Received this as a toll payment a few days ago. Traded out a dollar for it because it looked to be in very good condition for a 1977A - No rips or tears, just folds and creases. It's a 1977A $1 (K-G) FRN with front plate of #2098 and a back plate of #6. Researching the note, I referenced the 9th edition of the "Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money 1928 to Date" and read that these are 'mules', in a sense, as the front plate (higher number) is from the 1977A series and the back plate (lower number) is from the 1981 Series. Two printing plates that do not belong together. Anyway, here are the scanned images of front and back. Would appreciate any comments.
This is a very interesting note. I've never heard of plates being used on notes that were made for a new series but was used on an older series that was still in production. What you have is some kind of "reverse mule" or something along those lines. Also, by checking the printing information, the 1977A K-G block only had 3.8 million notes printed which makes it fairly rare for a non-star block. You have a keeper for sure.
That's normal. Mules swing both ways. In 1938 the BEP started printing the first small size mules. The idea was to increase the plate numbers, which advanced the series. The back plates went into printing before the face plates did. The first mules of all denominations had an older front plate (micro) and a newer back plate (macro). Mules of later series had the opposite combination: newer front plate (macro) and older back plate (micro). To the OP: I love the note. Modern mules are hard to spot without a reference of some kind. I could only find one other mule of this series from auction records. It sold on eBay in 2009 for $34.95. It's listed as 63 grade (no TPG), S/N K00974747G, but no mention of plate numbers.
