I resently came upon a $1 bill dated for 2003. Everything about this bill is normal as far as I can see, except for the fact that under the date 2003 there is an "A". Does anyone know what this might mean? Thanks Bill
It means that the new Treasure put her name on the bill so they had to do a new set...so now it is 2003A...if the Treasure would change again it would be 2003B and so on. Speedy
Is this a rare occurance, or is it seen fairly often? I know for me it's the first I've ever seen, and I've been checking the dates for several years now, even before collecting seriously. Bill
Nope---there are millions if not billions of them. One rare bill is the 1950-E bill....the $20 and $50 I think are the rarest.... Speedy
Hi Each time the design on our paper currency notes changes, a new series date appears on the face of the bill. This shows the year that the design change occurred. The series date on currency notes does not change each calendar year as it does on coins, but only when there is a major revision in the basic design. The capital letter following the series year shows that a minor design change was authorized in a particular series. Such a change occurs after the appointment of a new Secretary of the Treasury or Treasurer of the United States. At this time, the signature(s) found on the notes also change. A change in only one signature is a minor revision. Have Fun, Bill
"One rare bill is the 1950-E bill." $1.00 Federal Reserve Notes started in 1963, per my COIN PRICES magazine listing. The most expensive one they list is the 1977* (star note) for $10.00 in CU.
I know of a few people that collect paper money and one of them tries to collect each bill with a different secretary of the Treasury's name on the thing. Then also he tries to get the ones with no letter after the date and they must not have any folds, bends creases, etc. I too like to collect paper money but mostly for spending purposes. From what he said is what others here have said that each time they remake a bill they add a letter after the date. The Mint constantly takes in damaged bills and remakes them and then adds that little letter after the date indicating how many times that bill has been remade. I think this is dumb and just can't figure out why not put the date when made there instead.
I can't figure it out, either. Funny. If you had a, say (this is an example), 1999-B, would that mean that it is 2001 and the "B" counts as two years?
The rules for the changing of the date and series letters are a bit confusing. Especially since they changed the rules in the late 1980's. From 1929 - about 1989 the Series date changed whenever there was either a major change in the design of the note OR BOTH the Secretary of the Treasury and the Treasurer of the US signatures changed. And that date would be the year the change in design or signatures was approved, not the first year that they actually first appeared on the note. The series letter would change whenever EITHER the Sec of the Treasury OR the Treasurer of the US Signature changed. After 1989 the series date changed when either a major change in the design was approved, or the Sec of the Treasury signature changed. The date still reflects the year when the change was approved. That was why the redesigned twenties that came out in 1998 were series 1996. (Which led to much speculation about a recall and hoarding of the new notes for awhile.) The series letter now changes only whenever the Treasurer of the US changes.
If a bill is returned to the Mint due to damage and the US Treasurer is different from the one that was noted on that bill originally, it would be a forgery to reproduce the exact same bill as it was when new. Note the Treasurer's name is a signature, not a printed name. Thererfore, the bill has to be different since there will be a new signature on it for the Treasurer. I'm not sure if any of this is true but that's what was explained to me as such by a coin dealer.
Either you didn't understand what the dealer was telling you (or you are having difficulty relaying it here) or you should not trust the dealer with questions about currency. First notes are not returned to the mint, they are sent back to the Federal Reserve. If the signatures on the note do not match those that were supposed to be on that series, letter combination of course it's fake. Yes they are signatures, but they are facsimilie signatures and they are printed on the notes Or am I not understanding what you were saying?
I think some one miss took the letters found after the serial number with the letter found with the series date. They are not the same thing.
