Before you spend another dollar, you might want to read this.
Pull out your wallet and check your dollar bills—really, really check them. You may just find some of your cash is actually worth more, well, cash.
You may remember to be careful what Beanie Babies you give away, or hesitate throwing out your old VHS tapes just in case, but what about the bronze 1943 penny worth $1.7 million? Or a crazy-shaped Cheeto worth $60,000? Well, here’s another: find some of these dollar bills with unique serial numbers and you could be in for a pretty big payday.
Coin and currency collectors in the US are willing to pay up to $150,000 in search of rare $1 bills with a particular printing error from the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Two batches of $1 bills were printed, one in 2014 and another in 2016, that feature this particular error, and the bills went into circulation before the mistake was found.
In November 2014, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing sent a request to its Washington DC facility to print a batch of dollar bills. In July 2016, the exact same request was sent to the Fort Worth facility.
This miscommunication resulted in dollars printed with duplicate serial numbers, technically counterfeiting their currency. Typically, every bill in circulation has a unique serial number to identify it.
Neither misprint was caught by the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and now currency collectors are clamoring to find matching pairs of dollar bills with these duplicate serial numbers.
In total, there are 6.4 million pairs of $1 bills with matching serial numbers. While that may seem like a lot, billions of dollars are in circulation, and to date, only nine pairs have been matched.
Collectors at CoolSerialNumbers.com created a list of the most-wanted serial numbers—and they’re willing to pay dollars for your dollars. Apparently, collectors are really into what they call “fancy” serial numbers, which are unusual or special serial numbers.
You can view the full list by visiting the website, but here’s a shortened version of the kind of numbers they want:
- Seven repeating digits in a row on $1 bills (i.e., 18888888, 59999999)
- Seven of the same number on $1 bills (i.e., 99909999, 00010000)
- Super repeaters on $1 bills (i.e., 67676767)
- Double quads on $1 bills (i.e., 44440000)
- Super radars on $1 bills (ie: 01111110, 80000008)
- Serial numbers 99999991-99999999 – any size/type/denomination
- Serial numbers X0000000, X0000001, and X9999999 – any size/type/denomination
If you’re looking for an even more organized list, here’s a PDF you can print out and keep with you so you always know which numbers they want.
Watch the video below:
Source: AWM