got an odd question for all you pros on here. <backstory> about a year ago i picked up a handful of mixed notes, including several sequential 1976 $2 notes with stamps. the last one had a serial number H00300000A. the following pic is from the thread i posted about the notes, for reference: anyways, the four sequential notes ending in 00300000 had what appeared to be a scrape or crumple along the top left edge of the note, as you can (barely) see in the pic. i had assumed they all suffered the same damage as a result of poor handling, and moved on with my life. earlier today, i was talking to the man i bought the notes from. he said he had found in his home, the old delivery container that these notes were delivered to the bank in from the FED (this guy worked there when the notes were delivered in '76 apparently). he said banks could only purchase those $2 notes in blocks of $8,000 and they were delivered in a container that had wooden ends and steel bands wrapped around the entire block of notes. he asked me if i was interested in the container, and of course i said yes. i got to thinking about the notes, and now the damage to them is starting to make more sense. is it possible that those four notes were on the back end of the block, and were squeezed a bit by the steel bands holding the block together, causing the damage? does anyone know about the type of delivery method that i've explained here, specifically for $2 notes from the 1976 series? i've poked around at the internet, but have had no luck finding any relevant info. any insight would be appreciated. thanks!
Yes, that's how the notes were packaged for many years. Each 100 notes were in a paper strap, and then forty of those straps were placed between two wooden blocks held together with steel bands. The whole 4000-note brick was then wrapped in brown paper. There was an outer label on the paper wrapper, and an inner label on the front wooden block. The labels showed the serial number range for the brick, and some folks collect "label sets": the label(s) with the first and last notes of the brick. Since the serial number 00300000 is a multiple of 4000, yes, your note would have been the last note of its brick, packaged right against the wooden block. That might (or might not) be the source of the crumple.... Starting in the late '80s (plus or minus a few years?) they switched to plastic shrink-wrap packaging. They also added a 1000-note packaging level: they now wrap ten 100-note straps into a bundle, and then four bundles into a brick. The Fed seems to send currency to banks primarily in bundle form, so you don't often see a 4000-note package these days. People still collect label sets, but they're nearly always labels from 1000-note bundles, not 4000-note bricks. (On the other hand, I've seen at least one original-BEP-wrapped 16,000-note package of modern $1's for sale on Ebay, so they're apparently obtainable somehow....)
these pics are exactly what i received today. the guy brought in the wooden blocks, the label, and another $2 from this block. they are st louis reserve notes, package #0075, with a beginning serial H00296001A. that would make the notes i have the last four (now five, as he brought in H00299996A for me today) from that block. unfortunately, there's some handwriting on the label and it's a little beat up, but the note itself is in great condition, and is stamped 4/13/76.
also, it appears my assumption on the damage to the notes is correct. the strap indentations on the wood align pretty well with the location of the damage on the notes. now i have to figure out a way to display all five notes, the label, and the wood blocks in the same frame...
that's really neat. until this time yesterday, i was completely ignorant to the thought that there would be a documented delivery method that people actually remembered, let alone collected. i love learning new things. and this is my favorite place to do it!
First and last notes in a contemporary plastic shrink-wrapped bundle: The bundle will be 10 shrink-wrapped note straps:
