When the Civil War broke out, the U.S. government found itself unable to pay its debts by relying only on gold and silver coins alone, so Congress adopted the Legal Tender Act of 1862 as a way to finance the war efforts. The resulting “Legal Tender Notes” with red seals and red numbers were issued until 1963. Today there is an ever dwindling supply of Legal Tender Notes in circulation, because the Treasury has been systematically destroying them. As a result, notes bearing a red Treasury Seal and red serial numbers are among the rarest of all types of U.S. money still in circulation. In honor of the Bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 1809, we’ve secured a limited supply of authentic $5 Lincoln Red Seal Legal Tender Notes – dates based on availability. Act now!