US Banknotes

A bill's serial number is a counters and a security feature but rarely helps to identify a bill or affect its value.

Please post a new question with the bill's date and what letter, if any, is next to the date.

Note that some collectors will pay extra for numbers with a special pattern, e.g. 12345678, or low numbers such as 00000015.

The vast majority of "Confederate" bills found today are actually replicas sold in souvenir shops or included in memento sets. Those made within the last 35 years or so are required by law to have a word such as COPY, FACSIMILE, or REPLICA printed on them but that's usually absent on older ones.

Many of the copies are printed on artificially aged paper using photo-lithographs of genuine bills so they can be difficult to tell from the real thing unless you look closely at the signatures - the ink is flat and on the surface of a replica, while it is a slightly different color and more deeply impressed on a genuine note.

The Related Link has a list of serial and plate numbers found on the more common copies; you can compare those to the numbers on your bill. If they don't match you should seek out a dealer or appraiser who specializes in Confederate currency and have the bill examined in person.

U.S. currency with face values above $100 were bills for $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000. No bills of those denominations have been printed since the 1940s. The U.S. NEVER printed a million dollar bill.

The H series of bills are national bank notes or Federal Reserve notes and the bills bear a picture of the Federal Reserve Bank. There are about 14,000 of these types of bills circulating, so the value is not high.

There are no signatures on a US 1 dollar bill. The dollar bill features the signatures of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Treasurer of the United States on the bottom right side. However, these signatures are printed rather than physically signed.

The US Government web site states that the largest denomination of currency ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was the $100,000 Series 1934 Gold Certificate featuring the portrait of President Wilson. It is not in general circulation and was used only between banks of the Federal Reserve.

Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, is featured on the US $50 bill.

Yes you can use any form of us currency with the exception of the $100,000 bill which was just used for Federal Reserve transfers in the 1930s. However, high denomination bills are not issued any longer so they are rare. You can use them to make purchases, pay debts, etc. but you'd be fool to do so, because collectors would pay much more than face value to acquire them for their collections.

Very unlikely. You may be thinking of the fact that there were two different designs issued under the same 2006 series. The Federal Reserve originally planned to keep issuing the old green-and-black design, but changed its plans and decided to add anti-counterfeiting features. The old bills continued to be printed while the new purple-and-black design was prepared, so both designs were issued under the same series.

Neither design is rare, and both are only worth $5 despite a lot of internet rumors.

Please check your bill again and post a new, separate question. H is the highest series letter for 1935 $1 silver certificates.

In fact no US banknote series has extended to "K". The series letter, if any, will be next to or below the series date. It's not to be confused with the prefix or suffix letters on a bill's serial number or, in the case of a Federal Reserve Note, the district letter appearing in the center of the Federal Reserve seal on higher-denomination bills printed before 1990 as well as current $1 and $2 bills.

The US Mint only makes coins. Your bill was printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing which is completely separate from the Mint.

2003 $2 bills are only worth face value. The silver overlay was added by a private company. To a paper money collector that means the bill has been altered so it is still only worth $2. There are some niche collectors who will pay extra for some of these privately-created items so long as they're still in the original packaging but the market for them is small and unstable so it's not possible to put an accurate price on it.

Bills in almost every country are rectangular because it's a very practical shape.

The symmetry and straight edges of rectangular bills allows them to easily be carried in wallets, stacked neatly, counted by machine, etc. Any other shape (triangular, pentagonal, oval, etc.) would make one or more of those tasks much more difficult.

Huge numbers of $2 bills were printed(*) for the Bicentennial so none of them are particularly rare.

More value would be attached to one with an unusual serial number (e.g. 12345678 or 23232323) than would result from differing Federal Reserve District letters.

(*) To clear things up, the Mint only makes coins. All bills are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which makes them for each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. In 1976 there was only one printing facility, in Washington DC. In 1990 a second printing plant was opened in Fort Worth. All bills are made at one of those 2 locations regardless of the district that distributes them.

The face on the 50 dollar bill in the United States is that of Ulysses S. Grant.

The Great Seal is located on the back of a US 1 dollar bill. It is found on the right-hand side, above the number 1, and features an eagle surrounded by a 13-star constellation, a shield, and an olive branch and arrows in its talons.

There were no $1 silver certificates printed with that date. If you're referring to a $1 coin, please post a new question. Indicate how worn the coin is, and whether there is a small letter (D or S) under the eagle on the back side of the coin.

The United States ceased printing large denomination banknotes in 1945. The largest denomination printed was $100,000, but these were only used for interbank transactions and were never released into general circulation.

The Great Seal of the United States appears on the reverse side of the US 1 dollar bill. It can be found on the left side of the bill, opposite the portrait of George Washington. The Great Seal consists of an eagle and a shield with various symbols and mottos.

Some 1935 US 1 dollar bills had yellow seals, rather than gold. If your bill has the letter "A" next to the date and the words NORTH AFRICA in large letters, as of 10/2012 its retail value in average condition is 10 to 20 dollars.

Despite the 1935 date, these bills were printed during WWII for use by Allied troops in North Africa. The distinctive color meant they could be quickly declared worthless if they fell into Nazi hands.