Most obsolete bank notes, the pre-1866 paper money of state banks often called broken bank notes, sell for roughly $15-150 each as of October 2026. Unsigned remainders that never circulated are usually the cheapest, at roughly $15-60. Signed, issued notes from common banks bring roughly $25-150, and notes from rare banks, small towns, early dates or with famous vignettes, plus printers' proofs, sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Before national currency, hundreds of state-chartered banks, plus towns, railroads and merchants, printed their own money. Many of those banks failed, which is where "broken bank" comes from, and the rest stopped issuing after a 10 percent federal tax on state bank notes took effect on July 1, 1866. The notes are worthless as money today and valued only by collectors, mostly by state and town.
Quick answer
- Unsigned, unnumbered remainders, common banks: roughly $15-60 each.
- Signed and numbered issued notes, common banks, Very Good to Very Fine: roughly $25-150.
- Contemporary counterfeits, altered and raised notes: often roughly $20-100, a collectible category of their own.
- Rare banks, territorial or early notes, proofs and uncut sheets: hundreds to thousands of dollars.
- Souvenir reproductions on fake parchment: decorative only, a few dollars.
How do you identify and value an obsolete bank note, step by step?
Read the bank and town, decide whether the note was issued, check that it is genuine to that bank, then grade it.
- Read the issuer, town and state. The note names the bank, such as THE FARMERS BANK, and the town and state. Some name a railroad, a town treasury or a merchant. Write the title exactly as printed.
- Check the date. Obsolete notes are dated from the 1780s to the early 1860s, often filled in by hand. A printed 18__ with a blank is a sign of a remainder.
- Decide whether it was issued. Issued notes carry hand-written signatures of the cashier and president, a hand-written or stamped serial number and usually a filled-in date. Remainders have none of these: they were printed for a bank that closed or stopped issuing before it could sign them.
- Look for cancellations. Many notes were cancelled when redeemed, with a cut through the signatures, punch holes or a pen stroke. Cancellations lower the price but do not make a note worthless.
- Check the denomination against the design. A raised note is a genuine low-value note altered to read higher, often a $1 or $2 changed to $10 or $20. Look for scraped or re-printed numbers that do not match the vignettes and lettering around them.
- Check the bank name against the design. An altered note is a genuine note of a failed bank with its name and town changed to a solvent bank's. PMG documented one that claimed to be from the Pocasset Bank of Fall River, Massachusetts, but still showed traces of GEORGIA and Bainbridge under the new text. A spurious note uses a design the named bank never had.
- Look it up. The standard references are James Haxby's four-volume Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes, 1782-1866, from 1988, and Don C. Kelly's Obsolete Paper Money: A Guide with Prices, a 624-page guide from 2018. A specialist will match your note to its listing number.
- Grade it and price it from sold results for the same bank and denomination.
What are obsolete bank notes worth?
The values below are hedged ranges as of October 2026, because obsolete notes have no single published price list: Kelly's guide prices issued notes in Very Good and Very Fine and remainders in Very Fine and New, and the market for each bank is thin. Treat them as starting points, then check sold results for your exact bank.
| Type | What it looks like | Typical value, roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Common remainder, single note | Unsigned, no serial, crisp, often 18__ date | $15-60 |
| Common remainder, uncut sheet | Several notes still joined | Roughly $75-400 depending on bank and design |
| Issued note, common bank, Very Good to Fine | Signed, numbered, folded and worn | $25-80 |
| Issued note, common bank, Very Fine or better | Signed, light folds, bright paper | $60-150 |
| Issued note, cut or punch cancelled | Cuts or holes through signatures | About half of an uncancelled note |
| Contemporary counterfeit, raised or altered note | Period fake or altered genuine note | $20-100, more for well-known or documented examples |
| Scarce bank or small town, issued | Bank with few notes known | $150 to several thousand |
| Territorial, very early, or famous vignette | Wisconsin or Minnesota territory, 1790s to 1810s, notable designs | Hundreds to thousands |
| Printer's proof | Printed on thin paper or card, often PROOF or punch-cancelled, no signatures | Hundreds to thousands |
| Souvenir reproduction | Brown or yellow "parchment," flat printing | A few dollars |
Southern state notes printed during the Civil War, such as Virginia or Louisiana treasury notes, overlap with this market; our guide to confederate money value covers them and the Confederate government issues.
Why are remainders usually worth less than issued notes?
Because there are more of them, and in better condition. When a bank failed or stopped issuing, sheets of unsigned notes were often left over, and many reached the collector market in bulk. They look attractive, crisp and colorful, but supply is high, so common remainders trade at roughly $15-60. An issued note from the same bank passed through hands, was signed by real officers and often survives in only a few examples. Collectors of a town or state usually want the issued note.
There are exceptions. A remainder from a bank that is otherwise unknown, a remainder with a striking vignette or a rare color printing can outsell worn issued notes. And some issued notes are so common that they sell for remainder money.
