Changing Times Silver Certificates – 2 –pc set  
 
Final Silver Certificates that could be Redeemed for an actual Morgan or Peace Silver Dollar.
 
The Series of 1923 $1 Silver Certificate is about 50% bigger than  today’s notes – and was so large that it was called a  “Horse blanket.”  What’s more, it was backed by silver that was stored  at the U.S. Treasury – and it was actually exchangeable for “One  Silver Dollar” at the U.S. Treasury.  In 1923, you could have taken  this Silver Certificate to the Treasury and redeemed it for a Morgan  or Peace Silver Dollar.  Because of this, Silver Certificates were  trusted by the American public.  They were just as valuable as the  actual Silver Dollars, unlike today’s Federal Reserve bank notes  which are backed only by the faith of the Government and not by  precious metal.
 
The inscription reads, “This certifies that there is on deposit in  the Treasury of the United States of America ONE SILVER DOLLAR  payable to the bearer on demand.”  Silver Certificates are the only  bank notes that have a blue Treasury seal and serial numbers, unlike  today’s Federal Reserve Notes that have a green seal and numbers.
 
In 1928, the U.S. Government switched to a small-size bank note to  save money.  The special bank-note paper that is used for America’s  paper money is very expensive and time-consuming to make.  By cutting  the bank note to its present size, the Government saved a  considerable amount of money.
 
The 1928 $1 Silver Certificate looks similar to the 1923 note, but it  is much smaller.  It was also backed by “ONE SILVER DOLLAR” in the Treasury, but it was the last Silver Certificate that was redeemable  for a Silver Dollar.  The next series was issued in 1934, and those  and all subsequent Silver Certificates were redeemable only for one  dollar in silver;  the U.S. Mint stopped making Silver Dollars in  1935, and the Treasury stopped redeeming the notes for silver in  1968.  They remain legal tender, though.
 
The back of the 1923 note is also different from the back of the 1928 note.  The 1928 note is known as the “Funny back” because the new  design looked “funny” (i.e. different from the 1923 note) and at  first people thought it was a counterfeit or a foreign note.
 
Finding a set of 1923 and 1928 $1 Silver Certificates gets tougher  every year.  Most were worn out in circulation or destroyed by the  Government generations ago. Just a fraction of the original bank  notes remain for today’s collectors.  A bank note, on average, lasts  only a few months in circulation before it must be withdrawn and  destroyed.  Amazingly, both the last large-size Series of 1923 $1  Silver Certificate and the first small-size 1928 $1 Silver  Certificate are in Extremely Fine condition.  They are presented is a  custom wallet that protects and displays them.