Where is the fr number on an 1899 black eagle one dollar bill?

Answer 1

The FR number is not contained on any currency. It is a numerical index made to identify each version, or revision, of each type of American currency. For example, if you notice that 2003 $5 bill in your wallet, it has a particular FR number to identify it, which does not reside on the bill itself. Next you look at another $5 bill and it has a date of 2003 A. That bill will have a different FR number to identify it. Now you probably ask what's the A? It's a revision of the 2003 design. When anything changes, even as simple as the new signatures of the new US Treasurer or Secretary, the new signatures constitute a new revision, so even though a 2003 $5 might have been printed as late as 2005, the 2003 A would then have been minted after 2005. So as you can see, currency is tracked differently than coinage that has dates of mint, it instead has dates of design and subsequent revisions, and each revision has an FR number to identify it. The easiest example of how people misread this principle, is with some of the $1 Silver Certificates. In 1935 they designed the 1935 version. Some years later as either the design changed or the signatures changed, they went to 1935 A, 1935 B, etc. Then they did a whole redesign in 1957. So if you have a 1935 G $1 Silver Certificate, it was not printed in 1935 as people often think, it was printed much later like into the 1950's. You could figure it out by looking at the signatures, and researching as to when both those people were in office together, and come up with a range of dates that identify the age of a particular FR-numbered note. Now look at the 1963 Barr Dollar. Barr and the other name were only in office together for about 6 months, so there is only 6 months worth of notes bearing their signatures, which makes the Barr dollar a little more rare than other FR numbers. Now back to the Black Eagle, you'll have to research the signatures like Speelman, Burke, Teehee, White, and others, in order to find out what FR number note you have, and also what the relative rarity of that note is, thus the collector value.