Thanks buddy! - Current Value of US Paper Currency

[monkey0506]

Last night at work this guy handed me a rather old US $10 bill. At first due to the bright colors on the back of the bill I didn't believe it to be real. I checked the date: SERIES OF 1934.

I had my manager check it out, and sure enough it's real. This got me to thinking though. Most US paper bills over 10 or 15 years old are taken out of circulation and destroyed (just an estimate based off my own knowledge may be more/less). Just in my own wallet (amongst 6 $1s, 14 $5s, 18 $10s, and 1 $20 (yes, I really have that much in my wallet....shhh! )) the earliest dated bill I have is from 1999, only 9 years old. Compare this to the 74 year old bill I obtained last night (and yes, I switched it for a $10 from my wallet!).

I've looked at some online estimates that have lead me to believe this bill (if it were in mint condition) could be anywhere from $100-$300. As it stands the bill is in very good condition. There are no tears or rips in the bill, and all 4 corners are in-tact. The bill is severely creased, and somewhat dirty. I have yet to get the bill officially/professionally appraised, but it could be cool to have traded a $10 bill for a $300 or even just a $50 bill. Honestly I'd be happy if it was only worth $11!

Actually depending how much I could get in exchange for the bill, I may just hang onto it as an investment. It will only get higher in value the longer I hang onto it, pending the fall of the United States...actually that would only make the collector's value even higher! Go Obama!

@evenwolf who I know will have something to say: 

Oh yeah, I do have some pictures, but don't have any editing software right now. Also the only camera I have is my phone which only takes low-res (640x480 max) JPEGs!

[Domino]

Send it to me and i will check it out, then send it back to you. 

Anyway, that is really cool.

[Nikolas]

haha!

Indeed cool!

Let us know how it went!

But maybe, even better: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=10+dollar+bill&category0=

Try Ebay, instead!

[evenwolf]

I would hold onto it since there's a debate to remove paper money altogether.

We might end up with a coin system, and if so, the old paper money will be the talk of the town.   Hardly anybody has $10 bills from ten years ago let alone 80 years.   Frame it.

[monkey0506]

I didn't think of eBay, so it seems the 1934 $10 bill isn't as rare as I thought it would be. However, up for auction on eBay I didn't see any bills from the reserve bank in San Francisco, California. So maybe that will hold some weight in the issue. Further it is series A, which I guess would be the first series print of the 1934 year.

Oh and evenwolf, if you think not many people have money from 80 years ago, check out eBay!

[LimpingFish]

Think of the germs on that bill! :o

[Ryan Timothy B]

Think of the germs on that bill! :o

Or cocaine.

[evenwolf]

I had someone hand me a ten dollar bill from way back.   I asked him about it and said he had been holding onto it but was tight for cash finally.     That's probably what happened here so I doubt its been circulating very much.

Economy is crap so people are spending their collectibles.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The talk of coin money is only done by intelligent economists who know that gold and silver cannot be manufactured from thin air and thus are ideal for currency.  The neocons will continue pushing paper money because they can overinflate it at will and pass the damage on to the ever-dwindling middle class.

[Gilbert]

Hehe a coin system? Our governmant did try to reduce its weight by introducing electronic cards, thus, at least we seldom need coins for public transports these years.

May be they just want to migrate to the stupid plastic money system (click '2007 polymer').

[Stupot]

From wiki :-
1934: The $10 Silver Certificate was redesigned with a blue numeral 10 on the left side of the obverse and the treasury seal printed over the gray word TEN on the right. Phrasing on the certificate was changed to reflect the Silver Purchase Act of 1934.

Might be worth looking here to see if other people think it's worth anything...
http://search.ebay.com/1934-10-dollar-bill_W0QQfromZR40QQpqryZ1934Q2010Q20dallarQ20bill
One person has already offered $11 for it

I would guess that there is probably a fair few of these notes in the system compared to other old notes considering the US would have probably been forced to print more notes in the years following the Wall Street Crash.

[radiowaves]

Maybe its a stolen money that laid hidden all those years?

[evenwolf]

Yes, its been stuck up Benjamin Franklin's nose at Mt. Rushmore.    Its one of several missing links in the "National DaVinci Code Treasure of our Forefathers The Matrix".