A grand, one large, a stack, one g, whatever you call it, one thousand dollars is a good amount of cash, and the thousand dollar bill has been printed since the earliest days of American currency. But most people have never seen a $1,000 bill, never mind owned one.
Thousand dollar bills are the stuff of folklore. Bank robbers in the 19th century dreamt of them, drug kingpins in the 20th century coveted them, only rich guys ever owned them. What is their history?
The 1000 Dollar Bill – A Little History
Between 1862 and 1880, the Treasury Department had printed $1,000 bills of the Legal Tender type, with three different designs on them. The notes depicted a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Robert Morris graced the first 1000 dollar bill ever printed.
He was followed by DeWitt Clinton, Mayor of New York and a U.S. Senator and he was followed by a second issue of DeWitt Clinton, differing only the design on the back of the note. All of these ‘G-notes’ are very rare to extremely rare and you are likely to only see one of these notes in a museum. Adjusted for inflation, a $1,000 bill in 1880 would have the buying power of almost $30,000 in 2023.
Silver certificates were a type of United States currency that was printed from the 1880s until 1957. The small size silver certificates were printed as late as 1957. These were redeemable for one silver dollar, one dollar’s worth of silver coins, or one dollar’s worth of silver granules until 1964.
In March of 1964, C. Douglas Dillon, the Secretary of the Treasury, ordered a halt to the redemption of these paper silver certificates for silver dollar coins. These silver certificates were still redeemable for silver granules until all redemptions ceased on June 24, 1968.
There were two different designs of $1,000 silver certificate bills. The first was printed in 1878 and 1880 and the latter design was printed in 1891. The 1891 version depicts Liberty at the left, and a bust of William M. Marcy at the right. Marcy served as the Secretary of State for Presidents James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce.
The King of $1,000 Bills
In 1890, another type of U.S. currency called Treasury Notes were also being printed by the Treasury Department. The Treasury Note series included two versions of a 1000 dollar bill. The notes depicted Union General George Gordon Meade, who commanded the Union troops at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. But this 1000 dollar bill is not remembered for the portrait of Meade. It is extremely well-known for the back of the first version of this note.
The note is famous for being one of the most expensive notes in United States currency. While there are only 7 examples known, the note is called the “GRAND WATERMELON” note. The “Grand” part comes from the $1,000 denomination, but the “WATERMELON” part comes from the actual design of the note itself.
A One-of-a-Kind Thousand Dollar Bill
There is only one known design of a Large Size National Bank Note in a 1000 dollar bill. While 21 of these notes are still outstanding, meaning that they were not redeemed, none of them have ever surfaced. The front of the note depicts American General Winfield Scott triumphantly entering Mexico City during the War with Mexico.
The back of the note depicts General George Washington resigning his commission as Commander of the Armies just after the American War for Independence. This is based on the painting by the colonial artist John Trumbull. There are no actual images of an existing note.
With the advent of the Federal Reserve System of the United States in 1913, another type of currency was printed to bring stability to the nation’s banks – the Large Size Federal Reserve Notes. This type of note included denominations from $1 to $1,000. There also were $5,000 and $10,000 dollar notes as well.
These Large Size $1,000 Federal Reserve Notes are the first $1,000 bills that might be affordable in lower grades for the average collector. The front of the note depicts a portrait of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The back of this note portrays an impressive American bald eagle design. That note sold for $26,500.
The Golden Grand- $1,000 Gold Certificate
In 1882, a $1,000 Large Size Gold Certificate was printed. This note was redeemable for $1,000 face value in US Gold coins. But this issue, also portraying a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, is extremely rare with 23 notes known and values between $200,000 and $1 Million. It also features a bright orange back depicting an eagle.
In 1907 and again in 1922, a similar note was printed. It also depicted Hamilton on the front and a copy of the Great Seal of the United States, again printed in bright orange color. APMEX offers a 1922 $1,000 Gold Certificate for sale for the reasonable price of $64,995.
An additional small size $1,000 bill that we need to cover here is the 1928 and 1934 small size $1,000 Gold Certificates. Owning one of these notes in 1928 to 1933 meant that you could take this note to any U.S. bank and exchange it for $1,000 worth of U.S. gold coins, at face value. Imagine going to the bank, handing in this bill and receiving 50 $20 Gold Double Eagle or 200 $5 U.S. Gold Indian Head Half Eagle gold coins!
