Posted 12/17/2014 2:18 pm
The banks and the Treasury are not in the market to keep old bills in the hands of collectors, to them we are more a nuisance. It could be worse, in Canada they are actively removing old coins from circulation to recover the metal, mostly nickel. They did the same thing when $1 and $2 bills were removed from circulation.
While the Mint and to a lesser extent, the Treasury do make collector items there is no incentive for them to keep old stuff out there. Banks don't want to deal with old currency as it is just a hindrance to their efficient operation so they just send anything unusual back and let it get taken care of. Occasionally there will be a teller who contacts a friend who is a collector or might be a collector themselves but many banks frown on that sort of activity.
In the 1970's my older sister worked as a bank teller and pulled hundreds of dollars of silver coin and old bills. Her bank allowed them to set this aside and cash it out with a supervisor at the end of the day. I regret I was too young to get in on it, I was still roll searching pennies for wheats and the occasional IHC and did not have enough allowance money to get in on silver purchases much less old bills. She has quite a collection of silver and gold certificates and other neat stuff.
While the Mint and to a lesser extent, the Treasury do make collector items there is no incentive for them to keep old stuff out there. Banks don't want to deal with old currency as it is just a hindrance to their efficient operation so they just send anything unusual back and let it get taken care of. Occasionally there will be a teller who contacts a friend who is a collector or might be a collector themselves but many banks frown on that sort of activity.
In the 1970's my older sister worked as a bank teller and pulled hundreds of dollars of silver coin and old bills. Her bank allowed them to set this aside and cash it out with a supervisor at the end of the day. I regret I was too young to get in on it, I was still roll searching pennies for wheats and the occasional IHC and did not have enough allowance money to get in on silver purchases much less old bills. She has quite a collection of silver and gold certificates and other neat stuff.
