What Happened(s) To The Super-Low Serial Numbers (<100) ?

Something I've been wondering about as I chase "low" serial numbers that are <1,000....what happened to all the super-low SN's from past decades going back to the days of the Large and Small Currency years almost 100 years ago ?

People collected bills like coins back then...I would think that the equivalent of a 1st printing (a super-low SN) would have been something that everyone preserved and sought rather than let it go into circulation ? Maybe that happens NOW given that even a modern bill that has a SN < 10 could be worth 100-500x face value.

But what about all the different Fed District printings of Gold Certificates, Silver Certificates, Hawaii Notes, North Africa, etc., from 75-100 years ago ? Did nobody think they were going to be worth that much (like baseball cards) and there wasn't a concerted effort to hoard and preserve them ? Do we assume they were circulated and eventually in condition that wasn't worth much $$$ or just retired out of circulation ?

Imagine for your favorite type of bill....seeing SN's 00000001, 00000002, 00000003, etc....all showing up in PMG 65 or higher condition (even EF45 or higher would still be nice). Someone must know what happened to all the super-low SN's for all the printings going back to the 1920's-1950's.

 

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I still think of the story about the grandmother who went to the San Francisco FRB and got the first $2 Bicentennial notes when they were issued, serial numbers 00000001 & 00000002. She put them both in an envelope for her grandson who received them upon her death several years ago.

They sold at auction for $27K and $9K, respectively, IIRC.

Chris

 

Many low serial numbered notes were kept and occasionally they come up at auction or through dealers. Many are in tightly held collections and others are in museums. Some can be viewed here, at the ANA/Bebee Collection website http://ana-museum.org/

 

I visit the local casino a few times a week and have never found an interesting SN on any of the many $100 bills I handle. I suspect a few casino workers are cherry picking them.

 

Well, if they didn't put those aside as late as 1976 and a Special $2 bill printing, I am sure they didn't do so with stuff from the 1920's - 1950's.

That's why if you can get 3 factors -- Rare Bill, High Quality, and Low Serial Number -- it can really differentiate your bill (and also drive up the price ! ).

Question is, what combination to go for ? I saw a Hawaii note that was like PMG 66 or 67 but SN was like 00000950 or so.....a few days later, saw one that was PMG 40 but with SN 00000012.

Single-digit (or even double-digit) SN's + Gem or Superb Gem Quality = Apparently Impossible. Even if out there, probably prohibitively expensive.

 

Only the CC block on Hawaii notes started at 00000001. Although they may not look as sexy as a number 1 note you may be able to find "low numbers" for the other blocks because they will not be obvious.

 

Just ask the people that deliver the money, like armored car companies,
Though the many is stacked, i am sure they find a way to get in them
I have a cousin in New York that,s in the banking industry and he confirms
The same thing, so by the time it gets to you the good ones are long
Gone

 

Maybe today, but definitely not 30-100 years ago.

Even today, how many times do you see the the Serial Numbers < 10 ALL for sale ? Very rare.

 

I think it's the other way around. Farther back in the past, low serial numbers didn't sell for large premiums above face value--so if a Treasury official wanted one as a novelty, all he had to do was ask. Once the low numbers started to be *valuable*, it looked a lot more inappropriate to be giving them out as perks to officeholders.

I remember somebody dug up from the archives an exchange of letters in which Joseph Barr (Treasury secretary in 1968) asked for some low-number notes with his signature, and the reply was basically that we don't do that any more.