There are a lot of numbers and letters involved with currency. On US Currency you will notice the long serial number. But what about those other numbers and letters on the sides of the serial numbers? What do they mean?
When the Federal Reserve system was developed in 1913 the country was divided into 12 districts (warning Hunger Game fans: No relation to the 11 districts). The districts sizes were determined by population first and geography second so the western districts cover huge tracks of land.
|Name of District||Number||Alphabet|
The 1928 Series of Federal Reserve Notes were the first notes set at our current size. Before 1928 they were larger. Today we call them large size and small size. The 1928 greenbacks used the alphabet at the front of the serial number and used the number in the seal and in the four corners.
The 1929 Federal Reserve Bank Note series had a crisp clean look with the name of the district on the note with the letters in the corner. One thing that is consistent over the years is that at the beginning of the serial number you will find the district letter.
The 1914 Series Federal Reserve Notes have an alpha-numeric seal on it. So a note from New York will have a “2-B” in the seal. They also have it in the four corners of the note. The “Federal Reserve Bank Note” Series of 1918 does not use the large seal but does have the smaller annotations in the corners.
Map of the Districts