US Banknotes

The US Treasury Department has separate divisions that produce coins and bills.

Paper money is printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Coins are struck by the US Mint.

Many people mistakenly believe that the Mint also produces paper money. Adding to the misinformation, there was even a popular movie about a team of crooks who broke through security at the Mint to steal - yes, stacks of banknotes that were supposedly printed there!

Please check your bill again and post a new, separate question. The US didn't print any bills dated 1954.

The current $10 bill shows two lightposts and no cars.

Before the bill was redesigned in 1990, the vignette of the Treasury Building showed 8 lightposts and 4 identifiable cars, although a 5th may be barely visible.

The Treasury is firm in its statement that the cars were composite images, in order to avoid favoring any particular manufacturer. Many people who have looked at cars of that period have found elements that appear to have been taken from a Ford Model T and a 1926 Hupmobile, among others.

The same design persisted for almost 60 years and became emblematic of the Treasury's then-refusal to update American currency. When that policy finally changed in 1990, the new image no longer included anything that could be obviously be associated with a specific time period.

because it's actually a $5 bill & is counterfeit.

Please check again and post a new, separate question. The US didn't print any $20 bills dated 1925.

In the United States, banks can order as many as you wish at any time you wish. Don't hoard them--spend them. They will always be worth two dollars.

A one dollar bill is 2.61 inches wide, 6.14 inches long, and 0.0043 inch thick. Ignoring factors such as porosity, this means that the volume, V,occupied by a one dollar bill is V=2.61" x 6.14" x 0.0043"=0.06890922 cubic inch. The volume of one million one dollar bills, then, is 1,000,000 x V=1,000,000 x 0.06890922 cubic inch=68,909.22 cubic inches. The cube root of this number is almost exactly 41 inches, meaning that the volume of one million dollar bills would fill a cubethat is 41 inches (1.04 meters)on a side. If one were to stack upa million one dollar bills, the stack would be 1,000,000 x 0.0043 inch=4300 inches high, which isslightly over 358 feet (109 meters).

Please check your bill again. The last US $100 silver certificates were dated 1891, and the last silver certificates of any denomination were dated 1957. Joseph Barr was Treasury Secretary at the end of the Lyndon Johnson Administration so his signature could not be on a bill for either of those dates.

The U.S. did not print any $5 bills dated 1933. Please check your bill and post a new question.

2.61 inches wide and 6.14 inches long

Please check your bill again and post a new, separate question. The first $1 silver certificates were dated 1886.

New England is the northeast corner of the United States, so they, along with the rest of the U.S., use the dollar.

As of 02/2010, auction values are approximately $2.25 - $2.50 for a circulated bill regardless of the series letter under the date. A nice uncirculated one might go for $8-$10.

Please see the Related Question for more information about US Notes.

These bills are very common among collectors. In circulated condition it has no added value. Even in crisp uncirculated condition it might sell for only 25¢ extra.

Please check again and post a new question. The US didn't print any $1 bills dated 1987 and the last silver certificates were dated 1957.

The national motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is on most all US coins dated 1889, post a new question with a denomination.

Despite its age, these bills are common among collectors. Regardless of its series letter, a circulated one in decent shape might retail for all of $22, while a good-quality uncirculated one would go for $25 - $30. A dealer will probably only pay face value.

Please look at the banner across the top of your bill. It will either say United States Note or Federal Reserve Note.

There has never been a $5 Gold Certificate and in any case, all gold certificates of any denominations were withdrawn from circulation in 1933.

As of 2016, the U.S. produces bills for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars.

Beginning with the 1990 series, all US bills except $1 and $2 notes have security strips.

For various reasons, some of them economic and others purely political, Congress has refused to authorize redesigning either the $1 or $2 bill so they have very limited anti-counterfeiting features.

Silver certificates were once "regular" bills. It's only been since the early 1970s that all US currency has been printed as green-seal Federal Reserve Notes.

Silver certificates were issued from the 1860s until the 1957-B series of $1 bills (which were actually printed in 1965). They originally came in denominations from $1 all the way up to $1000, but $1 and $5 were by far the most common.

The bills were backed dollar-for-dollar with silver metal on deposit in the US Treasury, which meant that the government was only allowed to print as many dollars worth of certificates as there was metal in the vaults. The government also controlled the price of silver at the now-ridiculously low value of $1.29 an ounce, so the relationship between bills and metal was constant.

Silver certificates could be exchanged for silver coins or metal bullion and carried wording to that effect. The problem was that by the early 1960s industrial demand for silver started to outstrip supplies. That put a tremendous amount of economic pressure on the Treasury to "do something" about all of that metal just sitting in its vaults at a fixed price. The government was finally forced to stop controlling the price of silver, let it reach its market value, and sell off its stocks.

Starting in 1963 the Treasury decided to issue all bills as either Federal Reserve Notes or United States Notes. These bills couldn't be exchanged for metal but instead were backed by the stability of the government. Redemption of existing silver certificates for metal or coins was discontinued to prevent speculation; otherwise people could "game" the system by trading bills for metal, waiting for the price to go up, selling the metal for more bills, and so on.

United States Notes had for decades only made up a small fraction of the bills in circulation, so by 1971 production of those was suspended as well. Since then all bills have been the familiar green-seal Federal Reserve Notes.

The U.S. didn't print any $2 bills dated 1958. Please check again and post a new question.