I wish I had never discovered these. Once I knew the US had a 15 cents note at one point, I could not stop thinking about it until I got my hands on one... Please feel free to share anything relevant.
Ostensibly it was intended for use in purchasing five first class postage stamps at 3c each. For a similar reason the 3 cent coins were issued - for purchasing postage stamps. A closeup of "Columbia"
Very nice! I really like all the fractionals, but especially the odd denominations. Your 15 cent note is much better than mine!
Neat little notes. I have never collected paper money, but have long said that if I ever did, I'd collect Fractional Currency. (And Colonials, if and when I could afford them. And 1920s German notgeld.) But my limited attention and budget are focused exclusively on coins.
Fractionals circulated a little bit into the late 19th century in rural parts of the country - this is one my grandfather saved when he was a kid in the 1890s and gave to me when he was well into his 80s.
The 15 cent note in the OP was from the Fourth Series of Fractional Currency Notes. There was a scheduled 15 cent note in Third Series of Fractional Currency, but it was derailed by a minor scandal. Spencer Clark, who was an innovative bureaucrat in the printing office, had to nerve to put his portrait on a Third Series five cent note. Congress had intended put William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, on the note. Spencer had other plans. There was big brouhaha over it despite that the fact that his boss, Francis Spinner, did the same thing on a 50 cent note. It resulted in a law which prevented the depiction of living persons on U.S. paper money. That prevented this 15 cent note from getting issued because Generals Grant and Sherman were very much alive. This notes were printed as essays, which is the same thing as a pattern for coins. These are the wide margin pieces. They are printed on one side. You can see them cut down to the size of the note if it had been issued. There have even been some foolish people who cut them down and glued them together to create a "genuine Third Issue 15 cent note." That never existed.
From what I have read, these small three and five cent notes from the Third Issue of fractional notes did not fair well in circulation. That led to the nickel three and five cent coins which took their place. The three cent note comes in two minor varieties. The light background is more common. The dark background, around the Washington portrait, is scarcer.
