Expert: Ronald Fern - 9/23/2010

Question
I have a $5.00 bill that has an extra flap (the flap does have color on it, front side has purple & back has yellow) on the upper right corner from being folded during the cut process. It is a 2006 series. I was just wondering if this is something worth holding on to.
Thanks,
Kelly WI

Answer
Hi Kelly:

Thanks for your question.

From the description, your bill sounds like one of the more "common" error notes. It's a cutting error, sometimes called a "butterfly". Condition is very important. Bills are printed in sheets of 36 notes and in three phases. Obverse print, reverse print, and serial numbers with seal print. It is likely one or more sheets were folded during the last phase of printing. The sheet(s) went through the final printing operation with the serial numbers and seal print. The sheet, with the error(s), went unnoticed during the cutting and final inspection phase. There may have been several others with a similar error like yours to "escape" into circulation.

A bill in crisp Uncirculated condition like yours would have a retail value of approximately $50 to $100 to an interested error collector.

Here's a link for currency grading: http://www.cganotes.com/

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

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

Here's a link with information on FRN's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Note

Here's a link for history of the $5 bills: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_five-dollar_bill

You may want to check US currency listings under error notes on eBay from time to time to see if your error is listed what this type of error note brings.

Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. If you should decide to sell your bills 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

My recommendations on who to sell to:
http://www.fredweinberg.com/ (a personal long time friend)
http://www.executivecurrency.com/

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.