1957 silver certificate

[OldScoutmaster67]

I was wondering if this has any value other than face value currency or sentimental? I found this in a book while cleaning out my grand parents place years ago and just came across it.

 

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[port ewen ace]

about $2, 1.6M printed

 

[Mackaydon]

Personally, in that condition, I don't see a premium value.
Don....

 

[Holt0222]

Ouch that is in rough shape. I would keep it for sentimental value. The bill itself does not seem to have any special characteristics.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

You can use it for its intended use and go out and buy 31.1034768 grams of Silver as that is what a dollar will get you. Todays silver price for a Troy ounce is $24.15. or keep it for sentimental value.

 

[flinthunter]

You can use it for its intended use and go out and buy 31.1034768 grams of Silver as that is what a dollar will get you. Todays silver price for a Troy ounce is $24.15. or keep it for sentimental value.

Will you give me 31.1034768 grams of silver for every silver certificate I give you? I'll take you up on that offer any day.

 

[Holt0222]

Will you give me 31.1034768 grams of silver for every silver certificate I give you? I'll take you up on that offer any day.

I fully agree on taking him up on the offer. And where the nearest exchange center is.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Will you give me 31.1034768 grams of silver for every silver certificate I give you? I'll take you up on that offer any day.

I said he can use it to go buy that much ,I didn't say I would give him the silver.$1.00 will buy that much, it is only a dollar now it wouldn't be honored by any bank. Except as just a dollar.

 

[OldScoutmaster67]

Too funny! Thank you for giving me your thoughts!! It is in right shape. I’ll keep it with all the other $2 bills I found they where keeping.

 

[enamel7]

I said he can use it to go buy that much ,I didn't say I would give him the silver.$1.00 will buy that much, it is only a dollar now it wouldn't be honored by any bank. Except as just a dollar.

What the others are trying to get across is that 31.1 grams equals 1 ounce. You can't buy an ounce of silver for one dollar.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just a little background history for you. Note the wording on the certificate, which says: “This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury… One dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand.”

It’s a carefully chosen set of words but doesn’t imply that the certificate is (or was) exchangeable for silver bullion with a value of one dollar. It only implies that it can be (or rather could have been) exchanged for silver coinage with a face value of one dollar, for which the bullion content had a floating value derived from the commodity price for silver.

That’s the rub, and reflects a political and economic ‘hot potato’ issue that rumbled on for 100 years in the United States, after the Coinage Act of 1873. Up until that time, the US was operating a ‘bimetallic’ standard with its currency backed by both silver and gold standards. Anyone holding gold or silver bullion had the right to deposit it at a mint for conversion into coinage which would be returned to them after deduction of a nominal fee known as “seigniorage” to cover processing costs.

Whether or not that was a good deal was purely dependant on the commodity price of the bullion. For silver it was a good deal since the bullion price had been falling and the face value of silver coins would be higher than the value of the metal from which they were made. The effect of the 1873 Act was to abolish that right for holders of silver bullion, to ‘demonetise’ silver and, by default, move the US onto the “Gold Standard” (later explicitly enacted into law in 1900 but now abandoned of course); as well as reducing possible inflationary issues arising from an increase in the money supply.

The consequences came to roost big-time from around 1876 when the silver price dropped further and was exacerbated by huge silver strikes made in the West. The continuing fall in the silver price gave impetus to the “free silver” movement, whose supporters (known as “silver agitators”) petitioned for silver to be processed according to the same principles as gold, despite the fact that (until the early 1960s) the silver content in US dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars was generally worth only a fraction of the face value of the coins themselves.

There was an initiative to try and correct the disparity between silver bullion prices and coinage face values in 1934, with the revival of the ‘Silver Purchase Act’ of 1890 in a new form. It granted the US government the authority to purchase silver, levy tax on profits made from transfer of bullion to coinage, nationalise mines, and issue silver certificates. It had the desired effect in raising the silver bullion price (from 45 cents an ounce to 81 cents an ounce) but the fundamental issue still remained.

All of that is a simplistic summary of what was a complex issue. One of the appeasements to the silver agitators - ‘silver certificates’ first issued in 1878 and continuing until 1964 – was also a failure. As indicated by that carefully chosen set of words, they were only exchangeable for the face value of silver dollar coins. There was a 12 month period between 24th June 1967 – 24th June 1968 when they were exchangeable for raw silver bullion but, after that, they were only exchangeable for Federal Reserve Notes (ie standard banknotes) or valid as legal tender at their face value.

 

[BillA]

yup, stood in line at the SF mint to exchange

 

[sprailroad]

Well done Red-Coat. God save the Queen and all that.