The United States one-dollar bill has been the lowest value denomination of United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional currency notes in 1876. The obverse shows the first U.S. president (1789–1797), George Washington, based on the 1796 Athenaeum Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, and the reverse shows the Great Seal of the United States. The one-dollar bill has the oldest overall design of all U.S. currency currently in use. The reverse design of the present dollar debuted in 1935, and the obverse in 1963 when it was first issued as a Federal Reserve Note (previously, one-dollar bills were Silver Certificates).
A dollar bill is composed of 25% linen and 75% cotton. That blend makes the notes more difficult to counterfeit compared to paper (as well as increasing its durability). As of December 31, 2018, the average life of a dollar bill in circulation is 6.6 years before it is replaced due to wear. Approximately 42% of all U.S. currency produced in 2009 were one-dollar bills. As of December 31, 2019, there were 12.7 billion one-dollar bills in circulation worldwide.
History
Large-size notes
(approximately 7+3⁄8 in × 3+1⁄8 in or 187 mm × 79 mm)
- 1862: The first one-dollar bill was issued as a Legal Tender Note (United States Note) with a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury who served under President Abraham Lincoln.
- 1869: The $1 United States Note was redesigned with a portrait of George Washington in the center and a vignette of Christopher Columbus sighting land to the left. The obverse of the note also featured overprinting of the word ONE numerous times in very small green type and blue tinting of the paper. Although this note is technically a United States Note, TREASURY NOTE appeared on it instead of UNITED STATES NOTE.
- 1874: The Series of 1869 United States Note was revised. Changes on the obverse included removing the green and blue tinting, adding a red floral design around the word WASHINGTON D.C., and changing the term TREASURY NOTE to UNITED STATES NOTE. The reverse was completely redesigned. This note was also issued as Series of 1875 and 1878.
- 1880: The red floral design around the words ONE DOLLAR and WASHINGTON D.C. on the United States Note was removed and replaced with a large red seal. Later versions also had blue serial numbers and a small seal moved to the left side of the note.
- 1886: The first woman to appear on U.S. currency, Martha Washington, was featured on the $1 silver certificate. The reverse of the note featured an ornate design that occupied the entire note, excluding the borders.
- 1890: One-dollar Treasury or "Coin Notes" were issued for government purchases of silver bullion from the silver mining industry. The reverse featured the large word ONE in the center surrounded by an ornate design that occupied almost the entire note.
- 1891: The reverse of the Series of 1890 Treasury Note was redesigned because the treasury felt that it was too "busy," which would make it too easy to counterfeit. More open space was incorporated into the new design. The obverse was largely unchanged.
- 1896: The famous "Educational Series" Silver Certificate was issued. The entire obverse was covered with artwork of allegorical figures representing "history instructing youth" in front of Washington D.C. The reverse featured portraits of George and Martha Washington surrounded by an ornate design that occupied almost the entire note.
- 1899: The $1 was again redesigned: the redesigned note was called the Black Eagle Silver Certificate. The obverse featured a vignette of the United States Capitol behind a bald eagle perched on an American flag. Below that were small portraits of Abraham Lincoln to the left and Ulysses S. Grant to the right.
- 1917: The obverse of the $1 United States Note was changed slightly with the removal of ornamental frames that surrounded the serial numbers.
- 1918: The only large-sized, Federal Reserve Note-like $1 bill was issued as a Federal Reserve Bank Note (not to be confused with Federal Reserve Notes). Each note was an obligation of the issuing Federal Reserve Bank and could only be redeemed at that corresponding bank. The obverse of the note featured a borderless portrait of George Washington to the left and wording in the entire center. The reverse featured a bald eagle in flight clutching an American flag.
- 1923: Both the one-dollar United States Note and Silver Certificate were redesigned. Both notes featured the same reverse and an almost identical obverse with the same border design and portrait of George Washington. The only difference between the two notes was the color of ink used for the numeral 1 crossed by the word DOLLAR, Treasury seal, and serial numbers along with the wording of the obligations. These dollar bills were the first and only large-size notes with a standardized design for different types of notes of the same denomination; this same concept would later be used on small-size notes.
Small size notes
(6.14 length × 2.61 width × 0.0043 in thickness = 156 × 66.3 × 0.11 mm)
In 1928, all currency was changed to the size which is familiar today. The first one-dollar bills were issued as silver certificates under Series of 1928. The Treasury seal and serial numbers were dark blue. The obverse was nearly identical to the Series of 1923 $1 silver certificate, but the Treasury seal featured spikes around it and a large gray ONE replaced the blue "1 DOLLAR." The reverse, too, had the same border design as the Series of 1923 $1 bill, but the center featured a large ornate ONE superimposed by ONE DOLLAR. These are commonly known as "Funnybacks" due to the rather odd-looking "ONE" on the reverse. These $1 silver certificates were issued until 1934.
In 1933, Series of 1928 $1 United States Notes were issued to supplement the supply of $1 Silver Certificates. Its Treasury seal and serial numbers were red and there was different wording on the obverse of the note. However, a month after their production, it was realized that there would be no real need for these notes and production was stopped. A small number of these $1 bills entered circulation and the rest were kept in Treasury vaults until 1949 when they were issued in Puerto Rico.
