What is "treasury note"

Treasury \Treas"ur*y\, n.; pl. Treasuries. [OE. tresorie, F. tr['e]sorerie.]

1. A place or building in which stores of wealth are deposited; especially, a place where public revenues are deposited and kept, and where money is disbursed to defray the expenses of government; hence, also, the place of deposit and disbursement of any collected funds.

2. That department of a government which has charge of the finances.

3. A repository of abundance; a storehouse.

4. Hence, a book or work containing much valuable knowledge, wisdom, wit, or the like; a thesaurus; as, `` Maunder's Treasury of Botany.''

5. A treasure. [Obs.]
   --Marston.

   Board of treasury, the board to which is intrusted the management of all matters relating to the sovereign's civil list or other revenues. [Eng.]
   --Brande & C.

   Treasury bench, the first row of seats on the right hand of the Speaker in the House of Commons; -- so called because occupied by the first lord of the treasury and chief minister of the crown. [Eng.]

   Treasury lord. See Lord high treasurer of England, under Treasurer. [Eng.]

   Treasury note (U. S. Finance), a circulating note or bill issued by government authority from the Treasury Department, and receivable in payment of dues to the government.

A Treasury Note is a type of short term debt instrument issued by the United States prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Without the alternatives offered by a federal paper money or a central bank, the U.S. government relied on these instruments for funding during periods of financial stress such as the War of 1812, the Panic of 1837, and the American Civil War. While the Treasury Notes, as issued, were neither legal tender nor representative money, some issues were used as money in lieu of an official federal paper money. However the motivation behind their issuance was always funding federal expenditures rather than the provision of a circulating medium. These notes typically were hand-signed, of large denomination (at least $50), of large dimension (bigger than private banknotes), bore interest, were payable to the order of the owner (whose name was written on the front of the note), and matured in no more than three years - though some issues lacked one or more of these properties. Often they were receivable at face value by the government in payment of taxes and for purchases of publicly owned land. On many issues the interest rate was chosen to make interest calculations particularly easy, paying either 1, 1½, or 2 cents per day on a $100 note.

Characteristically, the issues were not extensive and, as it has been observed, "the polite fiction was always maintained that Treasury Notes did not serve as money when, in fact, to a limited extent they did." The value of these notes varied, being worth more or less than par as market conditions fluctuated, and they rapidly disappeared from the financial system after the crisis associated with their issuance had ended.

The ante-bellum Treasury Notes did not have legal tender status, but financial innovation during the Civil War caused the term Treasury Note to become associated with legal tender instruments such as the United States Notes introduced in 1862 and the Compound Interest Treasury Notes introduced in 1863. The appearance of these new obligations, together with the changes brought about by the National Banking Act, effectively eliminated most of the uses of the old Treasury Notes as money and the term Certificate of Indebtedness was introduced to apply to new notes which possessed the debt-like aspects of the pre-war Notes. Today the Treasury's short term debt needs are fulfilled by Treasury bills.

The Treasury Note (also known as a Coin Note) was a type of representative money issued by the United States government from 1890 until 1893 under authority of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $1000. It was issued in two series: an 1890 series with $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $100 and $1000 denominations, and an 1891 series that added the $50 denomination. A $500 note was designed but never issued. A distinguishing feature of the Series 1890 notes (and one that greatly appeals to collectors) is the extremely ornate designs on the reverse side of the notes. The intent of this was to make counterfeiting much more difficult, but opponents of the design argued that the extensive detail would make it more difficult to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes. Consequently, the reverse designs were simplified on the Series 1891 Treasury Notes issued the following year.

The Treasury Note was issued by the government to individuals selling silver bullion to the Treasury. Unlike other redemption notes like silver and gold certificates (which stipulated whether the note was backed by and redeemable for silver or gold coin, respectively), Treasury Notes stipulated only that they were redeemable in coin. This allowed the Treasury to fulfill the note's obligation in silver coin, gold coin, or both, at its discretion when the note was redeemed. This flexibility allowed the Treasury some control over releasing gold or silver when the relative value of the two metals fluctuated. The origin of the term "Coin Note" to describe the note is unclear – it may refer either to the coin it could be exchanged for, or derive from the fact that it was issued to pay for silver that would later be turned into coins.

Treasury Notes are large-size ("average" dimension is 7.375 x 3.125 inches [187 x 79 mm]) banknotes. The portrait of General George Meade on the $1000 Note was engraved by renowned artist and line engraver Charles Burt. The 100 Greatest American Currency Notes, a 2006 book by Q. David Bowers and David Sundman, put the $1,000 Treasury Note (Fr#379b), nicknamed the "Grand Watermelon", at the top of its list. Of the seven "Grand Watermelon" notes known to exist today, only three are available to collectors: two of the Large Brown Treasury Seal variety (Fr#379a), pictured above; and only one example of the Small Red Treasury Seal variety (Fr#379b).

Treasury Note may refer to any of the following obligations of the United States or United Kingdom.

Most commonly it refers to Treasury Note, debt obligations currently issued by the Treasury which mature in 1 to 10 years and pay coupons every six months.

It also refers to the following instruments which are no longer issued:

• Treasury Note (19th century), short term debt obligations issued in the 19th Century which were neither legal tender nor representative money but sometimes functioned as paper money
• Treasury (Coin) Note, paper money issued in 1890 and 1891 under authority of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act redeemable in silver or gold
• " HM Treasury", banknotes issued in the past by the British Treasury
• United States Note, non-interest paying legal tender paper money issued without specific specie-backing
• Interest Bearing Note, a grouping of Civil War-era interest paying short term debt obligations
• Compound Interest Treasury Note, Civil War-era short term debt obligations that had legal tender status and paid compounded interest at the end of three years