Miami Valley Coin Club

U. S. Notes Worth More Than Face Value

 

1. Low Serial Numbers – any bill with a serial number under 100

Since bills are created at twelve different facilities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond VA, St. Louis and San Francisco), there are twelve different bills with each of these numbers on them. Bills with numbers under 100 are highly sought, but collectors are still interested in numbers in the hundreds, and even into the thousands. The lower the number, the more valuable it becomes.

2. High Serial Numbers – beginning with at least 5 to 6 “9’s”

While this isn’t as popular as low number bills, it can actually be more difficult to find them. That’s because not every series of bills will reach the high numbers before they are changed meaning that there are less of them that ever make it into circulation. High number serial numbers such as 99999925 or 99999853 would be coveted by collectors. The higher the number, the more valuable it becomes.

3. Star Notes – the serial number ends with a star

When there is some type of printing error and bills need to be printed again, the way that they show this is by printing a star at the end of the bill’s serial number. Since printing errors don’t happen too often, notes with a star at the end of the serial number aren’t common, and this makes them sought after by collectors. These bills are officially known as “replacement notes,” but most collectors refer to them as “star bills” or “star notes.”

4. Ladders – the serial number ascends or descends in order

An example of an ascending ladder bill would be one with a serial number 01234567 and an example of a descending ladder note would be 98765432.

5. Solids – he numbers are all the same for the serial number

An example of this would be a serial number of 22222222.

6. Repeaters – repeats the numbers in the serial number

A repeater note would be something like 48648648 or 78937893. If you can find a repeating two number bill that is called a super repeater and is highly sought after. An example of a super repeater would be 63636363.

7. Binary and Trinary – a serial number containing only 2 or 3 numbers

 An example of a binary note would be 66766676. The numbers can be in any order within the serial number, and as long as there are only two different numbers it is considered a binary note. Due to the difficulty of finding binary notes, there is also demand from collectors for bills which have three different numbers in any combination. These are referred to as trinary notes.

 True Binary – the serial number contains only ones and zeros

An example of a true binary go would be 00011011.

9. Birthday Notes – notes which have a year written somewhere within the serial number

The year usually has some special significance to the person who wants the bill such as the year they were born, the year that they have an anniversary, or a year that takes some other type of personal event of significance to them. An example of a birthday note would be 65819770 where 1977 might be a significant year to someone. Another would be 00198500 where the year 1985 is significant. If the year comes at the very end of the serial number, or is preceded or surrounded by zeros on both sides, it is usually more desirable and therefore more valuable to collectors.

10. Full Date – these have serial numbers that depict a full date rather than just a year

For example, if you were born on October 22, 1967, a full date note would read 10221967.

11. Radar – the serial number will read the same backwards as it does forward

An example of a radar note would be 03688630 or 96255269. The serial number is the same both ways.

12. Doubles – notes that have the same number pair next to each other within the serial number

The most valuable of the double notes are the ones that have four distinct pairs of numbers. These are called quad doubles. An example of a quad double serial number would be 44775511 or 99003366. While the quad doubles are the most sough after, tri doubles are also valued by collectors such as 27007711, but especially if they are framed by zeros such as 07744990.

13. Double Quads – bills that have two sets of four of the same number

An example of this would be 44449999 or 66661111.

14. Consecutive – two (or more) bills where the serial numbers are consecutive in order

An example of consecutive bills would be two bills in your hand with one having the serial number 97350342 and the other having 97350343. It’s actually quite easy to attain consecutive notes, as many banks have them if you get any bill denomination in a bundle of 100. They become more of interest to collectors when they are consecutive and also possess one or more of the other traits mentioned. For example, consecutive bills that are also binary bills: 45554454 and 45554455.

15. Bookends – the same two or three numbers on each end

An example of this would be 20873420 or 34598345

16. Unusual Numbers – Any string of numbers that have a special meanin

Bank notes whose serial number matches well known numbers. A classic example would be a “pi” bill that had a serial number that corresponds to the first 8 digits of the numerical value of pi: 31415927.