Quote:
Originally Posted by FreakyGarrettC  Can someone tell me what a barr note is?  |
Joeseph Barr was the Secretary of the Treasury under Lyndon Johnson from December 21, 1968 (replacing Fowler, who had resigned) until January 20, 1969 (when Richard Nixon was sworn in; Nixon would appoint David Kennedy as the new Secretary 2 days later). Henry Fowler resigned in 1968 towards the end of Johnson's term and Johnson appointed Barr, the Undersecretary of the Treasury at the time, to serve as secreatary for the rest of Johnson's term (which was about to end). As a result, Joseph Barr was the shortest serving Secreary of the Treasury in US history, only serving for about a month.
That's where the Barr bills come in... the 1963B $1 FRN bears Barr's signature, the only note that does so. A lot of people assumed that Barr's extremely short term would mean that Barr notes would be especially rare and valuable, and thus saved them.
That was unfortunately based on a common misconception of the way US prints its money... notes will bear the signatures of the treasurer/treasury secretary at the time they are first printed (or more precisely, when they're first authorized), but if the office changes during the course of the printing of the series, they will not change the signatures. Barr notes were printed for several months after Barr left office and a total of about 454 million Barr notes were produced over the run of Series 1963B, so they're hardly rare. (Another reason they're not especially rare is ironically because so many people assumed it would be; since so many people saved them, the supply of the note in high condition is very high! High supply compared to demand kept the note from becoming especially valuable, the same reason that the 1950D Jefferson nickel is not especially valuable despite it being the key to the Jefferson nickel series.)
After a while a lot of people who had saved these notes, expecting them to become valuable one day, realized they never really would be, and started just spending them.
Ironically that caused these notes to start to dwindle in number by attrition, as they started circulating and eventually end up being destroyed by the Treasury once they were no longer fit to be issued.
They're still not hugely valuable today... even the rarest in uncirculated condition only goes for about $5 or so (maybe more for star notes)... but they are getting rarer, especially in circulation, so it's still a nice find. It will probably take another generation at least for them to become significantly valuable but it's still a nice conversation piece for a collection, especially when found in circulation, and especially if found in pretty decent condition (the one I found here was barely used, would be uncirculated were it not for a single act of creasing the bill, so thus my excitement!).
My guess as to why these show up in circulation nearly 40 years after they were printed is likely the explanations that account for delayed circualtion of other older notes: People hoarded old notes for a long time, and when they decide they don't want to keep them anymore and/or they feel the need or want the face value of the notes more than they want to save them in a collection, they just spend them. The Barr notes especially were hoarded by collectors or just people with the misconception that they were rare and would one day become significantly valuable. What I have smacks of a Barr note probalby saved in someone's collection since it was printed that somebody decided to just spend. That, or someone got into that person's collection, not realizing anything was special about the paticular $1 bill! Hope the former (if I ever have kids, I am keeping my collection in a VERY secure place!) for the sake of the likely collector.
Interesting info on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_W._Barr http://www.helium.com/items/235464-i...tible-currency 
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