I find it neat when I come across an older note in circulation and it is still relatively crisp. Do you guys think that they've been sitting buried in a vault somewhere or someone had them in a book or something and just needed the money so they used it? A while back, I picked up a really crisp 1988 $50 bill. I know it's not worth anything (besides $50 bucks), but I just like it because it's so crisp.
At the risk of sounding goofy, I like to know the reasons why older currency is found in circulation. Was someone hiding it? It's like, there must be a story behind it. I think I have a wild imagination, haha.
At the local grocers, a husband and wife were paying for their groceries with King George banknotes (here in Canada) and when asked where they got them, they said they worked for an older couple doing house and yard work and were always paid in cash. This "older couple" must have had a stash of old banknotes around and used them as they were intended.... as currency. Some notes get snuck out of Dad's or Grampa's collection and used to buy whatever the kids want. Some are from stolen collections. Some are from people who inherit or receive banknotes and have no idea or don't care that they have collector's value. It could be any number of reasons.
Yesterday I got apparently a perfect CU series 1977 $10. Close inspection showed someone had got to it with a counterfeit detector pen. Drat!
Have to agree with ikan on this one. It's a whole myriad of reasons, mostly people holding them and spending because they need to, or someone inherits them and doesn't understand that they have something that may be worth more than face value, etc.
Faultless Heavy Duty Spray Starch, and an iron set on medium-low......or notes tucked away in an old shoe box.
Years ago I worked at the cash register of a pharmacy. People would come in and spend rare money. Silver certificates and older coins. If I'm not paying attention - it goes into the drawer and is given out as change. If I am paying attention I replace the $1 silver cert with a dollar from my wallet. It's now out of circulation. As for where they got it - maybe just the same way - in circulation. People who pay attention to coins and bills (and may take them out of circulation) are a minority.
I would like for you to think beyond that date and return to the times of 1928 thru the 1930's. Today in many collections you will find Gem notes from all date ranges, however, some are scarce. There has always been different classes of people with different levels of income. Back during the hard times of the 30's, $20 was a rather large amout of money for someone of moderate means to put back and save, however, some people did. Top income earners, Bankers and affluent people had extra cash on hand and cash was king. If you look at all the printed info on banknotes printed for each Series there are different figures for each denom and Series as well. What we do not know is how many "surrived" these times. Of recent times mid 80's to current TPG have been recording such information and you can easily see Small Size Notes that only a few examples are extant in Gem Grades. This is one reason that I feel the Small Size Series of banknotes will become even more popular with time in high grade examples. Now this is just my belief and founded on nothing but personal observation and collecting. The possibilities and probabilities of extant hoards out there undiscovered are very real, people find things all the time. So give a little thought to how that note may have found it's way into circ and you will derive some of the following; Unemployed person who used what they had stashed away, kid got into dads collection, Senior Citizen spending what they once put back out of necessity, person coming into a collection by inheritance and not knowing or caring about the value. You see you can just not pinpoint a cause, just think 20 years from now someone will ask about a 1985 banknote in Gem and how odd it is to find one so nice..heck it could come from any of us collectors of current. RickieB
Alot of people keep cash in safes and in boxes at the bank. I keep some around for emergencies. I might not ever use it and if I do it may be relatively old in comparison to what is circulating at the time. At some point I think the government will try and stop issuing currency and get everyone on some type of debit card. Cash will still be good but will be retired as it is deposited in banks.
I agree with the theory of money in safes and under mattresses and the larger denomination theory. Cash will be around for a long time to come as many transactions are done by cash as to not leave a paper trail (legal or otherwise).
Here's the average life span: $1 - 22 months $5 - 16 months $10 - 8 months $20 - 2 years $50 - 8½ years
This was even more prevalent in the past (back before the societal norm was to carry four-figure balances on a big wad of credit cards). My grandparents were fairly well-to-do in the late 1920's, and they lost ALL their money when the banks failed in 1933. From then on, they always kept cash hidden around the house.
From the BEP FAQ, but it looks like they updated it since I saw the information: What is the average life span of a Federal Reserve Note? The average life span of a Federal Reserve Note varies by denomination: Denomination Life Span $ 1 ............... 42 months $ 5 ............... 16 months $ 10 ............. 18 months $ 20 ............. 24 months $ 50 ............. 55 months $100 ............ 89 months http://moneyfactory.gov/faqlibrary.html