Just a curious question here, but are notes from the 1980's still common circ. finds? Within the last few months, I have found several notes from series 1981A, 1985, and 1988A, mainly $1's. Of these 3 series, the series 1985's, seem to pop up the most. I've kept the nicer notes I've found, and spent the rest. I'm interested to know if you folks out there, especially those who go through large amounts of cash, still find 1980's notes on a regular basis. Cheers!
I still find some, but I wouldn't consider it a "regular basis" . They are a very small percentage compared to newer dates. Most, if not all of them, are not in collectible condition.
Out of 25,070 singles searched so far this year, I have found the following 1980s notes: 1981-5 (L-D, L-F, L-Gx3) 1981A-3 (A-B, B-E, L-E) 1985-8 (E-B, F-J, J-C, J-D, K-C, L-E, L-L, L-S) 1988-4 (B-B, D-B, G-A, G-D) 1988A-30 (A-B, A-G, B-N, B-U, C-A ((Web)), D-D, E-E, F-B, F-D, F-W, G-A, G-L, G-Nx2, H-C, H-G, I-Bx2, I-I, J-C, K-B, L-B, L-C, L-D, L-E, L-Gx2, L-R, L-W, L-X) 1988A by far outweighs what I've found for the other 1980s years but that is to be expected as they had such higher printings than the other series. Oh and just last week I got a nice 1981A B-C twenty from the cash dispenser at a casino.
I've probably searched nearly that amount if not just a little less and I have came accross my fair share of '80s $1's. If you ask me, the 1988A notes are more common than the 1993 notes-by far. I have came accross 1 '81, 1 '81A, 4 or 5 '85s, and probably about 15 '88As. So far I've kept them all. I'm on the lookout for a 1988, but have yet to see one. I'm trying to make a $100 stack of $1's from all $1's I find through my strap searches Series 1993 and earlier.. I haven't found any Webb notes but I do check all '88A-'95 bills for them.
I totally agree about the 1993s. I've gotten lucky on them this year, though. This is what I've found for 1993s this year: 1993-18 (A-A, B-F, C-A, B-D, D-A, E-Ax2, F-B, F-D, G-D, K-A, L-C, L-F, L-G, L-Hx3, L-I). Interestingly, I bought 500 singles from a casino last week and found 3 '93s mixed in them and I've found 4 Webs over the last two years. Keep a look out for FW 295s as well, I've found 2 of them since last year. Those 1988s are tough but I've found two of them in just the last two weeks.
Thanks for the responses thus far, guys. I appreciate hearing everybody's experiences finding these notes, out in the wild. Of all the 1980's notes I have found, so far (about 20, $1's through $20's) I've only kept 3, and they are all $1's. Two Series 1985's, and one series 1988A. The rest were heavily circulated/soiled, and I just didn't want to hang onto them. I was under the impression that these older notes had dried up in circ, until this recent resurgence of them, so it gives me hope that I'll find some neat things, out there. I suppose this could be due to the bad economy, though, which is unfortunate for the folks who have to spend them. As for web notes, I've only found one, and it's a series 1995 from the Atlanta F-D block. It is one of the more common examples, but it is one of my favorite notes, that are in my collection.
That is quite lucky- for the '93s & webs. I haven't had much luck. I can see you are on the verge of getting a nice district set going-nice job! I never thought to use a casino to get my $1's. Too bad there aren't any near by. I bet there are a lot of older $1's in them casinos though because the money probably just circulates through the casino, because who cashes out in $1's? Haha, I probably would . Oh and are the 295's even worth much? From what I've heard, they are somewhat common and do not demand too high of premiums. I'm sure they are still interesting though and quite a neat error. In fact, I think lately I haven't been checking the bills I throw in my 100 stack. Now that you mention it, I'm going to go look through my $1's now to see if I have any.
Okay-nothing. But, while I do have these guys pulled out, I might as well just list all my older $1 FRN findings as you all have: The blocks are arranged accoring to condition of bill: 1 1963A: LD 2 1974: LA & LE 1 1977A: KD 1 1981: LD 3 1985: LP, HC, & LM 12 1988A: LX, JD, IJ, GS, GV, GV, FR, HF, HC, ED, BN, & AA. 8 1993: LG, LJ, LH, LI, LI, HA, GF, & BG. I can't possibly imagine why I said last night that I had a 1981A. Well anyways, I don't. I also do have more '93s that I had at first thought, but I found them more spread out I guess vs. the 1988A. Another thing to factor in: Ever since the first time I saw a 1993, I set aside every single one that I saw after, because I didn't come accross them much so I assumed they were more on the collecting side. At that time though, I didn't keep any '88As because they seemed very common. So, I have been collecting 1993s longer than 1988A's, which is why I though that I had WAY more '88As than '93s. So I have came accross plnety more 1988As, but I spent them all. Its just now (last 2 weeks) when I want to get an entire 100 pack of older ones that I am saving them. I've been holding onto the '93s for about 2 years vs. 2 weeks of grabbing 1988A, literally.
