On April 2, 1792, the United States dollar was created by the U.S. Congress. Since that first inception, the dollar has gone through quite a few changes. One of those changes allowed the dollar bill to be exchanged for silver. If you currently hold a silver certificate dollar bill, you may be wondering what it’s worth. Can you still exchange it for silver?
Silver Certificate Dollar Bill Overview
In 1878, the United States Congress created legislation that allowed the government to issue silver certificate dollar bills. This was mainly done to counteract the silver agitation that was created due to the Coinage Act of 1873. This Act revised laws related to the United States Mint. It abolished the right of silver bullion holders to have the precious metal struck into dollar coins that were legal tender. This action ended bimetallism and placed the United States on the gold standard. By doing so, it changed the monetary value of silver. The value would now be based on government fiat. In turn, this depreciated the value of silver content in US silver dollars, half dollars, quarters and dimes. It would stay this way until 1964 when the production of silver certificate dollar bills was abolished.
Repealing The Silver Purchase Act
In 1863, PL88-36 was passed by the United States House of Representatives. It would repeal the Silver Purchase Act and begin the retirement of silver certificate one dollar bills. If you were holding silver certificates at that time, you could exchange them for silver dollar coins from July 1963 to March of 1964. After that, you could only redeem the certificates for silver granules until 1968. So, if you hold a silver certificate today, you are unable to redeem it for silver.
Historical Significance
Since you are unable to redeem a silver certificate for silver, you are probably wondering if it is worth anything. Technically, you can still exchange a silver certificate for a Federal Reserve note. However, you may not want to do this as there is monetary value due to the historical significance associated with each silver certificate. In today’s marketplace, the value of silver certificates is derived from their collectibility as historic rare items. Hobbyists and enthusiasts who collect numismatic currency will pay you a higher amount in fiat than the face value of your certificate. This depends on a number of variables.
Valuing Silver Dollar Certificates
One of the main variables that help determine the value of a silver certificate is the grade that it holds. To authenticate and grade a silver certificate, it must be graded by a professional currency grading service such as PCGS. As a third-party company, they follow specific grading standards and ensure that the process they use is consistent. Between the years 1935 in 1957, a larger number of silver certificates were produced. Due to the amount of larger supply, these certificates are typically valued at low amounts that range between $2-$4. The value starts to rise when rarity becomes an issue. If you hold a silver certificate from 1896, its unique design may fetch you a value that’s worth $1000.
If you have a silver certificate dollar bill in your possession, it may be worthwhile for you to check on its rarity before exchanging it for fiat currency. A rare certificate could be worth 3 to 4 figures.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!
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Bullion Shark LLC ……
United States silver certificates are probably the most popular and widely collected type of U.S. paper currency. This is because many of the older issues have amazingly beautiful designs, while others, like the Hawaii overprint notes from World War II, have an interesting history behind them. Moreover, the notes were first issued during one of the most fascinating periods in American monetary history.
Silver certificates were issued between 1878 and 1964 and were redeemable at face value in silver dollars or, at certain times, silver bullion. In 1964, Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon announced the notes would no longer be redeemable for silver dollars and from that time until 1968, they could be redeemed for silver granules.
These actions were taken because of the rising price of silver in the 1860s and because the Treasury vaults at the time had 2.9 million silver dollars, including many which already had numismatic value, and there was no fair way to distribute them if people could continue redeeming their silver certificates for silver dollars.
Since 1968, silver certificates have been redeemable only for Federal Reserve Notes but they are still legal tender. Examples of more common silver certificates, especially if they are worn, are in many cases only worth not much over face value and are sometimes used in transactions, but earlier ones are in many cases valuable and have historic value.
Historic Origins
Silver certificates were rooted in reactions by many American citizens to the impact of the Coinage Act of 1873, which passed the United States Congress apparently with many of its members allegedly not really understanding what they had approved. The law stopped the production of silver dollars, ended bimetallism (a monetary policy began by Alexander Hamilton that established a ratio between the values of gold and silver), and effectively put the U.S. on a gold standard, which was also happening in Europe at the time.
