Valuable serial numbers on dollar bills

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So maybe you’ve been collecting coins, and now you’re interested in checking out bills, or maybe you’re new to both coin collecting and bill collecting.  We’ve made a list for you of the different types of serial numbers on bills found in circulation that are worth looking out for.

Bills are a bit different than coins, while there are specific bills that are worth more than face value, mainly it’s interesting numbers that will fetch you a higher price in the paper money collecting world.

Say you find a dollar bill that has the serial number 12345678, that’s going to be worth a lot more than a bill that has a “plain” or “boring” number.  With dollar bill serial numbers, the cooler and more unique, the better.

There are a few types of numbers that you’ll want to look out for, read on to find out what dollar bills are worth collecting.

If you're looking for a serial number lookup, check out this "Fancy Serial Number Checker" here!

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Types of Valuable Serial Numbers Found on Paper Money

1. Bookends
2. Doubles
3. Double Quads
4. Consecutives
5. Ladders
6. Birthdays
7. Binary
8. Trinary
9. Low Serial Numbers
10. High Serial Numbers
11. Repeaters
12. Solids
13. Star Notes
14. Flippers
15. Radars

These are the 15 different types of serial numbers you can find on bills that are generally worth more than face value.  Of course, as with anything in this world, it is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.  So while you may find something valuable, another person may not.  Just remember if no one wants it, it’s not valuable (In the world of selling).

1. Bookends Serial Numbers

Bookends are a type of serial number that actually has the same two numbers at the beginning of the serial number and at the end, such as this number here - 28333328

2. Doubles Serial Numbers

Doubles are a serial number that contains pairs of numbers, like 12235851.  There are other types of doubles, such as a serial number that contains two or three sets of pairs - 12235889, 22867799. The most valuable type of double is the double that contains four pairs of different numbers like this one here - 66447733 this is called a quad double.

3. Double Quads Serial Numbers

Double quads are very similar to doubles, and quad doubles, but they have four each of two different numbers, like this - 88883333.

4. Consecutives Serial Numbers

Consecutives are a bit more complex, as they’re usually only valuable if they also contain one of the other types of serial numbers listed here.  But consecutive serial numbers are numbers that come right before or after each other, with the first 6 numbers being the same, such as 53847689, 53847690, 53847691. 

5. Ladder Serial Numbers

Ladder serial numbers are numbers that are ascending or descending, like 12345678, or 87654321. This one’s pretty simple to remember, and generally the lower numbers will fetch a higher price (like the number given in our example).

6. Birthday or other Date Serial Numbers

Many collectors will look out for specific dates that  mean something to them, or famous dates that had historical significance.  Keep an eye out for bills that contain a full date or even just a year.  Here’s some examples -

08242001  this could be a birthdate of August 24, 2001.  76582016  this number contains the year 2016.

7. Binary Serial Numbers

If you’re familiar with the term binary, then you’ll probably understand this one pretty quickly, but binary serial numbers contain only two different numbers, such as 34334343.

8. Trinary Serial Numbers

This ones pretty quick to understand after knowing about the binary serial numbers, trinary serial numbers on paper money contain only 3 different numbers, such as - 34233244.

9. Low Serial Numbers

Low Serial Numbers are quite popular to collect, paper money collectors usually look out for any number below 100, or even 1,000 as they’re the most desirable of the low serial numbers.  Such as any number below 00001000, or 00000100.

10. High Serial Numbers

Exactly the opposite of the low serial numbers, but actually more rare, high serial numbers are highly sought after by collectors of paper money.  Be sure to really keep an eye out for numbers that are higher than 99999900, as these are super rare and worth more than other high numbers.

11. Repeater Serial Numbers

Repeaters are numbers that well, repeat of course!  Repeater serial numbers contain sets of repeating digits, like this one - 75675675, which contains three repeating digits.  However, two repeating digits are more rare and usually more valuable, these are called Super Repeaters.  Keep an eye out for serial numbers with two repeating digits like this one - 75757575.

12. Solid Serial Numbers

Solid serial numbers are pretty simple, and rather easy to spot as they only contain one digit.  This would be just one single number repeating such as 33333333.  Sometimes collectors will purchase what’s called near-solids as well, which would have just one single digit that’s different from the rest, like 33343333.

13. Star Note Serial Numbers

Star note serial numbers are almost a type of error, but really they’re fixing an error in printing.  The star notes are issued when there’s been an error in printing a bill, since the Mint cannot print the same serial number twice, a star is added on to the end to differentiate it from the other.  These are not very common.

14. Flipper Serial Numbers

Flipper serial numbers are numbers that can actually be read right side up or upside down! This would be a number like 00690000.

15. Radar Serial Numbers

Radar serial numbers are very similar to flipper serial numbers, but these ones can be read the same forwards and backwards, like this number here 12344321. (that number I believe would also count as a ladder number)  There is another variant of the Radar serial number called the Super-Radar, this number only has different digits on the end, like this - 23333332.  The super-radar serial number is generally more valuable than a normal radar serial number.

That concludes our list of valuable serial numbers on dollar bills and other paper money!  Be sure to keep an eye out for these types of numbers when you’re going through your bills, and remember that bills in better condition will be more valuable as well.  If your bill is extremely worn it’s not as likely to fetch as much as it would if it’s in nice condition. 

And lastly remember, these types of numbers may be “valuable”, but if you’re trying to sell a bill, it’s only worth as much as someone’s willing to pay for it.  Just because it’s on this list does not automatically make it worth lots of money. 

If you’re unsure how much to price a bill you’re trying to sell, check out eBay for similar listings, and list your bill for around the same price.  You don’t want to undervalue, but you don’t want to overvalue either.

Good luck, have fun, and happy hunting!