Most of us manage a $ 1 bill on a day-after-day basis , but how often have you discontinue to wait at what it ’s tell you ? There’salotthere . Here ’s an annotated usher to understanding the various numbers , letter , and symbols structured around good old George Washington . You ’ll never look at the littlest peak the same again .
Graphic by Chloe Effron
1.THE NOTE-POSITION IDENTIFIER
Made up of the chip letter and quadrant number , thenote - position identifierindicates the physical spot that a particular greenback engross on a impression sheet .
2. FEDERAL RESERVE SEAL
Established in 1913 , the Federal Reserve is made up of twelve bank that pass on currency . The seal bears the name of the issuing cant and a letter designate the district—“L " is the missive forSan Francisco .
3. SERIAL NUMBER
The serial number appears doubly on the front of the flier , once in the lower unexpended hand recess and once in upper right hand corner . All bills above $ 2 have a sequential number that begins withtwo letter : The first corresponds to theseries yr , and the 2nd to the missive code of the coin bank that distribute the bill ( $ 1 nib only have this missive ) . The numbers that follow are simply a counter keeping lead of how many of that type of bill have been printed during the series at that particular Federal Reserve Bank . A individual printing process “ streak ” exhausts the eight - dactyl count . After the numeral sequence , a last letter attend as part of the printing counter and is sometimes replace by a star , which mean that there was an error in printing . A star sail is used to replace the fallible sheet .
4. FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICT NUMBER
This act appears four times on the front of the bill . These many word form can be helpful in cases ofmutilated currency .
5. FACE PLATE NUMBER
This serve to provide information about the printing collection plate used to create the note . short letter printed in the Forth deserving facility have an FW adeptness Saint Mark in front of the hitch letter and present home base phone number combination . A note that was printed on aweb presscan be identify by the lack of plate location or turn back number , and by the plate number on the back being locate at the top of the letter einsteinium in the word ONE .
6. SIGNATURE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Current Secretary of the TreasuryJacob J. Lewis the 76th person ( all men ) to hold the position .
7. SERIES YEAR
wayward to popular opinion , the series yeardoes not refer the actual yearthat the bill was printed , but the yr that the series began . A new series get along from a change in the Secretary of the Treasury , the Treasurer of the United States , a significant spread in output times , and/or a modification to the line ’s appearance .
8. SIGNATURE OF THE TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES
Current Treasurer Rosa Gumataotao Rios is the forty-third person to confine the position , which has been heldexclusively by women since 1949 .
9. MOTTO
" In God We Trust " is the national motto of the United States and first appeared on paper currency in1957 , after a piece of1955 legislationmade it required on all measure and coins . The shibboleth was earlier rate on coins due to increased spiritual sentiment during the Civil War . Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase take in many appealingness and instruct James Pollock , Director of the Mint at Philadelphia , to prepare a motto . It first appeared on the 1864 two - cent coin .
10. BACK PLATE NUMBER
standardised to the front plate number , the back home base number identifies the specific printing plate used to print the reverse side of the bill .
11. THE GREAT SEAL
The Great Seal appear on the $ 1 bill in1935 , and we can give thanks President Franklin Roosevelt for one of the live on intent features . When it was first submitted for his approval , the obverse and reversion were swapped . Roosevelt vacate his initial approval , made some change ( including the seal switch ) and initialed " FDR . "
