Funny Back Note

A relic of the Jazz Age that is popular with collectors today is the so-called “Funny Back” Legal Tender Note.

Specifications

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Background
This Red Seal is one of several one dollar bills whose name stems from an unfamiliar back design. Instead of the Great Seal of the United States with which most collectors are familiar, “Funny Backs” were the first attempt by the U.S. Treasury to standardize paper money designs when the large size currency relics of the 19th Century were streamlined for the Roaring Twenties.

History
As many collectors know, when the Federal government’s first general circulation paper money was issued to finance the Civil War it copied the size of bank notes then circulating which were familiar to the public. These notes measured 7.5 inches across and 3 1/8 inches high. But after 60+ years printing currency, requirements for the special paper on which the notes were printed had reached such a level, that bean counters in the government figured they could save a buck or two by reducing the size of these notes.

The feds had been experimenting with printing smaller 6 1/4 by 2 5/8 Silver Certificates and Treasury Certificates for the Philippines, which the U.S. had acquired as a colony following the Spanish American War. These “Philippine Size” notes were 60% smaller than the old large size “saddle blanket” notes. The Philippine bills were printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing just like U.S. paper money. Their faces said they were backed by U.S. gold coins, and politicians referred to them as “junior U.S. dollars.”

Their ready acceptance, and economy attracted officials with sharp pencils trying to keep up with burgeoning currency requirements. So Treasury secretary Andrew W. Mellon called for new designs in a smaller form. In May 1927, Mellon approved the new designs, including the so-called “Funny Back” for the One Dollar Legal Tender Notes (U.S. Notes) and Silver Certificates. Other classes of currency (Gold Certificates, National Currency) did not have the one dollar denomination, and $1 Federal Reserve Notes did not arise until 1963.

BEP engravers of the small size note back mimicked the style of the back design used on the then current large size dollars, creating “generic” designs which just said ONE DOLLAR but not specifying what kind of currency (Silver Certificate, U.S. Note) a note was. This was economical because it allowed the back design to be used on several classes of currency, speeding up and simplifying currency production.

BEP presses began cranking out small size U.S. currency beginning in 1928, and when sufficient quantities were on hand, notes were released after the beginning on the next Fiscal Year. These stream-lined bills debuted July 10, 1929. First issued were Series 1928 Tate-Mellon Silver Certificates. More than 600 million were printed. Five additional series (1928A, 1928B, 1928C, 1928D, 1928E) with a variety of signature combinations, due to musical chairs in the Treasury Department, followed totalling nearly three billion more bills.

This frequent turn over brought about approval to overprint signatures rather than engrave them on the high volume one dollar notes. So another “Funny Back” note Series of 1934 Silver Certificate with imprinted signatures of Treasurer W.A. Julian and Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau appeared. To accommodate this overprinting many of the design features on the note face were rearranged.

However, the famous portrait of George Washington after a painting by Gilbert Stuart, engraved in 1918 by BEP chief engraver G.F.C. “Fred” Smillie. and the “Funny Back” carried over.

Collecting
Series 1928 Red Seals (Fr. 1500) with signatures of Woods and Woodin, like the one shown, were issued to the extent of 1.8 million notes. Star (replacement) notes were also issued, and are quite scarce today. Although these notes carry the imprint Series 1928, they were actually printed in spring 1933. Secretary of the Treasury William H. Woodin and Treasurer of the United States W.O. Woods tenures in office overlapped March 4, 1933, to May 31, 1933.

Few of these notes were released at the time. Estimates of only 5,000 bills have been published. The bulk of this series was simply stored at the Treasury, and was released after World War lI (c. 1948-49) in Puerto Rico.

Examples of the Series 1928 U.S. Note with “Funny Back” are cataloged at $70 in VG up to $400 or more in choice Unc. Type note collectors, however, have pushed the upper limits. Choice Unc. notes bring $800 or so at auction, and gem notes have brought twice that much. Of the approximately 150 star notes recorded, circulated examples bring $3,000-$8,000, with top catalog values of $20,000-$26,000 for high grade Unc. notes.

Because so many more were issued, Silver Certificates with “Funny Backs” are the type normally seen. Circulated notes are very inexpensive $20-$30, while even star notes of the commonest varieties in prime grades are available for under a thousand dollars. But be prepared to fork over five figures for high grade 1928C, 1928D and 1928 E Star rarities.

Finally with the introduction of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” emergency monetary legislation in 1933-34, new Gold Certificates, Silver Certificates and Federal Reserve Notes were called for. This entailed new printing plates. New $1 Silver Certificates were designated Series 1935.

Concurrently, a redesign of the one dollar back was undertaken as a history lesson to depict both sides of the Great Seal of the United States. At President Roosevelt’s suggestion the front of the seal showing a Federal Eagle was placed on the right side of the note, and the “All-Seeing Eye” and Unfinished Pyramid put on the left, just the way they remain today.

These “Funny Back” notes are popular sellers in non-numismatic trade ads, at flea markets and on the internet. The best thing is that although interesting, they are not rare.