The result is a complete pictorial, descriptive and numismatic history of the currency of the United States. There are also supplemental sections on Colonial and Continental Currency (notes issued from 1680 to 1788), the Treasury Notes of the War of 1812, which are considered by some to be the first national currency, a comprehensive listing by type of the issues of the Confederate States of America, and a complete listing of the 14,348 National Banks that existed from 1863 to 1929 when these institutions were allowed to issue currency.
Paper money collectors depend on the Friedberg Numbering System, a uniform method of cataloguing bank notes that is the international standard for American currency. The numbering shorthand, along with the hundreds of photographs, enables anyone to instantly locate a specific banknote, and allows a dealer to advertise a note without need of extensive description.
Those who thought that U.S. currency was only a monotonous study in green and black, until the recently-issued twenty dollar note, will be pleasantly surprised. A full twenty pages of color illustrations show American paper money as indisputable works of art and beauty. The notes are representative of two of the finest assemblages of American paper money extant - those of the Aubrey and Adeline Bebee Collection at the American Numismatic Association and the notes in the collection at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Not only are many of the specimens in the finest state of preservation possible, but some are also so extremely rare that they may only be seen on the pages of the book or by traveling to the respective exhibitions. New to the seventeenth edition are expanded listings Federal Reserve Notes, with new listings of the various large size types types, and more comprehensive coverage of small size star notes. The book also includes a price appreciation chart showing the advancement in value of U.S. currency from 1953 to the present.
A distinguished panel of acknowledged experts on paper money has assisted the authors, enabling them to establish accurate and up-to-the minute valuations for all issues.
