'Ello, everybody! I have a number of questions about searching through large numbers of bills for pull-worthy notes. Firstly, about how many bills could you (with concentration) look through in an hour? My method now is to look at serial numbers to see if they are star notes, and to pull any small-face notes for price checking...is this what the majority of y'all do, or am I missing something? I've noticed Fifties through Fives can be quickly culled through based on age (no Kodachrome on older), but how do you find key notes in 1s? Is it as time-consuming as reading every date, or is there a certain spot where older bills will differ noticably? Thats it for now, Thanks! John
It depends on what your focus is. Is it fancy serial numbers? or errors? or block numbers? etc.. I search through about 3,500 notes each morning on the average. I can pluck out serial number errors or fancy numbers quite easily. I don't spend much time looking for things like missing ink on the fields etc. because, though interesting, there's not much premium attached unless dramatic. If I have time, I'll be a little more thorough. It also depends on how much time you want to devote to it. For me, a couple of hours in any given day is plenty.
As far as singles go I can search through 500 of them in about 15 minutes. I search them by looking at the back of the notes first. I put them all upright and face them if necessary(I really hate it when notes are flipped in straps, lol). I am able to pull out 95% of the older singles without having to look at the front of them. Then I search them from the front and pull out any older single I may have missed (1999 or before), stars or notes with interesting serials, etc. All of these notes are set-aside to be given a closer examination once I've searched through everything. What I don't want to keep are run through my counter and restrapped.
