What is a 1922 fifty dollar gold certificate worth at the bank?

Answer 1

A bank is absolutely the *LAST* place you should take any collectible numismatic item!!
Their business (among other things) is to handle deposits and withdrawals of currently-circulating money AT FACE VALUE. They're under no obligation to and do not have the facilities to purchase items at their collectors' value. In particular, because the US has never demonetized any currency a bank's only responsibility would be to exchange your certificate for a red-white-and-blue piece of paper with General Grant's picture on it; i.e. a modern $50 bill. That would be a pretty poor trade, because the current auction value of a 1922 $50 gold certificate is in the range $475.-$1000. for one that's been in circulation, and upwards of $2500 for one that's never been used.

As an example of how bad an idea it is to take collectibles to a bank, when my grandfather died my uncle found some "old dimes" in Gramp's cash box. Without consulting me he decided that the best way to get quick cash was to take them to a bank where they gave him 10 cents each, a total of about 5 or 6 bucks. I later found a list of what he had turned in. The numismatic value was a couple of thousand dollars - all gone.