Picked up a guidebook of US Paper Money but am confused by some of the listings since I am a real novice. Many listings have an F number, then the same number with an asterisk, sometimes with no quantity produced but a much higher price. An example is $5 F-1655 and then F-1655*. What's the difference in the asterisk and non-asterisk? Thanks.
The F number is just a reference number for the note and an asterisk means a note of the same type but from a replacement star note run. Hope this helps.
I figured the F was a reference number of some kind but I was curious what the asterisk meant. That helps me figure out what the heck it is. Thanks.
The "F" number is a Friedberg number. The standard reference number for US currency not including confederate, or obsolete currency. The asterisk represents a star or replacement note as stated above.
If you are interested in all currency. You need to get some books. 1. "United States Paper Money Grading Standard" by Herbert J. Kwart. It was printed in 1984, but gives much information on all aspects of grading currency of all types, but mainly US. 2. "Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money from 1928- to date", by John Schwartz and Scott Lindquist. 3. For all types of US currency "A Guide Book of United States Paper Money" a Complete Source for History, Grading, and Values, by Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg. If you get the "Green Sheet" for currency [the wholesale values] they do not have the small size star notes listed. They do have the replacement notes for Military Pay Currency series {MPC} Star notes are the replacement notes for all of the regular series and notes beyond the counter range. The F number is the number given to each series of notes by Friedberg group. The other numbers are from [KL#] Krause Publishing company in its books. 4.The catalogs are an essential tool of collecting, as it provides information about articles that many times cannot be extracted from them directly, such as the amount of banknotes printed and their retail or current values. Does this help or confuse you?
Yes, it all helps. Not sure how much I am going to get into currency. Depends on what I have to spend. I am working on Morgan and Peace dollars so that is more of a priority right now. I do like the $2 bills, though, but there are a lot of other nice bills just looking at the pictures. I also have some nice mint MPCs that I want to eventually get graded...ones I kept from my tour in Nam that I didn't realize had any real value until I saw another thread in here.
keemao, the nam mpcs have nice values, Im about to get a $20 series 681 graded, according to a poster in my other thread theres not too many 681s out there, but there are 3 mpc series from nam, 681 is the middle series
I collect too much things. I also collect MPC, only need about 19 more to complete the sets. I do not have any of the replacements. I also collect fractionals. I collect mostly the small US currency and have a lot of Star notes in all series. I started collecting the small currency in 1993 and have many "Web Notes". When I was in the service 1964-1970 I was in a reserve unit and we did not go to Vietnam. I did not start collecting MPC till a lot later.
Searcher, are the fractionals worth anything? I have a ton care to help me go through them privately?
Some are and some are not. They can range from a few dollars to as much as $1000.00. You need to get a book that gives you more details of what to look for. It's the same in what ever you collect. I have been able to acquire most from up North at very reasonable prices. Down here in the South they are more expensive. Get a US Currency book and look them up, or just surf on the net here. ebay has many for sale. Get the best ones you can afford for the best condition. The fractionals came into existence because of the Civil War. The hard coins, disappeared from circulation and the north needed some way to have small values for commerce. They first used "Postage Stamps" encased. Next they went to Fractionals currency. They were in values of 3cents to 50 cents. They were made from different types of paper stocks, and some were hand signed, and most were not. NOW THAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Let me know if this helps you. Have a great day.
