1963-A $1.00 Bill!

Hey it's my oldest circulation find! For bills, that is. I got it near the end of last year from my sister. I traded her a plain one for this and since she couldn't care less about the collectibility of coins /currency everyone wound up happy. Family can be good after all! As you can see, the U.S. Government does not really care how counterfeited their $1.00 bills are. The design, excluding the signatures, has not changed a single bit since this bill was printed back in the day. Then again, people would probably rather counterfeit $100's than $1's but still. It's got some mild folds and some rough corners but other than that everything is A O.K. It's still worth just a dollar, though.

1973 Canadian $1.00 Bill!

                                              Just as a forewarning I speak Canadian.

This, like the British 2 Shillings I posted aboot yesterday, was a gift. I don't know much aboot Canadians or their country, but they do have beautiful currency. The nice, vibrant colours and the reverse are amazing. At a time American bills were like this with all sorts of fancy designs and the denomination on the bill at least 10 times. Now they have colours, but they could use some design changes. Cheque out down below for the rest of the post.

This is that same reverse just enlarged. It depicts well... this. It immediately reminded me of the 1914 American  $10.00 bill which has what looks to be a horse drawn plow on the left and a factory on the right. Back to this Canadian Bill it is only worth $1.00.

1995 $2.00 Bill!

Here's something that doesn't happen often on this blog... a gift! I got it from someone who knows I collect, of course. It's in pretty rough shape and is worth only $2.00. Today's background is the very keyboard that is typing these words.

Where's George?

TRACK ME AT WWW.WHERESGEORGE.COM

This is the first Where's George bill I've found in a while and it is also the first one I've found to be featured on this blog. Notice how dirty and mistreated it is. There is a small tear under the words ONE DOLLAR on the front and back. The corners are folded, rounded, and very dirty as is the rest of the bill. At this point you may be wondering what happened to the serial number. My explanation is: I have blocked out the serial number so that the "game" will not be spoiled for others. If everyone who saw this entered the serial number the game would be ruined for this bill.

Now for some info on the bill's tracking history. The bill was first entered at Rochester, NY where it travelled 719 miles to where I live in 71 days, 15 hours, and 18 minutes. I was also the first person to report the bill.

What Happened to the Blue Seal?

Back in the 1870's, the years that Morgan Dollars were first introduced and struck, silver certificates were also introduced and printed. They had a blue seal to show that they were silver certificates rather than gold certificates or United States notes. They basically said that for every printed silver dollar, there was a physical silver dollar in the treasury. Of course, when silver coinage was mostly discontinued in 1964 these were not accepted as much and eventually in 1967 you could not use them in exchange for silver. This is one I bought recently and had framed. It is worth about $4.00.

(NOTE: The picture quality makes the bill look worse than it actually is.)

1864 Confederate $5.00 Bill!

 This is one of my newest buys. It's an 1864 Confederate $5.00 bill. I got it at the flea market on Sunday for $30.00 which is great because it is worth $50.00. Notice the attention to detail on it. You can see men in suits and women in dresses and the signatures and serial number are hand-written. All of the leaves on the trees are visible and so is every last step on the building. It is amazing how the rebels could gather an army, gather supplies, make uniforms, mint coins, keep the war going for as long as they did, and print money with every last detail visible under the circumstances (Not that I support what they did I'm just saying). This is the oldest bill I own and, surprisingly, it is in the best condition out of all of my old American bills. I suppose someone saved this in a book because it has no folds and is in amazing condition for it's age (I've found series 2003 bills that look at least 50 years old).

Times Have Changed!

At my local Publix there is a machine that is similar to a Coinstar, but not as fancy. It takes coins and gives out a receipt that you take to the register to get cash. Today I cashed them in and got this. It's a 1985 $5.00 bill in circulated condition. It is the oldest $5.00 bill I have found (the $5.00 bill on both sides of this post is a silver certificate that I bought). There is no watermark or security strip on this bill meaning there are fewer ways to detect its authenticity. There are silk threads in it so I'm almost completely certain it's not a counterfeit bill. It is worth only $5.00 with 332,800,000 made.

Merry Christmas!

It's not really Christmas, of course, but that dollar seems to bring a little Christmas spirit with it whatever the season. I got it at my local Publix a few years ago for $2.00. I'm not sure why but now they go for $2.50. Probably not enough profits for either the supplying company or Publix. Notice I said supplying company. What I mean by that is that there is a company that there is a company that produces stickers to put on the bills. The bills can be obtained from just about anywhere, but crisp bills from the bank are best. The Uncle Sam's 3 Coin Register Bank is one of my other collectables. I got it at an antique shop on Martha's Vineyard for around $12.00. From what I have seen on eBay I am missing the little rubber or plastic tip on the handle. The only other damage is the paint peeling off where the coins are deposited. I can also say I got it for a steal compared to what this person was selling it for.