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