The bill had lingered in Congress for three years before being passed and then signed into law by President Ulysses Grant. For adherents of the Free Silver Movement like William Jennings Bryant the legislation became known as the “Crime of ’73” because it essentially demonetized silver.
By 1875, Western banks and mining companies had begun lobbying for a return to bimetallism even while a law enacted that year limited the number of greenbacks that could be redeemed for silver to a face value of $5. There was also a sharp decline in the value of silver by 1876 because of large silver discoveries such as the Comstock Lode.
House members from Nevada and Colorado, which states alone accounted for 40% of global silver production at the time, lobbied to restore free silver coinage. This laid the grounds for the Morgan dollar coin through the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 passed by Congress over a presidential veto on February 28. Though it did not provide for the unlimited free coining of silver as before, it did require the Treasury to purchase $2-4 million worth of silver per month from Western mining companies.
To back all the 1878 Morgan dollars and those that came afterward through 1904, the law also authorized the printing of silver certificate dollars redeemable in silver dollars. They were issued in response to agitation by citizens upset about the demonetization of silver. They were also issued to help restore trust in paper currency at a time when many banks issued their own currency and many citizens lacked faith in paper dollars, as well as to facilitate large transactions, which were difficult with lots of coins.
Silver Certificate Dollars
Silver certificates were all issued under either the 1878 law or the 1886 law. The first issue, Series 1878 and 1880, included denominations from $10 to $10,000 and were called Certificates of Deposit, which indicated that the appropriate amount of silver dollars had been deposited with the Treasury to cover them. But they were not accepted for all transactions and were only used for customs, taxes, and public dues (and under an 1882 law as bank reserves), but they were not legal tender for transactions between individuals.
The second issue of silver certificates, the Series of 1886, 1891, and 1908, included notes from $1 to $10,000.
The third issue was the Educational Series of 1896 of $1, $2 and $5 notes that are widely considered the most beautiful U.S. paper currency ever issued.
The fourth issue was the Series 1899, which included $1, $2, and $5 notes, and the fifth issue was Series 1923, which only included $1 and $5 notes. There are also 1928, 1934, 1935, 1953, and 1957 Series silver certificates.
Silver certificates through the Series 1923 were printed on very large paper, measuring 3.125 by 7.373 inches, and were known as “horse blankets”. Since the 1928 series, they have been printed on dollars the same size as those used today.
Silver Certificate Values
The value of a particular silver certificate varies widely depending on the series, the denomination, and the condition (graded on a 1 to 70 scale) – as well as other factors like serial number arrangement (such as very low or high numbers and repeating numbers) and Federal Reserve seal and number.
Keep in mind that the series year is not when the notes were printed but instead corresponds to when major design changes were made.
Many of the earlier notes are quite valuable, such as the 1886 series notes with Martha Washington on the obverse, which are worth from $225 for an average condition note to $3,000 for an uncirculated example of the scarcest one. The 1899 series with an eagle on the obverse can be worth from $100 for a more common one in average condition to over $6,000 for an MS63 example of the rarest issue.
Another interesting example is the 1942 North Africa Operation Torch emergency notes issued for use by U.S. military personnel in North Africa, which had a yellow seal to distinguish them from other currency.
1935 and 1957 Silver Certificates
The 1935 and 1957 series silver certificates are generally worth less than $5 if circulated and as much as a couple hundred in high grades. They can come with blue and brown seals (the emblem of the Treasury Department). Both look like regular paper currency used today except that they have notations such as under “ONE DOLLAR” at the bottom, to which is added “payable in silver to the bearer on demand.”
Some 1935 certificates have the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST”, while others do not. One type of 1935 series is more valuable and also of historic interest, and that is the emergency notes overprinted with “HAWAII” on their backs in large letters and written on the left side of the front as well.
After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was worried that the Japanese would overrun Hawaii and that large amounts of currency would fall into enemy hands, so emergency notes were created to be used by residents and military personnel stationed there. Each of these 1935A Series notes issued from July 1942 to October 1944 had a brown seal and had “HAWAII” printed on both sides.
There are many ways to
collect silver certificates, from building a set of one denomination or series to assembling a type set of each of the different major types of notes. Along the way, you will learn a lot about U.S. history and the dollar.