The National Banking Act passed by the US Congress on February 25, 1863 allowed banks to be chartered by the US Treasury. These 'National" banks could then deposit government bonds with the US Treasury and issue notes up to 90% of the par value of the bonds provided as security. These notes were printed by the US Treasury using a standard design but then the bank's name, state and charter number was printed in the spots provided on the note. The notes were signed by the US Treasury officials like today and were also signed by the local bank's President and Cashier. These notes are called National Bank Notes and continued the tradition of banks being able to circulate their own currency while providing a well recognized and nationally standardized currency that people could depend upon to be "good" and accepted as currency no matter what part of the United States you happened to travel to.

While there were a number of series of notes issued, there are generally 3 different charter periods of large size national bank notes recognized by collectors. Each series was a different design. The "series" also refers to when the series was first designed and not when the note was actually printed. We still use this method today. For example, a 1902 series note was the 1902 design and was issued anytime between 1902 and 1929.

The first charter period included the original design of 1863 and the design of the 1875 series (issued between February 25, 1863 and July 11, 1882). The second charter period is the 1882 series (issued between July 12,1882 and April 11, 1902) and the third charter period is the 1902 series (issued between April 12, 1902 and 1929).

After 1929, the large size national banks notes were replaced with a series 1929 small size national bank notes which operated under the same methodology as the large size notes. There were two types of small size national bank notes: Type 1 issued from May 1929 until May 1933 and Type 2 issued from May 1933 to May 1935.

The "large size" notes simply means the physical size of the notes were larger than what we use today. The "small size" notes are the same size as the Federal Reserve Notes used today.

Collecting National Bank notes is very popular today with some notes commanding a very high price tag. Most collectors prefer to collect from their home state

Two examples of large size nationals are:

$5.00 First National Bank Bentonville, Arkansas October 24, 1904. This note was either never signed by the bank's president and cashier or the signatures have faded. Note has had some kind of tape placed on the bottom and glue on the left side for some reason. Note sure why.

Back the large size nation $5.00 bill. The same back was used for all $5 denominations.

$5.00 First National Bank of Fayetteville, Arkansas June 3, 1904. Nice note with clear purple signatures.

An example of a Type 1 small size national issued between May 1929 and May 1933 is this one on the First National Bank of Berryville.
Berryville notes are always hard to come by and I am glad to get this one.


According to the book An Outlander's History of Carroll County, Arkansas 1830-1983 by Jim Lair, the Carroll County Bank was organized on the Berryville square on February 18, 1889 with capital stock of $7,500 and 7 stockholders. The Carroll County Bank was re-charted as The First National Bank of Berryville on June 4, 1913. Dr. W. P. George was the first president. He served until his death in 1915. The second president of the bank, serving from 1915 until 1937, was D.J. West. This note is signed by D.J. West and W.H. Molloy was cashier at the time. The same book, on page 244 and 245, shows a picture and biography of Digby John West. A summary follows: born April 22, 1871 in Ireland, family move to Texas in 1882, moved to Carroll County and bought a farm near Berryville in 1889, married in 1897 and had 6 children. No other information is provided regarding M.H. Molloy.