Several questions for our older forum members regarding circulation (USA) To the seniors ("seniors" used loosely, since some questions require older people than others) here who had first-hand experience, I have a few questions about currency in the United States: 1. How well did the half-dollar circulate before the design change to the Kennedy half? Compare how often you would see them to how often you saw quarters at the time. Was there a slow drop in usage before the change in design or was it sudden? 2. Same questions as above, only about the silver dollars (pre-Ikes). Compare with quarters and half-dollars. Slow or sudden? 3. Same questions as above, only about pre-1964 $2 bills. Compare with $1 notes and $5 notes. Slow or sudden? 4. $10000 and $5000 notes were made in very small quantities and were probably mostly used between banks. But there were lots of $500 and $1000 notes printed. They're print runs lasted for roughly 15 years (IIRC), and recalled in the late 1960s. How often did you see them used, or use them yourselves? Do you have any interesting stories about them and their use, etc.? 5. When did the $20 note become our "default" currency? Were there a more spread-out use of bills before a certain time? Currently, $2s, $10s, and $50s are printed and used in significantly smaller quantities than the other notes. 6. How often did United States Notes pop up, in the middle of the 1900s (circa 1930 to 1970)? $2s, $5s, and $100s. Any other obsolete notes such as National Currency appear in circulation in the same time frame? What about Silver Certificates after they were no longer able to be traded for silver around 1970? I, and others, appreciate your responses, so we can find out about how things were. We don't want that information to be gone forever. Sorry to ask for so much at a time, and thank you.
Please give us your experience I'm disappointed that nobody has responded yet. I hope that those of you who have lived through the times of my questions will please respond with your personal accounts. We just want to know what cash was like before our generation. No offence to your generation is intended, at all. –W5WMW
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, so I can't answer most of your questions. I will say that blue and red seal notes (silver certs and US Notes) were common in circulation in the 70s, and more common than you would think in the 80s. I have even pulled some from circulation in the 90s, but they were mostly $2 and $5 bills, which are not quite the workhorses that $1s and $20s are. As for the silver dollars, the history as I know it is that they were used as a store of value, more like bullion, as compared to a coin that actually circulated, which is why uncirculated Morgan and Peace dollars are so plentiful. These coins spent most of their time in bags in vaults, or in privately held coin tubes squirreled away.
I am not that older but have been collecting since the 70s and read a lot of money circulation. These are my opinions, but would gladly be overruled by others: 1. Halves dropped suddenly after Franklins. First the 64 Kennedy was almost all hoarded, then the silver disappearing from coinage made this transition fast. Halves from 1900 through 1963 were slowly being less important versus quarters, but the end was sudden. 2. Most dollars did not circulate except out west. They were rare in commerce in the east. In the late 50's, early 60's the greatest usage of silver dollars was Reno and LAs Vegas slot machines. 3. $2 bills were never big circulators really, and it seems cash registers were greatly responsible. They only have so many slots for bills, so the first one to lose its slot was the $2. 4. They were recalled in the 70's actually. Even in the 80's in IA at least if you wanted any just get to know some bank cashiers and they would hold them for you, (technically I don't think they were supposed to, but they did). My uncle always had about $2000 in currency in his wallet in $500 or $1000 bills. I remember even in the early 90's the price for a nice $500 was only $550, and a nice $1000 was about $1100. 5. I think inflation has caused the $20 to be the default. $100's won't get changed, plus the fact currency really is only used today to buy big mac meals mainly. Most large purchases are done electronically today. 30 years ago $5 and $10 were more numerous it seemed. 6. In the 70's at least US notes were pretty common. I received in change pretty often US notes. You would look at them since they looked different, but spent them. National Bank notes were rare, I only got a few in change, and still have one since I liked the name of the bank. Even into the 80's you would occasionally get a US note. Silver certificates were about the same. After they stopped redeeming them they simply became like FRN's. Like I said, I am not that old but have those experiences and/or know from reading. Hope that helped a little. Chris
Oh, good story... In the 1980s, when my Uncle's (by marriage) parent's passed away, he inheirted their home. They found $20,000 in $20 Gold Certs sewn into clothes in the attic. They proceeded to take it to the bank and deposit it! When I heard, I almost cried.
another relative youngster here, but... it clearly seems like $20s are so common due to ATM's. even a few years ago, many ATMs dispensed a mixture of $10s and $20s but did that make $10s any more common in circulation? and what if ATMs switched to $50s or a mixture of $20s and $50s?
I guess you could say that if you were a typical gambler from the 50's-70's, you could pretty much see almost any kind of US currency being used. Chris
I can't answer the paper money question. When I was a newspaper carrier in the 60's, halves were common. The paper was 35c per week and people would pay with silver halves. mostly WL's and Frankies. I'd rarely see anything older. It was a rare occasion to see a JFK half, too, as he was so loved, especially in my Irish Catholic neighborhood, that all of those halves were hoarded. Even into the 70's, silver halves were abundant, but not many JFK's would circulate. Stores in my neighborhood used them, too, until the mid 70's. Silver halves really dried up in the late 70's and in the 80's they were gone.
I started collecting coins in 1952 and never had much interest in paper money. I do remember half dollars being quite common in circulation, and many Walkers and early Franklins do show a lot of circulation wear. The only silver dollars I ever saw were from the $100 bags my grandmother would get from the bank for me to check dates. Never found a single Morgan in those bags, every one was a Peace dollar. Of course, this was before the treasury release of uncirculated Morgans in the early 1960's.
Like Rick, I was a paper boy too (1963-1965) and saw many walkers, Kennedy's and Franklin's on my rounds. I managed to complete a set of Franklin's right out of what I collected from my customers (still have it). I began to see less half dollars in the change by 1965........
