Both are collected, but the big bills are particular favorites for the beauty and variety of their artwork. Except for a few specialized types of limited availability, large-size notes fall into six groups: Legal Tender Notes, Silver Certificates, Treasury Notes, National Bank Notes, Federal Reserve Issues and Gold Certificates. As with rare coins, collector notes are now being graded by third-party services and encapsulated in archival plastic. That makes them tradable commodities. Higher grade examples tend to increase steadily in value and that makes them popular with investors.

Large-size Legal Tender Notes, also called United States Notes, were issued between 1862 and 1923. Each carried the printed stipulation that it was "legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt." The sole issue of the 1901 series was a $10 note featuring a vignette of a bison, flanked by portraits of explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The bison vignette is the same one used on the 30 cent stamp of 1923 and the $1 Military Payment Certificate of Series 692 (1970). The example pictured above received a grade of 55 out of 70, on the industry standard scale. Over the past two years, values of such "choice about uncirculated" specimens are up 25-60%.

Silver Certificates offer many varieties of design and subject matter and are probably the most widely collected of all the large-size notes. They were issued between 1878 and 1923, each stating that silver dollars in the amount of the note had been deposited in the U.S. Treasury and would be paid to be bearer on demand. The 1899 $5 note carries the likeness of Oncpapa Sioux Chief Running Antelope. It is the only U.S. note featuring a portrait of a Native American. The specimen shown above was graded "gem uncirculated" 65. Prices at that level are only up 10-15% in the past two years, but some lower grade examples are better by up to 50%.

Treasury Notes, also known as Coin Notes, were the result of an act authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue currency in payment for the Department's purchases of silver bullion. Both the 1890 and 1891 issues were backed by metallic reserves, but it was left up to the Secretary to determine whether they would be redeemed in gold or silver coins. The $1 Treasury Note displays a portrait of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. Population reports indicate that surviving 1891 $1 bills outnumber their 1890 cousins by a multiple of three-to-one. The 1890 note pictured suffered three vertical folds and was graded "extremely fine" 40. Still, it's a handsome specimen and prices are up 55-85% in two years.

Large-size National Bank Notes were issued between 1863 and 1929, by many thousands of institutions throughout the country. National banks were initially allowed to circulate their own notes in amounts up to 90% of the total securities they had on deposit with the Treasurer of the United States, but that was later raised to 100%. The securities in question were normally U.S. bonds. The 1902 $5 note pictured bears a portrait of President Benjamin Harrison. It's a "choice uncirculated" 64 bill that was issued by the National Bank of Troy, New York. As with most of the later "nationals", the market value of this example has remained little changed over the past two years. Some of the earlier issues are significantly higher, however.

The creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 led to the issuance of both Federal Reserve Bank Notes and Federal Reserve Notes. The former were payable only at the district bank named on the note and were secured by U.S. certificates of indebtedness, or gold notes. The latter were associated with the entire system and were initially redeemable in gold, or lawful money. There were two separate issues of the Federal Reserve Bank Notes, the Series of 1915 and the Series of 1918. Federal Reserve Notes are still in production today. The bill shown is a Series of 1918 issue of the district bank in Atlanta. It is a "crisp uncirculated" 63 note that sells for 40-50% more now than it did two years ago.

The government issued Gold Certificates nine times (1865-1922), but most of the earlier notes were intended for use in bank transactions. The first regularly circulated bills were those of the Series of 1882. The Treasury was obligated to redeem all notes for gold coin, but Series of 1922 certificates were also said to be legal tender. The certificates were withdrawn from circulation, in response to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. The sample pictured is one of the 1922 $10 notes. It features a portrait of Michael Hillegas, the first Treasurer of the United States. It's a "choice uncirculated" 64 specimen that has risen 40-50% in value, over the past two years.

The price changes noted above are based on retail data listed in recent industry standard texts and on compilations made available by the major numismatic auction houses. The current retail price for the group of six bills pictured above is something in the neighborhood of $18,000-$20,000. That's the cost of 500 shares of an intermediate level DJIA stock. The notes are not cheap. Compared with the Dow's two-year drop of 35%, however, they have not done too badly.

Larry Schutts has invested in high grade collectibles for over twenty years and recently opened an online Collectible Investment Store.