Why were so many banks "broken"?
Bank notes were promises to pay in gold or silver, backed only by the issuing bank. In the decades before the Civil War, states let banks open on easy terms. Michigan's 1837 general banking law, for example, led to 49 new banks, many of which soon failed. Notes of distant or doubtful banks traded below face, and merchants checked them against printed bank note reporters and counterfeit detectors that listed each bank, its notes and known fakes. The National Banking Act brought national bank notes from 1863, and the 10 percent tax enacted on March 3, 1865 and effective July 1, 1866 ended state bank notes in practice. According to Wikipedia's history of the act, the number of state banks fell from 1,466 in 1863 to 247 in 1868. The Supreme Court upheld the tax in Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 7 to 2.
A worked example
Say you find a crisp $5 note in a box of family letters. It reads THE MERCHANTS BANK with a Southern town and state, shows a train and a ship, and is dated 18__ with no signatures and no serial number. That is a remainder. You look the bank up and find many unsigned notes of this design were sold in bulk, so it is worth roughly $20-50 as of October 2026. Now say the same note were hand-signed, numbered and dated 1859, with three folds. That is an issued note, and if few issued notes of that bank are known, it could bring $100-300 from a collector of that state. If instead the bank name looks scraped and reprinted, it may be an altered note, which a specialist can confirm and which has its own, smaller, collector market.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every old bank note is valuable. Most are worth roughly $15-150. Age alone does not set the price.
- Mistaking a reproduction for the real thing. Souvenir copies of obsolete and Confederate notes are everywhere, on mottled brown paper with flat printing and sometimes a small COPY or FACSIMILE. Genuine notes are on thin rag paper, printed by engraving with fine sharp lines.
- Ignoring signatures. Whether a note is signed and numbered is the first split in price.
- Overlooking an alteration. Altered and raised notes can look convincing. Compare the name, town and denomination with the vignettes and the listing in Haxby or Kelly.
- Thinking a counterfeit is worthless. Contemporary counterfeits are collected, sometimes for real money. Our guide on how to tell if money is counterfeit covers modern fakes; period counterfeits need a specialist.
- Confusing it with a national bank note. Notes that say NATIONAL CURRENCY and carry a charter number date from 1863 to 1935 and have their own market; see our guide to national bank notes value.
- Taping, trimming or cleaning. Repairs and washing reduce the value more than the problem they hide.
How WorthPic reads obsolete bank note photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From photos of an obsolete note it reads the bank, town, state, date and denomination, the vignettes and printer's imprint, whether the note was signed, numbered and dated, any cancellation and the general condition. It flags signs of a reproduction, and signs of an altered or raised note, such as a name or numeral that does not fit the design. It then gives an honest value range with a most likely figure. What it cannot know from a photo is how many notes of that exact bank are known today, or whether a convincing alteration was done in period, and it says so. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise; for scarce banks, proofs and suspected alterations, a specialist dealer or grading service settles it.
What to photograph
- The full face flat in daylight, with the bank name, town, date and signatures readable.
- The full back, which is often blank but may show endorsements, stamps or a tint.
- A close-up of the bank name and town, to show any scraping or reprinting.
- A close-up of each denomination numeral, for raised notes.
- A close-up of the printer's imprint along the bottom edge, such as American Bank Note Co. or Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson.
- The note held to a light, which shows thin spots, repairs and paper type.
When should you get it looked at in person?
| Option | Cost | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local coin or paper money dealer | Usually no charge to look | Identification and an offer | Common remainders and small groups |
| Obsolete note specialist or state collector club | Varies | Bank rarity, census knowledge and a fair price | Issued notes, small towns, alterations |
| PMG or PCGS Banknote | Roughly $25-65 per note for most notes, more for high values | A grade; PMG grades many obsolete notes and labels counterfeits and alterations | Proofs, scarce banks, high grade notes |
| Heritage, Stack's Bowers or Lyn Knight auction | Seller's commission | State and town collectors bidding | Proofs, rare banks, large collections |
The Society of Paper Money Collectors publishes research on obsolete notes and is a good place to find the collector who knows your state. For the rest of an old paper money hoard, our guide to old dollar bills worth money covers federal notes.
Sources
- PMG: Counterfeit Detection, Altered $5 Note from a US Bank: the Pocasset Bank altered note, obsolete note issuers and the 1866 end of state bank notes.
- PMG Glossary: definitions of remainder, proof, contemporary counterfeit and altered notes.
- Coin World: New price guide for obsolete notes published: Kelly's 624-page guide, the 1988 Haxby catalog and the grades used to price issued notes and remainders.
- Wikipedia: National Banking Act: the 10 percent tax enacted March 3, 1865 and effective July 1, 1866, the fall in state banks from 1,466 to 247 and Veazie Bank v. Fenno.
- Wikipedia: Wildcat banking: Michigan's 1837 banking law and its 49 banks, and bank note reporters.