I received a twenty dollar bill (clearly not a counterfeit) today that had some unusual color markings: the serial numbers and the seal printed over the word “twenty” are a deep teal color (instead of the normal green). The seal on the left is a deep purple (rather than black).
Is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing using different colored inks these days? Or has a U.S. currency anomaly finally fallen into my hands? Is this bill worth more than twenty bucks? Considerably? Or are there thousands of these errors (if, in fact, it is a mistake) out there in circulation?
Sounds like an anomoly to me, but I’m no expert… On the rare occasions I have cash, it’s ones and fives - debit card for everything else.
But if you send it to me, I’ll be happy to, er, study it…
New Twenty or Old Twenty?
If it is an old-style bill, you may have a Silver Certificate or some other form of currency than the Federal Reserve Note we all know and love. These were produced up until the late sixties - check the date near the bottom of the front, to the right of the portrait. Unless they’ve recently changed things, the serial numbers should be the same color as the seal under the word ‘Twenty,’ as they are part of the same printing.
Check the top of the bill on the front side. Does it say something about “Silver Certificate” instead of “Federal Reserve Note”? Does it look something like the one here?
Ooops. Sorry, forgot to mention:
This is a “new” twenty (1996), complete with watermark, security thread, prismatic ink and microprinting.
Take it to a coin shop to check (it’s hard to know without looking at it). But it’s probably worth about $20. Print anomalys do happen, but they aren’t rare/interesting enough to be worth much to collectors. Perhaps if some of the type was out of place, but an ink olor error isn’t enough of a difference.
Great conversation piece, though.
I have a couple funny things like that, but sadly they don’t have much value, but they are pretty cool to have.
It doesn’t sound like a printing mistake from the BEP. My educated guess is something bleached it. Not saying “bleach” ,but something.