Miami Valley Coin Club

Why Colored Ink On Our 1st Banknotes?

In 1861, when the government started printing demand notes, a green ink was use used on the seals on the front of the note and most of the back of the note. The green color gave the notes the name they were to be known by, “greenbacks”. This basic color design was repeated on 1862 and 1863 Legal Tender notes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big question is why spend the money to issue notes with colored ink?

Simple: it was hard to counterfeit.

Today we have color printers that can easily duplicate US currency. Back in the 1860’s there was no easy way to recreate any color. Photography was in its infancy and all photos were shades black and white. Nobody had a camera that could take color pictures. So the government thought they were pretty smart by issuing notes containing green ink