A local pawn shop had a group of these $1 notes, slightly larger than the later dollar bills. They were priced at $50 each, by look of them they were XF/AU, no obvious folds but wavy, i.e. not crisp and flat as BUs would have to be. Is there a good online guide to these? Thanks.
The best guide to use to see what notes are currently going for is greensheet or online auction hoouse such as ebay or Heritage.
If they are as good as you say then it sounds like a great deal. I wouldn't get all of them. Try finding the absolute best one and offer the guy $35 so in the end you get it for $45 or less.
Teletrade also has listings for various notes. I like their site because it is very user-friendly when doing searches, etc.. Now if they could go back to their 5.5% bidder charge for gold coins, they might actually do a lot of business in that category.
1923 Silver's use three different Friedberg numbers (Fr.237,238, and 239). The Fr.237 has signature combination Speelman/White, the Fr.238 has Woods/White, and the Fr.239 has Woods/Tate. Fr.237 & Fr.238 are the more common of the three, and the Fr.239 is valued two to three times more. Book price is around $75-$90 in XF (Fr.237&Fr.238) and $250-$350 in XF for the Fr.239. Use the advise of the other members and research past auction results, and go from there. Will the pawn shop let you handle them at all to inspect for folds, pinholes, etc ?
Yes. I looked at them earlier, and they all seemed to be fully intact and without holes. But not flat and crisp. The problem is that there are ways to steam and flatten out old notes, etc.. I have a good relationship with the pawn shop owner. So he would let me carefully examine the notes. There were about five and I'm sure the price is negotiable. I see some notes sold for around $50 on Teletrade, last auction: http://www.teletrade.com/coins/cat....ction=3123&group_id=2281&subgroup_id=0#detail Plus, they may need to be certified, which costs money.
Steaming, Pressing, and or ironing U.S. Banknotes kills the intaglio. An easy way to explain intaglio is comparing it to what a notarized stamp leaves on the reverse side of a documents with the addition of ink filling in the valley's. Don't do it... Some time in a very rigid sleeve can help with wavys.
