Is this bill real?

I have been looking around for one of these and now one has shown up at my local pawn shop. He allowed me to take two pics so I can find out more about it. Do you think it is real and is it worth the asking price or to much?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks good to me. Dunno why he only let you take two photos though.

 

Looks OK to me. As for value, go to eBay and see what similar notes have SOLD for, that's the best test. The acetate holder is so dirty I can't tell whether the bill is smudged or not, nor would I make a guess about the grade.

 

I'm not an avid paper money collector, but I've always liked the design of the 1901 Buffalo note. I had one graded by PMG @ F-12 that I sold to a dealer from Dallas for $650 about 8 years ago.

I don't see anything that looks odd, but maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in.

Chris

 

Yes looks GREAT -- the only person that has a problem with the authenticity said
"what difference does it make!"

 

I took another look; the short top margin is going to hurt the valuation.

 

How much do you all think I should offer for this bill? Might try to trade for it but need a number to go by.

 

Here is the book value. If you can tell the grade, it will give you a ball park to play in. My guess is that he has an average price on it for it's condition. Your bill is F-122. $750 would be better. Book value is usually high.

 

I see one difference between the OP's bill and the one pictured in the catalog; the OP's serial number starts with a letter E, the catalog's illustration has an ornament in front of, and behind, the number. Maybe that is normal, depending on the signature combination, but I noticed...

 

The large size bills used various ornamental designs like that in their serial numbers. They didn't use double letters at the beginning or end when the printing exceeded the alphabet in its run. Notice the serial number in the bill on the other page is similar to the one shown by wolrep. A letter in front an an ornament at the end. Even the ornaments could be a little different from series to series.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I also did some looking around and found the same two auto combination that was graded and only had the symbol at the end. Another thing I noticed about the bill was the bill fibers on the back. Dose that also help prove that it is real?

 

The note appears to be genuine, with typical soiling and staining. Looks like it had a few serious horizontal folds that have been pressed out, but still visible. Speelman/White signatures make it a Fr.122, and would guess about VF-25 or VF-30 . Have you held it up to a light to check for pinholes ?

This example is XF-45 condition.

 

Yes I held the bill up to the light to look for pin holes. Didn't see any. Considering going to look at it again today. A bit of a drive but what people have been telling me almost all beleave it's real and from my research I've done I haven't found anything that would make me think it isn't. What should you consider a fair offer for the bill?

 

My experience has told me to buy the nicest, problem free note you can afford. The problems you see now, when buying, will be the problems pointed out to you if you decide to sell it for an upgrade down the road. When buying large size notes, try to find examples with good eye appeal, and original paper qualities. Third party graded notes with a "PQ" designation helps if you are not experienced with grading. It's an iconic note, and I would want one with better eye appeal.

 

I would offer $725, if you were to go after the note.

 

From your photos, I see quite a few more old bills in the background, so here's the psychology: you've fallen in love with the bill, and a shotgun marriage is looming.

Knowing pawn shops, the guy probably has a couple hundred in the bill, at most. Offer him $500 (cash) or you walk. The chances of him getting top dollar in this tough market, small! At his price, it will be there next year, a little more faded, the pawn business will be booming, and he knows he should re-deploy his capital to much better use.

Probably not one in a hundred of his customers (1) collects at this level, or (2) can afford $850.

 

Yep, varies by signature combination. The first one, Lyons-Roberts, uses the double ornament; after that, the prefix letter starts at A and (usually) advances for each subsequent combination. See here for details.

 

And for more on that topic, see this page. There are actually more than twenty different symbols that were used in serial numbers, and there are even a few cases when a symbol was changed in mid-series.

 

Looks good to me. Very nice.

 

That would certainly be one unique paper currency collection if you tried to saved an example of each symbol on this list. I don't even want to guess at what the out of pocket cost would be for them all.