Being a relatively new collector with little interest in anything other than small notes, my knowledge base is admittedly quite narrow. My logical mind cannot comprehend how a high grade 1862 note goes for a a mere $3,500. While a high grade, say 1966 $100 star, sells for roughly the same price. ¿Por qué?
Rick's got it right Kittrell, demand creates value. A good example in the coin collecting world would be the U.S. Half Cent series. All dates are relatively scarce because of low mintage figures but the series never caught fire with collectors. As a result, even unc. specimens of many years can be bought at a reasonable price. Price rises when demand is strong. Bruce
The 1966 $100s were printed to offset the fact that the 1963 $2's and $5's were no longer being printed and circulated. The Legal Tender notes were printed due to a law passed back during the Civil War that authorised them up to a certain amount of circulation. As a result they were not printed in huge numbers in comparison to Federal Reserve notes, ie the green seals. The star notes and the 1966-A notes are that much scarcer. Though they were circulated briefly in the very early 1970's that was it. The rest of them were stored and destroyed. They really are not all that common by comparison to other notes issued during that time - the numbers printed were already low, and the numbers actually circulated were low. Red seal Legal Tender notes still throw off people when they come across them, which is why I get them at the bank from tellers in the know.
This concept is not new to me. I just never would have guessed the demand for certain stars outweighing the demand on the much older notes. I find it very intriguing to say the least.
It's not an exact science but availability comes into play there too. Demand is the greatest driving factor but as scottishmoney alludes to in his post it's how many are still around that also play a part. If certain years are destroyed due to age, use, fire etc. if will drive price up no matter how old or new the notes are. So the two play off of each other. For example if only 100 of a certain note still exist then 100,000 people are going to want one and drive up price. Where as if anyone can get on at the bank then why pay someone a premium for it.
I think it's more like tellers NOT in the know. From what I understand any and all red (legal tender notes) and blue (silver certificates) seals turned into a bank are to be handed over by the banks to the federal reserve to be destroyed. Yes they are legal to use as money, yes they are legal to own, yes they are monitized but they are deemed to be obsolete currency and the Fed.Reserve technically wants them out of circulation entirely.
I do too. You can look though at this forum or other US-focused forums and see the number of posts related to star notes and numerology and compare them to the number of posts relating to older larrge size or "classic" notes, and gauge the demand easily. Dave
