Collecting U.S. Small Size Type Notes
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Collecting U.S. Small Size Type Notes home page
U.S. Small Size Currency Types
U.S. Small Size currency was issued starting in 1929 and Federal Reserve Notes are still being issued today. Each Small Size Type was issued in one or more Series, and each Series was issued with one or more combinations of Treasury officer signatures. The following links provide more information on each of these Small Size Types.
Legal Tender Notes (United States Notes) (Series 1928-1966)
- Complete list of small size Legal Tender Note Series & denominations with front/back photos (Wikipedia)]
- Historical overview of U.S. Legal Tender Notes (including both large and small size) (Wikipedia)
Gold Certificates (Series 1928)
- Complete list of small size Gold Certificate Series & denominations with front/back photos, Friedberg numbers and Signature & Seal varieties (Wikipedia)
- Historical overview of U.S. Gold Certificates (including both large and small size) (Wikipedia)
Silver Certificates (Series 1928-1957)
- Complete list of small size Silver Certificate Series & denominations with front/back photos, Friedberg numbers and Signature & Seal varieties (Wikipedia)
- Historical overview of U.S. Silver Certificates (including both large and small size) (Wikipedia)
Federal Reserve Notes (Series 1928-current)
- Complete list of small size Federal Reserve Note Series & denominations with front/back photos (Wikipedia)
- Historical overview of U.S. Federal Reserve Notes (including both large and small size) (Wikipedia)
Federal Reserve Bank Notes (Series 1929, Issued 1933-34 & 1942-44)
- Complete list of small size Federal Reserve Bank Note Series & denominations with front/back photos (Wikipedia)
- Historical overview of U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Notes (including both large and small size) (Wikipedia)
Other Small Size Type Topics
- World War II Emergency Notes
- During World War II, emergency military currency was issued for Hawaii (Brown Seal with Hawaii Overprint) and North Africa/Sicily (Yellow Seal). These Series 1934/1935 Silver Certificates and Federal Reserve Notes were designed to be easily demonetized if we lost the Hawaiian Islands to the Japanese, or if the invasion of North Africa (and later Sicily) failed and significant amounts of the currency fell into German hands.
- This 2008 Paper Money article by Peter Huntoon (with the assistance of several others), provides a great overview of both the Hawaii and North Africa/Sicily World War II military currency.
- This Wikipedia article gives a good overview of the World War II Hawaii overprint series of notes, along with a complete list of the notes in this series, including Series & denominations with front/back photos, Friedberg numbers and dates of issue and withdrawal.
- This 2004 Paper Money article by Peter Huntoon provides a good overview of the 'North African Yellow Seal' issue of World War II military currency.
- For SPMC members, this recent 2022 Paper Money article by Lee Lofthus has an excellent in-depth overview of the World War II Hawaiian series of notes (Note: Viewing Paper Money articles published within the last five years requires a SPMC membership login).
- U.S. Small Size Star notes
- During the printing process for small size notes, if a note is found to be imperfect, it is replaced with a Star note. These star notes are identical to the regular note except it will have a star either before or after the serial number. On Federal Reserve Notes, the star appears after the serial number. On all other small size issues, the star precedes the serial number. Star notes are much rarer than regular notes and will always command a premium.
- U.S. Small Size Varieties: Mules
- Mules are a subtle variety of small size notes printed between 1938 and 1953, where one side of the note has a micro-size plate number and the other side has a macro-size plate number. See the following two articles for details.
- The World War II Issuance of Series 1929 Federal Reserve Bank Notes
- This 2010 Paper Money article by Peter Huntoon and Lee Lofthus discusses a poorly recognized fact that the majority of Series of 1929 FRBNs printed in 1933 and 1934 were actually issued during World War II in 1942-1944.
- For SPMC members, this recent 2019 Paper Money article by Lee Lofthus, Jamie Yakes and Peter Huntoon provides an important update on the previous article, based on newly discovered circulation data. (Note: Viewing Paper Money articles published within the last five years requires a SPMC membership login).
- SPMC Paper Money Journal Special Issue dedicated to Short-Snorters
- This link will download the entire Nov/Dec 2001 Paper Money Journal Special Issue dedicated to Short-Snorters (U.S. Small size notes (or foreign currency) signed by members of a group. Many of these notes date from World War II, and some are signed by famous military officers or other celebrities).
Ways to Collect Small Size Type Notes
There are several ways to collect Small Size Type notes, including:
- By Type: Collect a note from each of the Small Size Types, or from every Denomination for each Type.
- By Denomination: Collect all of the different types and varieties of notes for a specific Denomination (ie $2 bills).
- By Block: Collect a note from each of the blocks for a particular Small Size Type.
- (A Block refers to the prefix & suffix letter combination in the serial number. For example, serial number H12345678A is the HA block).
- Or ?????: Use your imagination! There is no wrong way to collect paper money!
SPMC Paper Money Articles Index (Small Size Type)
- This Index page has links to all 280+ articles on U.S. Small Size Type Notes that have appeared in the Paper Money Journal since the first issue in 1962.
- This link will download the entire Sep/Oct 2004 Paper Money Journal Special Issue dedicated to Small Size U.S. Currency.
Research Resources
Standard References on U.S. Small Size Currency
- Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money 1928 to Date (10th Edition-2011) by John Schwartz and Scott Lindquist.
- This is the standard reference guide for all types of U.S. Small Size Type currency (This was the final edition of this guide, released in 2011, so prices are not current, but all of the other information is still valid).
- Collector's Guide to Modern Federal Reserve Notes (1st Edition-2010) by Robert Azpiazu.
- This is the standard reference guide for modern Federal Reserve Notes 1963-2009.
- Paper Money of the United States. A complete illustrated guide with valuations (22nd Edition-2021) by Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg
- This standard reference guide on all types of U.S. paper money has sections on all six types of Small Size Notes including valuations.
Videos
Websites
- An active forum for all paper money collectors and all paper money collecting topics.
- A Facebook Group for Education and Enjoyment of Small Size Specialized U.S. Paper Money Varieties.
- This is a link to the Heritage Currency Auction Archives for Small Size Type Notes.
Periodicals
- The SPMC Paper Money Journal is published bi-monthly and covers all facets of collecting paper money. Online and print options available for membership. SPMC.org