Choice Currency
1929 $ 20 NATIONAL BANK OF WASHINGTON DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA # 601
Product Description
We are offering something new to our collectors. The 1929 National Bank Note Series.
This note is a 1929 $ 20 NATIONAL BANK OF WASHINGTON, District of Columbia. There charter number was: 3425 and is a Type 1 series. It also has a very low serial number: B 004601A.
I am offering another $ 20 National Bank of Washington serial # C 006176A in another sale.
In 1929, two types of small size National Bank Notes were issued. Type 1 notes were issued first and have the bank charter number overprinted twice in black. Type 2 are scarcer and have the charter number overprinted four times, twice in black and twice in brown.
What makes these so collectable? The fact that any bank from your home town could print them. So the fun part in collecting these notes are thousands of banks that are out there.
They are called National Bank Notes. National Bank Notes were issued by individual banks under federal charters and were backed by U.S. Bonds deposited with the Treasury.
The problem was that before the National Banking Acts, the US had a fragmented currency system with notes issued by various state-chartered banks, leading to inconsistencies and difficulties in transactions.
The Solution was the National Currency Act which established a national banking system. So now private banks could become national banks by purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds and depositing them with the government. In return, they were authorized to issue national bank notes, backed by the value of the bonds.
The impact on the economy was that National Bank Notes helped to stabilize the wartime economy, provide a reliable currency, and lay the foundation for the modern banking system.
