1928 $1 Silver Certificate: The Funnyback

Why do collectors call it a funnyback?

Turn the note over. Instead of a building, a portrait or the Great Seal, the back is taken up by a big decorative ONE in light green ink with ONE DOLLAR across it. There is no symbolism and no picture of anything, which looked odd to people who had grown up with the large, busy notes of earlier decades. Collectors started calling it the funnyback. The name stuck.

The face looks more familiar. Washington is in the center, a blue seal with pointed spikes sits to the left and a large gray ONE sits to the right. Below the portrait the note states that one silver dollar is on deposit in the Treasury, payable to the bearer on demand. That wording is the giveaway that you have a 1928 type rather than the 1934 note that followed it.

Series 1928 $1 silver certificates: signatures and notes

Red seal or blue seal: which do you have?

A 1928 $1 with a blue seal is a silver certificate. A 1928 $1 with a red seal is a United States Note, a different kind of money that happens to share the same funnyback back. The red seal notes carry only one signature pair, Woods and Woodin. If your note is red, this page is not the right one, though it is still a collectible early small-size dollar.

How to find the series letter and signatures

Look on the face for the words SERIES OF 1928, followed by a capital letter if there is one. No letter means plain 1928. The two signatures are at the bottom: the Treasurer on the left and the Secretary of the Treasury on the right. If the letter is hard to read on a worn note, the signature pair will settle it, since each combination in the table above belongs to one series only.

The pairs also tell a short story about 1933. Andrew Mellon and Ogden Mills served under Hoover. William Woodin was Franklin Roosevelt's first Treasury Secretary and held the job only through 1933, which helps explain why the two Woodin series, 1928C and 1928D, are scarce. Henry Morgenthau Jr. followed him. The 1928E was printed briefly before the new 1934 design arrived.

The experimental paper notes

Some 1928A and 1928B dollars were printed to test new paper blends. They are marked only by their serial numbers. Notes with an X prefix and B suffix were printed on one special paper, Y and B on another, while Z and B notes were printed on regular paper as a control. If your serial starts with X, Y or Z and ends with B, you have one of the test notes. Those carry a collector premium over ordinary 1928A and 1928B dollars.

What is a 1928 funnyback worth?

Start with the series. A circulated 1928, 1928A or 1928B usually lands in the small premium band. Funnybacks are old enough that even the common series rarely trade at face value, but worn, stained or torn examples stay near the bottom of that band.

Series 1928C and 1928D move up into the collector premium band in most grades. The 1928E is the key and earns a collector premium even when worn, with crisp examples pushing well beyond that. Star notes from 1928C, 1928D and 1928E sit in the significant rarity band. Condition still drives everything: a note with sharp corners, bright paper and no folds can be worth many times a limp one of the same series.

What to do if you found one

Check the seal color, then the series letter and signatures, then whether a star sits in front of the serial number. Put the note in an archival sleeve and keep it flat. Do not clean or press it.

If you have a 1928C, 1928D, 1928E, any star note or an XB, YB or ZB experimental note, have it looked at by a paper money dealer or sent for third-party grading. A worn 1928 or 1928A is a lovely piece of history to keep; there is no reason to spend it, since it is worth more than a dollar to collectors.

Frequently asked questions