In 1934, the design of the $1 silver certificate was changed. This occurred with that year's passage of the Silver Purchase Act, which led to a large increase in dollar bills backed by that metal. Under Washington's portrait, ONE SILVER DOLLAR was changed to ONE DOLLAR. The Treasury seal was moved to the right and superimposed over ONE, and a blue numeral 1 was added to the left. The reverse remained the same.
A year later, in 1935, the design of the one-dollar bill was changed again. On the obverse, the blue numeral 1 was changed to gray and made smaller, the gray ONE to the right was removed, the Treasury seal was made smaller and superimposed by WASHINGTON D.C., and a stylized ONE DOLLAR was added over the Treasury seal. The reverse was also changed to its current design, except for the absence of IN GOD WE TRUST.
World War II brought about special issues of one-dollar bills in 1942.
Special $1 Silver Certificates were issued for Hawaii in case of a Japanese invasion. HAWAII was printed vertically on the left and right side of the obverse and also horizontally across the reverse. The seal and serial numbers were changed to brown. Special Silver Certificates were also issued as payment for Allied troops in North Africa about to begin their assault into Europe, being distinguishable from regular Silver Certificates by their yellow seals; unlike the Hawaii overprint series, the remainder of the design was left unchanged. Both of these types of notes could be declared worthless if they fell into enemy hands.
The next change came in 1957 when the $1 bill became the first piece of paper U.S. currency to bear the motto, IN GOD WE TRUST. The inclusion of the motto on all currency was required by law in 1955, It was added over the word ONE on the reverse. Thus all series 1957 and later notes include the motto. Initially the BEP began printing the motto on notes printed with the new 32 note press, but soon Series of 1935G bills printed on an 18 note press featured the motto too. Later the 1935H series was printed only with the motto. The reason these 1935 series notes were produced into the 1960s was that older printing plates were used as long as possible. There is no particular difference in value if a bill does or does not have the motto.
The final production of $1 Silver Certificates occurred in late 1963. In 1964, the redemption of Silver Certificates for silver coin ended and in 1968 the redemption of Silver Certificates for silver bullion ended.
Production of one-dollar Federal Reserve Notes was undertaken in late 1963 to replace the soon-to-be obsolete $1 Silver Certificate. The design on the reverse remained the same, but the border design on the obverse underwent considerable modification, as the mostly abstract filigrees were replaced with designs that were mostly botanical in nature. In addition, the word "one", which appeared eight times around the border in small type, was eliminated. The serial numbers and Treasury seal were printed in green ink. This was the first time the one-dollar bill was printed as a Federal Reserve Note.
The first change since then came in 1969, when the $1 was among all denominations of Federal Reserve Notes to feature the new Treasury seal, with English wording instead of Latin.
The $1 bill became the first denomination printed at the new Western Currency Facility in February 1991, when a shipment of 3.2 million star notes from the Dallas FRB was produced.
Though bill denominations of $5 and higher have been redesigned twice since 1995 as part of ongoing anti-counterfeiting efforts, there are currently no plans to redesign the $1 or $2 bills.
Experimental issues
Since 1933, the one-dollar bill has been the exclusive experimental denomination among circulating US currency (except for the Natick experiment in 1981, see below). The first experiment was conducted in January and February of that year to assess the effects of using different ratios of cotton to linen in the make-up of the bills. Series 1928A and 1928B $1 silver certificates with serial number block letters X-B and Y-B were used as the experimental group; the Z-B block was used as the control group. The results of the experiment were inconclusive.
In 1937, another test was conducted, similar in style to the 1933 experiment. This test used Series 1935 one-dollar bills. The particular notes used in this experiment can be identified by their serial numbers. Notes ranging from A00000001B to A06180000B and B00000001B–B03300000B were the experimental group and notes ranging from C00000001B to C03300000B were part of the control group. No conclusive results were found.
A better known test was done in 1942 during World War II to test alternative types of paper. This was a precautionary measure in case the current type of paper supply could not be maintained. Series 1935A notes made of the special paper and were printed with a red "S" to the right of the Treasury seal, while notes of the control group were printed with a red R. Because they have some collector value, fake red S's and R's have been applied to regular Series 1935A notes to try to pass them at a higher value; checking a note's serial numbers can prevent this. Serial numbers of the R group range from S70884001C to S72068000C and serial numbers of the S group range from S73884001C to S75068000C.
Sometime in the early to mid-1960s, the BEP experimented with a new firm, the Gilbert Paper Company, to see if they could duplicate the usual paper production. The BEP selected a sequence of notes printed for the Philadelphia FRB (series 1963) as the test subjects. Serial numbers for this group range from C60800001A to C61440000A.
In August 1981, a similar experiment occurred during production of Series 1977A, when the BEP printed a few print runs on Natick paper. They included a regular run and a star note run from the Richmond FRB, with serial numbers ranging from E76800001H through E80640000H and E07052001* through E07680000* (many sources incorrectly identify the star range as Philadelphia instead of Richmond). One print run of $10 star notes, also from Richmond, was included in this paper test, making it so far the only experimental printing not exclusive to the $1.