DescriptionLast large size banknote series.The Silver Certificates were just that. You could go to a bank and get silver coins, which was not a problem as long as there were silver coins, which disappeared in 1965. With Federal Reserve notes, no the other hand, if you try to “convert” one of themThe USA got into the paper money business during the Civil War. Everyone was hoarding coins, they had to do something. Once they started they found that they kind of liked what paper money did to the economy.Aside from China, other governments started using circulating “banknotes” starting in the 17th century AD. The practice became general in the 19th century. In the 20th century value of paper money in circulation far surpassed the value of coinage. In the 21st century paper money is fading and credit transactions are growing.Paper money, meaning the promise of a government to pay a set amount, and the paper promise allowed to circulate at will, was probably first used in China in the 12th century AD. At that time the merchants and governments of Europe were just writing letters to each other about what they owed.
