| Author |
 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,894 |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
About six months ago a member of another site inherited some US notes. Despite her lack of knowledge concerning paper money she knew she had something special. She posted the info and an image asking for information and possible value. This started a heated debate firstly if the note was genuine, secondly it's potential auction price. Several well regarded paper money experts pronounced it a fake for various reasons. Most including myself couldn't decide since I don't consider myself an expert in any coin / currency matter. The note ultimately was certified as genuine. I'll add that I only know the bills owner through the internet and have never seen the note except through online images. We traded a few emails and of course she was very excited. Image:  31478d1218283569t-160617477_o.jpg41.78 KB The story of how the bill came into the sellers hands. She told me the listing had several minor errors but was essentially factual. Fr. 1917-F $1 1988A Federal Reserve Web Note. Mismatched Suffix F-*/F-L PCGS Extremely Fine 40PPQ. This may well be the ultimate web note error. It was saved by pure happenstance by a bank teller who placed the occasional odd item that came across her window in an envelope. Included in these "odd items" were a number of web notes, with the notation on the envelope that the web notes were "different." Many years later her daughter found the envelope and examined the notes to see why they were different. By the purest serendipity she noticed that the serial number on both sides of all of the notes were identical...save for one, which contained a star suffix on the left side and a letter suffix on the right side. Further research indicated that this note was printed during the F-L run, but does not bear a serial number in the star range. We can not explain how this error was created, although a number of causes have been advanced, but we do know that in the nearly two decades after the release of these notes that this is unique as a star/regular mismatch. Offered here for the first time to the collecting public, it stands as easily the most desirable web note ever to cross the auction block. Any estimate for this unique item is merely a guess, but if rarity and desirability are any guide, expect bidding to easily rise to the level of.. Some members of this site may know the story and the price realized. For anyone else take a guess at winning bid. Denis |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote:
Several well regarded paper money experts pronounced it a fake for various reasons. Sorta reminds me of this thread--never write anything off too quickly!  What an incredible find. |
|
Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
Awesome note--I'd say not enough for a house, but maybe a decent down payment on one.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1424 Posts |
I'm not that familiar with notes...I will guess $75,000
|
|
Valued Member
United States
303 Posts |
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
|
|
Valued Member
 United States
60 Posts |
Ended at $26k + 15% buyers premium.
Some comments as to the notes authenticity before it was certified as genuine. I'm not slamming anyone who doubted if it was real or not. With only an image to go on it's hard to determine. I certainly couldn't say one way or another.
after looking closer it looks like the star was added.
The fact that nobody's ever heard of this F..*/F..L mismatch before makes me suspect that something's not right here, especially given how well-studied web notes are. No way are there thousands of these out there and this is the first time anybody's noticed.
if you zoom into around the star, there is a very faint 'cirlce'. This could be remnants of the planting of the star.
I Have Also Examined The Scans And Am Of The OPINION That It Is Not a Genuine BEP printed error
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -- -- ---- --- --- --- ---
Again, I'm not playing the I told you so game. I'd run to a reputable dealer and submit it ASAP.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
For the sake of conversation, here's a detail of those areas taken from Heritage:  Seeing how both Heritage and PCGS are connected to this auction, I wonder if there was any doubt in their minds?  As for myself, I have zero expertise in currency, but I do know that PCGS has a "buy back" guarantee of authenticity: The Guarantee of Grade & Authenticity is fundamental to PCGS's concept of third-party grading. The cash-back policy ensures the accuracy of the grade assigned to any PCGS coin as long as it remains in its tamper-evident holder. |
|
Valued Member
United States
442 Posts |
Now THAT'S a killer Web Note!
|
|
Valued Member
United States
118 Posts |
I remember this note (it was posted on a few other forums)
Anyway, apparently the PCGS grades scrutinized it very closely, and ultimately determined it was authentic.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
346 Posts |
Reading this thread made me go do some pretty heavy research on Web Notes... they kept getting mentioned and I was curious as to exactly what they were and such. Very interesting note, though. I would love to have something like that.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1267 Posts |
Being not much of a note guy, I'd offer $30 knowing that is my limit and and knowing the note is probably worth much more than that...
|
|
Valued Member
United States
280 Posts |
I don't remember exactly what I wrote in those other threads, but I do believe I stated that you cannot verify/refute that type of error by a scan alone. One needs to be able to inspect the paper itself for evidence.
I recall someone being able to dig up past discussion on the possibility that 10,000 of these were printed (would be awesome to find the other 9,999).
|
| |
Replies: 14 / Views: 1,894 |
|
31478d1218283569t-160617477_o.jpg
Posted 12/29/2008 5:36 pm
