War Bonds

[lettow]

KEF:

 

You have a great group of bonds and related ephemera. The Defense Savings Bond you show is the earlier type of Defense Savings Bond that was perforated at the top. Only about 10 of this type have been reported since the variety was discovered in 2008.

[355fg]

I love seeing war bond, war finance, war production, rationing items. For the most part I think it's a really interesting area to collect that can be very affordable, too. Let's see some more items.

 

Keith

[strawberry 9]

$100 a plate...quite a bit of money in those days.

 

[Trooper B.A.R]

Great stuff. I also appreciate the Home Front paper items, and propaganda leaflets. MT

[Trooper B.A.R]

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

B-17 chrome & marble ashtray

 

DSC00580.JPG

I had one about a decade ago, sorry to say I sold it. Been looking for one since again. Looks good. MT

[jgawne]

My understanding, when I looked into it, was that there was a cut off date for cashing them in, and was told they now have no value other than collectibles. Ask two govt employees, get three different answers.

[jgawne]

Just for kicks I went and looked into it. According to a number of sources they did cut off the interest at some point- so that a series E is worth about 3.6 times face value, But still can be turned in. The treasury has a handy dandy bond value calculator on line-

 

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_savingsbondcalc.htm

[lettow]

Series E bonds, including Defense Savings Bonds and War Savings Bonds, are still redeemable by the registered owner or their heirs. It is sometimes difficult for heirs to cash them in, however.

 

The interest did stop accruing on the bonds.

 

There is a small, but very dedicated and knowledgeable, group of collectors of US Defense and War Savings bonds. A catalog detailing the history, production and varieties of WWII era US bonds (including the extremely scarce Series F and Series G bonds) was published by BNR Press in 2011.

 

Here is an example of one of the lesser known varieties. It is a $100 small size Series E with a tight serial number. Only two $100.00 bonds of this type are known. The tight serial number style was used on Defense and large size War Savings Bonds. Shortly after transitioning to small size bonds in August 1943, the numbering wheels were changed so that serial numbers on small sized bonds have a different font face and there are gaps in the numbers. If you look at the bonds pictured elsewhere in this post you will see the different numbering styles. Based on observed serial numbers less than 2,000,000 $100.00 small sized bonds were produced with tight serial numbers. A single $50.00 is known and 10-12 $25.00 bonds with tight numbers have been observed.

 

[lettow]

Series G bonds were interest paying bonds. Unlike Series E and Series F bonds which were sold at a discount and matured to the face value over a number of years (10 years for Series E, 12 years for Series F), Series G bonds were sold at their face value and the registered owner received an interest check every six months from Treasury. Series G (as well as Series F) could be purchased by individuals and corporations. Ownership of Series E was limited to individuals. The amount a person could purchase in a single year for Series F and Series G was considerably higher than the $5,000.00 limitation for Series E.

 

 

The payees name and address were blocked out on this one for security reasons.

[jgawne]

That's interesting. I had specifically looked into redeeming some from a friend's mother and had been told there had been a cut off date after which they could not longer be redeemed. I suppose this saved the govt employee some work.

 

But what I find rather unique is that if you are the right person, they are worth actual money- if not they only have collectible value. I suppose that is to keep people from stealing them and cashing them in.

 

Having had to deal with proving my connection through my mother' estate to unclaimed money from her father- I can see how trying to redeem them could not even be worth it.

[lettow]

But what I find rather unique is that if you are the right person, they are worth actual money- if not they only have collectible value. I suppose that is to keep people from stealing them and cashing them in.

 

 

 

There were two main reasons US savings bonds were issued as registered securities. First was to preserve value. The Liberty Loans of WWI were mostly sold as bearer bonds. As such, their market value was determined like any other bearer bond and moved up and down with interest rates (more accurately, value went down went interest rates went up and vice versa). The mom and pop investor who bought Liberty Bonds were surprised to find that the $100.00 bond they bought could be worth less than $100.00.

 

The second reason they were registered securities instead of bearer instruments was to prevent them from being used as currency. One of the purposes of the bonds was to soak up the excess money in the wartime economy. Almost 100% employment and high wages from the war effort coupled with price controls and rationing left a significant amount of idle cash. Keeping it out of the economy by investing in war bonds was an anti-inflation effort.

[338thRCT]

Carrying on with the childrens aspect of War Savings Stamps. Here's another birthday card type and a few images from inside.

[338thRCT]

another page

[338thRCT]

another with Hermann Goering

[338thRCT]

and one more...

[Mr.Jerry]

Really great stuff guys! Keep it coming!

 

I have a section in my book I am working on the flags that were awarded and promoted the various Bond Drives. But the Dept of the Treasury was less than helpful when I inquired to try and get some data. f any one has an "in" there I would live to hear about it.

[billl]

A comment on savings stamps (not bonds.) The stamps were collected (purchased) until enough were pasted into the booklet to exchange for a BOND. If you have stamps in a booklet, I checked with the government, and you can still turn them in for cash value (I think face value, no interest), even if your name is not on the booklet. (Of course, they are worth more as a collector item.)

 

If someone can clarify or correct, please do so.

 

I'll later post some badges marked "Defense Agent" that a kid could collect (with suspended bars) for selling stamps. I collect that kind of stuff, and may have some duplicates. Contact me if you are interested.