Refunding Certificate

The Refunding Certificate was a type of interest-bearing banknote that the United States Treasury issued in 1879.

Their issuance reflects the end of a coin-hoarding period that began during the American Civil War, and represented a return to public confidence in paper money.

The Refunding Certificate originally promised to pay 4% annual interest in perpetuity.

The obligation on these notes reads: However, in 1907, Congress passed an act that ended the interest accrual of the certificates, and fixed the value of them at $21.30, over twice their face value.

Consistent with the Treasury Department paper used in printing the Fourth and Fifth Issues of Fractional currency (1869–76), anti-counterfeiting devices of the period included embedding large silk fibers as well as the use of blue tinted paper.