Expert: Ronald Fern - 9/28/2011

Question
Hello, I have a 1996 twenty dollar bill with the face side appearing normal, but the "20" on the upper right hand corner of the back side is missing. It appears to have been blocked out during printing, as the neighboring border is also missing directly next to where the twenty should be. Is there any value to this bill other than the normal twenty bucks? thank you.

Answer
Hi Peter:

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to answer your question.

Bills are printed in sheets of 32 notes and in three phases. Reverse print, obverse print, and serial numbers with seals print. I'm guessing the type of bill you have happened in the first printing operation. It is likely your sheet had another sheet partially stuck together and the two sheets of bills went through together during the first phase of printing, causing part of the design to be missing from your sheet. Your sheet, with the errors, went unnoticed during the cutting and final inspection phase. There are likely several others in your group that may have been printed with a similar error.

A bill like yours, depending on condition, would likely have a retail value of approximately $100 to $250 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 $20 bills: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_twenty-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

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.