jtryka

Actually, they are FRBNs, Federal Reserve Bank Notes, they are the same format as National Bank Notes from series 1929, but were issued by the Federal Reserve Banks. These notes were secured by US Treasury Bonds on deposit with the Treasury and were redeemable in "lawful money" while the FRNs of series 1928 were redeemable in gold or lawful money at the Treasury or Federal Reserve, and were not secured by bonds. This was the general security required by national banks that chose to issue National Bank Notes, and unlike today when the Fed print FRNs to buy Treasury bonds (we call this debt monetization, i.e. money printing from thin air) these bonds at the time the National Bank Notes were issued were payable in gold coin, so the banks that issued the paper notes could actually redeem them for hard money, and not more paper.

here are a few I got from a bargain lot in the recent Lyn Knight auction:

Last week I got 2 wheaties on the same day! 1945 and 1957

I think Art 2.0 would be more appropriate, because it would clearly be a major leap from the original...

I bought 8 rolls of Garfield dollars at the bank today...

Art Schmart...

Sometimes I buy these over eBay like this one, and the photos are not the best, this one turned out to be an O-102, which shared the same reverse die as the O-101, and from the photos it looked like this might be the latter, but in hand it was unfortunately the former. I also buy some at local shows, like these two I got today, so I can see them live, but I didn't have my book with me, so the attributions have to wait till I get home!

got this one today, and unfortunately I already had this die marriage!

there are too many to choose from!

I like the 1809 as in my view it was sort of the last year of them working out the kinks in the design, after 09, things get somewhat more stable in the series. It also has the most die marriages of the 07-09 period (15 vs. 10 in '08 and 4 in '07) making it also more available and affordable. Lastly it has some interesting edge variations (so called XXX and ||| edges) which are fun to find.

This one is an O-102, XXX edge which I attributed based on my Overton Book (third edition), but you can also look on line for help, coinzip.com has a great resource for attributing with lots of photos. The diagnostics for this one are the segments below the scroll on the reverse, which would make this either an O-102 or an O-110 (much rarer), but the obverse on the O-110 has a die break through star 4 ending in lumps, which this one does not have, therefore, it's an O-102!

another new one of my favorite date, with nice blue and green halo toning and a die marriage I didn't have before!

Nioe one Art, I think the Educational $5 has to be my favorite banknote design!

Here's another one that came today.

I got an Olympic park quarter at the store a month or so ago, and a nice AU/unc. 1984-D quarter, and a 1958-D nickel in the last 2 weeks or so.

Steve,

I think I have maybe 40 die marriages, so I'm a ways off from the BHNC, but I'll get there someday. As for the 1807, that was the date of my first DBH, but later I got the CBH as well, just the common 50/20 variety. As for finishing this set, I am fortunately not working on deadline, so it will get as complete as it gets! LOL

Hmm...about that date set, I guess it depends on where you start! For the capped busts, I am only missing 1815 now that I have the 1822. For the reeded edge halves I am missing 1836 and 1839. For the Draped bust, there I am missing a lot, still need 1796, 1797, 1801 and 1802, and for flowing hair I still need the 1794 and 1795. So I guess I am close?

The mailman brought me this today, a date I've not had with some nice color too...

Nice NA notes Dave!

Picked this one up from the post office this morning...

I never saw any when I was in France, they are about the same diameter, but the 2 1/2 guilder was a little thicker with a lettered edge instead of reeded. Plus the Dutch coin was worth about 50% more than the French, when I was there the 5 franc was worth about $1 but the 2 1/2 guilder was worth about $1.50, so that might have played a part.

Yeah, I still have a bunch of coins from my trips, I love the sower on the 5-franc to 1/2-franc, and some of the other interesting commemorative designs for the 1- and 2-franc. I think I only have one of the bimetallic 10-franc coins left as a souvenir, but loads of the smaller coins, even a few 5-centimes! Seems like the Banque de France will make a windfall on the euro conversion!

Nice Find! Always love finding small head money, let alone red seals!

On the French notes, the larger notes like this one and the Montesquieu were only redeemable for 10 years after they were demonetised, so the 500-franc I have was redeemable until 2007, the Montesquieu until 2008, the 100-franc Delacroix until 2009, and the 50-franc de la Tour until 2005. The only one I have that is still redeemable is the old 20-franc Debussy which is good till February. After that, all francs are kaput! By the way, I have an extra Montesquieu if you want it.

Heck, you don't have to go back to tsarist Russia to find large banknotes in circulation, I remember back in 1995 working in Paris, and at the time the 500-franc note was about as big as half a sheet of paper! That note was worth about $100 back then, and is now worth only collector value (I just picked up a few on eBay for $5 or $10). Back then most of us just folded the notes in half or in quarters to fit in our wallets.

Wow! I usually save those for make-up stamps when they raise the rates! How did they fit your address on the envelope?

This came in the mail as a gift from Marvin in Germany, a very pleasant surprise!