US Banknotes

In general, you don't. Serial numbers are counters and security features, but only affect a bill's value in specific cases. Normally the bill's series date and letter as well as its condition are much more important in determining a value.

However, if the serial number is unusual in some way; e.g. low (00000010) or has an "interesting" pattern such as 13577531 or 12345678, there are collectors who will pay a premium.

Please check again. The only silver certificates dated 1957 were $1, not $100.

It's a plate indicator. US bills are printed in grids on large sheets of paper that are cut apart into individual bills. Plate indicators tell where a particular bill was located in the grid.

It's called a "plate position indicator". Bills are printed in groups using metal printing plates; the small letter indicates each bill's location on the plate.

Modern bills are printed in much larger groups laid out in a grid, so both a letter and number are needed to indicate the row and column where the bill was located.

The portraits used on U. S. currency have changed over time. Portraits of former presidents of the United States typically adorn U. S. currency, although there are a few exceptions. The current notes are:

$1 George Washington 1st president (1789-1797) no party

$2 Thomas Jefferson 3rd president (1801-1809) Democratic-Republican

$5 Abraham Lincoln 16th president (1861-1865) Republican

$10 Alexander Hamilton *

$20 Andrew Jackson 7th president (1829-1837) Democratic

$50 U. S. Grant 18th president (1869-1877) Republican

$100 Benjamin Franklin **

U.S. currency denominations in excess of $100 were last printed in 1945 and were officially discontinued in 1969, though they remain legal tender.

$500 William McKinley 25th president (1897-1901) Republican

$1,000 Grover Cleveland 24th president (1893-1897) Democratic

$5,000 James Madison 4th president (1809-1817) Democratic-Republican

$10,000 Salmon P. Chase ***

$100,000 Woodrow Wilson 28th president (1913-1921) Democratic

People depicted on U.S. currency who were not U. S. Presidents:

* Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) was one of the founding fathers of the United States. First Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) Hamilton was a noted economist, and political philosopher and served as Aide-de-camp to General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. He was a leader of nationalist forces calling for a new Constitution and was one of America's first lawyers, Hamilton was the primary author of the Federalist Papers.

** Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the founding fathers of the United States. He was a noted author, printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier, and diplomat. Franklin was U. S. ambassador to both France and Sweden and President of Pennsylvania (1785-1788).

*** Salmon P. Chase was a U.S. Senator (1849-1855), Governor of Ohio (1856-1860), Secretary of the Treasury (1861-1864) and Chief Justice (1864-1873) and is regarded as being responsible for the current U.S. bank note system. Chase National Bank, later Chase Manhattan and currently J.P. Morgan Chase bank was named after him, though he had no interest in it.

The U.S Dollar is composed of pictures of presidents, famous people, people of famous significance . According to law, coins and paper currency are not allowed to have living peoples faces and is not legal tender if you come across one. It is often times kept as souvenirs and novelties to enjoy and not as legal tender.

No. Redemption of silver certificates for silver metal was halted in 1968, when the price of silver was deregulated and the US stopped backing its money with precious metals. The government could no longer guarantee a fixed amount of silver for each dollar, and in fact the Treasury's stockpile of silver was sold off.

The US didn't print any $20 bills dated 1926. Please check again and post a new question.

The last silver certificates were dated 1957. Please look at the wording on your bill, it's a modern Federal Reserve Note. It has no extra value even in uncirculated condition.

A "mule" in coins and paper money is anything that was made with one denomination or design on one side and a mismatched denomination or design on the other. The term comes from the fact that a mule animal is a hybrid of a donkey and a horse.

Mules can be quite valuable. Mule coins occur when a die for one denomination is put into one side of a press and a different denomination is accidentally put in the other side. Mule coins are usually readily identifiable because the different-size dies cause metal to be squeezed out around the smaller image. Mule bills occur when mismatched printing plates are put into the same press.

It's important to have any suspected mule checked in person by an expert. Many people have been taken in by fake mule coins made by cutting two genuine coins in half and fusing the swapped sides. Similarly, fake mule bills have been created by bleaching the side of a genuine bill and re-printing it with a copied image of a different denomination.

Anything that new almost certainly means they were simply distributed that way by the bank. If they're in uncirculated condition they'd normally sell for about $3 each so there might be a small premium over that amount for a consecutive set but it's not a rare occurrence.

US bills are printed in multiple passes, and sometimes a pass is accidentally missed so the parts of the image put on by that step are missing; there's also the possibility that they were printed but on the wrong side of the bill.

Your best approach would be to have the bill evaluated by a dealer or appraiser who's familiar with error currency. In any case, without seeing it, a ballpark estimate for a missing seal could range anywhere from $200 to $500 depending on the specific cause of the error.

It is worth caca

Yes ... but it's not a REAL certificate. It's a novelty item that sells for a couple of dollars.

There were no federally-issued $5 bills with that date. However at that time private banks were allowed to issue bills under government auspices. Please post a new question with more information including a description of the wording and images on the bill.

The 1934 series only extends to the letter D. You may be confusing the Federal Reserve Bank letter with the series letter; that's next to the date, not in the center of the seal.

Please see the question "What is the value of a 1934 US 20 dollar bill?"

That number may be a security or printing indicator, but doesn't help to ID the bill. The date is what matters.

If its date is 1976 or later and you got it in change, it's only worth $2. If it's older, please post a new, separate question with the date and what letter if any is next to the date. You don't need to provide the serial number.

The last silver certificates were dated 1957. Please look at the wording on your bill, it's a modern Federal Reserve Note. It has no extra value even in uncirculated condition.

An Extra Fine, crisp 1 Peso Cuban silver certificate dated 1938 is worth $70, dropping to $4 in Good condition.

You're very unlikely to find that wording on any $2 bill you may get in change or from a bank. The last $2 silver certificates were printed in 1891.

The vast majority of $2 bills printed up till 1963 were issued as United States Notes; those printed since then are Federal Reserve Notes. Both types have their designations shown in the banner across the top of the bill's front, as do all other current US bills.