Are there any numbers on the amount of dollars in silver certificate's that are still still outstanding? Did the goverment need to have a dollars worth of silver for each silver certificate or were they able to assume that some were lost over time?
The numbers outstanding exist, but I don't have them handy at the moment. There were a lot of them. The Old Series Currency Adjustment Act of 1971 allowed the Treasury to assume large number of old notes had been destroyed or irretrievably lost. (The last group included notes held in collections.) This act removed the gold backing of pre 1934 gold certificates.
Act of June 24, 1967 provided a year for redemption and $150 million was redeemed leaving $245 million outstanding.
According to a report by the St. Louis Fed, there were $205,877,000 worth of silver certificates outstanding as of Sep. 30th, 1980. By comparison, the high outstanding was $2.2 billion in 1958, and less than $400 million outstanding in 1969, the year after redemption in silver was ended. Parenthetically, the same report shows only $8,000 worth of 1890 Coin Notes outstanding, so they are truly scarce.
I remember reading somewhere that someone estimated the number of 1957 $1 silver certificates (remaining population in collectors hands) is in the millions. I know you can buy crisp unc $1 silver certifs for $3 or $4 or ebay, which makes me think the population is quite high. The estimates above might be right on. Here's to the wonderful blue seals! Or how about this oldie (many fewer of these around I'm sure!)
At the last full count Treasury report (pre 1971), there were slightly over $1,000,000 Treasury notes of 1890 outstanding. One of the first actions taken under the Old Currency Adjustment Act was to write offf $1,000,000 of them.
I don't think that's correct. The $1 million write-down occurred in the Fifties. Then there was a $100K write-down in the Sixties. The official figure stabilized at $11K for about a decade and then shrank to $8K in the Seventies. But you are right about most of the attrition since the Forties was a result of write-downs, not redemption. I just thought it made a good factoid.
I think the 1957's in uncirculated condition are definitely under valued even if they are considered common compared to other notes, $3-4 for something that's 50 years old with the history behind it is a heck of a deal.
Looking over my old copies of the Circulation Satements of United States Money, I find: April 30, 1961 was the high point of Silver Certificates outstanding at $2,376,964,535. The amount in circulation was $2,043,162,781 of which $1,425,705,745 were $1 bills. Treasury Notes of 1890 outstanding (and in circulation) were $1,141,667. Somewhere between June 30,1961 and Sept 30,1961, The silver backing is removed from LARGE size silver certficates. They still can be redeemed in silver dollars. The gold backing is removed from pre-1934 gold certificates. October 20, 1961 $1,000,000 Treasury Notes of 1890 are written off. August 27, 1962 $15,000,000 in LARGE size silver certficates written off. November 16, 1964 $14,500,000 in LARGE size silver certificates written off. $100,000 in Treasury Notes of 1890 written off. March 19,1968 $50,000,000 in silver certificates written off. June 30, 1968 shows $328,570,771 in silver certificates outstanding and $225,265,737 in circulation. June 30,1971 $217,591,849 outstanding silver certificates ($79,500,000 previously written off). This is the last date silver certificates are reported. July 31,1971 silver certificates are included in "Currency No Longer Issued" and are not separately broken out. It is possible I have missed some of the silver certificate writeoffs.
The government officially declares the notes no longer extant, which allows it to print the equivalent amount in new notes without increasing the national debt.
