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1934 $5 Bill (1 Viewer)

DaveSarcevic

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I was pulling some cash put of my wallet and I noticed that the $5 bill looked different. When I loked at the date it read 1934. Along the bottom of the bill, beneath Abe, it reads, "In silver payable to the bearer on demand." The bill isn't in mint condition, but it's not any worse for wear than the other bills in my wallet. Especially for a bill that's been in circulation for almost 70 years. Just out of curiousity, is this bill anymore valuable than it's face value.? Thanks.
 

Dennis Nicholls

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Is the date 1934 stated as "series 1934"? This doesn't mean that it was made in 1934, merely that the style was set up in 1934. For example, I have a Hawaii Statehood silver certificate $1 bill that's labeled "series 1935A" even though this bill obviously dates from 1959. (It's emblazoned with the word "Hawaii" in three places.)

EDIT:
I did some poking around and found this site: www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1695.html Looks like my Hawaii $1 bill was not for Hawaii statehood in 1959 but rather a WWII issue for the people in Hawaii....

"In Hawaii, the Treasury Department replaced all U.S. currency with special issue notes as a precautionary measure in the event of a Japanese victory. Had the Japanese invaded Hawaii, the special currency would have prevented the Japanese from confiscating U.S. money, which was negotiable around the world."

My mother gave it to me in the early 1960's and I thought she told me it was a statehood issue.
 

MarkHastings

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I have a silver certificate as well. It's a $1 bill and it is "series 1957"

James E, how can silver notes be worth more? I see the winking smiley, but I'm not sure if you were joking or not. Isn't $5 worth of silver and a $5 bill the same?

I'm just wondering because of the silver note I have. Is it really worth more than $1?
 

Jay Taylor

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It's not $5.00 worth of silver but 5 ounces of silver. An ounce of silver is worth over $4.00.

At one time you could trade in silver certificates for silver dollars, which were one ounce of silver each.

Then they set a deadline for turning in the bills and after that date would only let you have an ounce of silver for the bills.

I don't know if the mint is still giving out ounces of silver but the bill is still worth more than face value to collectors.

Jay Taylor
 

DaveSarcevic

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I did call a coin shop today and did a search with google. The coin shop owner said that the value of the bill is maybe 6 bucks, and that would be almost mint condition. He said there are quite a few of these bills in circulation, maybe in twenty years it might increase in value. Info I found on my google search said that my bill was made in 1953 , the date on the bill read "Series of 1934D", the D denotes the year made. Oh well, I guess I'm still going to keep it. Any ways thanks for the help.
 

MarkHastings

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I think this is the only case where "Mint Condition" really isn't as much of a metaphor like with other collectibles :D

i.e. It really means in the condition it came from the mint.

p.s. My $1 silver certificate is in "mint" condition.
 

Karl_Luph

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I'd hang onto it Dave, If so many of those old bills are still in circulation, explain to me why we don't see them more often?I can honestly say I haven't seen one in a long time. Did the coin shop guy show you any of "his" old silver certificate bills by chance? Personally, I don't trust those coin shop guys very much.
 

Jay Taylor

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I have a set of something similar.

It's a set of Japanese Invasion money from 1 cent to $1000.00.

It's paper money issued during World War II by Japan for countries they occupied or planned to occupy: Burma, Malaya, Netherlands Indies, Oceania, Philippines and Russia(not issued).

Here's what it looks like:

Japanese Invasion Money

Jay Taylor
 

nolesrule

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I have a $20 Gold Certificate Series of 1928.

Not close to mint condition, but it's rare and a gift from my grandmother who passed away, so I don't really care what it's actually worth.
 

Bruce Hedtke

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From what I've heard, $20 Gold certificate bills are definitely worth much more than their face value. A woman who works at the gas station down the street is always on the lookout for them. If I knew what to look for, I would be as well.

Bruce
 

James E

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It seems all the currency sites i used to frequent have vanished this is all i can find right now. The ;) was meant to imply one should always check there change:D

james
 

AllanN

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It's paper money issued during World War II by Japan for countries they occupied or planned to occupy: Burma, Malaya, Netherlands Indies, Oceania, Philippines and Russia(not issued).
Im sure there is a perfectly logical answer to this, but why is the Japanese Invasion Money printed in English?
 

Dennis Nicholls

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English is a major commercial language. It's probably that simple. For another Asian example, I have some current Korean 1000 won notes labeled "1000 Won The Bank of Korea". Even my Japanese 1000 yen note is labeled "1000 yen Nippon Ginko" so that the Romanization may be attemped by non-Japanese speakers.

Another take is that Burma and Malaysia were British territories and the Philippines were US territories at the outbreak of the war. I guess the Dutch were expected to read English.

For that matter, why are US passports printed in French? :p)
 

Jay Taylor

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Most of the Japanese Invasion Money was printed in English but some wasn't. It depends upon what island/country it was going to be used in. The set I have is in English for the takeover of Malaya.

Here's a link to Japanese Invasion Money printed for the Netherlands Indies:

Japanese Invasion Money for the Netherlands Indies

And here's a list of links to Japanese Invasion Money for other islands/countries:

Japanese Invasion Money - Other Islands/Countries

P.S. I'm glad this thread inspired me to find where I stashed the Japanese Invasion Money to verify which version I had. By coincidence in the bill protector with the Japanese Invasion Money there were several old silver certificates!

Jay Taylor
 

nolesrule

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From what I've heard, $20 Gold certificate bills are definitely worth much more than their face value. A woman who works at the gas station down the street is always on the lookout for them. If I knew what to look for, I would be as well.
It looks like a $20 bill. All the differences are on the portrait side. The serial number and seal are in a yellow ink. Printed over the seal is the text "GOLD CERTIFICATE" along with the "This certificate is legal tender..." line. Underneath the "TWENTY DOLLARS" along the lower border, it states "IN GOLD COIN PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND". Also, the word "GOLD" is printed along the side borders so that the bottom of the word is toward the middle.

This is what mine looks like, except that mine isn't in as good condition, but has a lower serial number:

http://usrarecurrency.com/1928$20Gol...A34685578A.htm

I've never seen one in circulation.
 

Mark Hedges

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Mar 21, 2003
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IFAIK, there are very few pieces of paper money that are worth much more than face value, especially if circulated.

I remember attending a coin show quite a while ago and a gentleman was showing the dealer some paper money he had saved. He had $500 bills that were quite old. The dealer offered him about $600 or so for one, and that said that the man would have done much better putting his money in the bank.
 

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