The Dallas Fort Worth Goldback: A UK Collector's Guide
Lay a Goldback collection out on a table and one note refuses to line up. Every state series note stands upright, taller as the denomination climbs. The Dallas Fort Worth note lies on its side. It is the only Goldback in the range you read across, and that is the first honest clue that it is a different kind of object from the ones around it.
The quick answer
The Dallas Fort Worth Goldback is a single-denomination regional issue, sponsored by Texas Precious Metals and powered by Goldback, carrying a 2025 mintage date. It holds 1/1000 of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold, exactly the same as any other 1 Goldback. There is no Dallas 5, 10, 25 or 50, and Goldback describes it as a single-issue project that does not replace an eventual full Texas series. Buy it for the object and the story; there is no set to complete.
Five things worth knowing
- It is landscape. Nothing else in the range is, which changes how you sleeve it, file it and frame it.
- It is one note, not a series. That is either the appeal or the disappointment, and it is worth deciding which before you buy.
- The gold content is ordinary. A 1 Goldback is a 1 Goldback wherever it was issued, so any price difference is collector demand rather than metal.
- The notes we stock carry 2025 beside the Texas Precious Metals badge with no alpha mark, so no Alpha premium applies.
- A mintage figure circulates for this note that we have not been able to confirm against Goldback's own published records. We would not buy on the strength of it.
The one that lies sideways
Goldback built its house style on the upright note. Open any denomination guide and you see the same silhouette repeated at different heights: a portrait note, a virtue personified, a state's landscape behind her. The Dallas Fort Worth issue abandons that entirely and turns the format on its side.
The practical consequence arrives the moment you try to store it. Sleeves, album pages and display frames sized for the standard note do not take a landscape one, and if you keep a series in a folio the Dallas note either sits in its own pocket or sits at ninety degrees to everything else. Our guide to storing and protecting Goldbacks covers the sleeve and folio options, but the sizing question is worth settling before the note arrives rather than after.
The design reason is easy to guess and hard to argue with. A skyline is a horizontal subject. Dallas and Fort Worth sit thirty miles apart and the note is trying to hold both of them, plus a cattle drive, in one frame. Stand that composition upright and you lose the thing that makes it work.
What is actually on the note
Most Goldback artwork is allegorical: a figure representing a virtue, placed in a landscape. This one is documentary. It is a picture of two cities and the money that built them, and it rewards a close look more than most notes in the range.
The skyline runs the width of the note, with Reunion Tower's lattice sphere in the centre and the pyramid-topped and lit-edged towers of downtown Dallas either side. Beneath it, a herd of longhorns is driven along the foreground by riders, under an arch reading Fort Worth Stock Yards. That is the whole argument of the note in one frame: new money above, old money below.
On the right, a street sign reads Y'all Street, with a mockingbird, the state bird, perched on top of it. Y'all Street is the nickname that attached itself to the Dallas financial district as investment firms moved south. It is a joke, and putting a joke on a gold note is a decision, but it is the detail people notice first.
The left edge carries a Texas-shaped Texas Precious Metals badge, the mintage date, and the serial number running vertically. Along the bottom, a banner states 1/1000th Troy Ounce 24K Gold and, beneath it, Exchangeable for One Goldback. The border repeats the word ONE the whole way round, as every Goldback border does.
The reverse, and why it matters
Turn the note over and the colour disappears. The reverse is the same image rendered as a raised negative in gold, with no printing on it at all. That is not a decorative choice; it is how a Goldback is made, and it is one of the checks that separates a real note from a photograph of one.
If you are checking one before you buy, the same tests apply here as anywhere in the range: the glisten of real gold rather than a flat yellow, the raised negative on the reverse, engraved detail that stays sharp under magnification, and a legible serial. How to tell if a Goldback is genuine walks through each one, and the security features guide explains what the manufacturing process makes hard to fake.
How much gold is in it
One thousandth of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold, which is roughly 31 milligrams. That is the standard content of a 1 Goldback and it does not vary by state, region or artwork.
Two things follow. First, the Dallas note is interchangeable with any other 1 Goldback as a unit within the voluntary exchange system, whatever a collector thinks of the design. Second, and more usefully, any difference in what people will pay for it is collector demand, not metal. Nobody is paying for extra gold, because there is not any. Goldback premiums explained breaks down what the rest of the price is actually buying.
A regional issue, not a state series
This is the part most listings blur, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before buying.
A state series arrives as a family of denominations with a shared visual language, and the pleasure of it is assembling the set. The Dallas Fort Worth note is a one-off, sponsored by a dealer rather than issued as part of the state programme. Goldback's own position is explicit: it is a single-issue project, and it does not replace the eventual launch of a full Texas series.
So if a Texas series does arrive, this note will not be part of it. It will sit alongside it as a predecessor, in the same way that the Washington D.C. issue sits outside the state programme. Whether that makes it more interesting or less is a matter of taste, but it should not be a surprise.
| Dallas Fort Worth | A full state series | |
|---|---|---|
| Denominations | 1 only | Typically eight, from a quarter upward |
| Format | Landscape | Portrait |
| Subject | Two cities, documented | A virtue, personified |
| Origin | Sponsored regional issue | Goldback's state programme |
| Collecting appeal | One distinctive object | Building and completing a set |
| Gold in a 1 note | 1/1000 troy oz | 1/1000 troy oz |
The mintage question, answered honestly
A figure of 352,000 is widely repeated for this note, including in listings and in reference sites. We have not been able to confirm it against Goldback's own published mintage records, which do not present the Dallas issue in the tabulated way the state series appear. So we are not going to state it as a fact, and we would not want anybody buying on the strength of it.
