so i found a couple interesting serial numbers (canadian) question is are any of these worth keeping? if so i could see this hobby becoming expensive in a hurry. $5 aoh9997064 (are triples good?) apz4052364 (z means replacement right? 1st 2nd or third position?) apz7559813 apn0037645 ( contains 34567 no repeats) aal1284470 (aa first prints?) $10 btg1124442 (trinary?) btr 3536362 (3 3's spaced evenly) $20 arb2743859 (2345 789) arg5433216 (arrgh 123456) ezz3376836 (two z's) eln4510213 (012345) $100 ejh5763334 (triple3 4567) or are only errors, binaries and radars good?
I don't know anything about notes from canada (and the z being replacement?) but none of those numbers stand out to me.
Nope. Nothing collectible there, Wazz. I'm assuming, without checking that these are all Journey (current) series notes. The older notes had an "X" or an "*" to indicate replacement notes. Now, it's various prefixes and in a lot of cases, it may be a portion of a printing with a particular prefix that establishes itself as a replacement note. Meaning, not the entire prefix run were used a replacements. The same applies to changeover notes. I'll send you a link to the Canadian Paper Money forum that contains a wiki site that lists all the know replacement and changeover notes. I don't collect them myself because most are pulled from new stacks and any from circulation are just not desirable when top grade ones are available. Also, the site will list some error notes to watch for. As for fancy serial numbers, Canadian collectors are more purists in what they consider collectible, with the exception of the rotators or flipper notes (we like them, the Americans don't care too much for them). Radars, ladders, low numbers, solids, rotators and repeaters are the ones to look for. Then, of course there are the errors (my favorites!).
errors are your favorites cause you're so good at finding them. lol. yes that site would be useful thank you. i take it something like apn0037645 would niether be considered a ladder or low number? 34567 would have to be in order, or only 1234... thank you diggit and thank you as well camlov
That's correct. If you look on ebay, you'll see all kinds of numbers being touted as being collectible and they all have fancy names - scramble ladders, mini radars, etc.. Buy 'em if you like 'em but good luck getting your money back in the future.
couldnt find it on that site, but i have a 100 with ejp7899540. is it only ladders starting with 1? or can it start with any? on that subject what about backwards ladders? 654321 lets say.
Ascending and descending ladders are both collectible. eg. 1234567, 2345678, 3456789. 4567890, 0987654, 9876543 etc.. 1234321, 2345432 etc. are ascending and descending radar ladders.
It could as there could always be some buyer out there interested in such an SN and be willing to pay more than face value...but I'd say it would only be very little in GEM. Given the condition I see in that cropped image, it looks pretty darn rough! I personally feel that no matter how good the SN, that condition of the note is more important and works to establish the 'collector' premium with new or modern notes, especially those with massive printages. There are some notes (very few by comparison to all the series out there) which are scarce and so could carry significant premiums even in beat up condition, but they are not easy to find, hence the premium, regardless of the SN.
I highly suggest the OP and rounded and the many others who are regularly posting questions about SNs and value of the notes they are finding in circulation read Heritage Auctions - Reference page. There are many useful reading materials there that are available for free online that can help you answer some of your own questions. Primarily, it will help you get familiar with grading and condition concerns that are important to currency collectors: Currency Grading Tutorial and U.S. Currency Price Guide. I also suggest anyone interested in learning about grades and values, sign up for a free Heritage account. You can track auctions and reference the Auction Archives of past auctions to see what has been sold, prices and the grades those prices realized. Give it a go.
Unless it's an error, grade will play a large part in the value of a collectible bill. Fancy serial numbers (radars, repeaters, ladders etc.) will have to be of the highest grade to get a decent premium unless they are solid numbers or something like #1 etc.. My collection of mismatched numbers and inverted numbers will get a price determined by an agreement between the buyer and seller. Grading plays a lesser roll with these. If I was ever to get them slabbed, it would be for protection more than for the grade. Also, when I buy them (U.S. notes in particular) it makes no difference to me what the grade is or if they are in slabs. It's the error I'm interested in.
