United States · Silver Certificate

$1 note, n.d.

$1 · Silver Certificate · Series 1928A

Face with Washington, a blue Treasury seal at left, and blue serials D00508932B; green Funnyback reverse with the ornamental ONE. Series 1928A.

Catalog facts

Pick reference: P#412a · Fr. 1601
Serial number: D00508932B
Signatures: W. O. Woods (Treasurer of the United States) and A. W. Mellon (Secretary of the Treasury)
Condition: Unslabbed; condition documented by the supplied photographs (private collection)
Printage: Series 1928A, printed as SERIES OF 1928 A. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Washington, D.C. The series designation does not prove that this specimen was printed in calendar year 1928. Jeremy Dansie (Mint Master, April 2024; Paper Money Project) estimates Series 1928A production at 2,267,809,500 notes — about 2.268 billion — and labels the figure as estimated production, not an audited BEP total. In the regular numbering sequence the published extremes are D93825125A and J55439218B: reported low and high observations, not the first or last notes printed, and they exclude stars and experimental blocks. Serial D00508932B falls in the D–B block (D00000001B–D99999999B). That block was shared by Series 1928A, 1928B, 1928C, and 1928D: sheets were mixed before they received serials, so the whole block cannot be counted as 1928A printage. The block table lists the 1928A portion as fewer than 100 million, without an exact breakdown. This record does not confirm the first or last Series 1928A serials actually produced. The type format is small size (about 156 × 66 mm); that is not a measurement of this piece.

Face of the Series 1928A $1 Silver Certificate, serial D00508932B: Washington, the blue Treasury seal, position L, and plate 1740.

Funnyback reverse of the Series 1928A $1 Silver Certificate: ornamental ONE crossed by ONE DOLLAR. Reverse plate 2544.

The note

The Series 1928A $1 Silver Certificate (Pick 412a, Friedberg 1601) is small-size Treasury paper, not a Federal Reserve Note: blue seal and serials, signatures of W. O. Woods and A. W. Mellon. 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 A, appears on both sides of the portrait. Blue serials D00508932B repeat at upper right and lower left (D–B block). The margins show plate-position letter L and face plate 1740. The green reverse shows an ornamental ONE crossed by ONE DOLLAR, with THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on the upper ribbon; it does not carry the eagle or pyramid of the Great Seal that appear from 1935. The nickname Funnyback names that back, not a printing error. Reverse plate 2544 is printed at lower right. The D–B block sits outside the X–B, Y–B, and Z–B ranges documented for the Series 1928A/1928B paper experiments: it is catalogued as a regular issue, not an experimental-paper variety. Dansie estimates about 2,267,809,500 notes for Series 1928A as a whole; D–B, from D00000001B to D99999999B, was also used by 1928B, 1928C, and 1928D, so this serial does not yield a 1928A-only block printage. Redemption of these certificates in silver ended in 1968; they remain legal tender at face value. This collection piece is shown in a clear sleeve, unslabbed; no numerical grade or paper-originality guarantee is assigned from the photographs. Faint serial traces on the reverse do not, by themselves, establish an offset or a double printing. It is not the Series 1957-B $1 Silver Certificate, serial S35513454A: Series 1928A, Woods–Mellon signatures, this serial, and the Funnyback reverse distinguish it.

Scarcity and printage

Fr. 1601 (Pick 412a) is the Woods–Mellon Series 1928A combination, a regular issue, not a star note. Dansie estimates 2,267,809,500 notes for the series; that is not an audited total. The D–B block is not experimental, but 1928A–D shared it: the table cites fewer than 100 million for the 1928A portion, with no exact figure. This record does not invent a D–B-only printage or the first and last serials printed.