newbie questions

Ive been having fun with coins the last few months but never paid much attention to bills. I had to withdrawl $1,500 today and I was sitting there with all those $20s, I decided to look for anomalies. Ya, to my untrained eye, it took a whole 5 minutes because I really have no clue what to look for. I know to look at the quality of the bill which is kind of common sense, I looked for * notes and then any serial number that was "different". So I found 2 bills that passed my extremely weak criteria. I found a 1999 $20 that stuck out like a sore thumb in the group because it was whiter than Flanders from the Simpsons. It looked and felt pretty crisp and looked odd without the security features. The serial number...odd enough...the end was XX3071962 which is the date the Beatles made their very first broadcast on the BBC. The other bills was a $20 2013 series and was pretty low (I thought) with a serial 00009027. Is that low enough to matter?

It was actually really fun looking through them. Funner (is that a word?) than coins only because I dont feel the need to bust out a scope. Being that I am going to have to withdrawl a couple grand every two weeks, I figure its going to give me something to look forward to by searching these a little bit.

Any comments or suggestions? I can post pictures but I didnt want to muddy up the post with pictures of "nothing".

 

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more fun. post pictures

 

here they be

 

Spenders to me.

Personally I consider low serial numbers by examples with at least five leading zeros, and your notes are well circulated, which doesn’t help.

Keep looking, I’m sure you’ll find something.

 

"Ol' 20 dollah bill be whiter'n a coin show crowd."

 

Remember condition is everything, if the note is creased or has been folded over
and over again or is wrinkled your probably looking at a Walmart special.

 

The top bill has a fairly low serial number but not low enough to bring a nice premium. It shows signs of wear, mainly a fold, dirty and a reverse stain. For me, I'd add that to my collection as it was acquired at face value. The lower bill is normal in all aspects. It just hasn't been circulated. Good eye to spot them as you stated you know not what to look for.

 

Its fun. If I start learning too much, I know my obsessive gene will kick in and there will be bills all over my house not being spent. I am going to show some restraint and not go nuts with everything I come across. For instance, I got 4 ones today. 3 of them were in order on the serial number. They felt/looked new so I made the assumption they must come from the reserve in order? I noticed something though...I noticed the tiny number on the back was different in the middle bill. I came to the site here and searched what that number was and found that it is the "plate number". It answered my question but created a few more in the process. How could the bills be in sequence with serial number but the middle one have a different plate number? Is the "plate" just one single bill that it prints or is it on a big sheet or roll? A little knowledge is bad for me.

 

I would like to find my birthdate. It would also be cool to find key historical dates pertaining to things I like. The first shuttle launch. The day the Berlin wall fell. The date my son was born. Im sure it sounds stupid but it would be cool to write about the event and then frame it with the bill...maybe even paint or draw the "event" around the bill. Something creative that only that specific bill was linked to for whatever reason and why. I love odd stuff like that. I have alot of people through my office and someone would definitely ask "Jake, why the hell you have that 5 dollar bill in that frame"...and I would simply tell them Im nuts...then tell them to look at the serial number and explain.

 

Check out this web site and see if that answers your questions.
http://www.onedollarbill.org/decoding.html

 

A plate prints either 32 (4x8) or 50 (5x10) bills on a large sheet. The presses use several plates at a time, so that one plate can be inked while another one is printing and so on. Thus a press produces a stack of sheets that cycle through several different plate numbers (either three or four, depending on the press).

Consecutive serial numbers come from different sheets--the serials are laid out so that 100 sheets can be stacked and cut into a bunch of 100-note packs already in consecutive order. So notes with consecutive serial numbers will generally have different plate numbers. In general the plate numbers will run in a regular cycle of three or four plates, but occasionally there will be skips where a misprinted sheet was pulled out of the stack before the serial numbers were added.

 

If your birthday is June 6, 1971, I've got you covered.

 

Not a true birthday note but it is a very nice 4 digit repeater note. The only issue I see is the red ink stain in the upper left corner along the top.

 

MatrixMP-9. Banknotes may be funner to you, but some of us consider coins to be more fun. But neither is right nor wrong, it's all a matter of preference. - Wouldn't you agree, though, that notes are more prone to wear & tear ?

 

OK, what is a "true" birthday note?

 

Personally I find your curiosity about the plate numbers very refreshing, as opposed to the standard these days which seems to be trying desperately to convince one's self that a particular serial number is interesting and valuable. If you stick with $1 notes (not bills, those come from the utility and mortgage company ) you could collect them from various districts, various dates, signatures and plate numbers, direct from your bank, and it would not amount to an expensive collection.

 

I found that coins can be pretty picky too. notes being paper or whatever seem more fragile to simple stuff. Im guilty...I get a notes and fold it in half and stuff it in my wallet not thinking twice. Now that I know this is bad, its just another obsessive habit. Pretty soon I will go everywhere with protectors for all the change I get.

***edit...changed all the "bills" to "notes"

 

I guess its like those puzzles where you "spot the difference". I found it weird they would put only one "different" item on the reverse of a bill. Seems like it would have been easier to put that information on the front. Thanks for all the info in this thread. Very enlightening and keeps in "funner". 11/16/1974 btw...I guess it cant hurt anything to post that

 

oddly close with the 71 note...

 

The first 2 digits are the month (01 to 12). The next 2 digits are the date (01 to 31) and the last 4 digits are the year.
Some people have different ways to make take a serial number and make it a birthday note, like the US government. They advertise a birthday note with the year first, then the month and date.