United States Paper Money Collection

Series

The "Series" date printed on US currency indicates when the note's design was adopted — It does not indicate the year a note was printed. Instead it indicates the earliest year the notes of the same design were first made. For example, Series 1882 Gold Certificates were being printed as late as 1927.

Series 1928 was the first series of modern, small-sized notes issued. Since then, the series year has been changed when there is a major design change to a bill; a minor design change is indicated by a letter suffix being added to the series year. Major design changes were rare until 1974, when William E. Simon became Secretary of the Treasury. Before 1974, a change to either the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Treasurer was considered a minor change; after 1974, a new Secretary of the Treasury was considered a major change. (The only exception to this was in 1979, G. William Miller's signature appeared on Series 1977A instead of Series 1979.) A change in Treasurer is still considered a minor change. Changes in design, such as the recent changes to the $20 bill to deter counterfeiting, are still considered major changes.

U.S. Treasurer	Secretary of the Treasury	Secretary Terms of office		Series
				Federal Reserve Notes								Silver Certificates				U.S. Notes
				$1	$2	$5	$10	$20	$50	$100		$1	$5	$10		$1	$2	$5	$100
Tate	Mellon	04/28-01/29				1928	1928	1928				1928					1928
Woods	Mellon	01/29-02/32				1928A,1928B	1928A,1928B	1928A,1928B	1928,1928A	1928,1928A		1928A					1928A	1928
Woods	Mills	02/32-03/33				1928C	1928C	1928C				1928B					1928B	1928A
Woods	Woodin	03/33-05/33				1928D						1928C				1928
Julian	Woodin	06/33-12/33										1928D		1933
Julian	Morgenthau	01/34-07/45				1934,1934A	1934,1934A	1934,1934A	1934,1934A	1934,1934A		1928E,1934,1935,1935A	1934/A	1933A,1934/A			1928C/D	1928B/C
Julian	Vinson	07/45-07/46				1934B	1934B	1934B	1934B	1934B		1935B	1934B	1934B			1928E	1928D
Julian	Snyder	07/46-05/49				1934C	1934C	1934C	1934C	1934C		1935C	1934C	1934C			1928F	1928E
Julian	Clark	06/49-01/53				1934D,1950	1934D,1950	1934D,1950	1934D,1950	1934D,1950		1935D	1934D	1934D			1928G	1928F
Priest	Humphrey	01/53-07/57				1950A	1950A	1950A	1950A	1950A		1935E	1953	1953			1953	1953
Priest	Anderson	07/57-01/61				1950B	1950B	1950B	1950B	1950B		1935F,1957	1953A	1953A			1953A	1953A
Smith	Dillon	01/61-04/62				1950C	1950C	1950C	1950C	1950C		1935G,1957A	1953B	1953B			1953B	1953B
Granahan	Dillon	01/63-03/65		1963		1950D,1963	1950D,1963	1950D,1963	1950D	1950D		1935H,1957B	1953C[3]				1953C,1963	1953C,1963
Granahan	Fowler	04/65-10/66		1963A		1950E,1963A	1950E,1963A	1950E,1963A	1950E,1963A	1950E,1963A							1963A		1966
(Granahan) [1]	Barr	12/68-01/69		1963B
Elston [2]	Kennedy	05/69-09/70		1969		1969	1969	1969	1969	1969									1966A
Kabis [2]	Kennedy	09/70-02/71		1969A
Kabis [2]	Connally	02/71-07/71		1969B		1969A	1969A	1969A	1969A	1969A
Bañuelos	Connally	12/71-05/72		1969C		1969B	1969B	1969B	1969B
Bañuelos	Shultz	06/72-05/74		1969D		1969C	1969C	1969C	1969C	1969C
Neff	Simon	06/74-01/77		1974	1976	1974	1974	1974	1974	1974
Morton	Blumenthal	09/77-08/79		1977		1977	1977	1977	1977	1977
Morton	Miller	08/79-01/81		1977A		1977A	1977A
Buchanan	Regan	03/81-07/83		1981		1981	1981	1981	1981	1981
Ortega	Regan	09/83-01/85		1981A		1981A	1981A	1981A	1981A	1981A
Ortega	Baker	01/85-08/88		1985		1985	1985	1985	1985	1985
Ortega	Brady	09/88-06/89		1988		1988			1988	1988
Villalpando	Brady	11/89-01/93		1988A		1988A	1988A,1990	1988A,1990	1990	1990
Withrow	Bentsen	03/94-12/94		1993		1993	1993	1993	1993	1993
Withrow	Rubin	01/95-05/99		1995	1995	1995	1995	1995,1996	1996	1996
Withrow	Summers	07/99-01/01		1999		1999	1999	1999		1999
Marin	O'Neill	08/01-12/02		2001		2001	2001	2001	2001	2001
Marin	Snow	02/03-06/03		2003	2003	2003	2003	2004	2004	2003
Cabral	Snow	12/04-06/06		2003A	2003A	2003A	2004A	2004A	2004A	2003A
Cabral	Paulson	07/06-01/09		2006		2006	2006	2006	2006	2006
Rios	Geithner	01/09-Present		2009				2009		2009

