As I mentioned in another thread, I added a 1928C $10 Richmond note to my collection this week. It's not in great shape (probably VG8-VG10), but couldn't pass it up for the price. Got me to thinking, what are the rarest small size notes (not including star notes or specific serial number blocks)? Here's the list I normally go off: #1 - 1934 $10 Silver Certificate (North Africa) - ??? printed #2 - 1933 $10 Silver Certificate - 216,000 printed #3 - 1928C $10 FRN - Richmond (5E) - 304,800 #4 - 1928D $5 FRN - Atlanta (6F) - 1,281,600 printed #5 - 1928C $5 FRN - Atlanta (6F) - 2,056,000 printed This is based on price, but clearly there are WAY more of those last two printed than the first 3, yet they manage to stay close in price. Were some destroyed? Should the 1928C $20's be in there too?
Hello Dursin... Most any currency book that list's printed amounts will give you a great start! For each denomination you will have a normal and a star issue unless there were no stars issued. This will range al the way back to the Small size Nat. Bank Notes as well... I am sure the list is quite comprehensive and it would be cool to own an example of each. Take the $20 Series 1934 A Fr# 2304 * and Fr# 2305 * The 2304 has 52,000 while the 2305 only has 2,500 that note in CHCU will run you 10K plus!! So take a look at (for eaxmple) The Official Red Book for US Currency..the prices are not correct, but the printing's should be on track! For your $10 1928C it is among the lowest for a regular issue note in that denomination! Edited**** Do not forget the Legal Tender, Silver Certs, Emergency War Issues and Hawaii Notes as well. Good luck!! RickieB
great question, but one that is open to great differences in opinion rarity is based on lots of parts... some say the most expensive, but thats not always the note with the smallest printage... so do we only look at the notes with the smallest printing... because their are note with larger printing, yet there was proof or evidence of some notes from that series being destroyed - but how many can never be verified. I think there are lots of possible answers, and the answers folks provide could well lead you to see what collecting interests they have
I use the latest Comprehensive Catalog of US Paper Money which has the total printed figures for each note, but only has FR numbers for the large size. I pretty much agree with their decision to not use them for small size notes as they are sort of unnecessary. I agree that it's hard to go by 'number printed' alone as there are other factors which can determine how rare a note is today. For example, the 1933 $10 Silver Certificate was a fairly unique note which would have likely caused many collectors to put them aside when they were printed. On the other hand, the 1928C $10 FRN from Richmond pretty much looked like all the other notes circulating at the time which likely meant that many people wouldn't have thought to save them or put them aside. Rarity doesn't necessarily equate to cost however as the 1933 $10 SC's cost significantly more as the demand for them is higher. Anyway, it is an interesting subject and would be interesting to see what others might consider the rarest notes out there. Again, I'd prefer that star notes not be counted as that tend to change everything. Same for specific blocks...I don't know why they even go for a premium except for the documented 'experimental' blocks.
I would say the rarest are some of the small size national bank notes. Certain charter numbers can be very hard to find.
Series 1928 $10,000 Gold Certificates have got to be pretty rare. Any high denom gold certificate for that matter. For moderns, the 2004A $10 Atlanta star has a printing of only 9600 notes.
The 2004A $10 Atlanta star note has a printing of 9600 notes, but weren't they printed by the BEP specifically for collectors? I thought I had also read that many (or perhaps all) were sold as sheets and then cut into individual notes, which is why you see some VERY high PMG/PCGS grades on the series. If that's the case then 9600 pretty much equates to a population of 9600 (or very close to it) in the hands of collectors. Compare that to something like the 1928C $10 FRN from Richmond where there probably remains less than 20 known to exist and that 2004A note doesn't seem that rare.
notes printed exclusively for collectors are real notes printed the same way as everythign else, on the same presses, same ink, same plates! Ok, now thats out of the way ... any note issued specificly for collectors dont count in my book! I cant explain why lol so there
Hehe...I know that. I have a sheet of $1's and a $2 star note I picked up when I went on the tour at the BEP a couple years ago. What I was saying is that in that run of 9,600 notes, there are probably close to all 9600 in the hands of collectors, all in varying degrees of CU grade. Very few, if any made it into circulation. I don't really count them in my book either...at least not as any sort of 'rare' note.
Matt, IIRC, the only $10,000 (Salmon P. Chase) bills known to exist currently are small-sized Federal Reserve Notes. There are (and someone correct me if I am wrong, I am not a paper guy), 117 of them extant. 100 of them used to reside in a display at Binion's casino in Las Vegas. Yep, that's right, you could go and get up close and personal with $1 million in cash, but those days are gone. I believe the set was broken up into private collections, but I haven't read or heard anything in years. The $100,000 (Woodrow Wilson) on the other hand, is a gold note, but all have been redeemed and taken out of the system.
i thought due to a fire, alot of the wilson notes were thrown out the window after being canceled ... so yeah, they were all turned in and canceled.. but there are examples on the street... or was that a different note lol
Not counting star notes or special blocks. Probably should also say that I'm not counting $500 or above notes either.
