One-dollar silver certificate (1896 series)

A goddess in a laurel wreath speaks to a boy and points to the spires and the Capitol beyond the river — a one-dollar silver certificate of the 1896 series, wearing an allegorical painting that fills the whole face. The note states that one silver dollar has been deposited with the Treasury. Paper, and yet the root of its value was tied to a silver coin. 1896 was the year Bryan closed with 'you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold', and McKinley of the gold standard won the election. This paper carries the date of a political season in which gold and silver split class and region and fought.