Ask Dr. Don By Don Taylor, Ph.D., CFA • Bankrate.com

Valuing a gold certificate

Dear Dr. Don,
A friend of mine just lost a loved one. During the cleaning of the house she found a $20 gold certificate dated 1974. What value, if any, does it have today? I just saw on my home page that the worth of gold might go up in 2003.
Thank you,
Lynn Lustre

Dear Lynn:
Gold has been heading higher reaching $385 an ounce in early February. In 1980 I sold my high school class ring to Sears when gold reached $800 an ounce. No regrets. It's the only time I ever made money trading precious metals.

I'm not aware of our government issuing any gold certificates in 1974. In 1975 it once again became legal for U.S. citizens to own gold bullion, having been made illegal in 1933, but gold was demonetized in 1971 so the government wouldn't be issuing certificates backed by gold in 1974.

Gold certificates, backed by the metal, were issued through 1934, but the 1934 series wasn't meant for general circulation. It was used by the Federal Reserve for transferring reserves. The earlier series are collected by numismatists and their value would be dependent on the condition of the certificate rather than the price of gold. Gold certificates from the 1800s were called "yellowbacks" because of their distinctive coloring.

I'll pass along any information I receive from Bankrate readers that write in about a Series 1974 gold certificate.