What Is The Point Of A Serial Number?

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 1,517
karrlot Pillar of the Community United States 535 Posts	Posted 03/15/2008 10:14 pm I know that serial numbers on bills serve a very useful purpose. They are useful so you can identify if a bill was a replacement (star note), they are useful in tracking bills all over the world (wheresgeorge.com), they are also helpful in increasing the value of an individual bill (a binary radar bookend ladder is worth a lot!). But in all reality, what is the point of giving every single bill in the country a unique identifier? We don't do it with coins and they seem to work fine. Report this Post to the Staff

GO Moderator United States 6563 Posts	Posted 03/15/2008 10:18 pm counterfeit deterrent and inventory control Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16827 Posts	Posted 03/15/2008 11:37 pm We don't do it with coins for several reasons. In most countries, there are a lot more coins than notes made, and the machinery to add a unique number to each coin would probably be far too expensive and slow the whole minting process down. Coins are a lot smaller, too... a number would either be so large it would take up an entire side of a coin, or shrunk down so much that it would be unreadable after only a short time in circulation. But, by and large, placing serial numbers on paper money is an anachronism, left over from the days when "banknotes" were treated a lot like bank cheques - issued, circulated for a while, then eventually redeemed back at the bank that issued them. Once redeemed, the note would be cancelled and the number would be crossed off the records. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
karrlot Pillar of the Community United States 535 Posts	Posted 03/16/2008 09:29 am GO - at first thats what I thought too about counterfeiting. But upon further pondering, I have to figure that out of all of the features on any bill, the thing that would be easiest to copy accuratly would be the SN. Also - you could make a thousand bills with identical SN and no one would know. Inventory control - I'd buy that. Report this Post to the Staff
Peter THOMAS Pillar of the Community Australia 2830 Posts	Posted 03/16/2008 11:46 am G'day, in some countries, the smaller denominations have no serial numbers ... and very little value. Specifically, I have in mind the PRC's fen and jiao denominated notes. Peter in Oz Report this Post to the Staff
hunter20ga Pillar of the Community United States 1173 Posts	Posted 03/16/2008 2:33 pm Karrlot said..." Also - you could make a thousand bills with identical SN and no one would know." Oh...and you think the police wouldn't love to pick you up on suspicion of counterfeiting and find you with a pocketful of brnad new c-notes, all with the same serial number? Having a serial number may not prevent counterfeiting, but it sure helps in detecting and prosecuting the crime. I understand that sometimes ransoms have been paid with bills where the serial numbers have been recorded; again, possession of these notes throws the spotlight of suspicion on the criminal. But I think the major reason for the serial numbers has already been explained...it helps the mint keep track of how many bills have been printed. That is important in inventory records, and in making sure that an employee with bills to pay isn't running of a few extra notes for personal use. Report this Post to the Staff
Peter THOMAS Pillar of the Community Australia 2830 Posts	Posted 03/16/2008 8:42 pm G'day Hunter20ga, "... the police wouldn't love to pick you up on suspicion of counterfeiting and find you with a pocketful of brand new c-notes, all with the same serial number ?" - at the point of capture that's great evidence, of course. I think Karrlot may have been referring to the possibility that an utterer (legal technical term) will unlikely have to endure much scrutiny of serial numbers when he utters notes, if they are otherwise good copies. "... ransoms have been paid with bills where the serial numbers have been recorded ..." - never had to deal witrh a ransom myself, but drug buys, sly-grogging, embezzlement, and other investigations all use this technique. Usually the notes are photographed before being taken to where they will be handed over. It's very difficult to argue with this sort of evidence. Peter in Oz Report this Post to the Staff
jeremymh Pillar of the Community United States 543 Posts	Posted 03/25/2008 9:35 pm I also assume that its basically used to prevent counterfeiting. Report this Post to the Staff
x78089 Valued Member United States 255 Posts	Posted 03/26/2008 09:51 am Yes, coins are generally, in the US anyways, much less valuable (denomination wise) than bills. and harder to dspend in quantity. As also stated the logistics of minting a unique serial number on all coins is mind boggling. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 8 / Views: 1,517

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