United States · Silver Certificate

$1 Tate–Mellon note, 1928

$1 Tate–Mellon · Silver Certificate · 1928

Face with Washington, a blue seal, and serials H86110669A; Funnyback reverse with the ornamental ONE. Series 1928, Tate–Mellon signatures.

Catalog facts

Pick reference: P#412 · Fr. 1600
Serial number: H86110669A
Signatures: H. T. Tate (Treasurer of the United States) and A. W. Mellon (Secretary of the Treasury)
Condition: Unslabbed; condition documented by the supplied photographs (private collection). Folds, handling wear, surface soiling, and worn edges; no numerical grade is assigned.
Printage: Series 1928, printed as SERIES OF 1928, with no letter. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Washington, D.C. The series designation does not prove that this specimen was printed in calendar year 1928. Serial H86110669A falls in the H–A block (H00000001A–H100000000A), published as a shared 1928/1928A range. The suffix is A, not an asterisk. The block sits outside the X–B, Y–B, and Z–B ranges of the Series 1928A and 1928B paper experiments. The type format is small size, 156 × 67 mm (Numista N#202355); that is not a measurement of this piece.

Face, $1 Tate–Mellon 1928, serial H86110669A — Face of the Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate, serial H86110669A: Washington, the blue Treasury seal, position G, and plate 948.

Face of the Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate, serial H86110669A: Washington, the blue Treasury seal, position G, and plate 948.

Back, $1 Tate–Mellon 1928, serial H86110669A — Funnyback reverse of the Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate: ornamental ONE crossed by ONE DOLLAR.

Funnyback reverse of the Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate: ornamental ONE crossed by ONE DOLLAR.

The note

The Series 1928 $1 Silver Certificate (Pick 412, Friedberg 1600; Numista N#202355) is small-size Treasury paper, with a blue seal and blue serials: signatures of H. T. Tate — Harold Theodore Tate, Treasurer — and A. W. Mellon — Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury. That pairing is Fr. 1600. The black face carries George Washington in an oval, the legend SILVER CERTIFICATE in the upper arc, and, at left, the blue circular Treasury seal. The text certifies a deposit in the Treasury and, at the bottom, the obligation “ONE SILVER DOLLAR / PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND.” At right is a large engraved ONE. The printed series, SERIES OF 1928, with no letter, appears on both sides of the portrait. Blue serials H86110669A repeat at upper right and lower left. Plate-position letter G sits at left of the portrait; at right the plate check reads G948 (face plate 948). The green reverse shows an ornamental ONE crossed by ONE DOLLAR, with THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on the upper ribbon. The nickname Funnyback names that back, not a printing error. The reverse plate number is not readable on these photographs. The photographs show vertical and horizontal folds, handling wear, surface soiling, and edge wear; the serials, signatures, seal, and principal design remain readable. It is not the Series 1928A $1 Silver Certificate, serial D00508932B (Fr. 1601, Woods–Mellon), nor the Series 1957-B note, serial S35513454A.

From 1878 to small size

In 1878 the Treasury issued the first silver certificates, backed by silver held in the Treasury and authorized by legislation that increased the purchase and coinage of silver. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Currency Education Program agree on that date.

In 1929 the format went to small size. The BEP puts that cut at about 30 percent and notes that each denomination’s design was standardized across every class of paper. The series printed on this certificate is 1928. USPaperMoney.Info, drawing on BEP records, places deliveries of Series 1928 through 1928E between January 1929 and May 1935, and notes that a production breakdown by date is not available. Redemption of these certificates in silver ended in 1968. The U.S. Currency Education Program notes that currency issued since 1861 remains redeemable at full face value.

Scarcity and printage

Fr. 1600 (Pick 412) is the Tate–Mellon Series 1928 combination, with no letter: a regular issue. The H–A block was published as a span shared with Series 1928A, and the nine-digit terminal 100000000 may not have been printed in every block. There is no published Series 1928-only printage for that block and no BEP total for Fr. 1600. Serial H86110669A has an A suffix, not an asterisk. The counter 86110669 is not a low serial and not a radar, binary, solid, ladder, or repeater.