A Guide to Small Sized Silver Certificates

This is a short guide to assist in buying small sized Silver Certificates, series 1928 through 1957.
Silver Certificates have been around since the Civil War era. They were authorized by Congressional Acts of February 28, 1878 and August 4, 1886.
Small sized Silver Certificates were issued in three denominations. One, Five and Ten Dollars. Let's look at the one dollar notes first.
The first of the small sized One Dollar Silver Certificates were issued with the series date of 1928, with suffix letters A-E. These were typically called funny backs as the reverse design looked like play (or "funny") money.

In 1934 major changes were made to the obverse. Most notably the Treasury Seal was moved to the right side, superimposed over the word "ONE", which was reduced in size. A large gray numeral "1" was placed on the left side, over the inscription "This certificate is legal tender for all debts, public and private."
Minor changes were made again in 1935 and subsequent years thus adding suffix letters A-H. The "major" change to the 1935 series was when the letter "G" was added, as that was when the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST" was added to the reverse side of the bill. The last change occurs in the series dated 1957 (A-B). These were minor changes, basically changes in the note signatures.


Next we have the Five Dollar Silver Certificates.
Five Dollar Silver Certificates reappeared in the new and improved "small size" in 1934 and were issued with suffix letters A-D. The numeral "5" appearing on the left side was blue in color as was the Treasury Seal. The word "FIVE" is placed over the seal in large letters. When the series next changed in 1953, the blue numeral five was replaced with a much duller gray colored numeral. A pity as the blue numeral was very striking. The lettering of the word "FIVE" is reduced in size.

Lastly, we have the Ten Dollar Silver Certificate. The color scheme and lettering follow the same plan as the five dollar notes. The series are 1933(A), 1934(A-D) and 1953(A-B).

While this pretty much covers the issuance of the regular silver certificates, there were also some "Emergency" notes issued as well.
The One Dollar Silver Certificates saw some interesting things happening back then... Some of the 1935A notes have the word "HAWAII" overprinted on both the obverse and reverse as well as a brown Treasury Seal. These were issued to protect the United States financial interest in Hawaii during WWII. There were other "emergency" notes issued as well. Other 1935A silver certificates were printed with a gold colored Treasury Seal. These were issued to our troops in North Africa during WWII. We we are not done with the weird stuff... there were also some "Experimental Issue" silver certificates. These notes are also series 1935A and can be identified by a small capital letter "R" or "S" in the lower obverse right corner.

The North Africa Emergency Silver Certificates were also produced in five and ten dollar denominations. All have the gold colored Treasury Seal. These are NOT to be confused with "GOLD CERTIFICATES". Buyers should beware of sellers trying to pass these notes off as such. If a note says "Silver Certificate" and it has a gold colored Treasury Seal, it is a North Africa Emergency Silver Certificate.

The grading of these notes can be a real experience. It is hard to hold the note up to a light if you are buying it online, so, buy in person if you can. Hold that note up to a good light and look for in holes, tears, folds, creases, stains and other surface problems. A good light will be your best friend. Recognizing that tens of thousands of bills are sold online every week, the best advice I can give here is to be able to trust, to KNOW the person you are buying from. Ask questions, get pictures of the actual notes and make certain there is an iron-clad return policy.
There is a great book out there titled The Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money. Krause Publications. 21st. Edition. I bought mine online for only a few dollars.