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500 Dollars Gold Certificate, Gold Seal left
| Issuer | United States Department of the Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1928 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio vignette of William McKinley Jr., 25th President of the United States, rendered in a formal portrait bust facing left. A large gold treasury seal is positioned to the left of the portrait, with the denomination numeral and obligation text arranged across the face. The note is printed on a distinctive golden-yellow tinted paper stock characteristic of the 1928 Gold Certificate series. |
|---|---|
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| Signature(s) | Walter O. Woods and A.W. Mellon |
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| Comments |
The 1928 series collapsed the old large-format currency into the dimensions still used today — a cost-cutting measure introduced by Treasury Secretary Mellon himself, whose signature appears on this note. The irony is not subtle: Mellon signed a $500 denomination at a time when the average American worker earned less than that in a year.
Gold Certificates of this series were recalled and effectively demonetized by Executive Order 6102 in April 1933, which prohibited private ownership of gold and gold-backed instruments. Legal private ownership wasn't restored until 1964. Surviving examples were, for three decades, technically contraband.