In 1933, that changed when Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order #6102. This Executive Order stated that it “forbid the hoarding of gold coins, gold bullion and gold certificates within the continental United States.” It was signed into law on April 5, 1933 and the gold coins and gold notes were to be redeemed by May 1, 1933. Roosevelt penned this Executive Order under the authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 and amended by the Emergency Bank Act of March, 1933.
Citizens could continue to hold a $100 face value in gold coins without punishment and rare collectible gold coins were excepted from this order. Foreign ownership of these gold coins was acceptable.
That meant that these notes were no longer redeemable for U.S. gold coins after the implementation of this executive order. These notes were intended to be redeemed by the Treasury Department in May of 1933. It was not until 1964 that U.S. citizens could once again legally own Gold Certificates, but they were not convertible into gold coins as originally intended.
These Gold Certificate notes look exactly like the Federal Reserve Series notes, except for a gold seal and the clause that the notes are redeemable for gold coins.
The Thousand Dollar Bill – A Grand for Everyone
So now we come to the only truly affordable and collectible $1,000 bills. Beginning in 1928, a Small Size Federal Reserve Note in the $1,000 denomination was first printed. The 1928 series saw a great deal of use and surviving specimens are more expensive than the 1934-dated versions.
But make no mistake, $1,000 bills are worth considerably more than their face value. A trivia question often is which U.S. note depicts two American presidents in one small portrait? The answer is the 1928 and 1934 $1,000 Small Size Federal Reserve Note, which depicts Grover Cleveland, who served as our 22nd President from 1885 to 1889 and then lost the presidency to Benjamin Harrison in 1890. Cleveland became the 24th American President again in 1893 and served his second term until 1897.
The 1928 Small Size Federal Reserve Notes and the 1934 series are exactly the same, except for the date on the front of the note. Cleveland faces right on the front and an ornate inscription of “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS” dominates the back of the note.
Without a doubt, the most available and most affordable $1,000 bills are the 1934 Small Size Federal Reserve Notes. In 1969, due to a lack of interest, the Federal Reserve began redeeming the $1,000 bills that remained in inventory in the banking system. While millions of these notes were printed beginning in 1861, only 165,372 $1,000 bills remained unredeemed by 2009. That number does not take into account the notes that may have been lost or destroyed – it is just a total of the number of $1,000 bills that have not been redeemed.
These 1934 dated 1000 dollar bills were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing until December 27, 1945. They were officially discontinued on July 14, 1969 and the official US government response to that action was “they were discontinued due to a lack of interest.” That was certainly not the case.
Another rationale for redeeming these notes was the proliferation of illicit drugs coming into the country and the fear that criminals preferred to utilize larger denominations of US currency. Removing $500 and $1,000 bills from the banks served an even better and more altruistic purpose.
Collectivity and Value of 1000 Dollar Bills
With the $100 Benjamin Franklin Federal Reserve note as the largest denomination in circulation today one can debate the effectiveness of removing these larger denomination notes from society. Other countries, such as Canada, continued to print and use their $1,000 bills until the year 2000.
These notes are not available through the US banking system. It is extremely unlikely that any United States bank has any $500 or $1,000 bills available for use. The remaining supply of these notes is held by coins and currency dealers and by collectors or investors.
Today, these notes are considered collectibles and are always more valuable than face value. A very well-worn common issue $1,000 bill, dated 1934, is worth at least $2,000 and the value only rises from that point based on the condition of the bill as well as how many of that particular bill were issued. Some notes, in like-new condition can bring up to $5,000.00 or more, depending on the rarity of that particular issue.
Not every one of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts are valued equally. Some districts are generally a bit more valuable. Notes from San Francisco, Minneapolis and Richmond are seen less frequently than notes from Boston or New York, for example.
Likewise, STAR * notes are much rarer and command much higher premiums than non-starred notes. Star * notes are replacement notes for any that were mis-printed during the original printing process. Because these are replacement notes, they are much scarcer and much more valuable.
But the primary value is based on the surviving condition of the note. The closer the note is to the condition of a crisp, new note, the higher the value of it will be.
Although these notes are unobtainable from banks at face value, they are available through coin and currency dealers and are perfectly legal to own and to collect. What a fantastic conversation piece with which to impress your family and friends.
