So here is a $1 Federal Reserve note with an error. It doesn't jump out at you but if you get down to it it's a pretty big mistake. A sharp eye or knowledge of the error will answer the question. Have at it folks. If no one guesses I'll fill y'all in. http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x275/clembo1872/scan0002-21.jpg http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x275/clembo1872/scan0003-18.jpg
Good eye Darryl. Give the man a Kewpie doll. Yes, It is referred to as a 129 error because the back plate was always 129 and you don't see a lot of them. Happened on a handful of 1985 notes. For those that would think "big deal" look at it this way. If a mintmark was placed on the wrong area of a coin would it be a BIG error? I've never seen one in circulation. Actually bought 20 at a show years ago for $3 each. Dealer knew they were an error but had no clue as to value. I sold several "rags" on ebay and always got $10-20 for them.
Funny thing is Dan that a year or so ago I would have struggled to figured it out. Today I brought up the second image and it jumped right off the screen! I said to myself - look at that! Really nice find - thanks for sharing
Back Plate number is in the wrong position. (I didn't read any other replies yet, but I'm assuming someone already got it).
Here's some food for thought. With the advent of Laser Engraving, I imagine that the engraving of plate numbers is now automated and the possibility of this type of error ever occuring again is as close to zero as you can get without actually being zero. Numbers would probably know better if they've actually started using lasers yet.
I don't think so.... I think the stuff that's not the same on every note is still engraved by hand. Remember that discussion a couple of years ago about the positioning of the "FW" on the 2003A $1's? It was a good bit sloppier than usual--sometimes the "FW" was very close to the position letter, sometimes oddly far away. Whoever engraved the master Fort Worth plate for that series must've been in a hurry or something.... Likewise, if you compare a 2004A $20 printed at DC to a 2004A $20 printed at FW, you can tell that the words "SERIES 2004A" aren't quite the same size on the two master plates. This variety is especially interesting because it tells us that DC and FW apparently each create their own master dies and plates for each new series. I would've guessed that that work would be done only once, but looking at these notes tells us that FW's master plate isn't just a copy of DC's master plate with some "FW" letters added....
Hmmm, that would really be surprising (although not a shocker) to find out that the positioning is done manually. I've done some work inside a machine shop (had to validate some processes so I didn't work with any of the equipment directly), but it was 5 years ago I remember seeing them get a laser engraver where they could automate laser etching in order to achieve almost dead on repeatability. Most parts had a jig made up for alignment that couldn't be screwed up and a script to run the laser. This was just a small machine shop. I would think the BEP would have the leading edge technology for producing our most sacred money. But then again, they are cousins to the same group that predicted some $1 Billion Plus demand for Dollar Coins last year (they're still paying americans to help force them into the Federal Reserves Vaults).