I just started doing it a week or so ago. If you put in a hundred dollar bill you'll get five twenty's, put in a twenty and get four fives. Finally, put in a five and you'll get five singles. Tonight I brought five hundreds and changed them into twenty's and went through them. Then I changed all of the twenty's into fives so I brought home a full strap's worth of fives. I found a $20 1993 E-A out of those twenty-five twenty's. That's two old style twenty's out of seventy-five twenty's searched at this casino but interestingly, no black and whites from 1996-2001. I didn't see the series date but a guy next to me was given an old twenty tonight as well. I can go through multiple straps of twenty's from the bank and not find an old twenty and here with these cash dispensers they seem to show up with regularity. From my experience, singles are circulated in and out of casinos constantly. People cash out their tickets and go home. What I've noticed about buying singles from the casino is that they are in pretty nice shape and have been heavily filtered. They're flat and in high condition without creases and I suspect the casino probably uses such nice bills to keep the cash dispensers running smoothly. There are some tough combinations with the 1995 FW 295s that are sought after by collectors and considering I've only ever found 3 of them I would surmise they are exceptionally rare to find in circulation these days. Here's a census that you can look at to get a feel for what's out there and which are more common than others: http://snorkack.nfshost.com/fw295/census.html
I got a 1950 $20 in my change last week. Was in decent shape too, but definitely was circulated. Thought about just spending it but decided to put it in my local coin club auction last night with a reserve price of $20 Ended up selling for $21, hahaha.
My most recent $20 finds have been a 1990 Cleveland star note (3.2m note run) and a 1993 Boston note. I'm not good at assigning grades, but if I had to guess, I would say they are probably in the XF range. My guess is that they were probably in somebody's dresser drawer for a while, because they look nicer than I would expect, for notes their age. I got them out of the ATM a few weeks ago, when getting cash. I've come across a few more small portrait $20's in month's past, including 1 1995, but they were all in pretty poor shape, so I re-deposited/spent them.
You'd actually be surprised on how how scarce those 1995 $20's actually are. I get all my notes from my tellers. So far, they have only given me one 1995 out of waaaaayyy more '93s, '90s, and '88s. I also got 1 or 2 '85s from them as well. No stars. Idk how you people do it. Here I have an entire bank of tellers searching for me setting aside all old cash and stars (they get bored so they constantly look, or so they told me) and the oldest star note I got from them was a 1996 $20 and a 1996 $50. How often ago did you get that 1990 $20 *? A good week or two ago, I got a brand new 1990 $20 from my teller.
Yep, I'm aware of how scarce the '95's are, but the one I found was just in awful shape. I wish I had snapped a photo, because it was just so awful. I was actually surprised it hadn't been shredded long ago. Haha. Maybe by now, it has been, as this was about 3 or 4 months ago, that I found it. I got my 1990 Cleveland star, around the end of July, so I've had it a couple of months, and my 1993 Boston note came my way about 2 weeks ago. Before the Cleveland star, I found a few '80's series notes, and another 1990 series NY note, bu they were all in sad shape, as well, so I let them go.
Here's all the older-style $20's I've come accross: 1950A: LD 1977: LA 1981: KA (random uncirculated note I got in change for a refund at Wal-Mart about a year ago, sometimes I wonder if its a counterfeit that the major corporations will buy and spread out through their stores, because I have heard such stories.) 1981A: LC. 1985: AE, ED, & DC. 1988A: FA (really nice AU), BJ, FB, & AC. 1990: BK (uncirculated find that my bank teller saved for me), IA, & GF. 1993: FA & EC. 1995: FC (my most recent find, and my first '95 $20 find). The picture below is by far the worst looking one of those notes above, so that gives you and idea of what my standards go for keeping older style notes, I was torn between holding onto it and I decided I would use it as emergency cash as needed:
That note is MUCH nicer than the '95 series, that I was talking about. That note was pretty nasty. I got it in change for gas, so maybe it was buried in somebody's back yard for a while, or something, because there was no way a bank wouldn't have put it in the "to be destroyed" pile, if they got a hold if it. If it were in the condition of your note above, I gladly would have kept it.
I didn't realize how scarce the '95's were, before all the talk of them recently. I'll be keeping an eye out for them, as well.
I honestly believe, as Steve said, that they printed them and basically shredded them. Pretty darn crazy if you ask me... Such a waste! Well, I suppose for anybody that owns a 1995 $20 its a good deal hehe:devil:.
