I just came across a nice crisp 1995 $10 San Fran LB block, front plate is a micro 57 and the back has a macro plate number of 40. Since I'm at work with no quick use of a scanner I can't get any photos up, anybody know if this is an uncommon mule or are there lots of them out there? Thanks guys for all the help.
uspaperinfo has it as the first run at L00000001B-70400000B then the second run starts atL70400001-L12800000C.
This is not a mule. Ever since the Fort Worth BEP began production during Series 1988A, they've used extra-large back plate numbers, so that their back plates will be distinguishable from the Washington back plates. So every note ever printed at FW has the oversized back plate number (except for a few errors). The mules with micro/macro plate numbers were printed back in the 1930s and 1940s, when the BEP enlarged the plate numbers to make them more readable. The old "micro" numbers were tiny, much smaller than anything used today. The "macro" size is equivalent to the *smaller* size in use today, on Washington notes. The size used on Fort Worth back plates is much larger than macro.
