Did you know that national banks all across America issued their own currency from the 1860s until 1929? These notes were produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and bore standard designs, but with the imprint of the Wolfeboro National Bank, of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, or any one of hundreds of other national banks. Backed by the federal government, national bank notes were redeemable anywhere in the United States. Today, collectors often aspire to collect notes from as many different banks as possible from their own states.

Budget Recommendations: Pick a specialty, and acquire nice Fine notes, which are often available for prices far less than New (equivalent to Uncirculated) examples. See below for some ideas.

Recommendations for the Connoisseur: Form a type set of $1 large size United States notes for starters. This will acquaint you with the discipline of collecting. I like grades of New to Choice New. Later, you can expand your type set. If you live in a state in which many varieties of national bank notes were once issued, you might try to acquire notes from as many different banks as possible. If you like collecting dates and mintmarks of coins, you might like collecting varieties of small $1 notes, by signature combinations and Federal Reserve bank locations, for the philosophy is about the same; opt for Choice New grade. Broken bank notes of the general era 1820-1864 are fun to collect, but seek a specialty before you start buying. Grades generally range from Good to Extremely Fine for notes which actually circulated; these notes are the most interesting. The majority of New notes are what are called "remainder" notes - leftovers which were never signed or used; many such notes are common.

Elite Recommendations: Acquire notes in New to Choice New in your favorite specialty. Be aware that grading standards have not been universally adopted, and one person's New can be as nice as someone else's Choice New or Gem New. Learn about currency grading first!

Numismatic Books

While books (and now, CD-ROM discs) are the key to research and learning, no single person can possibly assimilate all of the knowledge that is in print. In fact, you could spend a year in the libraries of the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs or the American Numismatic Society in New York City and still not read about everything. In 1992, one of our researchers, Margaret Gray, spent several months at the American Numismatic Society's Library extracting information from 19th century auction catalogues -and still she did not come close to examining everything in this narrow category. Some coins have never been documented, either because no information is available or because no one cares. The VOTE THE LAND FREE counterstamped large cents mentioned earlier are an example of an issue for which no documentation is known..