Baeder already has several new Franklins with fancy serial numbers, including two radars, 4111110990.īaeder also goes to auctions, representing clients, including a billionaire, he said. The years span from an 1875 $10 note issued by the Farmers National Bank of Lancaster to the October-released redesigned $100 bill. Now, USA Rare does about $1 million in sales a year, across a huge price range, with listings from a few dollars to tens of thousands. No more having to sell to dealers who'd flip items for much higher prices. "You gotta be kidding me," his dad said.īilly came up with the name USA Rare at the dining room table in Hatboro, and the website was born. His father gave him a few to try, including a $100 note with a star. But his breakthrough contribution happened in the late 1990s, when he suggested they try selling bills on eBay. He sold it for $225,000 in 2003.Īs a child, Billy tagged along, building a coin collection. In 1977, at a show at the Adam's Mark Hotel, Willie Baeder bought a 1928 $500 bill for $1,500. Some early purchases, in hindsight, proved to be amazing bargains, because prices didn't soar until the 1990s and 2000s, Baeder said. Soon, his dad was going to shows, getting hooked on fancy serial numbers, and buying coveted stuff. "It's not like today, with all the credit cards." "He picked up stuff like this all the time because there was so much cash coming in," said Baeder, who with his brother-in-law, Gary Witzel, moved their shop to Royersford in 2010.
serial numbers upside-down," were among the misprints his father began noticing and collecting, Billy Baeder says. It was a fixture for decades on Castor Avenue in the Northeast until Billy and his brother-in-law, Gary Witzel, moved the shop to Royersford in 2010. About 20 shows are held around the country each year, like the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo, held last month in Philadelphia and next month in Baltimore.īaeder's father, William Sr., who died in May, began collecting back in the seventies, after noticing odd bills in all the cash handled at the family business, Willie's Auto & Truck Repair. Baeder paid several thousand dollars.Ĭurrency collecting is not as popular as coin collecting, "but there's a ton of people doing it," Baeder said. It was gathering dust in a drawer and turned out to be a Silver Certificate with a star, indicating it replaced a flawed original. Last year, a woman called about a $1 bill with solid 7s her mother got in change two decades or so ago.
Thus his advice about handling that crispy new bill: "Don't fold it!" Check the serial number first.Īnother tip: Know an older relative with a stash of cash? Check it. In better condition, it might have been worth triple, said Baeder, a 39-year-old married father of three. Recently, Baeder, paid $2,000 for a 2006 $1 bill, with the serial number 00000001, that a woman got in change at Walmart.
Your options: Try for a tidy profit on eBay, or consult a dealer, like Baeder's USA Rare, Executive Currency, Cool Serial Numbers, or Tickle Your Fancy Currency. Welcome to the wild world of currency collecting, where a " fancy serial number," a printing mistake, or even just a star can mean a lot of moolah, especially on a rare or historic kind of bank note.įind a bill with a serial number that's low (starting with 00000001) a "radar" (same backward and forward), a "solid" (every digit the same), a "ladder" (digits count up or down), a "double quad" (like 77773333), or has one of a half-dozen other patterns, and you might have a prize that blows the face value away.
Not that Baeder, a Royersford dealer/collector and co-owner of a car repair shop, is ready to sell. $500,000 might be a reasonable asking price, one auctioneer estimates. currency printed since 1929, when bills were shrunk to their current size. Looks like something you could get in change at the Acme.īut it just might be the most valuable piece of U.S.