(LOOTPRESS) – Before spending that $1 bill in your wallet, take a closer look—it could be worth far more than its face value.
Collectors are willing to pay as much as $150,000 for rare $1 bills with a specific printing error produced by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
The error occurred in two separate print runs, one in 2014 and another in 2016, due to a miscommunication between printing facilities.
The Washington, D.C., facility printed a batch of $1 bills in November 2014.
Two years later, in July 2016, the Fort Worth, Texas, facility unknowingly printed the exact same serial numbers, resulting in 6.4 million pairs of $1 bills with duplicate serial numbers—a mistake that effectively counterfeited the currency.
Serial numbers on U.S. currency are meant to be unique. However, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing failed to catch this duplication error before the bills went into circulation.
The mistake only came to light after a meticulous banknote collector noticed an inconsistency in the Bureau’s public records and filed a Freedom of Information Act request for clarification.
To date, just 37 matching pairs of the duplicate bills have been identified, making them highly sought after by collectors.
While there are millions of these bills in circulation, the chances of finding a match remain slim due to the sheer volume of U.S. currency in use.
How to Identify These Valuable Bills
If you think you might have one of these rare bills, here are the key features to look for:
- The bill must have the “Series 2013” date near George Washington’s portrait.
- The Federal Reserve Seal above the serial number must display the letter “B.”
- The serial number must end with a star (*) and fall within these ranges:
- B00000001* – B00250000*
- B03200001* – B09600000*
The Search for Matches
The Zegers/Winograd Project was established to catalog these misprinted bills and connect collectors looking to create matching pairs.
By the time the project ended in 2021, over 10,000 bills had been cataloged.
A new initiative, Project 2013B, now continues this effort, with a database that has grown to include more than 36,000 serial numbers.
While many collectors have submitted their bills in hopes of finding a match, none of the identified pairs have been sold so far.
Experts estimate the value of matched and graded pairs to range between $20,000 and $150,000, depending on their condition and serial number.
