Strange dollar

[undergroundpanther]

My friend got change at a store And he went to a vending machine inserted this dollar and the machine rejected it.
Why because it is not a normal dollar.

The backside looks the same as a regular dollar does the pyramid,eyeball eagle etc. But the president head side DOES NOT say"federal reserve note. It says Silver certificate
The stamp is purple It also says this certificate is legal tender for all debts public and private.
It says also One dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand.
Small letters near the top say This certifies that there is on deposit in the treasury of the United states of America..
The date on it appears to be 1957.

Anyone know anything about this? Are there 2 kinds of currency here both legal? If so it's freaky to see one note clearly backed up in precious metal while regular dollars say NOTHING off the sort.It has NOTHING written about the federal reserve on it.

Please write back I'm dying of curiosity.

[sutz12]

1. It's the old stuff..

Stores should take it, but machines, probably not. You might want to check. It might be a collector's item. :)

[ret5hd]

5. When those were made, silver was about $1/oz...now it's $13+

[soothsayer]

13. i just keep 'em cuz they ain't worth much, I'm afraid.

but they're cool

[ret5hd]

2. It's old...bring it to a reputable coin/currency trader/shop...

Possibly worth a lot of money, but definitely worth more than $1.

[Blackhatjack]

3. What you have there is a silver certificate.....

When the United States went off the gold standard, the value of the dollar was allowed to float freely and there was no longer any requirement that the government hold sufficient reserves to back up every dollar.

THis dollar is valuable for collectors, don't use it in a vending machine.

[H2O Man]

8. Right.

Hang on to it.

[ComerPerro]

12. Got that right. Good thing for your friend the machine isn't programmed to take it

[EstimatedProphet]

4. Sounds like he got an old silver certificate

That's what dollar bills used to look like. Certificates backed by a dollar's worth of silver, payable by walking into a bank and asking for the silver. They're worth a lot more that $1 now too!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. It's a shame it was a 1957, there's the most of that year in circulation

... so their value is the lowest. Still I'd have it checked out and appraised at a coin shop if I we're him. No matter what, it's worth more than $1.

[Emit]

7. According to wikianswers, this 1957 Silver Certificate is worth

between $1.25 and $5.00:

1957 is the most common date there is for silver certificates.

In circulated condition, it's worth about $1.25.

A nice crisp uncirculated one is worth about $5.00.

This is confirmed by the Black Book: the average dealer buy price is $1.25. Retail for a crisp uncirculated bill is $5-$6.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_value_of_a_1957_US_silver_certificate

[MethuenProgressive]

9. Bring back the Silver Certificate!

If your bill is in less than wicked-nice condition, collectors won't value it more than a few dollars. Save it as a keepsake.

Scroll down a bit to learn more about your bill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-dollar_bill

[Mnemosyne]

10. Similar to this?

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trying to fix link to bottom image. BRB

[lonestarnot]

15. Or a blind person, or someone who's a teef, or someone who just doesn't give a crap like a kid

after some candy.

[Mnemosyne]

18. ? or am I just slow today? n/t

[Warpy]

11. Sell it on Ebay

Those old silver certificates are getting scarcer and scarcer. They're worth more than a buck these days.

A search of rare paper money might turn up what they are being sold for to collectors.

This buck was put back into circulation either by an heir who didn't know what it was or by someone who was desperate.

[NormanYorkstein]

14. That Silver Certificate is worth more than a regular dollar

It's not a Fed dollar, it's a US treasury dollar.

[rasputin1952]

16. Keep it, no matter what. When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle had a

lot of onfederate bills laying around in a safe, (they were in MD). They woudl give them to us to play w/because they were worthless. Sure wish I had some of those "worthless" $1000 Confederate bills now!
People used to burn them by the bushel to cook and warm up on cool Spring nights...

It's hit or miss, but if it worth something in the future, great, if not, you saved a buck...:D

Worse that can happen, you saved some Americana...:woohoo:

[roamer65]

17. I'm a hard core silver dollar collector. Here's some of the history around that note:

What you have there is from the days when the US currency was partially backed by silver reserves in the Treasury in Washington DC, along with our gold reserves. For every silver certificate issued, there was an actual silver dollar in the Treasury's vaults. If you took that note to the Treasury in 1957, you could get a silver dollar coin for it in return. The reason for the demise of these notes in 1963 was mainly due to a run on silver dollars in beginning in late 1962.
The 1903-"O" New Orleans mint silver dollar was a VERY, VERY rare coin up until late 1962. The Treasury cracked open its sealed vaults that year, in order to fill bank orders for silver dollars for Christmas. When the coins hit the banks, people found that a good slug of them were the ultra-rare 1903-O silver dollar. Thus started the Great Treasury Run of 1962-1964. People showed up with stacks of silver certificates and left with wheelbarrows full of silver dollar bags hoping for 1903-O's or other rare dates. One of the nicest coins in my collection is an actual 1903-O from the Great Treasury Run.
By late 1963, the Federal Reserve had to issue a $1 Federal Reserve Note to replace all of the disappearing $1 silver certificates. Simultaneously, silver had risen enough in price that we began the phaseout of silver coins in 1965. The note you have was redeemable in silver dollars until March 1964, then redeemable for silver granules until December, 1968. After that the note was worth the same as a $1 Federal Reserve Note. If the note is in circulated shape, it is worth more as a memento of a time long gone. A coin dealer would probably pay no more than a buck and a half for it. Hang on to it for the kids or family.


On a side note, official gold-dollar convertibility did not end in 1933, like the right wingers so often tell the lie. It ended under Nixon in 1971, when he ended the convertibility (aka "closed the gold window")and floated the dollar against other currencies.