BEP announces new products

Well, usually they do. The Texas $2 set hasn't sold out yet, and that's from 2016, but that's the exception. Remember when one of the AFF sets (2013, I think) sold out in 24 hours? That's also an exception - the other way. They usually seem to take a few months to sell out.

The BEP has probably gone back to its usual habit of announcing a new product a week or two before it goes on sale, so maybe we'll still see a set this year. I was sure the Lucky Panda was going to be a set - WRONG!

You never know, but yeah, there are some cool issues they could offer. I guess they're kind of "playing it safe" or they just don't have the interest in the collector market that they seemed to in the past because the creative people have since left the BEP.

I hope not...I guess I'm in for the Lucky Panda in the meantime.

 

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Unfortunalty, it certainly looks like you are right.

I'm in for the Lucky Panda, also.

I guess we'll have to wait to see if there creative spark is re-lit over at the BEP.

 

Well, these go on sale tomorrow. And...

...I note that Coin World has an article with a larger version of the picture, and the note appears to be H..H block, and Series 2003A ?!

 

Well, I ordered one. Probably get at least one more to see if there are other blocks

 

Ordered one also.

 

Just bought one too - and a 5-subject $1 sheet while I was at it.

 

bought 4 here, I just love the little Pandas.

BTM - C

 

Ordered one myself as well, though as usual it was mid-afternoon before I got the order in. So if a large number were sold today, mine probably won't be shipped as quickly as y'all's....

When they start arriving, please do post your serial numbers and plate positions, so that we can try to work out the print run(s) involved. No idea what to expect, really--the maximum sales number of 106,888 would require at least two blocks to be printed, but beyond that pretty much anything's possible.

 

I was viewing a thread on a different forum, and @rickmp was asking about the BEP 8.8.8. Lucky Money Set. Those were the good old days. Limited to 8,888 sets with three different denominations and matching serial numbers. It sold out. I never could figure out why it was called the 8.8.8. set when all the sets I ever saw started with 8888.

 

Because it was issued on August 8, 2008.

 

You know, I never even thought about the issue date

 

Good to know, thanks @Numbers .

By the way, The opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 pm local time.

 

Cool set, I'm sorry I wasn't into paper money collecting back then, missed some good stuff - at issue price, anyway.

 

Lucky Panda....in defense of the $12.88 price tag, it has $7.60 postage on the cardboard mailer. (No charge for shipping)

The BEP folder on this is stunning.

 

Looks great! I hope mine shows up soon

I think that is the H888.....C block is the same as the 2008 Double Lucky Money set. Interesting

 

Ditto.

Yes. So it looks like the BEP is using up leftover 888xxxxx serials from past special printings for at least some of the Lucky Panda notes. This could potentially annoy some collectors who bought these older products on the secondary market. For example, these 2003A H..C $2's were the scarcest of the special printings with only 4,888 notes released, but it doesn't look like they'll be that scarce any more.

Interestingly enough, based on an analysis of plate positions, it appears that the H..C printing was a run of 500 sheets, which produced 16,000 notes, serials 88880001-88896000. Since the Lucky Panda notes only have to have *three* leading eights, we may see some of the H8889xxxxC serials being issued in these folders!

I'm pretty sure that the BEP doesn't have enough leftover 888xxxxx $2's of assorted blocks and dates to fill the entire limit of 106,888 Lucky Pandas, though. Even assuming zero spoilage, the most they could have on hand is 11,112 of these 2003A H..C notes, 7,112 of the 2003A H..E notes printed for the 8.8.8 sets (this printing also used the 88880001-88896000 serial range but had 8,888 sets sold), and 24,896 total notes from the 2009 K..B through K..R blocks that were used for the Lucky Money sheets (each of the sixteen blocks used serial range 88880001-88890000, and a total of 16,888 eight-subject sheets were sold). That only adds up to 43,120 notes, and unless I've missed something, those are the only 888xxxxx $2's that the BEP might have lying around. So we should get at least one new printing for the Lucky Panda, eventually.

 

Part of me is excited to see multiple blocks, the other part of me is wondering how I'm going to be about to get one of each.

It's going to be interesting trying to figure out how many blocks are actually out there.

 

Anyone else get thier Lucky Panda sets?

 

Mine hasn't shown up yet, but I ordered much later than I usually do, and added another item, so that probably slows things down a bit.

 

Yep. Mine arrived today: H88891369C, position G3, plates 19/31. The plate position and plate numbers are consistent with these being part of the same printing that produced the original H..C notes for the Double Lucky Money sets, so the BEP's apparently been sitting on them for something on the order of a decade.

As Steve said, the BEP folder on this one (as cardboard folders go) is a definite step up from some past products, both in size and in fanciness. I'm not sure I really care much about that; now I've got a large fancy folder that I have to store someplace. But I don't think I'm exactly the target audience for this product.

(Mine only came with $2.87 in postage on the mailer, though. Not sure why the difference, unless Steve ordered multiples?)

If anybody else receives your Lucky Panda, please do let us know the serials and plate position--especially if you get a block other than the H..C!