All Legal Tender

All Legal Tender Options at Provident Metals

Provident Metals is proud to offer something for every monetary enthusiast. While modern bullion coins and bars are exceptionally popular with investors, many collectors have a wide range of interests that include not only the designs found on commemorative bullion coins, but also historic designs that were once in circulation on paper notes from around the world. US paper money is particularly popular with collectors as notes issued in the late-19^th and early-20^th centuries boasted some of the best designs in American history. Learn more about all of the legal tender options available to you at Provident Metals.

Legal Tender Coins

Legal tender coins from the United States Mint can be modified in numerous ways by private mints to create collectible items. There are several ways in which legal tender coins can be altered to either enhance the existing visuals or create new visual brilliance for the purposes of commemorating important historical moments. The two most common ways of enhancing legal tender coins are the following:

• Clad – private mints will add a thin layer of 24-karat gold to legal tender coins such as the current US Half Dollar. This layer of gold can be applied to either the entire surface area or select visual elements.
• Colorized – private mints will also add colorized lacquers to coins to create distinct visuals. This is done in one of two ways. Sometimes the existing designs are enhanced with colorization to bring new life to well-known images. Conversely, some mints will cover the entire design element on one side with a new visual image as part of a commemorative issue.

Modern Legal Tender Notes

If there was a golden age of American paper note design, it came in the late-19^th and early-20^th centuries. The 1890s and 1900s saw a boom in American paper note design that shifted away from prominent dignitaries of the past to feature works of art on American notes. Designs such as the 1901 Bison Note, the Educational Series Silver Certificates of 1896, and the 1899 Running Antelope Silver Certificate. Many of these popular designs have been brought back to life on the face of modern Federal Reserve Notes from the US Treasury.

Private mints focus on using low-denomination bills such as the $1, $2, and $5 (USD) Federal Reserve Note to revive these images. Although the modern notes are legal tender, the goal is to create a collectible piece that features high-definition, full-color graphics on the obverse side that replicate some of the aforementioned historic note designs. The designs appear exactly as they did on notes issued more than 100 years ago, but have all the visual hallmarks of modern, high-definition imaging technology.

Historic Legal Tender Notes

For the keen collector, Provident Metals even offers historic legal tender notes that were once in circulation in the United States and are increasingly hard to find as time passes and the notes deteriorate or exist only in private collections. Examples of some of the historic notes you can find include, but are not limited to, the following:

• United States Note – the United States Note, also known simply as the Legal Tender Note, remains the longest-lasting paper currency in American history as of 2021. It won’t be surpassed by the modern Federal Reserve Note until 2024. US Notes featured historic designs such as the 1901 $10 Bison Note and were issued until 1928 in a large format modern Americans are not familiar with. You can find examples of these notes in conditions such as Fine, Fine+, Very Fine, or even Uncirculated (newer date marks only).
• Silver Certificates – following the nation’s move to the gold standard in the 1870s, the US Treasury began issuing Silver Certificates for Americans to use. Each Silver Certificate was redeemable for its face value in silver dollars. Some of the popular Silver Certificate designs include the female allegories from the Educational Series, the Running Antelope design, and the Black Eagle design.
• Federal Reserve Bank Notes – introduced in 1914, Federal Reserve Bank Notes were distinct from modern Federal Reserve Notes in two big ways. Each note was only backed by the individual branch bank of the Federal Reserve that issued the note. Additionally, the notes featured the name of the issuing bank on the obverse.
• Confederate States of America Notes – the Confederate States dollar was briefly issued by the CSA from 1861 to 1864. Notes in this series were not backed by hard assets or issued by a sovereign mint. It was often private banks producing the notes with the financial backing of individuals. After the Civil War concluded, CSA notes were rendered monetarily useless. However, the notes maintain collectible value today.

Collecting with Provident Metals

Please feel free to contact Provident Metals if you have any questions about our legal tender options. You can call us on the phone at 800-313-3315, chat with us live online, or simply send us an email with your inquiries. Our Payment Policies page can help you figure out which payment methods we accept, what discounts we may offer, and what minimums and maximum may apply based upon the payment method. You are always welcome to reach out to our customer service team for additional clarification.