1891 Martha Washington $1 large size Blue Seal Silver Certificate Grades vf, very fine Signatures Tillman/Morgan. Fr. 223. Martha Washington is the first and only woman to grace the primary portrait of U.S. paper currency. Martha Washington's image appears on the $1 Silver Certificate. The $1 Certificates were discontinued in 1957. It was the nation's second-longest issued paper money and as the name suggests was backed by the U.S. Government's silver deposits and could be redeemed at any time for silver from the U.S. Treasury. he design began in the summer of 1886. The Galveston Daily News reported on August 17th, 1886, "It is learned at the Treasury Department that the new Silver Certificates authorized at the last session of Congress will not be ready for issue before November, the $1 certificate contains a vignette of Martha Washington." The portrait featured on the currency is based on Charles François Jalabert's portrait of Martha Washingto