Federal Reserve Bank Notes were banknotes issued by the United States Federal Reserve between 1915 and 1934, differing from Federal Reserve Notes in that they were backed by one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks, rather than by all of them collectively. They were first issued in 1915 in denominations of $5, $10 and $20, using a design that shared elements with both the National Bank Notes and the Federal Reserve Notes of the time. Additional denominations of $1, $2 and $50 were issued in 1918, a $100 note was designed but not issued, and a series of small-size notes was issued in 1933.
This picture shows a fifty-dollar note issued in 1918 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, depicting President Ulysses S. Grant on the obverse, and a personification of Panama between two ships on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the reverse. This banknote is in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Other denominations: Banknote design credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; photographed by Andrew Shiva