plate D: Andrew Jackson and Captain James Lawrence in the corners, the allegory of the 50 at center, and the CANAL BANK title.

    $50 · Canal Bank, New Orleans

    Cat. Haxby LA-105 G46a · N#206863 · Serial —

    Open the note page →

Three note pages, remainders from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Louisiana. The Citizens Bank of Louisiana and the Hagerstown Bank of Maryland belong in this case; they wait for a serial or a certificate before a note page is opened. Last updated: 13 September 2026.

References and condition

Haxby refers to the Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes. N# is the Numista type number, written out once here beside each record that carries one. Friedberg numbers federal paper, not this class.

The three pieces are described as remainders, in a sleeve and unslabbed. Condition is noted descriptively, not numerically. This page does not republish price columns or auction figures.

In the collection

Links

Back to the United States collection