$1 note, 1935

The note

The Series 1935A $1 Silver Certificate with a blue seal (P#416a; Friedberg 1608; Numista N#201793) is ordinary United States Treasury paper, not a Federal Reserve Note. It is not this collection’s HAWAII $1, Hawaii P#36, Fr. 2300, serial S40499058C, and it is not the yellow-seal Fr. 2306, serial B52497547C, or the same type, serial C78095129C, and it is not the S-experimental Fr. 1610, serial S74796042C. The signatures are William Alexander Julian, Treasurer, and Henry Morgenthau Jr., Secretary of the Treasury: that pairing is Fr. 1608. The black face on cream paper carries George Washington in an oval, the legend SILVER CERTIFICATE, a large 1 at left, and, at right, the blue circular Treasury seal over WASHINGTON, D.C. The text certifies a deposit in the Treasury and, at the bottom, the obligation “ONE DOLLAR / IN SILVER PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND.” At left it notes that the certificate is legal tender. Blue serials V 94411136 B repeat at lower left and upper right (V–B block). There is no replacement star and no overprint. The printed series, SERIES 1935 A, sits beside the Secretary: on Series 1935A that designation moved into the overprint and left the printing plate. Plate position H is read at upper left; the face-plate marking H3870 sits in the lower-right margin. The green back shows a central ONE, the unfinished pyramid and the Eye of Providence at left — ANNUIT COEPTIS, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, and MDCCLXXVI — and the eagle with E PLURIBUS UNUM at right. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST is absent. Back plate 2087 sits below the lettering, toward the right. Friedberg separates the mule as Fr. 1608m. A collector compilation places those mules in blocks M–A through E–B, from January 1938 to March 1940. The V–B block was numbered from 27 January to 3 March 1942, outside that window. This record catalogs the example as regular Fr. 1608 and does not assign Fr. 1608m. The photographs show paper toning, folds, localized marks, and wear along the lower central border. No numerical grade is assigned from the photographs: paper body, washing, and repairs cannot be read with certainty from the image. This collection piece, circulated and unslabbed, is documented by those photographs.

The Great Seal on the $1

In 1935 the $1 back came to carry both faces of the Great Seal. Series 1935A enlarged the plate numbers — from micro to macro — and moved the series designation into the overprint, once, beside the portrait. While plates of both sizes were still in use, the BEP printed mules. Friedberg numbers the mule of this type Fr. 1608m; collector literature places them in earlier blocks, M–A through E–B. This example is from the V–B block, numbered in early 1942.

A silver certificate represented silver on deposit at the Treasury. Redemption in silver ended in 1968; the paper remains legal tender at face value. This page is the documented Fr. 1608 example: serial V94411136B, not a type illustration.

Scarcity and printage

Fr. 1608 is the blue-seal Series 1935A $1, Julian–Morgenthau signatures, a regular issue. The V–B block is a full regular block: the Paper Money Project counts a nominal 100,000,000 notes, numbered from 27 January to 3 March 1942. The counter 94411136 is ordinary: not a low serial, not a radar, and not a star. Circulated examples of the type are plentiful. This record does not republish prices and does not publish a total for the whole 1935A series, because the runs overlap.

Population

A PMG or PCGS census for serial V94411136B has not been independently verified. The note is shown unslabbed.

Related pieces

Other records from the same issuer or era in this case.

• $1 · R experimental · Series 1935 A
• $1 · Yellow seal C–C · Series 1935 A
• $1 · S experimental · Series 1935 A
• $1 · Yellow seal · Series 1935 A