COLLECTING US CURRENCY

HISTORY
A STEP BACK IN TIME

You may not be able to step into a Time Machine and be transported back to the Boston Tea Party, Wild West or World War II, but you can own the same type of Currency that Paul Revere was paid for his Silversmith trade, or the same type of Money the Wild Bill Hickock piled onto the table to reinforce his belief that the two pair of Aces and Eights he was holding was a winning hand. You can hold a piece of currency that was used in the Hawaiian islands after the attack on Pearl Harbor or a note that was used to make change for a dollar during the Civil War when circulating coins were virtually unheard of.

Even modern currency (currency circulating in the 20th and 21st centuries) has a vast array of varieties to offer the collector. While the currency of today is printed with a Green Seal and Serial Numbers, money that could have been found in Elvis's wallet when he made his first record may have had 7 different colored seals and serial numbers.

As late as the 1930's, people still had both Large and Small Sized Notes in their wallets at the same time.

This is similar to todays situation of people having both the "old" and "new" style currency at the same time.

A WORK OF ART

You may not be able to buy a painting by Picasso or a Rembrandt to hang in your living room, but you can own some truly beautiful artwork. Much of the Paper Money of the 19th century and early 20th century is both historical and beautiful. At one time, nearly everybody had a work of art or two in their wallet. Today, most people don't even know what the currency of our forefathers looked like.

Collectors of United States Paper Money often share a love of history and / or a love of art.

Whether it is collected for beauty, rarity, historical representation or any other reason, currency collecting can take a wide range of directions. The following list touches on just as few types of currency collections.

• Type Note Collecting - Collecting one example of each type of US currency every issued.

• Error Note Collecting - Collecting notes that have mistakes on them (i.e., Seals and Serial Numbers printed upside down or nothing printed on the back, etc.)

• Portraits - Collecting an example of every note that has a particular portriat (i.e., George Washington).

• Signatures - Collecting an example of every note that has a particular signature (i.e., Blanche K. Bruce- the first African American whose signature appears on our Currency).

• Seal Collecting - Collecting Examples of each different type of Seal found on US currency.

• Name Collecting - Collecting National Currency or Obsolete Bank Notes from towns with names that mean something to the collectors or towns that the collectors have visited.

• Type Specific Collecting - Collecting only a specific type of currency such as Fractional Notes, Silver Certificates, Gold Certificates, etc.

• Collecting by Denomination - Collecting only a specific denomination of currency such as $1.00 or $5.00 notes.

Whatever your reasoning for collecting currency, we hope you find this website both entertaining and informative.