Collecting
Remainder
Remainder (billete sin firmar)
A remainder is a printed note that never circulated: it is typically missing one or both manuscript signatures, the completed year of the date, or the serial. It is leftover paper from a plate, bank, or issue that had already closed — the bank failed or merged, or the 10 percent tax on state-bank paper ended private issues in the United States — and half-signed sheets stayed in the treasury or the engraver’s archive. It is distinct from a specimen, marked SPECIMEN and often perforated, and from a proof or essay, a plate or colour test.
On United States obsolete notes (Haxby) it is the state most often seen in the market: a printed 18__ date, a blank No. box or a stock serial, and one signature or none. This collection publishes the State Bank at New Brunswick $1 (Haxby NJ-350 G16a), serial 9890 · B, manuscript cashier and blank president; the City Bank of New Haven $5 (Haxby CT-265 G52b), plate A, blank No., red FIVE protector; and the Canal Bank of New Orleans $50 (Haxby LA-105 G46a), plate D, red back, no serial. None is a National Bank Note after 1863.
A remainder is not confused with a countermark or a cancelled note: a remainder never circulated; a countermark revalidates paper that did. It is not chamber-of-commerce scrip either. Records document a missing serial with no_serial_reason when the box is empty; a number is not invented. The term links United States free banking, Haxby, and specimen, so that a Colombian ABNC proof 00000 is not read as a Connecticut remainder.
Examples in the collection
See also: Obsolete Bank Notes , Specimen , Proof / essay , Haxby catalog