Walk into any major currency auction today and you will find plenty of Legal Tender notes, Silver Certificates, and Federal Reserve Notes commanding strong prices. But push further back, past the Civil War era greenbacks, past even the obsolete state bank issues, and you arrive at something far more consequential: the banknotes of the First and Second Banks of the United States. These were not mere local currency experiments. They were the official paper money of the federal government before the federal government truly understood what that meant, issued by institutions whose political battles still echo in American economic policy today. For collectors willing to explore this territory, the rewards, both historical and monetary, are extraordinary.
Hamilton’s Vision: The First Bank of the United States (1791 to 1811)
Alexander Hamilton proposed the First Bank of the United States in December 1790 as part of his broader financial plan to stabilize the new republic’s chaotic monetary landscape. The country was drowning in depreciated Continental Currency, unpaid Revolutionary War debts, and a patchwork of state-chartered bank notes of wildly varying reliability. Congress chartered the bank on February 25, 1791, with a capitalization of $10 million, making it by far the largest corporation in North America at the time. The federal government held $2 million of that capital, with the remaining $8 million open to private subscription.
The bank’s home office opened in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, later moving to a purpose-built building on Third Street that still stands today as a National Historic Landmark. Eight branch offices eventually operated in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, each authorized to issue notes redeemable at par in specie.
The notes themselves were engraved documents of considerable sophistication for the era. Denominations ran from $5 to $1,000, and notes were printed on rag paper with hand-signed signatures by the cashier and president of the issuing branch. The $5 and $10 notes circulated most widely among ordinary commerce, while the $500 and $1,000 notes served primarily interbank settlement and large merchant transactions. Each note bore a handwritten date, sequential serial number, and the branch designation, creating a documentary trail that numismatists rely on today to authenticate surviving examples.
When evaluating any purported First or Second Bank note, always request a letter of opinion from a recognized specialist such as the Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) grading service or a dealer who is a member of the Professional Currency Dealers Association (PCDA). Forgeries and clever facsimiles printed in the mid-19th century for souvenir purposes are far more common than genuine surviving examples.
What the Notes Looked Like: Design and Printing
First Bank notes were utilitarian by design. The engraving work was handled largely by local Philadelphia craftsmen, with some work attributed to the firm of Murray, Draper, Fairman and Company, which would later become prominent in early US security printing. Vignettes on the notes typically featured allegorical female figures, American eagles, and simple geometric lathe work intended to deter counterfeiting, though by modern standards the anti-counterfeiting measures were modest at best.
The notes were not legal tender in the strict modern sense. They were obligations of the bank, redeemable on demand in gold or silver coin. This distinction matters enormously for collectors and historians alike: the First and Second Bank notes occupy a legal gray zone between private banknote and government currency, which is precisely why they are cataloged separately from both obsolete state bank notes and later federal issues.
In the Haxby catalog of obsolete American currency (James A. Haxby’s Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes, 1782 to 1866), First Bank issues appear under Pennsylvania listings as Philadelphia branch notes. The catalog assigns Haxby numbers PA-690 series designations to surviving plate varieties. Second Bank notes similarly appear under their respective branch state listings. Because so few notes survive, catalog values listed even in the most recent editions represent auction realizations rather than reliable retail price guides.
Political Controversy and the Bank’s Death in 1811
The First Bank’s charter expired on March 4, 1811, and Congress refused to renew it by a single vote in the Senate, with Vice President George Clinton casting the tie-breaking vote against renewal. The opposition was a coalition of Jeffersonian Republicans who believed a powerful central bank was unconstitutional, state-chartered banks who resented the competition, and agrarian interests suspicious of eastern financial power. The bank wound down its operations in an orderly fashion, redeeming outstanding notes in specie and liquidating its loan portfolios.
The timing proved disastrous. The War of 1812 began the following year, and without a central bank to manage government finance, the Treasury struggled enormously to fund military operations. Inflation surged, state bank notes depreciated sharply, and by 1814 the British had burned Washington and the US government briefly suspended specie payments. The lesson was not lost on Congress.
