Series Set / FRB Sets: 62 Bills
This one's fairly straightforward. Series are essentially the dates of paper currency, so I'm looking for one or more of each since Federal Reserve Note $1s were released (1963). The Series date actually doesn't always change once per year, so this is a bit easier than one might think.
I have: 1963, 1963A, 1963B, 1969, 1969B, 1969D, 1974, 1977A, 1981, 1981A, 1985, 1988, 1988A, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2003A, 2006
I still need: 1969A, 1969C, 1977, 2006 (Sure, there are a lot of 2006's floating around, but as long as it's so recent, I might as well wait until a nice mint one comes around.
The Series 1963Bs are known as the Barr Notes, named for the Secretary of the Treasury whose signature appears on them. Barr was in that office for only a month; however, his bills are not as exceedingly rare as that short timespan might make you think. Hundreds of millions of them had been printed in the initial press run, and many hoarded them with the idea of the rarity they held.
I have eight different ones.
I do have several older bills that are singletons in nice condition, but more-recent dates are for logical reasons easier to find in mint condition, so I often have several, some with consecutive serial numbers.
For Series 2001 and 2003 (which the most recent Series at the peak of my paper-currency-collecting), I have saved one or more mint-condition bills from each of the 12 FRBs. For Series 2003A, I am on my way to doing so.
Block Letter Set: 25 bills.
Block letters are the letters at the end of a dollar bill's serial number. Eight digits of numbers (one hundred million) seems like a lot, until you reach the scale at which the government prints bills. To prevent using the same serial number, the first hundred million are printed with an "A" blockletter, the next such batch with a "B", and so on. (Technically, O is not used due to similarity with zero, and Z is reserved for samples)
Rarely does the entire alphabet actually get used. Series 1995, B FRB, is one case where it did. I aim to get one bill per blockletter here.
This set is nearly complete, although there are a few bills that could use condition upgrades; the only oen I'm missing at this time is B-F.
$1 Star Notes: 16 bills
Star notes, appropriately enough, have a star at the end of the serial number in place of the normal block letter. They are used by the government to replace regular bills that got fouled up via printing errors or somesuch, to save the trouble of reprinting the exact serial numbers.
I aim to get atleast one $1 star from each FRB. This is a set I have nearly completed; I am missing only D (Cleveland). For the C (Philly) and F (Atlanta) FRBs, I have pairs of mint-condition consecutive-serial-number stars; those being the nicer bills in this collection subset.
I also have a few star notes from older series: 1963A, 1963B and 1977.
$1 Silver Certificates: 8 bills
I love Silver Certificates!
These are notable for their blue serial numbers and for the fact that they could be redeemed for a metal silver dollar back in the day. You can't get silver for 'em anymore, but they are legal tender for their face value (although it would be rather silly to spend them, as even average ones fetch a few bucks)
I have: Series 1935A, 1935D, 1935F, 1935G, 1957, 1957, 1957A, a star from 1935F, and a star from 1957A.
I would like to eventually pick up the other Series; this Wikipedia entry has a list of the other series, as well as a history of the currency type.
This includes the 1935A Yellow Seal African note, and the Brown Seal Hawaiian note. (These are World War II relics, set up in case Axis powers had occupied the American positions in those areas: the specially distinguished notes could have been canceled to keep the Axis from having access to all that otherwise-usable U.S. currency)
Other: $1s with Interesting Serial Numbers, Printing Errors or Non-WG stamps: 8 bills
Quite simply, these bills have a numerically pleasing pattern in the serial number, or some other distinctive characteristics. (Please note, many bills in this category, with low serial numbers [lots of zeroes in front], are grouped amongst my star notes.)
Interesting Serial Numbers
High Serial Numbers
These numbers are high enough to be in the range of serial numbers the BEP uses on uncut-sheets sold to collectors; this means that these bills must have resulted from one of those sheets being cut up.
Finally, I have a $1 with the green part on the front (serial numbers and Treasury seal) printed wrong, they are shifted far to the right of usual.)
My red seal $2s are some of my favorites, as they are some of the older ones. I have Series 1928C, 1928D, 1928F 1928G, 1953, 1953A, 1953B, and 1963. 1963A is currently missing in action...
Highlights: All bills, but especially the AU+ (CU?) Series 1963.
$2 Federal Reserve Notes (Series 1976, 1995, 2003, 2003A): 25 bills
For Series 1976, I have one $2 from each FRB.
Series 1995 regular-issue $2s came only from the Atlanta (F) FRB, and Serieos 2003 only from the Minneapolis (I) FRB. As such, I have a handful of mint or near-mint $2s with those dates.
$2 Star Notes: 8 bills
Four of these are 1976 stars (one each for four of the 12 FRBs), and one is a circulation issue from Series 2003.
Two are special very-low-serial-number stars released by the BEP as a collector product.
Finally, I have a low-serial-number Series 1995 that I picked up in circulation: F00003427*.
I also have Series 1995, F14782935B, with a red Sharpie message on the front: "FDNY Frank Palumbo", the name of one of the 9/11 victims)
My collection of $5s is mainly old-style-design $5s. I have a pair of mint-consecutive Series 1963A $5 stars (well, mint except for a small pen marking - I'm not really complaining. :)
I have non-star $5s from 1969, 1981 and 1995.
My two new-style $5s are a near-mint Series 1999 starnote and a Series 2003A whose serial number has six 2's in a row
Not too many of these. I have a near-mint Series 1969 (which goes rather nicely with my near-mint 1969 $5), a regular-condition Series 1981, and a Series 1950D that really is in rather nice shape for the age.
I have one Series 2003A (new-style) starnote. While I have a few other new-style bills, this is the only "Kodachrome" (colorful-background) one.
I have only one $20 in my collection, but it is a nice one. A Series 1981 in near-mint condition. I saw this amongst the bills that Gramps was carryign oen day; knowing my propensity for currency collecting, he let me have it.
Favorite $1:
Favorite $2: Series 1963 United States Note in AU (near-mint) condition
Favorite $5:
Favorite $10:
Favorite $20: Only have one, Series 1981 AU
$1s: 119 ($119)
$2s: 42 ($84)
$5s: 9 ($45)
$10s: 4 ($40)
$20s: 1 ($20)
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© Alan Gilfoy, 2004-2006
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