so i was searching through a few straps of singles when i found a bill with a serial number that appeared to be printed in a position somewhat farther off than you normally see. i know they tend to "float" a bit, up or down, left or right, but i have never seen one in hand where the serial number was actually touching something else. in the case of this dollar, the serial number is printed far enough to the right that the last character of the serial in the top right field is actually touching the leaf print next to the "1". when i have time later, i'll post a scan for a better idea of what's goin on. the bill itself isn't in very good condition, and is a series 1988A with a serial E 46790611 I. i don't know where to look for error info, so i don't know if this misalignment is enough to make it a keeper or not. anyone have some insight they'd like to share? thanks in advance.
i know i normally at least have my blackberry on me, but it's gone missing. and since i'm not at my desk today, i don't have access to a scanner either. i will have one of these two issues resolved by this afternoon though. will post pics then.
indeed it is! i hadn't looked into that possibility yet. does that explain the misalignment of the serial?
No. IMO, the misalignment isn't quite dramatic enough to demand premiums because of the fact that it is an error. You still have a real nice web note though on the other hand. That's just my rookie guess though; lets wait and see what an error proffessional has to say about it.
Call me crazy but it is very noticable and it is an error, although it doesn't go far enough to be considered worth a lot so in the case where it is stuck in the middle, I think it detracts value from the note.
vdb, i think i like your determination very little. sincerely, wacky i didn't figure its value to be much more than a buck anyways, considering the condition. it just looked odd at a glance and i thought i would research it a bit. if it does still command a premium, that's just a little extra bonus for me thanks guys (and/or gals?) for all your opinions!
Web notes are test notes for the $1 denominations during the early to mid '90s. The test project was supposed to make it cheaper and quicker to make $1 FRN's (because the demand fo $1's was so high at the time). Instead of sheets, the $1's were on a constant print roler kind of like how newspaper is printed. The testing failed and the notes never measured up to BEP's quality standards. These notes are usually considered highly collectible and they demand small to very high premiums based on series and condition. There were 3 series used: Series 1988A, 1993, and 1995. Only small chunks of these series were test notes howevr while the rest were regular FRN's. These notes are most easily identified by looking at the back and seeing the plate position at the top of the "ONE" instead of at the bottom right where the pate position # is normallylocated. I personally have very few examples including 1 1988A, 1 1993, and 2 1995's. All of my examples are poorly printed and I can see why the test project failed. -tbud
Hey vdb, long time, no talk. IMO, the web test notes failed for a reason. This reason is because they never met the BEP standards. I think this example shown here is a good example of why the test failed in the first place. I think it is an error, but as I mentioned in my previous post, not dramatic enough to demad any type of premiums one would normally expect from an "error note". -tbud
Your note is indeed a "web note" and has a premium attached to it for that reason. Of course, the note is not in a highly desireable shape, but still worth around 4-5x face. The alignment issue with the serial numbers is considered a third-print shift error, but it is a minor one. These type of errors alone usually range (based on condition of the note) between 2-10x face value. I think coupled with the fact that it is on a web press, and that's not seen too often (at least in my opinion), the bill could be worth about $20. Not bad if you happened to pull it from circulation!
i keep kicking myself, because i've been handling literally thousands of dollars' worth of singles on an almost daily basis for the last two years (not to mention all the higher denominations), and only in the last month have i really jumped into collecting paper money. it would probably sicken me to know the number of rare bills, like this web note, that i've handed out over that time.
Here is some additional information about Web notes — http://www.panix.com/~clay/currency/web-press.html
