Was recently checking serial numbers on a couple $100 dollar bills (from my rainy day/emergency stash) and the interesting oddity below happened to catch my attention. Searched the internet and a few online forums but couldn't find any information on how common (or rare) something like this might be...(?)...any feedback would be greatly appreciated...
Can you provide a larger and clearer picture of the mystery seal? Does the wording look normal or in reverse?
My guess is the OP is referencing the Treasury seal being overprinted a millimeter lower than being perfectly centered. It’s well within BEP tolerances, and personally I’ve seen worse.
Thanks @paddyman98 ... I didn’t look at the photo of the back of the note since the OP mentioned the treasury seal which traditionally is on the front.
Forgive the lack of specifics in my post... new to the forums and this is my first error find (ever) in 40+yrs. From what I was able to research so far, the error looks like a front-to-back "ink bleed" of the Treasury Seal(?) Below is (what I hope to be) a more clear/up close photo of the oddity... if the photo quality is still lacking, I'm open to any/all suggestions on how to take a clearer photo of the bleed. Truly appreciate all the feedback...!...
They really don't bleed through. This is a paper money urban myth. If the ink is on there it's because of a transfer, not because of a bleed through, which the green seal would be on the other side, or, because of wet notes stacked together. I don't think this is real, because I was told in the last thread that the ink transfers are always reversed. So that green seal on the reverse should be opposite the black seal. This one is on the same side as the green seal.
A wet ink transfer from the inking bed would give a reverse image and the green seal would be on the opposite side of this reverse. I can't tell but the green seal doesn't seem to be inverted on the reverse.
That's not what "reversed" means. The green seal should be directly behind the green seal on the front, just in mirror-image. It's blurred enough that I can't tell whether the lettering is mirrored, but the key in the lower part of the shield does appear to be pointing the opposite direction. Looks like it could be a genuine offset transfer of the Treasury seal. Too bad it's on a $100, though. The face value is greater than the value of the error, so it might be tough to find a collector willing to pay a significant premium for it.
Was thinking same, in so much it would figure I’d find such a significant error (my 1st) and it would be on the largest US bill in circulation :^)
OK that makes sense. About the reverse image being in the same location. Would the black seal also be on the reverse, or not always? Yes the loop of the key is on the other side. (Left side on the reverse, right side on the obverse.)
Appears to be an offset error. Whenever a printing plate or some printing head presses against paper, there has to be some sort of backing to the paper so that the printing plate or head can press hard against the paper. If the paper is missing, the ink on the printing plate or head goes onto the backing plate. When the subsequent paper rests on that backing plate, the pressure on the frint of the paper will cause the back of the paper to pick up much of the ink from the backing plate. After a few sheets of paper have done this most of the ink will have been picked up. This looks like the desirable first impression of the offset. Way kewl!
Here’s one last photo of the seal taken from the “reverse” with a light shining up from the “front” of the bill... if this is a transfer (vs bleed), I’m in awe that a “transfer” could be this perfectly aligned, with zero offset and absolutely no blurring of the seal...