I collect old u.s. Paper money/currency

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Wow really. I knew the big bills were a lot more than face value but 10 times face? Wow. I guess they are really rare. How much is a $1,000 bill?

IIRC, the big bills were never in real circulation. They were only used from bank to bank to transfer funds. That is why they are very rare and worth $$$$.

What is a $500 bill worth? It would be cool to get one of those. My aunt who is a retired banker said she's only seen a few in her lifetime.

Edit: Just checked and the $10k bill was the largest bill in general circulation. Damn! Who would carry those around?

[Brian993]

90% of the $10,000 bills available to collectors came from Binions casino. He had a large horseshoe with $1million worth of $10,000 bills. It was dismantled and all of the banknotes were absorbed into the collecting community.
$5000 are actually a bit more scarce and in my opinion have a higher cool factor.

I sure hope someone on this forum pops up with some stuff I can buy.

Try to think if you guys know someone who might have some tucked away. Let them know you have somebody interested.

[Rick Lee]

I have some kicking around.



I also have four uncirculated $1 silver certs. with consecutive serial numbers and some Japanese, Filipino and Korean stuff from WWII.

[on2wheels52]

Not Confederate so much?
I have a few old US at the shop, will have to dig them out.
Jim

[abisel]

Once I made the mistake of trying to buy some stuff at a Quick Trip with a red seal $5 note that I had gotten in change from a previous purchase. The cashier said he couldn't take the note as he did not think is was real since he had never seen a red seal note before. I thanked him for pointing it out, said it was probably worth around 20 bucks and I quickly retrieved the note. He looked at me kinda funny after that. Can't find it now though.

[on2wheels52]

I guess they had big wallets back then.
Jim

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by Brian993

I am happy to respond to your question in a mature responsible way. I hope you can appreciate that.

There is a grading system which has been established. So each banknote being unique will have its own grade depending on its exposure to circulation if any at all.
As a side note depending on rarity grade affects value only slightly. If it's a common banknote grade means everything.

Thanks Brian. I'm not understanding the mature and responsible part of your reply but I was only trying to express my understanding of a bank note's face value...which of course is very different than its value as a collectible. I'll defer to those in the know and hope to learn a bit by following along.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Real money - silver and gold certificates. I have a few. Current federal reserve notes are worthless and "pay to the bearer on demand" absolutely nothing.

I believe you'd run into problems trying to redeem one these days for gold or silver. Besides the fact that $1 or $5 is an extremely small amount (largely due to devaluation and the fact that the certificates' values have been pegged to worthless FRNs). The standard line as I understand it is that all remaining certificates are redeemable for FRNs of the same denomination and will then be destroyed once so redeemed (just like all other "retired" paper currency). This effectively makes them as worthless as the FRNs themselves. Personally I'd love to see someone challenge the legality of this in the courts and demand a $5 silver certificate be redeemable for $5 in silver based on the price of silver in the year the certificate was issued, or at least prior to the formal abolition of the gold/silver standard. That'd be fair IMHO but I doubt it'd ever go anywhere and if it did the plaintiff would likely disappear or fall victim to a sudden unexplained heart attack.

The creation of the modern FRN completely and systematically dismantled the gold/silver standard by simultaneously invalidating the value of the certificates (pegging them to FRNs) and devaluing the USD to the point that $X in precious metals is now a pittance. Back in the mid to late 1800s, $5 or $10 or $20 in gold was a significant quantity - no more (gold ran about $18.90 an ounce through the mid-19 teens, when Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve, whereupon price began to increase). The subsequent spike in price ($20 now buys 0.0158 ounce of gold, meaning a dollar from 1910 is now worth a little over a penny based on a gold price of +/- $1,200/oz). This is the effect of the devaluation of the USD which is accelerating at a frightening rate (gold price has more than tripled since 2005 and more than quintupled since 2000 but I digress...)

They are very cool pieces of history though. When the federal reserve notes eventually become worthless and the US currency collapses ( which I'm convinced is inevitable) they will have real historical value in documenting the transition of the USA from a real economy to a fabricated and mythical fiat economy.

[Por_sha911]

I have some $3 bills and Obamabucks you can buy...
Someone needs to wake up Tabs. Surely he has his hands in the collector currency market.

[daepp]

I got as a gift i the 70's $2 bills that are postmarked on the first day of issue. My mother thought they'd be worth something as they had not been printed in years. Any guess if they have any value beyond $2? Sorry to hijack.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pavulon

Thanks Brian. I'm not understanding the mature and responsible part of your reply but I was only trying to express my understanding of a bank note's face value...which of course is very different than its value as a collectible. I'll defer to those in the know and hope to learn a bit by following along.

I suspect he feels some of the first few responses were immature "these are not the examples you're looking for" and "I thought there was a red button" and my two responses offering pennies on the dollar.

His first post came off a bit like SPAM since he said that he would be happy to value and purchase the bills and said he would post examples, and then did not post any examples. Because of that, the original post wasn't taken terribly seriously.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I have some kicking around.



I also have four uncirculated $1 silver certs. with consecutive serial numbers and some Japanese, Filipino and Korean stuff from WWII.

I've had a red seal $5, but it disappeared. I think I may have a silver cert or two around. Most of the stuff that I have is either foreign or old coins.

[jrdavid68]

Nice. Do you have any Nationals from Iowa?

Originally Posted by Brian993

Sorry here you go-

[Brian993]

I have several. If you are looking in one specific please let me know. I have access so several thousand.

[Por_sha911]

I'm looking for one of these:

Let me know where you keep it so I can come over to see it.

[frosty2]

Are the old US two dollar bills of any value?

[Brian993]

Typically not but a few are. Please post a picture.

[Scott Douglas]

I've got a few silver certs.

[reed930]

Among many other things, my father collected coins and currency back in the 1950s. Quite the hoarder, he had suitcases of this stuff. I never got around to doing anything with it since I have a bit of the disease myself.

[reed930]