February 1876, The End of Fractional Currency

The final issue of fractional currency was the fifth one.  It was actually an unneeded issue as the U.S. Mint had been issuing more and more coins since the end of the Civil War. Almost $63,000,000 was printed between February 26, 1874 and February 15, 1876, with an estimated $15,276,443 outstanding as of 1884. The issue was comprised of only three denominations, 10ɇ, 25ɇ and 50ɇ.

The 10ɇ notes had the portrait of former Secretary of the Treasury (1849-1850, William M. Meredith and had either a green or red seal. The red seal notes have both a long (5mm) key in the seal or a short (4mm) key. All of the notes also have printed signatures of John Allison and General Spinner.

The 25ɇ notes had the portrait of Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury (1845-1849). 144,368,000 notes were printed and all also have the short and long key seal varieties and printed signatures of Allison and Spinner.

The 50ɇ notes were printed between July, 1875 and February 1876 with a total print run of 13,160,000 notes. It carried the portrait of Secretary of the Treasury, William H. Crawford (1815-1825). Due to Crawford's resemblleance to the late Bob Hope, this note is often referred to as the "Bob Hope" note. This denomination had only one variety and had printed signatures of Allison and John C. New.