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Message:: [QUOTE="funkee, post: 1889209, member: 37925"]Good question. There were many other notes circulating in the late 1800's. We can't answer your question without narrowing the date range some more. Depending on the decade, some notes were more common then others. Fractional currency was huge in the late 1860's and 1870's. But by the 1880's, they began to disappear from circulation. National Bank Notes were issued since the 1860's. Since banks issued their own currency, National Currency generally circulated in the areas they were issued and redeemed. If you did not live near a bank that issued currency, chances are you didn't carry their notes. If you lived in New York City, which had numerous banks, you might carry National Currency. Some people were discriminant and preferred one type of currency more than another, depending on how it was backed and how it could be redeemed. Demand notes were very common in the 1860's. Legal Tender (United States Notes) were big in the 1870's onward. Silver Certificates were a big hit, but not until they were issued in the late 1880's. Gold Certificates were issued in the 1860's, but they weren't really seen in circulation until the 1880's. They weren't common still, because in the 1800's they were only issued in large denominations of $20 and up. Starting with the series 1907, they were issued in $10 denominations. Gold Certificates were more frequently used in bank to bank transfers, since they were issued in denominations up to $10,000. Treasury/Coin notes made a short run, and were mainly in circulation in the 1890's. They could still be found from time to time. There were many varieties were in circulation between 1862 and 1899: - United States Notes (Legal Tender)- Silver Certificates- Demand Notes- National Bank Notes & National Gold Bank Notes- Gold Certificates- Treasury/Coin Notes- Interest & Compound Interest Bearing Notes- Refund Certificates- Fractional Currency- Stamps, Stamp Envelopes, and Encased Postage Federal Reserve Notes came around in the next century. In the 1860's, Demand Notes and Fractional Currency were common. Fractional currency was a very interesting phenomenon that was born during the civil war, a time when many people started to hoard coins. Fractional Currency were authorized in 1862 by Abe Lincoln, and quickly became popular. They were very common in the 1860's and 1870's, but began to disappear by the 1880's as coin production ramped up and hoarding weened. Due to the lack of coinage in the 1860's, postage stamps were used for purchases and to make change. Stamps were small and annoying to handle. Someone came up with the idea to put the stamps envelopes with the amount printed on the outside. [ATTACH]321779[/ATTACH] I'm not sure why - but cashiers did not bother to count the stamps inside. In turn, some people tried to scam sellers, my removing stamps from these envelopes, yet using the envelope at face value. These were replaced with encased postage - another brief currency phenomenon in the early days of U.S. paper money. Stamps were placed into coin-like holders, which often cotained an advertisement by the manufacturer or sponsor, on the reverse. [ATTACH]321780[/ATTACH] In 1862, Lincoln stepped in and authorized the issuance of Fractional Currency. The first issue actually had pictures of stamps on the face. Check out this 1st issue $0.25. [ATTACH]321781[/ATTACH]First Issue These evolved over the course of multiple issues, which looked substantially different. The primary reason was to prevent counterfeiting. [ATTACH]321785[/ATTACH]Second Issue [ATTACH]321787[/ATTACH]Third Issue [ATTACH]321783[/ATTACH]Fourth Issue [ATTACH]321786[/ATTACH]Fifth Issue By the late 1870's, fractional currency virtually disappeared from circulation due to the increased production of coins. By the 1880's, Legal Tender (U.S. Notes) and National Currency were commonly seen. In the late 1880's Silver Certificates took off. These 3 types were the most commonly seen until the end of the century.[/QUOTE]

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