Maybe not. You see, In the USA's past its paper currency included the issuance of Gold and Silver Certificates which included an obligation that the Treasury will "pay to the bearer" certain amounts of gold or silver equal to the face value of the Certificates "on demand". The Coinage Act of 1873 placed the United States monetary system on the gold standard, which replaced the gold and silver bimetallic standard that had been created by Alexander Hamilton. Many of the poorer citizens saw this "unlawful," and silver agitation began. The Bland-Allison Act, as it came to be known, was passed by Congress on February 28, 1878 and lasted until 1964. It did not provide for the "free and unlimited coinage of silver" demanded by Western miners, but it did require the United States Treasury to purchase between $2 million and $4 million of silver bullion from mining companies in the West, to be minted into coins that would be legal tender for all debts, like gold. These coins, however, were quite heavy, so the government applied their gold certificate strategy to the silver. i.e. if there were five silver dollars in the treasury, the government would print a $5 Silver Certificate against the dollars, providing a somewhat easier medium of exchange. The idea was kept, and Series 1878 was printed in denominations of $10 to $1000. Two sizes of Silver Certificates were printed; 1. Large 2. Small On most large-size Silver Certificates, the obligation reads: "This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America (face value number) silver dollar(s) payable to the bearer on demand." On small-sized Silver Certificates, beginning with Series 1934, in order to denote current location of deposit, the obligation was changed to read: "This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America (face value number) dollar(s) in silver payable to the bearer on demand. For every Silver Certificate printed, its face value required that number of silver Dollars be on deposit at the Treasury. Ditto for Gold Certificates. From time to time bags of silver and gold coins were melted and used to strike newer dated coins. In the Philadelphia and branch mints no complete records were kept as to the numerical count of the meltings and recoinings. Also note, because of the required silver and gold deposits at the Treasury, many silver and gold coins in some years, never entered circulation. Series $2 1886 Silver Certificate (Large): (Photo courtesy beeslife.com) You may scroll down to see other Silver Certificates issued before 1886 and afterward. http://www.beeslife.com/currency/silver_certificate.php Series 1934 $5 Silver Certificate (Small): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Silvercertificate.jpg $50 Gold Certificate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goldcertificate.jpg 1934 $100 Gold Certificate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Series1934_100gold_obverse.jpg Couple the "on deposit" requirement with those years (i.e. 1893-1894, 1929-1935) when severe depression shook the very foundations of capitalism in America along with the rest of the world and you should understand the rarity of some coin dates. Hope you enjoyed this post... Clinker
Very nice post Clinker. We all appreciate your work. As a weird aside, there were also "coin notes" I believe, payable in coinage either gold or silver. I bought one years ago, (when currency was cheap), locked away somewhere. Chris
Hi medoraman... Thanks for the positive comment. Like to see you post a photo the "coin note" if you ever come across it... Clinker