A number is not a reason
Even where a mintage is published and reliable, it tells you about supply and nothing about demand. Plenty of low-mintage collectables have never appreciated, because scarcity only matters if somebody wants the thing. A note that people enjoy owning holds interest whatever the print run says.
The useful question is not how many were made, but whether you would still be glad to own this one in ten years if it were worth exactly its gold content.
Is it an Alpha?
No, and this is worth being careful about. An Alpha Goldback is identified by a small α symbol beside the mintage date, never beside the serial number. The Dallas Fort Worth notes we stock carry 2025 with no α, and no Alpha premium should be attached to them.
If a seller anywhere describes this note as an Alpha, ask for a clear photograph of the area beside the date before paying anything extra. Alpha Goldbacks explained covers what the marking means and where collectors get it wrong.
Who it suits
It suits somebody who likes the object more than the ladder. If you already hold a state series and want something that breaks the pattern on the page, this is the most obviously different note Goldback has produced. It suits anyone with a Texas connection, because the artwork is specific enough to mean something rather than being a generic nod to a place. And it works unusually well as a gift, because you can explain the whole note in thirty seconds and the person receiving it can see every element you are describing.
It is also a low-commitment way into the format. One note, one denomination, nothing else required. If you are still deciding whether Goldbacks are for you at all, what Goldbacks are and buying Goldbacks in the UK are the two places to start.
Who should not buy it
Anyone measuring gold per pound spent. A Goldback of any kind carries a substantial premium over the metal in it, and a fractional coin or a small bar will always give you more gold for the same money. Goldbacks versus fractional gold sets out where each format wins, and it is honest about which one wins on weight.
Anyone buying to complete a set, because there is no set. Anyone expecting to resell quickly, because a single-issue note has a thinner market than a series with an established following, and selling Goldbacks in the UK explains what the spread actually consists of. And anyone hoping to spend it: Goldbacks are not UK legal tender and no British business is obliged to accept one, which our guide to spending them covers in full.
Four mistakes people make with this note
Looking for the rest of the series
There is no Dallas 5, 10, 25 or 50, and searches for them turn up either mislabelled listings or notes from other issues. One denomination is the whole of it.
Treating it as the Texas series
It is a regional issue linked to two cities, not a statewide programme. A future Texas series would be a separate thing.
Paying an Alpha premium on a note with no α
Check beside the mintage date, not beside the serial. If the mark is not there, the premium is not owed.
Storing it in a portrait sleeve
Forcing a landscape note into a portrait pocket is how corners get bent, and a crease is permanent. Buy the sleeve to fit the note.
Buying one in the UK
Yard Mint holds the 1 Dallas Fort Worth Texas Goldback in UK stock, priced in pounds, with UK delivery. Buying from UK stock means you can see the exact item, the delivery terms and the after-sales position before you commit, rather than working out the landed cost of an overseas listing after it has already shipped.
Whichever route you take, the checks are the same. Ask for photographs of the actual note rather than a stock image, look at the corners and the surface as well as the artwork, and confirm the denomination and the mintage date in writing. If you later want to convert Goldbacks into other notes or into vaulted gold, our Goldback exchange and deposit service publishes its fee in advance, and the sell gold, silver and Goldbacks form handles outright sales.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Dallas Fort Worth Goldback a full Texas series?
No. It is a single-issue regional note sponsored by Texas Precious Metals and powered by Goldback. Goldback describes it as a single-issue project that does not replace the eventual launch of a full Texas series.
Why is the Dallas Goldback landscape when other Goldbacks are portrait?
Because the subject is horizontal. The note carries the Dallas skyline, the Fort Worth Stockyards and a cattle drive in one frame, and that composition does not work upright. It is the only Goldback in the range that reads across rather than up.
How much gold is in a Dallas Fort Worth Goldback?
One thousandth of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold, roughly 31 milligrams. That is the standard content of a 1 Goldback and it is identical to a 1 note from any state series.
Is the Dallas Fort Worth Goldback an Alpha note?
No. An Alpha is identified by a small α symbol beside the mintage date, and the notes we stock carry 2025 with no such mark. If a seller describes one as an Alpha, ask for a clear photograph of the area beside the date before paying a premium.
How many Dallas Fort Worth Goldbacks were made?
A figure of 352,000 circulates widely, but we have not been able to confirm it against Goldback's own published mintage records, so we do not repeat it as fact. Treat an unsourced mintage as unsourced, and do not buy on the strength of it.
Does the Dallas Goldback glow under UV light?
The note carries a 2025 mintage date, which is the series year in which Goldback introduced UV-reactive ink, applied to the reverse of 2025 notes. Check the specific note under a UV torch rather than assuming. A note printed before the 2025 series year does not glow at all, and that is not a sign of a fake.
Is the Dallas Fort Worth Goldback UK legal tender?
No. Goldbacks are not UK legal tender and no British business is obliged to accept one. They can be owned and traded freely, and may change hands in voluntary exchange where both sides agree.
Can I buy the Dallas Fort Worth Goldback in the UK?
Yes. Yard Mint stocks the 1 Dallas Fort Worth Texas Goldback for UK buyers, priced in pounds with UK delivery, subject to availability.
Sources
Goldback: the Dallas Goldback, everything you need to know
Goldback: the Goldback Safe, mintages and artwork
Yard Mint: 1 Dallas Fort Worth Texas Goldback
Buyer note: collector premiums and resale values depend on condition, availability and demand, and are not guaranteed.
This is general information, not personal tax or investment advice. Tax treatment depends on current rules and individual circumstances.
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The note that lies sideways
One denomination, one skyline, and 1/1000 of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold. Held in UK stock, priced in pounds, delivered here.
View the Dallas Fort Worth Goldback