How Long After The Switch To Small Bills Did Large Bills Still Circulate.

My Dad (1925-2007) was a wholesale milk man after WW2 and he told me one time that he occasionally got payment in large size bills up into the early 1950's. He also told me once that he was delivering to a greasy spoon early one morning and the owner paid his milk bill by breaking open a roll of half dollars and they were "bright, shiny 1947 Walking Lady half dollars". He couldn't afford to keep them. It was just money to him.

I worked in a grocery store in the 1960's myself and we were paid in cash. In my pay envelope one time was a 1934 $20 with the large seals. Never received a large size bill though.

Interesting stories Sky, thanks for sharing.

Although it is not illegal to store cash in a safe deposit box many banks have policies that forbid this practice. Many older adults are not aware of any possible numismatic value of their stash and go straight from the SDB to a cashier to make a deposit. Notes coming "out of the woods" are frequently cash held for long periods of time.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the vast majority of large size notes were quickly exchanged for the newer small size notes although there were probably stragglers being held onto for decades. It would be unusual but large size notes were probably still being used into the 40's and 50's.