I recently inherited some things from my mom who recently passed away. Among the items was a small treasure: a twenty-dollar bill. This twenty-dollar bill's backside has also been stamped with the front-side. My mom worked for a bank in 1972, the year this bill was issued and she caught it at the bank before it could get into circulation. Now, it is not a Mint Issue - I know what that is, and this was meant to go into the public, but never made it that far, so it is still crisp as the day it got printed and in "mint" condition.
I want to know what it should be worth to a collector. Looking at eBay's Numismatic area tells me that it is worth between $20.00 and $50,000 or more. Swell. I have heard that there are some online catelogs where I could go research and get a good approximate value, but I can not find them. I know that Numismatics post in this forum, so I was hoping that someone would be kind enough to point me towards a valid web site or two where I can discover what value to sell it for.
posted on August 19, 2002 02:16:24 PM new
A SUPER SUPER piece. Hit one of the major Coin auction houses for that one. Bowers and Merana (I worked for them when I was in high school), Stacks, so on. Generally, I would put something like that up for auction and not go for a straight sale. A coin retailer will pay 50% of "Book," no more. If you pay 10% sellers fee, 10% buyers fee in an auction, you will still be making out like a bandit. I've not heard of a double headed paper money, I would expect 5 figures easy... could be six. You will probably have to get it authenticated. DO NOT EBAY IT!!!!!!. This type of item will go WAY under market on Ebay. Bowers and Merena is runningn the 2003 ANA Auction. That is one of the biggest auctions of the year (usually limited to 2000 items of top quality only, yours would fit). The auction is in July/aug 2003.
posted on August 19, 2002 02:54:57 PM new
Wow, Dejapooh! Thanks! I was completely lost. I will take your advice and not sell it directly or on eBay (sorry, eBay!). It looks like it got printed like a normal bill, then somehow the sheet got the front side imprinted on the back side as well. So the back has the normal back print, but also a front-print that is crisp and clean looking. I guess I got my work cut out for me to sell it. Thanks again!
posted on August 19, 2002 08:43:43 PM new
Hi Borillar. You have a nice find there. However, it is not a 5 or 6 figure item. It is called an overlay or wet ink transfer and is caused when newly printed sheets of notes are stacked on still wet sheets of other notes. In this case the wet frontside ink from one sheet was transferred to the dry backside of the note you have. This type of error can occur in variing degrees. The most desiralbe overlays have 100% transfer of the wet ink to the new note. Be sure to keep it crisp and unfolded as any fold can reduce its value. This type of error is fairly common but usually found in One and Five Dollar notes. An auction may be the best way to sell it but I would estimate a value of $200-$300 would be realistic. Heritagecoin.com might be a place to look into selling it. heritage auctions list on Ebay, but are also live floor auctions at major coin shows several times a year. Check out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1371433729 for a fairly nice $5 note or http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1371689085 to see a $100 note for comparison.
posted on August 20, 2002 11:04:59 AM new
Oh, that's OK Dejapooh! It was difficult to accurately describe, for some reason.
I did go to Bowers and Merana's web site and wrote to them about it. I received this reply back (truncated on here to subject).
Dear Mr. Xxxxxxx,
Thank you for your email, which Frank forwarded to me as I handle currency in our auctions.
This is a popular error type that is seen from time to time. It is called an offset printing error. Since the note is nice and crisp, and apparently has a full transfer of the design, I would imagine that it is worth $200 to $400.
posted on August 20, 2002 11:22:59 AM new
There are dealers who specialize in these things. There is error trends magazine, which has advertizing in it. You can contact several of those dealers and see if you get offers. Perhaps they will have an auction coming up...
I tend to live a rich life vicariously through other peoples treasure finds.