TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — You may want to take a closer look at any $5 bills in your wallet. They could be worth thousands.
It all has to do with the note’s unique serial number. According to The Penny Hoarder, some collectors are willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars if the serial number’s digits are unique or interesting.
In 2021, a worn down $5 bill with serial number “G88888888A” sold for $2,040, according to Heritage Auctions. The note had a “solid” serial number, which means every digit in the serial number is identical.
The Penny Hoarder reported that only about one out of every 11 million notes is a “solid.” “Solid” notes can be worth $500 or more. Some very rare ones can be worth thousands of dollars.
The Penny Hoarder said that there are 15 types of valuable serial numbers:
- Low serial number
- High number
- Flippers
- Star notes
- Repreaters and super repeaters
- Solids and near solids
- Binary bills
- Trinary bills
- Ladders
- Birthdays
- Radars and super radars
- Consecutives
- Doubles
- Double quads
- Bookends
If you happen to find a note that has rare characeristics, you should have it professionally appraised at a coin shop. Other demoinations could be worth a lot to currency collections.