Expert: Ronald Fern - 12/20/2010

Question
My wife received a $1 silver Certificate as a tip. Counting her tips for he I noticed the difference in the $1 bill. I see on the internet a $1 SC is fairly common. and even off center cuts seem somewhat common. However, most of the off centers seem to point toward an off center down and to the right from what I've read.
The bill I have is up and to the left on the front and up and to the right on the back.
The top and left side of the front is not much wider that a #2 pencil lead while the bottom and right is much larger.

The back is off center to the top and right. While not being that drastic it is a visible difference to the naked eye.

It has the signature of Anderson and Priest. Above Anderson's name on the right it has "1957 Series" on the left and "G235" on the right. The bill is very crisp but does have evidence of folding a few times because when my wife received it she just tucked it in her apron.. Nothing major or permanent looking.
One more thing. Looking at it under a magnifying glass it has some black/blue and red lines or maybe fibers all throughout the surface. I can't tell if it is some kind of fiber embeded in the paper because it is on the front and back or maybe someone touched it a lot with a pen or something similiar. You can't see these marks with the naked eye. At least I can't.
I'm not a collector but I'm wondering if someone gave my wife a better tip than what she/they thought.
Thanks for any info and sorry it so long but I tried to be as descriptive as possible.

Answer
Hi Fred:

Thanks for your question. You did a fine job in describing what you have. Bills are printed in sheets of 36 notes and in three phases. Reverse print, obverse print, and serial numbers with seal print. They then are cut and put into bundles of 100. Unfortunately, for a note to be considered an error, the direction of the cut, or the centering of the note, actually has to be off enough to see another bill from the error cutting or alignment. Folding the bill, along with an uncentered image, actually decreases the value of your note. The 1957 Series is relatively common. An EF note has a retail value of about $3.50 to an interested collector.

Here's a link for history of the $1 bills: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-dollar_bill

Here's link for you to view different types of real error currency and their values.

Link: http://www.coinsite.com/html/uscurrencyerrors.asp

You may want to check US coins and currency listings under errors on eBay from time to time to see if your note is listed what this type of item may bring.

If you live close to a local shop, they should offer an opinion as to the value at no charge. Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. If you should decide to sell your items to a dealer, remember they will offer about 50% to 60% of the retail value. Here's a link to find one in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

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Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.