OK, this is probably a stupid question, but I don't collect US currency (I do have a pretty good collection of Republic of Texas currency, but that's another story). Anyway, last week I received a $10 that was printed incorrectly - the face of the note is printed so high that there is no border at the top. Of course, there's a big border on the bottom. I guess it might be counterfeit, but it does have the microprint running up and down inside the bill. Is this a common occurrence? Is the bill worth more than face value? Thanks, steve
i've noticed margin misalignments don't really carry premiums with u.s. currency as long as the it doesn't cut into the design. if anything, they take away from values. with uncirculated notes, only the perfectly-centered carry the "gem" designation, and currency dealers charge plenty more. for example, a star note a tad low ($185): http://www.donckelly.com/sm_type/f1534star2.html same note, better margins ($300): http://www.donckelly.com/sm_type/f1534stargem.html on a side note, do you keep an image gallery of your texas notes?
can you post pictures? without them, its tough for us to visualize exactly what you tell us. We might be able to see something you missed, or somethign you told us that we misunderstood.
Thanks, that does make sense - no, I've never scanned my Texas money collection - guess I oughta do that - I have most of the banknotes that were issued, as well as some bonds, etc. I'm a Texas history buff, and just wanted to be able to touch something that Lamar (or maybe even Sam H) had held in his hands. The notes are very fragile, though (very thin) but extreemly beautiful, imo - I bought them about 35 yrs ago when a couple of estates put some of them on the market, so I was able to get them pretty cheap - I probably couldn't afford to buy them today - Thanks for the help! steve
I'm not sure how to post images on this board, so I uploaded them to my website www.stevesideas.com/10front.jpg and www.stevesideas.com/10back.jpg steve
heheh...yeah they're fragile. i only have a few, but i nearly had a heart attack after scanning one of my notes. the cut cancel caught onto the plastic sleeve and i just barely avoided tearing into the note! you lucked out getting yours cheap, i'm still looking for higher-grade houston $1, $2, and $3 issues that won't cost me an arm and a leg!
it's definitely miscut, but the biggest problem with those notes is convincing a collector to pay extra for it when anybody with uncut sheets can produce the same effect.
there is this webiste that i go to for any, and for the most part all, information concerning currency. http://www.uspapermoney.info/serials/ On that site, there is a page that tells you what serials were used for circulated currency, and which were used for Uncut sheets. ... would be a good place to check when uncertain of what the intended use of the bill was ..
i just had a second to look... ------------------A Apr 02-----CA 000 00001 A ------------CA 128 00000 B May 02-----CA 128 00001 B -------------CA 512 00000 B [edited to look better] since the serial in your posted picture falls after the last reportedly printed serial for the A district, i would have to agree with SanMiguel that it was probably an uncut sheet made to look off center.
Apr 03 CA 512 00001 B CA 704 00000 B If you go farther down the list you find these numbers. jsm555's note would fall into this category.
The note is not miscut, it has a slight printing error. US Notes are printed over multiple days. The backs are printed the first day and the front the next. After they are printed the stacked sheets are cut. Since the cutters are fixed in position and the sheet positioners would also have a fixed position. So examination of the note will tell us if it is a cutting error or a printing error, an if it is a printing error which side was in error. On the note in question we see that the front and back are not offset in the same direction. This indicates that it is not a cutting error because if the note was printed properly but miss-cut it would have had no top border on both sides. Since the back printing is pretty well centered we know that the back printing was proper and the front printing was off-set toward the top slightly. Usually an error of his type does no bring much if any premium unless the offset is far enough that part of the next note on the sheet also appears.
