I reached out to a friend at the BEP for a possible list of offerings specifically designed for collectors. In many cases it shows serial number ranges, original offering date, original pricing and total sold/offered.
Please clarify--this spreadsheet came from the BEP? I haven't put much (any, really) effort into keeping track of the serials of notes pulled from the circulation printings for collector products, but I've tried to compile all of the serial ranges printed especially for collector products (see here and here and the group lists for the relevant series). A quick glance through your data doesn't turn up any disagreements, but I haven't checked everything carefully. One perennial puzzler concerns the 2001 $1 K..* "Lone Star" notes. I contacted the BEP about them twice, several years apart. The first time, they told me they'd sold 3,200,000 of them. That didn't seem to fit with the observed serials, which is why I tried again; the second time, they told me they could only find documentation for sales of 50,000, but that there might have been more. Your spreadsheet has a weirdly precise figure of 99,983--I'd really like to know where that came from.
The June 18th BEP $2 Rocketship now has a more details. https://catalog.usmint.gov/2-rocketship-B15053.html
Well, if the serial number starts with 2019, they can only get 10,000 notes per block, so they'll need three blocks to produce 24,000 notes. These notes appear to come from the circulation printings, and there were only four districts that used serial numbers as high as 2019xxxx in the 2013 $2's. The fourth was Dallas; not sure why it was left out of this offering. As usual, I don't find this product particularly interesting because the note doesn't come from a block you can't find in circulation. But I'm sure plenty of people will buy it, especially with the increased visibility of being offered on the Mint's website. (Unrelated: has anyone seen any additional blocks for the Lucky Panda lately?)
It may be they are saving that note for some other collectible. Who knows what is going on over there. I am feeling the same way. We haven't seen much new and interesting product out of the BEP lately. I am seriously considering selling off my collection anyway. I could use the money and I am losing interest in this hobby. I wish.
The Apollo 11 set is a $50 with a 1969 serial and an engraving of the Buzz Aldrin photo. https://catalog.usmint.gov/apollo-1...cy-set-B15054.html?cgid=2019-product-schedule
This part is pretty cool, “The engraved print features a limited edition number matching the last four digits of the serial number on the $50 note.”
Agreed. This set is seems inline with what I would like to see more of from the BEP. The note might be pulled from a regular production run, but packaged with a number matching engraving is pretty cool.
Serial numbers I would like to get on the Rocketship note... 20192019 20199102 20191969 20190001 Any of those would be fine.
Next year there's a chance of getting #20202020 ! It's too bad the $50 in the Apollo 11 set isn't a Dallas note, it's NY. That is all.