First Bank of the United States notes that can be traced to a specific branch through the handwritten branch designation and cashier signature carry a significant premium over examples where provenance is unclear. Boston and New Orleans branch notes are particularly rare because those offices had smaller note circulation volumes. Document any provenance carefully: auction records going back to the late 19th century sales by dealers like Edouard Frossard can meaningfully support attribution.
The Second Bank of the United States (1816 to 1836)
President James Madison, once a fierce opponent of the First Bank, signed the charter for the Second Bank of the United States on April 10, 1816. The new institution was substantially larger, capitalized at $35 million, with the federal government again holding one-fifth of the shares. Nicholas Biddle assumed the presidency of the bank in 1823 and transformed it into a genuinely effective central bank, using its branch network of 29 offices to regulate state bank note issuance, maintain specie reserves, and provide a reasonably uniform national currency.
The Second Bank’s notes were more elaborate than their predecessors. By the 1820s, engraving technology had advanced considerably, and the bank contracted with the firm of Tanner, Kearny and Tiebout, and later with the American Bank Note Company’s predecessors, for notes featuring detailed portrait vignettes, intricate geometric borders, and more sophisticated lathe work. Denominations issued included $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 notes, with the lower denominations circulating widely in everyday commerce across all 29 branch cities.
The branch network produced notes with distinct local characteristics. The New Orleans branch, operating in the commercial heart of the Mississippi River trade, circulated substantial quantities of $5 and $10 notes bearing the distinctive “New Orleans” branch designation and the signatures of that branch’s cashier and president. Notes from the branch at Cincinnati reflect the rapid commercial growth of the Ohio River Valley economy. Each branch designation represents a distinct collecting variety today.
The Bank War and Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson’s vendetta against the Second Bank is one of the most dramatic episodes in American financial history. Jackson viewed the bank as an unconstitutional monopoly serving wealthy eastern and foreign interests at the expense of ordinary Americans. When Congress passed a recharter bill in 1832, four years before the charter was due to expire, Jackson vetoed it in a message that became a landmark of American populist rhetoric. He then ordered the removal of federal deposits from the bank in 1833, distributing them among dozens of state-chartered banks his opponents derisively called “pet banks.”
Biddle retaliated by sharply contracting the bank’s credit, triggering a brief but painful financial contraction. The political battle raged through the mid-1830s, but Jackson prevailed. The Second Bank’s federal charter expired on March 3, 1836. Biddle immediately obtained a Pennsylvania state charter and continued operating as the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania until it failed catastrophically in 1841, wiping out its shareholders and leaving behind unpaid notes that collectors still occasionally encounter today. These Pennsylvania-chartered successor bank notes are distinct from the federally chartered Second Bank issues and generally command lower prices, though they are still significant historical artifacts.
Do not confuse Second Bank of the United States notes (federally chartered, 1816 to 1836) with notes from the successor Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania (state chartered, 1836 to 1841). The Pennsylvania-chartered successor institution’s notes are cataloged under Pennsylvania obsolete issues and, while historically interesting, do not carry the same numismatic significance or collector premiums as the genuine federal-era issues.
Surviving Notes: What Collectors Actually Encounter
The total population of authenticated surviving notes from both banks is estimated at fewer than 150 examples, making these among the rarest collectible American currency items in existence. Most known survivors reside in institutional collections: the Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection holds several examples, the American Antiquarian Society has a small holding, and a handful of major university libraries retain examples received as gifts or bequests from 19th-century donors.
When genuine notes do appear at public auction, the results are remarkable. A PMG-graded Very Fine 25 example of a Second Bank $10 note from the Philadelphia branch sold at a 2019 Stack’s Bowers auction for $31,200, more than doubling pre-sale estimates. A Fine 12 example of a First Bank $5 note from the Boston branch realized $18,750 at a Heritage Auctions sale in 2021. Lower-grade examples with honest wear, pinholes from being posted in ledger books, and period ink notations still regularly exceed $10,000 when authenticated.
Fragments and partial notes also trade, particularly if they retain enough text and design elements for positive attribution. These “remnants” as they are called in the trade, typically realize 20 to 40 percent of the price of comparable complete notes. They serve as study pieces and budget entry points for collectors who want genuine early American banking history in their collections without spending five figures.