As is clear from the table, the year in the series designation does not represent the year the bill was printed. What exactly it does represent has changed over time. Originally, the series date was the year the overall bill design was authorised or adopted, and the series letter was advanced each time a minor change was made to that design (usually a change of one or both signatures). This was the rule until 1974, when William E. Simon became Secretary of the Treasury and decided that each new Secretary would result in a change of the series year, not merely the series letter. The new policy has since been followed by every succeeding Secretary except G. William Miller, whose signature appears on notes designated Series 1977A rather than the expected Series 1979.

However the series designation is determined, most changes in it are due to a change in the signatures on the notes. The following is a list of all other reasons for series changes since 1928:

• The number in the Federal Reserve Seal on Federal Reserve Notes was replaced by a letter. For the $5, $10, and $20, Series 1928A advanced to Series 1928B; for the $50 and $100, Series 1928 advanced to Series 1928A.

• The obverse (front face) of the $1 and $10 Silver Certificates were redesigned, with the Treasury seal moving from the left side to the right. Series 1928E (for the $1) and 1933A (for the $10) were replaced by Series 1934.

• The obligation on the Federal Reserve Notes was changed to remove the reference to payment in gold. Various 1928 series were replaced by Series 1934.

• The reverse (back) of the $1 Silver Certificate was redesigned to show the Great Seal of the United States — Additionally, the face was redesigned again, with the Treasury seal becoming smaller and the signatures larger. Series 1934 was replaced by Series 1935.

• The obligation on the Gold Certificates was reworded, and the back printing was changed from green to orange. Series 1928 was replaced by Series 1934.

• The plate numbers on all notes were made larger. For the Federal Reserve Notes and $5 and $10 Silver Certificates, Series 1934 advanced to Series 1934A; for the $1 Silver Certificate, Series 1935 advanced to Series 1935A; for the $2 United States Note, Series 1928C advanced to Series 1928D; for the $5 United States Note, Series 1928B advanced to Series 1928C.

• The faces of all notes except the $1 Silver Certificate were redesigned with the smaller Treasury seal and larger signatures. For the Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1934D was replaced by Series 1950; for the $5 and $10 Silver Certificates, Series 1934D was replaced by Series 1953; for the United States Notes, various 1928 series were replaced by Series 1953.

• The format of the plate position indicators was changed when notes began to be printed in sheets of 32 rather than 18, and different series designations were used for the two styles during the changeover. For the Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1963 and 1963A were printed alongside Series 1950D and 1950E; for the $1 Silver Certificate, Series 1957 to 1957B were printed alongside Series 1935F to 1935H; for the United States Notes, Series 1963 was printed alongside Series 1953C.

• The Treasury seal was redesigned, with wording in English rather than in Latin. Various 1963 series were replaced by Series 1966 (for United States Notes) and Series 1969 (for Federal Reserve Notes).

• Microprinting and security threads were added to the Federal Reserve Notes of $5 and higher. Series 1988A was replaced by Series 1990.

• The Federal Reserve Notes of $5 and higher were completely redesigned. Series 1995 was replaced by Series 1996.

• The $5, $10, $20, and $50 Federal Reserve Notes were redesigned again, in color. Series 2003 was replaced by Series 2004.

Footnotes

^[1] Notice that Granahan and Barr were never actually in office simultaneously, even though their signatures do appear together on the Series 1963B $1 FRN. This is the only series ever to use non-contemporary signatures this way; the exception was made only because no Treasurer was in office during Barr's very short term as Secretary.

^[2] Note also that Elston and Kabis are actually the same person: Dorothy Andrews Elston Kabis married while in office, and changed her signature accordingly.

^[3] A total of 90,640,000 regular and 4,320,000 star notes were printed for the Series 1953C Silver Certificate, but none were released, and almost all were destroyed. None are known to be in private hands.