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A while ago, I had a hobby of learning old currency and its value in American numismatic history. During that time, I collected several samples of old pieces of money ranging from wheat pennies to mercury dimes, but the hobby soon died out since general specimens of currency before the 1950's rarely enter circulation in our modern economy. Today, I found a 1957 US silver certificate dollar while receiving money from a customer:
The image isn't very clear because I took it from my camera, but you may notice the blue seal marking instead of the usual green. For those who aren't familiar with US money, here is a google image of a regular dollar bill and an image of the same 1957 bill:
Regular dollar bill
Silver dollar certificate
If you notice the markings, the silver certificate dollar has along the upper and lower middle that the payee is assured payment of the bill value in silver. This is a sample from a representative money system that the United States used earlier before the mid 1900's. As denoted in the silver dollar, the bill would be redeemable for one dollar's worth of silver. Other certificates then were backed by representative metals such as gold, silver, or copper at a bank reserve.
Now, we use the fiat money system, which is legal tender issued by the government with no representative backing. In other words, such old pieces from the representative money era are considered the same and spent the same way with the amount of the face value; you cannot receive pieces of silver or gold as you would have back in those days. The cashier might give you a weird stare, though. With certain rare specimens of currency, however, you may find its numismatic value to range from a little over face value to hundreds of dollars, or even multi-thousands such as in the case of a 1943 copper penny (worth around half a million if I remember correctly.)
Rarely, but once in a while, you may find currency from a history long past. Look through your change once in a while. No, you will probably not strike it rich from hoping for a goldmine in your pocket change, but a little research and some luck, it's not impossible that you would find a valuable piece one day. All for a few minutes of your time at max. For others like me, I find it fascinating that something went through so much and still lives through circulation on a daily basis. I have something historically valuable to hold - the same piece of money that lived in a different era and silently witnessed great events such as World War II and continued until it arrived into my hands. So the next time you pay at a cash register, search through the change you receive. What do YOU hold in your hands?
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Do you have any idea where that dollar has been? I'd seal it and wash my hands with disinfectant if I were you 
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I just looked at 5 quarters I found lying around. Oldest one is from 1990. It's great to remember the history behind the money your using, and I sometimes like to imagine whose hands touched these very same coins. Good stuff.
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Gotta take the bad along with the good. Yea, the money's pretty dirty but all currency in circulation gets dirty at some point, just that the older currencies go through more. I've been collecting for a year or so, but didn't get sick yet
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On November 25 2009 04:30 ilovezil wrote:
Today, I found a 1957 US silver certificate dollar
I have something historically valuable to hold - the same piece of money that lived in a different era and silently witnessed great events such as World War II and continued until it arrived into my hands.
You forgot to mention that the dollar bill can travel back in time as well.
Nice article btw.
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Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today
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Belgium6768 Posts
That poor bill will die now in your possession.
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Did you ever get that book I told you about a while back, and if so, did it have this bill's value there??
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On November 25 2009 04:49 ilovezil wrote:Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today
I think he's just stupid.
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On November 25 2009 04:56 Hawk wrote:
Did you ever get that book I told you about a while back, and if so, did it have this bill's value there??
Was it the red book? Yea, I purchased the current version of one at the time, which was 2007, I think? It only had coin values though 
I doubt the silver bill's worth anything more than its face, though. Maybe another dollar at most haha
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Thanks, Nixon for screwing the gold standard........
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On November 25 2009 04:49 ilovezil wrote:Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today
How could it have "seen" WWII if it was from 1957?
I think that's what he's talking about.
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On November 25 2009 04:49 ilovezil wrote:Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today
World war II ended in 1945 silly 
On November 25 2009 04:56 BalloonFight wrote:
I think he's just stupid.
Oh I didn't realize that a dollar bill could be in existence today when it was printed in 1957, therefore I was stupid to think it must have time traveled.
Go read my post again dumbass, or better yet, stop posting here.
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I was referring to my general collection of old money in the WWII reference. I found the silver dollar printed in 1957 TODAY but I have other pieces from older times like 1934. I assumed it would be fine since they were in separate paragraphs but I'll edit if it's confusing.
EDIT: No flaming in my blogs! Moderate yourselves please, no need to fret over a misunderstanding
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What´s your oldest bill/coin ?
My grandpa once found a coin from 1865 or so in front of his house, which is weird because it was in the middle of forest before 1960 and the coin had been worthless after about 1890. Nowadays it´s probably worth atleast a few thousand €.
He also has old bills from 1920-30 too but they aren´t quite as valuable.
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well today i was finishing moving stuff from my old house to my new one and i found this coin
Pics arnt the best...my camera just wouldnt focus on it any better
i just dont think iv ever seen this coin before
EDIT: Maybe i should open my eyes and see it says 2002 v-_- FAILED
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Braavos36374 Posts
On November 25 2009 04:56 BalloonFight wrote:Show nested quote +On November 25 2009 04:49 ilovezil wrote:Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today I think he's just stupid.
On November 25 2009 05:10 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:Show nested quote +On November 25 2009 04:49 ilovezil wrote:Was my wording off? The bill was printed in 1957, and I found it today World war II ended in 1945 silly Oh I didn't realize that a dollar bill could be in existence today when it was printed in 1957, therefore I was stupid to think it must have time traveled. Go read my post again dumbass, or better yet, stop posting here.
Don't turn this cool blog into a flame war, consider this a warning for both of you.
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EDIT - whoops, posted again instead of editting this response!
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That's pretty cool. My father is a coin collector and some of the stuff he has is pretty interesting. I don't know if it's real or if it's worth anything over its face value, but he has a gold half dollar coin.
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On November 25 2009 05:16 HwangjaeTerran wrote:
What´s your oldest bill/coin ?
My grandpa once found a coin from 1865 or so in front of his house, which is weird because it was in the middle of forest before 1960 and the coin had been worthless after about 1890. Nowadays it´s probably worth atleast a few thousand €.
He also has old bills from 1920-30 too but they aren´t quite as valuable.
My oldest bill is a 1934 $10 silver certificate. My oldest coin is a 1911 wheat penny, but it's pretty beat up.
Also, your grandfather was very lucky to have found a piece before the 1900's. That would be definitely worth a great deal of money, in any grade.
On November 25 2009 05:17 StalinRusH wrote:well today i was finishing moving stuff from my old house to my new one and i found this coin Pics arnt the best...my camera just wouldnt focus on it any better i just dont think iv ever seen this coin before EDIT: Maybe i should open my eyes and see it says 2002 v-_- FAILED
Haha, that's fine I sometimes mistake strange looking coins for something valuable too. Who knows, you might find something valuable if you keep searching. If you do, please post or pm me!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/ilovezil/SSPX0097.jpg?t=1259084963)
![[image loading]](http://www.qsl.net/w5www/dollarbill.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://quotationsbook.com/assets/shared/img/7542/722px-SilverCertificate1Dollar.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i46.tinypic.com/oft2xd.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i50.tinypic.com/nwirkg.jpg)
