My vault teller at one of my branches was happy to see me again, after a sojourn of a week from my last coin searching forays, she had been holding onto these since just after my visit last week: She had said the lady that brought them in had found them at home in some boxes or something and tried to spend them unsuccessfully in several stores before giving up and taking them to the bank. The green seal note is a 1950-D. The red seal is the first of the $5 denomination I have ever owned, let alone found from circulation. It was a good day for coin finds too, a 1924 Buffer and four silver war nickels.
Awsome find, can't wait for the day I walk into my bank and they have a suprise for me other than pretty tellers.
Thats weird I was just coming on here to ask about a 1950D and a 1950B $5 bills I got from my bank teller earlier this week; oddly enough same thing happened with these $5's too or at least similar: someone found them stashed, tried spending them, gave up, and brought them to the bank and my teller saved them for me. Mine are obviously both FRN's though... I have yet to find some red at my bank
I wonder if the wording "will pay five dollars to the bearer on demand" scares merchants off now. It makes it sound like the bill is really not five dollars.
That's a very awesome find! I saw one of these at my grandma's house back when I was younger. I really only collect coins, though. Still, I'd keep it.
While we are on the red seal topic, I wonder if anybody can fill in any data on their geographical location during the days when they circulated freely. In 1918 FRBN production of $2 divided by $1 production was highest in the Northeast. Up to 1965 red seal two's were common in New England, especially in bank vaults. In harness racing season in at least Massachusetts and Maine, they flooded the race tracks. $5 red seals circulated regularily although not as common as blue or green seals. I was told that they were not as common in other parts of the country. The bulk of small size red seal $1 was released in Porto Rico. That is quite often reported. What I haven't seen mentioned lately is that the $100 red seals were initially released there. A small quantity was sent to the NY FRB. Then the Treasury circulated them in the Washington DC area. Finally they hoarded most all and finally destroyed what they had.
