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 Replies: 14 / Views: 2,778 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
500 Posts |
It's fairly worn, but I like it.  Shame about that oil smudge though. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
940 Posts |
Nice find, Dasalo! That would make my day.
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
645 Posts |
From circulation, cool.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12819 Posts |
Wow, can't believe it's lasted that long. I wonder what its story is.
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Valued Member
United States
335 Posts |
What's diff between this & regular $5 bill?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12819 Posts |
@zookr - this is a United States Note, as mentioned in the post title. If by "regular $5 bill" you mean one that you'd normally get in change today, then read on.
A bit of Googling reveals (from CoinSite):
"Currency with a red treasury seal and red serial numbers is one of the most curious types of money to be found in circulation. These notes are printed with the words "United States Note" in the scrollwork at the top center of the note. These notes, issued at a time when money was redeemable in gold or silver, were backed only by the credit of the United States Government. They were issued in $1, $2, $5 and $100 denominations."
So our normal, current, regular $5 bill is part of our fiat currency with nothing of worth backing it up. That's a fun bit of history and source of a lot of debate.
Note that after 1964, silver was not used in (most) circulating coinage.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1358 Posts |
Quote:
So our normal, current, regular $5 bill is part of our fiat currency with nothing of worth backing it up. Interesting you mentioned that, though it seems United States notes were not backed by any precious metals either. I suppose the only difference between them and the Federal Reserve notes is that FRNs are issued by the Federal Reserve banks, while USNs were issued directly by the federal government? |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
837 Posts |
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So our normal, current, regular $5 bill is part of our fiat currency with nothing of worth backing it up. Fascinating stuff  This reminds of something I was reading a few months back were it was specualted that China is trying to build a gold backed currency hence China was buying enormous amounts of gold on the precious metals market .....anyway back to the US , is there a reason why the gvt stopped backing up the dollar ? Edited by DaytR
05/04/2014 9:19 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8137 Posts |
I believe it was too expensive to back it up with precious metals.
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Valued Member
United States
144 Posts |
Pretty cool circulation find!
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Pillar of the Community
1325 Posts |
Quote:
is there a reason why the gvt stopped backing up the dollar? I would guess they ran out of money(gold/silver). They tried to get everyone to turn in gold and silver coins when they went off the gold standard. I would also guess people were using so much for other things like jewelry they feared that the money would go bust if you could spend grandma's silverware and not even need coins. Also it became illegal to own gold! Quote:
A year earlier, in 1933, Executive Order 6102 had made it a criminal offense for U.S. citizens to own or trade gold anywhere in the world, with exceptions for some jewelry and collector's coins. He who controls the money controls the people, so the debasement has nothing to do with faith in the government, but how to control your own currency and with it your people so they use it in your own country. Quote:
Under the gold standard the United States kept the Dollar convertible to gold. If the gold reserves fell, the Federal Reserve System would be forced to reduce the money supply. Edited by shadz
05/05/2014 10:55 pm
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Valued Member
United States
72 Posts |
Learned something new today. Thanks.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12819 Posts |
Note that it is no longer illegal for United States citizens to own gold/silver bullion since August 1974. Also, lifted from wikipedia about the Fiat Standard: "Today, like the currency of most nations, the [United States] dollar is fiat money, unbacked by any physical asset. A holder of a federal reserve note has no right to demand an asset such as gold or silver from the government in exchange for a note. Consequently, some proponents of the intrinsic theory of value believe that the near-zero marginal cost of production of the current fiat dollar detracts from its attractiveness as a medium of exchange and store of value because a fiat currency without a marginal cost of production is easier to debase via overproduction and the subsequent inflation of the money supply." And (just for provoking some thoughts): "In September 2004, it was estimated that if all the gold held by the U.S. government (287.13 million ounces = 8.14 million kilograms = 8,140 metric tonnes) were again required to back the circulating U.S. currency ($733,170,953,704), gold would need to be valued at $2,800/ounce ($90/gram).[citation needed]" 10-year-old estimate... wonder what it would be today. Quotes pulled from here (certainly not the whole story but good reading nonetheless): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor...tates_dollar |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1748 Posts |
The United States Notes are fiat money in its purest form. No bonds or precious metal backing. They are the original "greenbacks", right from the Treasury Dept itself...as it should be today. Glad to see you caught this one before it was returned and destroyed.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 2,778 |
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Posted 05/02/2014 06:21 am
