$100 US Paper Money Errors: Starting Your Collection of Misprints
Money misprints and bill errors arise from a variety of different mistakes in the printing process. Most errors are caught and destroyed, so bills with mistakes that make it into circulation are highly collectible. Affordable $100 bill misprints are fun items to add to your paper money collection.
What you need to know about the 2009 series $100 bill errorsThe 2009 series $100 bill is infamous for printing errors. Typically, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving destroys about 5% of printed bills due to printing errors. The destruction rate of the 2009 series $100 bill was reported to be 30%. The printers had issues with the new paper and security features. The paper often creased in the printer, producing unprinted portions of the bill. The ink also failed to apply correctly, creating blurry images and text.
The Bureau of Printing and engraving destroyed many of the 2009 series $100 bill misprints. However, many were released to circulation. Since errors are more common in this series, this is an affordable $100 bill misprint for you to collect.
Collecting the misaligned $100 billMisalignment occurs when the paper is misloaded, and as a consequence, features of the bill are in the wrong place. Both printed images and security features can be misaligned. Many of the security features of the $100 bill are embedded in the paper itself. If the paper is loaded incorrectly in the press, the security features of the money will be misaligned.
The most famous example of this is the 1996 misprinted $100 bill, which features the $100 bill watermark error. The paper was loaded incorrectly, and the security ribbon and Franklin watermark are improperly placed. The correct placement has the security thread on the left and the watermark on the right. In the misprinted $100 bills, the watermark is on the left and the security ribbon is on the right. The Federal Reserve and the United States Secret Service managed to recall 50,000 of these bills, but it is unclear how many are still out there. They are still legal tender, so you will find circulated new and used 1996 misprinted $100 bills.
What determines the value of miscut bills?A collectible error is a $100 bill cut wrong. In this error, you find parts of two bills on the note. The miscut $100 bill value depends strongly on the degree that it was miscut. The more significant the misalignment, the more valuable the bill tends to be. A bill that contains two half $100 would be more collectible than a bill with 95% of one note and 5% of the other note.
Content provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.