You could have an expensive surprise hiding in your wallet.
With cryptocurrency booming, Bitcoin hitting record highs, and even President Trump releasing his own meme coin, it's still clear that money makes the world go round.
While it seems the likes of Trump and Musk are trying to push us to a crypto future, physical money isn't going anywhere just yet. It might not be as simple as printing more money to solve the world's monetary problems, but chances are, you probably have a wallet full of bills right now.
The first one-dollar bill was issued as legal tender in 1862, and although it currently features George Washington, the original honored Salmon P. Chase - the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln.
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Although you might not think of your one-dollar bills, tending to dish them out as tips at bars or throwing them at drag queens, Wealthy Nickel warns you should check them before giving them away.
According to the personal finance blog, a rare printing error from the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing means certain $1 bills could now be worth up to $150,000.
Two batches were printed with the error in 2014 and 2016, but before the Bureau could intercept the bills, they were released into general circulation.
It all started when the Bureau asked the Washington DC facility for a batch in November 2014. When the Fort Worth facility accidentally asked for the same batch in July 2016, it meant the bills were duplicated with the same serial numbers.
With the Bureau technically counterfeiting itself, there could've been some serious trouble. Unfortunately for the government, because the mistake was caught too late, there are now pairs of bills with matching serial numbers out there somewhere.
The site reiterates that 6.4 million pairs of these matching $1 bills went out into circulation, and despite that seeming like a lot, the fact that billions of bills are out there right now means it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
To this day, only 37 pairs of matching bills have been found.
A video from Silverpicker explains that the duplication anomaly went unnoticed until a banknote collector spotted an error in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s public documents. The Bureau apparently wasn't willing to admit to its mistakes, but after the collector filed a Freedom of Information Act request, it had to come clean.
Get out your magnifying glasses if you want to earn a cool $150,000, with the bills in question having the following characteristics:
- A Series date near the photograph of George Washington reading 'Series 2013'
- The matching bills needs to include a 'B' Federal Reserve Seal above the serial number
- The serial number has to end with an asterisk and like between B00000001* – B00250000* or B03200001*-B09600000*
If you think you're on the money, you're encouraged to submit your serial number to the Project 2013B site and see if it's matched with one of the other 36,000 numbers in the database.
None of the owners of the 37 matching pairs have been willing to sell yet, but with experts estimating these bills could go for anywhere between $20,000 and $150,000 if properly graded, you could soon be rolling in it.
Even though you'll be kicking yourself if you tip your waiter with a $1 bill worth $150,000, you might've just made someone else's day.