Are $50 Bills Worth More Than Face Value? You Could Earn $250 or More on Even an Average Condition Bank Note
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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If you have a $50 bill burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy all kinds of cool stuff with it — including a massager, a wooden watch, certain coffee makers, a digital photo frame and a set of hand tools. But if it’s the right $50 bill, you might be able to buy a new car or an addition to your house.
Rare $50 notes issued during the 19th century can fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the collectibles market, according to various auction and collector’s sites. But even more modern $50 bills in wider circulation are worth $250 or more in average condition. A lot depends on when the bill was issued and what kinds of features it has.
As a blog on the Old Money Prices website noted, the first year the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank printed $50 bills was in 1862. These are known as “large size legal tender bills” and hold considerable value today.
The modern version of the $50 bill features Ulysses S. Grant on the front. As of 2019, the bill made up a little more than 3% of all notes printed in the United States, according to the Jacqueline Rare Antique website. Fifty-dollar bills have the second-lowest circulation after the $2 bill.
A guide that accompanied the Old Money Prices blog offered values on $50 bills from 1862 to 1923. Certain 1923 bills, called Porthole notes, have values that range from a few hundred dollars in poor condition to thousands of dollars in very good condition. In some instances, bills with rare serial numbers will make the bills worth a lot more than that.
As with many collectibles, the values of $50 bills are all over the map — from face value ($50) to $20,000 and more.
“In rare instances, we’ve paid over $40,000 for unique national bank note $50 bills,” the Old Money Prices blog stated. “It definitely does happen.”
If you have an old $50 bill lying around, pay close attention to its year, color, condition and serial number. For example, a 1928 Series Gold Seal $50 bill can fetch up to $250 even in average condition, according to Old Money Prices.
Here are some other $50 bills worth $100 or more in average condition:
- 1928 Green Seal: $75-$150
- 1950E Green Seal: $75-$125
- 1929 Brown Seal: $75-$100
Older $50 bills carry a lot more value than that, but good luck finding one. A separate guide on the U.S. Currency Auctions (USCA) website listed prices as high as $65,000 for a rare 1875 $50 bill with a red seal. Notes issued before 1900 routinely fetch thousands of dollars in decent condition.
For notes issued after 1920, the highest value for a $50 bill on the USCA table was up to $1,000 for a 1922 Gold Certificate note.
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