I just got back two 1901 Fr 121 Bison notes from TPG one graded EF 45 and one graded EF 40 "Mule" does anyone know if the mule makes it more valuable or rare there is not a lot of info on this
I do not have long experience with paper money (or coinage for that matter) but according to the Freidberg book, there is no difference in the fr-121 mule or non mule. Which seems unusual because there is a price difference on the 122 and the 122 * mule and non mules, with the mules commanding a premium over the non-mules.
Sometimes depending on the note, mules can be worth more. That isn't the case in all mule vs. non-mule varieties as some are more readily available in ChCu condition. I would think that your bison note may be worth the same as a non-mule since the note itself is expensive in that grade.
How can mules be identified for all different series? How does one look at a mule and know it is a mule? I know how to identify 1993 $1 mules, because I found a list, but how can I tell on other series and denominations?
On the Bisons there is a plate number just left of the lower right 10 on reverse i guess all notes would have this number somewhere on mine the number on the back of the Bison mule note is 333 and on the non mule is 340 i guess you would have to have a list of all plate numbers that that go with the friedberg number for the note.
Now that I think about it, for large size notes there may be a book out there that gives the plate numbers for each series, but I have not heard of it. For small size notes plate numbers are given in Schwartz-Lindquist which makes it easy to find out what is or is not a mule. As stated above, sometimes the mule is more valuable, but sometimes the non-mule is more valuable; it depends on the particular note.