Grading Considerations for Early Bank Notes
Grading these notes requires understanding their original use context. First and Second Bank notes were commercial instruments that circulated actively in daily trade. A note that grades Very Good 10 today may have passed through dozens of hands, folded and refolded into coat pockets, pinned into store ledgers, or bundled in merchant cash boxes. The paper quality of genuine examples is a critical authentication point: period notes were printed on handmade rag paper with a characteristic texture and weight quite different from later machine-made paper stocks.
PMG and PCGS Currency both authenticate and grade these notes when submitted with appropriate research documentation. Third-party authentication is essentially mandatory for any serious purchase given the value levels involved and the existence of period facsimiles. The grading services also note significant details like manuscript signatures, date notations, and branch designations in their certification descriptions, which significantly affects marketability.
| Institution / Branch | Denomination | Est. Survivors | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Bank, Philadelphia | $5 | 8 to 12 known | Rare |
| First Bank, Boston | $5 and $10 | 3 to 5 known | Key Date |
| First Bank, New York | $10 | 4 to 6 known | Key Date |
| First Bank, New Orleans | $5 | 1 to 2 known | Key Date |
| Second Bank, Philadelphia | $10 | 15 to 20 known | Rare |
| Second Bank, New Orleans | $5 and $10 | 10 to 14 known | Rare |
| Second Bank, Cincinnati | $20 | 5 to 7 known | Key Date |
| Second Bank, Philadelphia | $500 and $1,000 | 2 to 3 known | Key Date |
| Bank of US of Pennsylvania (successor) | $5 | 40 to 60 known | Scarce |
| Period Facsimiles (non-genuine) | Various | Numerous | Common |
Building a Collection: Practical Advice
For most collectors, acquiring a genuine First or Second Bank note is a once-in-a-collecting-lifetime event requiring significant financial commitment and careful research. But there are entry points at every budget level for those interested in this era of American monetary history.
At the most accessible level, contemporary counterfeits of First and Second Bank notes, produced by actual counterfeiters during the banks’ operating years, are themselves historically significant and considerably more available than genuine notes. A well-documented period counterfeit can be acquired for $500 to $2,000 depending on condition, and these notes are legitimate artifacts of the early American monetary ecosystem. They must be clearly described as counterfeits in any sale, but their historical interest is genuine and substantial.
The successor Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania notes, while not federal issues, provide a tangible connection to the same institution and many of the same personnel. These notes are cataloged in Haxby as PA-1960 series and appear with some regularity in obsolete currency auctions. Fine to Very Fine examples in the $5 denomination trade in the $800 to $2,500 range, making them a meaningful but not impossibly expensive collecting goal.
Published reference materials are essential companions for serious collectors in this area. Eric P. Newman’s research on early American banking paper, published across several decades in the Journal of the Early Republic and in specialized numismatic journals, remains indispensable. The Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes by James Haxby, while now somewhat dated in its pricing, remains the definitive structural reference for cataloging these issues. Wendell Wolka’s work on obsolete paper money authentication provides practical guidance for evaluating specific notes.
The Broader Legacy for Currency Collectors
The failure of both Banks of the United States left a monetary vacuum that state-chartered banks rushed to fill with their own note issues through the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, producing the vast and colorful world of obsolete American banknotes that today forms one of the most popular and accessible areas of currency collecting. In a very real sense, understanding the First and Second Banks is understanding the origin story of American paper money collecting itself.
When the National Banking Act of 1863 finally created a uniform national currency, it was in direct response to the chaos that followed the demise of the Second Bank. The designers of the National Bank Note system were explicitly trying to recreate the monetary stability that Biddle’s Second Bank had achieved at its height, but through a decentralized network of nationally chartered private banks rather than a single central institution. That lineage runs directly forward to the Federal Reserve System established in 1913, giving these early bank notes a direct genealogical connection to the Federal Reserve Notes in your wallet today.
Collecting these notes is not merely a financial pursuit. It is engagement with the founding arguments of American democracy, played out on pieces of paper small enough to fold and carry in a pocket. Few artifacts in any collecting field carry that weight.
