Why does it have the date May 18, 1914 next to where it says Series of 1918? How many of these were made and how rare are they really? Are the prices so high just because they're popular, or actually rare? Anybody know the story on why they were created? Was it somewhat of a novelty or did somebody really think we needed a $2 bill? Were they only made in 1918?
Considering that we still make $2 bills today I don't really see it being a novelty. But I know that design is pretty popular. Probably why it's worth so much
The $2 Bill was made out of necessity and it's production and release began at the same time as the first $1 note. As far as how many were made of the Federal Reserve Notes (Battleship), none of my references give that info, but production lasted for several years and through several changes at the BEP and issuing banks, evidenced by the many different signature combinations.
Did a little research. The date of May 18, 1914, was the date that the Federal Reserve District Banks were Incorporated after the signing of the Federal Reserve Act by Woodrow Wilson in December of 1913. The Federal Reserve Bank Note was also appoved, and could only be issued by the Federal District Banks. The $5, $10 and $20 were first issued in 1915 and bear the 1915 series, The $1, $2 and $50 were first issued in 1918 and bear the 1918 series.
This exact question was coincidentally posed over on Collector's Universe this weekend. Here's the link which also includes a discussion of which battleship actually appears on the back of the FRBN deuce: https://forums.collectors.com/messageview.aspx?catid=23&threadid=969861&enterthread=y In the early 1860s, $2 US Notes and NBNs were included as the Treasury took a more active role in substituting federal currency for state chartered banknotes. By WWI deuces had also appeared as silver certificates and treasury notes so it was natural that they were included in the authorization of FRBNs in 1913. The history of FRBNs is dealt with fairly completely in the Hessler-Chambliss "Comphrensive Catalog," but to summarize: FRBNs are different than "regular" FRNs in that they are essentially national bank notes (NBN) but issued by and being an obligation of a specific FR bank. They were initially contemplated to be substituted for NBNs but this didn't really pan out and the last issue (small size) was during the Depression. Most of the large size FRBNs were issued following the passage of the Pittman Act in 1918 (hence the 1918 series date) which authorized the melting of 370 silver dollars held by the Treasury and sale of the silver aboard following a rise in silver prices. These silver dollars had been securing silver certificates which then needed to be withdrawn. Per Hessler-Chambliss, the FRBNs were then issued as the silver certs were withdrawn (i.e., a $1 FRBN for a $1 SC, $2 FRBN for a $2 SC, etc) and continued in active circulation until silver prices dropped in 1921 when silver dollars were again minted in large quantities (1921 morgan for example) to permit the renewed issue of, especially lower denomination, silver certificates. Most of the SCs withdrawn were $5 or less so the issue of FRBNs included nearly 479 million $1s, 67.6 million $2s and about $24 million $5s (the exact number is disputed and includes the 1915 series). $10 - $50 FRBNs totaled less than 2.2 million, the bulk of which were $10s. In terms of the deuces, the largest issues were from NY (15.2 M) and Boston (12.5 M); the lowest Dallas (1.2 M) and Minneapolis (1.5 M). Specific #s by type within each district do not seem to exist, but have been estimated in the H-C catalog. Probably more than you wanted but hope this helps explain what the FRBNs were all about (my favorite series of federal currency btw). PS, the SF FRBNs carry a May 20, 1914 date. I think all of the others carry the May 18. PPS, for $5, $10 and $20, both series of 1915 and 1918 were printed, but not for every district. St Louis, for instance, only issued series of 1918 notes but in all denominations. By contrast, Kansas City only issued series of 1915 $10 and $20s.
Thanks for the link to CU and the write-up. Very cool that the ship is anchored in Houston. I figured it would be been scrapped or used for target practice by now.
YW. Altho my collecting focus is primarily STL metro NBNs and related items, large FRBNs are my favorite type of currency, bridging the gap between NBNs and state chartered currency on the one hand and the "modern" central bank type currency we use today. Even their designs blend the two worlds: the faces recall nationals while the backs are basically lifted from the contemporary FRNs. What fun!
I'm not sure how much of the price is due to popularity versus rarity. All I can say is that I want one but they are over my budget, probably because lots of other people want one too
The Pittman Act's intent was to give the Treasury the authority to melt silver dollars and ship the bullion to the Raj, where, as in China, the economy was based on the silver standard rather than gold. The British then coined it into rupees (that are beautiful coins, BTW) I love the elephant you can see on the king's collar. Under the terms of the Pittman Act, the Treasury was instructed to have enough silver dollars minted to replace the ones melted, once the war was over. They got around to it in 1921.
