Look up the value of your money’s serial number and go treasure-hunting in your wallet!
Paying in cash? Before you use your paper money to pay for your next purchase, it’s worth a quick glance. If your money has a “fancy” serial number, it could actually be worth You can find out more about us by clicking here. You can get more than the face value
All US paper money is marked with an eight-digit serial and a year of issue.
The series number indicates the year when a design was changed by the Treasury Secretary or when a signature of a newly appointed secretary or treasurer has been added. Letters following the series year appear when there is a significant change in the bill’s appearance.
The serial number is printed twice on each note. It usually starts and ends with a capital letter and has 10 to 11 characters. If a note’s serial number is unique, interesting, or in any way “fancy,” currency collectors may be willing to pay big bucks for it!
The lower the face value of one-dollar bills, the more profit they will bring. But it’s definitely worth looking at The following are some of the most effective ways to improve your own personal effectiveness. your paper money because you never know what you’ll find!
What serial numbers may be valuable on your money?
Serial numbers can increase the value of paper money.
1. Low Serial Numbers – The lower the serial number, the more valuable your currency may be to collectors. Notes that have You can also find out more about us on our website. Low serial numbers like those below 100 (00000100), or 1,000 (00001000), could be worth a lot!
2. High Serial Numbers – Some collectors seek out bills with high serial numbers, and these can be even You can find out more about us by clicking here. The lower serial numbers are more valuable because they are less common. The notes marked 99999900 or higher are particularly valuable.
3. Flippers – A serial number that can be read right side up or upside down (like 06800890) is known as a “flipper.”
4. Repeaters & Super Repeaters – Strings of repeating digits (like 14714714) can increase the value of a serial number. A two-digit repeating number (like 89898989), is called a super repeater, and it’s even You can find out more about us by clicking here. valuable.
5. Solids & Near-Solids – A solid serial number is one where every digit is the same, like 11111111. Near-solids, where only one digit is different, can also be valuable, such as 11181111, because these notes are rare.
6. Binaries, True Binaries, & Trinaries – Paper currency with a serial number containing only two different digits (like 37377337) is a “binary bill.” A near-solid serial number would also be a binary, as it only includes two numbers. A True Binary bills only contain ones and zeros, just like machine code.
Also, trinary bills (which only contain three unique digits), are rare.
7. Ladders & Near Ladders – When a serial number ascends or descends in numerical order (like 12345678 or 87654321), it’s called a “Ladder.” If there is a digit or two out of place, it’s called a “Near Ladder.” These can be valuable too, although they’re worth less than a true ladder.
8. Palindromes – Also called “radars”, palindrome serial numbers read the same backwards and forwards, like the word “radar.” A “super radar” is a binary bill on which just the two end digits are different from the numbers in the middle (like 35555553).
9. Doubles – A serial number that includes pairs of numbers, such as 43458867 is called a “Double.” The most valuable type of Double is a “Quad Double,” which is a serial number that has four sets of doubles (like 44887755).
10. Double Quads – Different from a Quad Double (confusing, right!?Double Quads are made up of two sets four identical numbers. Double Quads are often represented by serial numbers. The serial number 222299999 is an example.
11. Bookends – A serial number that has the same two or three digits on both ends is called a bookend. Three-digit numbers, such as 31256312 are more valuable than those with two digits, 31256531.
12. Consecutive – If you have two or more consecutive serial numbers on different bills, (like 12031644 and 12031645) they may be valuable. Consecutive serial numbers aren’t that uncommon, since you can get them at any bank, but they can be of interest if they also fall under another category on this list.
13. Star Notes – When a bill was printed to replace another bill with a printing error, the mint replaces the letter at the end of the serial number with a star. Because printing errors on currency are relatively uncommon, there aren’t a lot of star notes in circulation.
14. Birthdays & other special dates. Some collectors search for a number that contains a particular year or date. This can be a special date or birthday. Someone whose child was conceived on June 13, 2019 might find 06132019 valuable.
Serial numbers with a year included, such as 10401976 or10912009, may also be in demand.
How to look up the value of your money’s serial number
You can check serial numbers online if you suspect you have a currency that has a serial number.
The Bank Note Serial Checker will give you an idea of the rarity or commonness of your serial number.
My CurrencyCollection.com has a Fancy Serial Number Checker that will assign your note a percentage on the “Universal Coolness Index,” and it has a designated Star Note lookup, too.
CoolNumbers.com developed the Univeral Coolness Indicator using a formula which evaluates numbers based on their unique characteristics. There are five different levels of coolness in the UCI.
- Extremely cool – 99% or higher
- The Very Cool – 95% – 98.9%
- Cool – 90% – 94.9%
- It’s Almost Cool – 75% – 89.9%
- So-So – 50% – 74.9%
- Uncool – 49.9% or lower
To have some fun, I checked the serial numbers on a few one-dollar bills in my wallet. The Fancy Serial Number checker confirmed that none of them were very impressive to me.
There was a problem One can find out more about this by clicking here. dollar bill with a serial number of 42428828 that scored a whopping 98.3% on the Universal Coolness Index, earning it a designation of “Very Cool!
Here’s what makes this serial number “very cool,” according to MyCurrencyCollection.com:
- All the numbers in 42428828 have powers of 2. This property is only found in 0.070% 8-digit numbers.
- This combination contains two triples and one pair. This combination is found in only 0.20% (8-digit) numbers.
- All the numbers in 42428828 have even digits. This is a property that only 0.39% of 8 digit numbers possess.
- It has three unique digits. There are no more than 3 unique digits in 0.71% of all 8-digit number.
You may be able sell your paper money to a collector if you happen to have some that score high on the Coolness Index! Remember that there are other factors you should consider when estimating paper money’s value.
Other factors to consider when looking up the value of your money’s serial number
Paper money’s value is highly dependent on its condition. Values are significantly less for notes that are in circulated condition, so if your currency looks a little used like mine does, then you’re probably not going to get top dollar for your dollar, even with an еание cool serial number.
In addition to your note’s condition, other markings like the series year, series identifier, and Federal Reserve identifier can impact the worth of your currency to a collector.
Do you still have questions regarding the value of paper money?
If you’re new to the world of fancy serial numbers, knowing the exact value of your currency can prove to be difficult. Like most other collectibles, it’s only worth the amount that someone else is willing to pay for it.
You can check out online auction sites, such as Heritage Auctions and eBay, to determine the potential value of a note. You can check the sale prices of similar notes on these sites.
If you have questions about a specific bill, you may also want to ask in a currency forum like Coin Talk or Reddit’s r/papermoney. A local currency dealer can provide valuable information.
If you’d like to try out one of the dollar bill serial number lookups mentioned in this post, please let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear whether you find any fancy serial numbers!