Ok, technically this question is about paper money... Does anyone know if any other foreign countries printed certificates back in silver, besides the US and Cuba?
Indeed they did. Not being a note collector I cannot provide you a list of the countries - but I know for sure New Zealand & Australia did. And I am pretty sure the list would be a rather large one.
thank you! I've been trying to search the subject on the internet, but the only results I gained were from 10,000 people selling american silver certificates - and I didn't know what else to call them. thanks again, GD!
The Spanish 1935 5 pesatas notes were for 5 silver pesatas (S$1), though I doubt they actually had the coins to back them up. Canadian gov't notes ("payable to the bearer") I think were redeemable in gold (in multiples of $5 face) until 1914. Later issues could then be assumed to silver-backed, since they would be paid in silver coin, although they were legally backed by gold. How about Phillipines notes pre-WWII? Those should be backed by the silver pesos that ended up in Manilia Bay by MacArthur's orders.
I think you are right about the phillipines. 'researching' on ebay, I found the following: china - 1949 'silver dollar', although I'm not sure if this is denoting, specificially, silver backing, or just a fancy name for the bill. They also issued a 'Gold Unit' note, as well. I also added Russia, Korea, and Brazil to my list. Although technically the results were backed in gold.
As you know, I found this interesting. I have watched your progress with this and I have a couple of thoughts. Do not get sidetracked by gold notes that were eventually paid off in silver. During the Great Depression, silver was down to 34cents/lb. It was cheap money. The gold notes wer defaulted and might has well have been paid off in nickel as in silver. What you want is silver certificates: "Will pay to the bearer on demand [monetary units] of silver." Stick with it. You might spend a lot of time surfing the web and not find what you want. Get the Krause books and start flipping pages. That is the only way, ultimately. Also, you might join the IBNS and the SPMC both and use those forums to ask other collectors who know paper money. Good luck!
