In early 1964, the rush for silver was on. What was hoped to be a gradual retirement of the nation’s Silver Certificates went amuck.
It all began in 1963, with silver prices rising, and a coin shortage, legislation signed in June of that year by President John F. Kennedy started the phaseout of precious metals-backed Silver Certificates and their replacement by Federal Reserve Notes. The idea was to free up the government’s silver supply required to honor the Silver Certificates and allow its use to ease the coinage shortage.
Silver Certificates were backed by silver, which meant that anyone possessing them could theoretically redeem them for real silver, in this case, silver dollars. And they did. In less than two months, in early 1964, the Treasury’s already slumping reserves of silver dollars plummeted to around 3 million as citizens took advantage of the silver redemption feature of the soon-to-be replaced Silver Certificates.
“The Treasury has a ‘silver rush’ on its hands right in the heart of the nation’s capital,” reported David Barnett in a story date-lined to Washington, D.C.. “Thousands of windfall-seekers are rushing the coin office on the main floor of the Treasury Building to exchange silver certificates – the common $1 bill – for silver dollars. At one point this week, the line of purchasers stretched for half a block down the corridors of the building.
