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**RetailWorkhorse** · 08-22-2008, 03:52 PM

Quoth Dips View Post

SC: They're really old. From the fifties.

<snip>

SC: [Interrupting] But they're OLD and worth hundreds of dollars each.

I have a [1953] silver certificate. I got it for a buck. Because someone used it to pay me.

Mr. SC! I have some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to sell you!

**~~One-Fang~~** · 08-22-2008, 11:29 PM

I don't even know what a silver certificate is, but if Mr Dips is currently selling them for a buck fifty each, I'm not buying this customer's self-inflated value figure.

**Ironclad Alibi** · 08-23-2008, 03:34 AM

Quoth Dips View Post

SC: They're really old. From the fifties.

The ones from the fifties are the newer ones. I have several going back to the 1899 series.

**AdminAssistant** · 08-23-2008, 05:13 AM

Quoth One-Fang View Post

I don't even know what a silver certificate is, but if Mr Dips is currently selling them for a buck fifty each, I'm not buying this customer's self-inflated value figure.

It's a form of currency. I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that although they are legal tender, it's pretty rare to use silver certificates in a retail setting. They're mostly to collect, like bicentennial quarters, Kennedy half dollars, $2 bills, and the like. My Dad has quite a few that my grandmother gave him, but I have no idea how old they are.

**Boozy** · 08-23-2008, 11:50 AM

Hell, if you're going to try to close a sale on an item sight-unseen, why not swing for the fences? Tell them you have dozens of mint-condition old Roman coins or something.

**Gurndigarn** · 08-23-2008, 12:08 PM

Quoth One-Fang View Post

I don't even know what a silver certificate is,

Once upon a time, it was a guarantee that there was an ounce of silver (ie, one silver dollar or the equivalent— this was in the days of the honkin' huge silver dollars) somewhere in the governmental vaults that you could get in exchange for it.

They stopped issuing them, and eventaully redeeming them, some time after silver started costing more than a dollar an ounce. They're worth a buck now, or maybe more to a currency collecter. If the owner had traded them in for a silver dollar, it would currently be worth roughly $13.50 just in melt value.

**Dips** · 08-23-2008, 12:37 PM

These things look like old style bills but have bits of them are stamped in blue instead of green. (pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Certificate) The value varies from about face value to big moolah depending on rarity and condition. Age really isn't a big factor in determining the value of any coin or bill.

Since these things are kind of novel, lots of people keep them instead of spending them. Thus they aren't that rare in and of themselves, because just about everybody has some.

However if you happen to have a novelty bill that has never EVER been folded, smudged or bent, keep it that way. Value goes WAY DOWN if they've been folded.

You can check for rarity by doing some research. There are plenty of sources. Just don't be disappointed if yours aren't rare. By definition most people's aren't, so you're in good company.

As for the guy who came in, Mr. Dips later told me he thinks the guy probably paid a shady dealer way too much for them. The guy probably suspects he got ripped off and is trying to stave off the certain knowledge for as long as possible. Denial is fun.

**VenomX** · 08-23-2008, 02:17 PM

Quoth AdminAssistant View Post

They're mostly to collect, like ....... $2 bills

No need to collect $2 bills. You can go to almost any bank and get some. They are still being printed.

**Foxglove8778** · 08-23-2008, 03:01 PM

Once when I was working in a music store a kid came in to spend the money his grandmother had save up to give him for his birthday. It was a stack of $2 bills and a silver note $5. I told him I really doubted that his grandma expected him to spend them. Some of them were old enough to make a collector cry... and pay more than face value for them (one was a '76 with a cancel stamp). Stupid kid. He had bad taste in music too.

A few years before that when I worked at a Hallmark store one of my coworkers threw a fit when someone tried to pay for a magazine with a $2 silver note. Screaming about passing funny money despite anything the rest of us said to him. He was a "special" guy.

**Mark Healey** · 08-23-2008, 07:17 PM

I have this conversation on the phone every day. Once, I was on the phone with the boss sitting near by and every time I said something to the effect of "I need to see the book before I can tell you anything" one of his fingers went up and he was having more difficulty not laughing out loud. I think he had eight fingers up before the person got it.

Tell all your friends.

1) We can't make buying decions from a list.
2) We need to see the books.
3) We can not go by a verbal description.
4) We need to see the books.
5) Old doesn't mean valuable. Most of the books printed in the ninteenth century are out of print for a reason.
6) We need to see the books.
7) A first printing isn't necessarily valuable and some times a later printing is.
8) We need to see the books.
9) If you wan't to know what makes first editons valuable look here.
10) We need to see the books.
11) Some books are so popular that various new outlets use them as loss leaders and people buy them as soon as they come out. Their used market is limited.
12) We need to see the books.
13) Condition is important. Readable isn't sellable.
14) We need to see the books.
15) I could go on but, you get the point.
16) We need to see the books.

And, Yes, You can judge a book by it's cover.

**ravenrose** · 08-23-2008, 09:05 PM

Quoth Foxglove8778 View Post

A few years before that when I worked at a Hallmark store one of my coworkers threw a fit when someone tried to pay for a magazine with a $2 silver note. Screaming about passing funny money despite anything the rest of us said to him. He was a "special" guy.

I had that happen to me all the time. I used to get them as my form of commission from a certain well-known company in town, and I cannot count the number of times that I would have to argue that they were real. And these were the supposedly educated of our society.

Or I'd get the "These are special, why don't you keep them?" Because I have 200 more at home, lol, and need gas for my car.

The only reason that I don't feel too bad about keeping some, especially the ones I got that were still in sequential order, is because, as it was pointed out, I can always go to the bank and get some to put aside for later.

**depechemodefan** · 08-23-2008, 09:28 PM

SC:...they're OLD and worth hundreds of dollars each....
SC: They're worth thousands of dollars.

eh, worth hundres of dollars each, not a bargain...wait, they are worth 1000s of dollars each! wow!

Dumb SC. Why doesnt he try that will 5 year olds...

One night a guy called asking how much a Delaware quarter was worth (it came out in 1999, right?). I told him $.25. He kept on going, "Nah, how much is it worth!" Um, there are tons of Delaware quarters. They are still circulating (well, there are Morgan dollars still circulating, that is what money does, still) by the butt load, so it's doubtful anyone will pay more than $.25 for them.

**TonyDonuts** · 08-24-2008, 03:29 PM

Quoth VenomX View Post

No need to collect $2 bills. You can go to almost any bank and get some. They are still being printed.

They're fun to give to strippers!

I mean, I may have heard, somewhere, from a guy, that that was fun . . .

Forget I said anything...

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