US Banknotes

It should be very clear to see, right on the front above the "R" in the word DOLLAR at the bottom of the bill.

A star means that the original bill bearing that serial number had a defect and was destroyed. Because bills are printed in large groups it's impractical to reprint specific serial numbers. Instead, a new set of serial numbers is started and a star is added to indicate that these notes are replacements. Collectors generally prefer star notes and it may make the bill be worth a bit more.

Despite the 1934 date, yellow-seal bills were actually printed during WWII for use by troops in North Africa. More than one denomination was issued; please see the following questions:

"What is the value of a 1934 US 5 dollar bill with a yellow seal?"

"What is the value of a 1934 US 10 dollar bill with a yellow seal?"

Approximately 67.87 miles high.

There is no such thing as a three dollar bill.

Please don't assume that every old bill is a silver certificate. The banner across its top identifies your bill as a Federal Reserve Note only. There's more information at the question "What is the value of a 1914 US 50 dollar bill?"

Federal Reserve Notes were very different from silver certificates and were never combined. Silver certificates were issued directly by the Treasury and were backed dollar-for-dollar with silver on deposit. Federal Reserve Notes are issued by the Federal Reserve Bank and are not backed with precious metal.

That phrase was on Federal Reserve Notes up till the US went off the gold standard. Please check your bill again and post a new, separate question with its date, and what letter (if any) is next to the date.

Could be worth something, depending on its condition and variety (signature combinations, variants, etc).

In the case of this bill, some have watermarks and some don't.

Send a scan, I appraise for free: support@papermoneysite.us and will buy notes too.

Bills have never been minted. Coins are minted, bills are printed.

The first federally issued $1000 bills appeared in 1862, during the Civil War, when the government started to standardize currency.

None of the red-seal United States Notes issued from 1928 to 1963 are considered rare. Most values are in the $6 to $15 range for bills in average condition.

However, before seal colors were standardized, there were some other types with red seals that are worth a lot. For example, 1891 $5 silver certificates were printed with red seals instead of the customary blue, and are worth $400 to $1050 in circulated condition and nearly $3000 uncirculated.

There's more information at the Related Link.

The treasury seal and serial numbers are printed in a single pass so if the seal is missing the serial numbers should be missing as well.

Assuming that's the case, look on the back of the bill to see if the seal and numbers are there instead of on the front. If so, you have what's called a flipover error; I've seen these bring $500 or so at retail. If the seal and numbers aren't on the back the bill missed one of the printing steps. Its retail value is less but could still easily be over $150.

In any case because almost all errors are by nature non-standard, you'd need to have an in-person evaluation done by an expert in paper money errors to get a more exact idea of its value.

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There may be a few of them floating around in more remote parts of the country, but it would be a very unusual occurrence to find one because it's been over 50 years since the last one was printed (March, 1964).

The Treasury never officially withdrew silver certificates - they simply halted redemption for silver metal, so they functioned exactly the same as Federal Reserve Notes. It was possible to find a few in circulation as late as the mid-1970s. Since then most would have either worn out or been saved because of their distinctive appearance.

The $10,000 bill was the highest denomination printed for general circulation. About 42,000 special $100,000 bills were printed for transactions within the Federal Reserve System, but these were never available to the public.

Many people claim to have seen a $1 million bill, but these are all well-known novelty items that can be bought at gift shops and online.

Because paper-money errors are highly variable it's best to have your bill examined in person by someone who's knowledgeable about printing errors. In general, though, "foldover" errors can retail for upwards of $300 based on the nature of the mistake.

To explain, US bills aren't printed by each Federal Reserve Bank. They're all printed at a huge plant in Washington DC (and since 1991, a second facility in Fort Worth) operated by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Bills for each Federal Reserve district are shipped to that district's Federal Reserve bank which then distributes the notes to the commercial and retail banks it's responsible for.

For prices and more information, please see the question "What is the value of a 1929 US 20 dollar Federal Reserve Note?"

Technically all federally-issued bills are still valid, but in practice gold certificates and large-size bills (pre-1920s) would be extremely difficult to spend because no bank or store is set up to handle them.

And in any case, spending bills like that at face value wouldn't be a very good idea because they're worth more to collectors.

Please check your bill again and post a new, separate question. The US didn't print any $100 bills dated 1978.

Could be worth something, depending on its condition and variety (signature combinations, variants, etc).

Send a scan, I appraise for free: support@papermoneysite.us and will buy notes too.

Please check again and post a new question. No $2 bills were printed with the 1957 series date, only $1 bills with blue seals.

The nearest dates for $2 bills are 1953 and 1963; these all had red seals.

Yes. 1923 $1 bills were issued as both red-seal United States Notes and blue-seal silver certificates.

Unfortunately that's not a meaningful question. To clear things up, ALL bills have serial numbers and they're all different. They're used as a form of identification and tracking, as well as accountability with the US government.

What matters most in determining the value of a US bill is its date, what letter if any is next to the date, and what color the Treasury Seal is. Serial numbers usually come into consideration only if they're unusual in some way, e.g. 00000005 or 12344321