I normally don't explore into this realm, but i have two questions; 1) What is the difference between the "green seal" federal reserve notes, and the "red seal" United states notes... 2) What is proper storage for paper currency? Both are novice questions I know
I'm actually curious about the first question, I always thought it had to do with what the money was backed by, but I could be mistaken. I store my paper currency in sleeves, and my more valuable items in acrylic, personally. In a dry environment, of course.
Taken from Wikipedia: The United States Note was a national currency whereas Federal Reserve Notes are issued by the quasi-federal Federal Reserve System.[SUP][26][/SUP] Both have been legal tender since the gold recall of 1933. Both have been used in circulation as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them came from different statutes.[SUP][24][/SUP] United States Notes were created as fiat currency, in that the government has never categorically guaranteed to redeem them for precious metal - even though at times, such as after the specie resumption of 1879, federal officials were authorized to do so if requested. The difference between a United States Note and a Federal Reserve Note is that a United States Note represented a "bill of credit" and was inserted by the Treasury directly into circulation free of interest. Federal Reserve Notes are backed by debt purchased by the Federal Reserve, and thus generate seigniorage, or interest, for theFederal Reserve System, which serves as a lending parent to the Treasury and the public.As the debt purchased by the Federal Reserve System to back its notes consists primarily of Treasury and Government-sponsored enterprise debt,[SUP][27][/SUP] and because the seigniorage is largely remitted back to the Treasury as "interest on Federal Reserve Notes", the economics to the Treasury are comparable to issuing United States Notes. This stands in contrast to National Bank Notes which allowed the issuing banks to privately retain the seigniorage as profit.
United States Notes (Red Seals) also known as Legal Tender Notes have been around longer than most others... May 3, 1878 an Act of Congress was put into place requiring $346-$347 million be maintained to support the issue. The Small Size issues have been in the following denominations; $1, $2, $5 and $100. There was also a $10 and $20 that were printed but never issued (love to have just 1 ea of those..lol) August 10, 1966 the Treasury made announcement that $2 notes would no longer be printed and even a short while later discontinued the printing of the $5 notes as well. The Small Size Series 1966 and 1966A $100 notes are both Legal Tender issues as well with only the Series 1966 $100 having Star notes issued to it. Green Seal Fed Reserve was authorized under the Act of Dec 23, 1913...they are obligations of the USA and act as a first lein on assets of the issuing Fed Reserve Bank. They are basically secured by a "pledge " of collateral equal to the face value of the notes I think there are 4 collateral types but can not recall them. Hope this helps??
Thanks Rickie, I read today that the green seal 5th issue fractionals are rarer than their red seal counterparts. But my question is, is this true? And why does the green and red seal both say United States? is it due to the fact that the federal reserve wasn't founded until the early 1900's? And is their any difference between the green/red seal fractionals?
We are talking about the small size notes. The Green Seal Notes are Federal Reserve notes, only backed by the Federal Government from 1928 and still today. The Gold Seal Notes, were Gold Notes backed by gold from the Federal government from 1928 till 1933. The Blue Seal Notes are Silver Certificates Notes that were backed by Silver, from 1928 to 1965. The Red seal notes were U. S. Bank Notes that were also called Legal Tender Notes, 1928, to 1966. The $100.00 1966-1966A red notes were printed, but not many were released, later all of these in storage were destroyed. The Brown seal notes and were Federal Reserve Bank Notes of 1929. The National Bank Notes were also Brown Seal Notes from 1929-1935. Get a book called "Small-Size U.S. Paper Money from 1928 to date", by Dean Oakes and John Schwartz. this will help you understand more on these notes.
I once collected the Fractional Note Series 4th and 5th Issues... Yes the Green Seal Meredith Note is more scarce than the red seal....I am quite sure that the counterfeit activity on these issues forced all the change but will verifiy for you. I will check my references for you later on..it's hard to recall all the details after being away so long. They are several other members here who can answer this too..so if they choose to do so that would be great as well.
The 10 cent Meredith notes were printed with Red and Green Seals... The Green Seal Note has the folowing specifics;According to my reference the Green seal was listed first....I am not sure if it was printed first or if it was printed after the 2 varieties of Red Seal Notes... Face of the Note- William M. Meredith- Sec of Treasury 1845-1849 Green Seal Key Lenght 5 mm Paper was Cream white bond with minute pink fibers and long lilac fibers with localized long blue fibers on the end of the note. The Red Seal Notes have 2 varieties, The Long Key 5mm and the Short Key 4mm. I have no knowledge of extant pieces as far as how many that remain...you could check the major grading services and Fractional Currency Collectors Board... I forgot to add that the Federal Reserve was created by an Act of Dec 23, 1913 These are some very impressive little notes that I feel in Love with a long time ago. A Dealer friend of mine, Prof Don Kelly has a listing of them on his Website www.donckelly.com for your enjoyment.
I wanted to post a photo of the 10 Cent Green Seal Meredith fractional note Rickie was describing.....
