What is the difference between blue red and green seals on a US silver certificate?

Answer 1

Starting in 1928, seal colors were standardized and distinct depending on the type of bill, so there were no red or green seal silver certificates. The color code was:

• Blue - silver certificates, a form of paper money backed dollar for dollar with silver on deposit in the Treasury
• Gold - gold certificates, like silver certificates but backed dollar for dollar with gold
• Red - United States Notes, bills issued directly by the Federal Government but not backed by gold or silver
• Green -Federal Reserve Notes, bills issued by the Federal Government through the Federal Reserve System

Today only Federal Reserve Notes are printed. The others were discontinued over time:

• Gold certificates were discontinued in 1933 when the US was taken off the gold standard.
• Silver certificates ended with the 1957 series but continued to be printed with that date into the mid-1960s and were discontinued when the price of silver was deregulated.
• US Notes served exactly the same purpose as Federal Reserve Notes so they were discontinued around 1970 simply to save on printing costs.