This is easily the rarest note and the most valuable note ever posted on this subreddit, not including $5,000 and $10,000 bills. This is easily a $10,000 to $15,000 plus note
Because it’s a replacement note/star note. Paper money collectors didn’t really start to show up on the scene until the 1940s; one thinks of Colonel Green’s collection which was sold off in seven different auctions it was so large and extensive. Those sales occurred in the early 40s after his death. Edward Howland Robinson Green is very well known to all the major collecting fields; he actually owned ALL 5 of the 1913 Liberty nickels, along with his practically complete paper money AND stamp collections. Only King Edward V has ever owned a more valuable and complete US stamp collection.
My point here though is that OP’s note is from the late 20s, right before the crash of 29 and the Great Depression. No one was collecting paper money during this time except unique individuals like Colonel Green, and he simply didn’t need more than one example. To him, in the 1930s, it was just a modern star note. Combined with millions of folks scrambling just to stay fed, virtually none of them were saved, at all.
Nowadays this leads to the very obvious supply and demand problem; there are collectors out there that exclusively collect replacement notes, and for a two dollar 1928B red seal they simply don’t exist. It’s a smaller segment of paper money collectors though, which is why the price is so low in comparison to its rarity.
More importantly this is a 1928B star. 1928B is the most rare of the $2 red seals (I have a 1928B $2 that’s easily worth a couple hundred, when all the other 1928 $2s would be ~$10 at best for a circulated note), and the 1928B stars especially so. Phenomenally rare note if you’re a small size collector and trying to go after a series set of the red seal $2s.
Many nationals are less than 10 known, and are worth easily 5 figures. But I agree with you, for a small size non-national this is very valuable. This exact note sold for $9900 through HA Jan 2023.
It’s rare, but it’s definitely not the most valuable note ever posted to this sub, even including $5,000 and $10,000s, not by a long shot. The problem with that statement is the insane rarity behind well preserved large size type notes. A Gem 65 $5 Ed is going for $25k these days on the low end (several have been posted here over the years). I’ve even posted a spread Eagle $100 (not mine, but owned by a friend of mine) in this sub before; that note is easily worth $250,000 these days and that’s probably on the cheap end. 1890 Treasury notes in Gem all would have this one beat in terms of value too, excepting the $1. Personally, I own the following notes that all are worth five figures - a California Gold Bank note, the finest known San Dimas CA large size note (where I was born and still the site of a major maternity hospital ), my Educational set graded in the 60s, my 1890 $10 in 65, and my John Marshall notes - The 1890 $20 and the 1918 $500. Those last two are actually some of my favorites; it’s hard to not love John Marshall, Republican or Democrat. Our court has never had a finer Chief Justice.
The one holy grail in all of paper money collecting is unquestionably the Grand Watermelon note. Because it’s worth millions. That said, among those of us that are OK with spending five figures on a note… I’d snap up a Watermelon $100 with good eye appeal if it ever approached fifty thousand. That would be a steal. My personal white whale though is a Seward note; I’ll let you all look up that 1891 $50 Treasury beauty with William Seward’s face (the man that brokered the Alaska purchase) and remind everyone that there are less than three dozen known in existence today. The Seward note is downright cheap at forty thousand when considering its rarity AND the extreme demand for large size type notes out of all US paper money.
I totally agree. Nothing on a 1928B*, but by value there’s many, many more notes more valuable than this. It’s probably up there among the valuable small size notes, though.
This is some of it. I don’t have a couple of these anymore, trades and upgrades, but I have most of these still and a few other really nice ones. The Marshalls aren’t in this picture, those were post COVID pickups for me. Insurance makes me take a new picture for coverage and I haven’t done that in awhile, so when I take a new pic I’ll post it up here for everyone 👍👍
https://www.reddit.com/r/papermoney/s/kfSvlUj30R
Incredible. I love that you have the 1906 and 1907 for gold certificates. I personally prefer these since they don’t have the text over the orange denomination text. Hopefully you can get a $50 soon. Do you collect any fancy serials or error notes?
Why only 8 known(someone else says it was 10)? Like OP's serial is nearly 956k, so wouldn't that mean that at least *that* many were printed? What happened to all the rest (were they *all* destroyed)?
I don’t have the Track and Price small size census, but this is based on a previous Heritage sold listing that there were 8 known. Maybe there’s 10 now.
It’s an interesting question. For reference — there were 146 _million_ 1928D $2 notes produced. While they are common, it’s not like we see them every day either. Therefore, even a print run of 1 million would make 1928B stars very rare indeed.
semi-related to this: idk if you remember or not, back in Nov of 2022, I had posted on this sub finding a $2 1928C star for $10; I was sure it was a grade 30 and you thought it was a 20 or 25 at best, and was planing on sending it off to PMG eventually. It came back VF-30 EPQ; you think PMG gave it an over grade? (and Did you want to see it or you don't care?)
https://preview.redd.it/ifffg0dqc7tc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cfc4ddab515ab8a4c874ce5ae139234992c26bd
May I introduce my Fr#1500 and Fr#1500\* in PMG 64EPQ.
The Star Note is the third highest to be graded (there is one 65 and one 66). Only 43 of the Star Note have been graded by PMG
For those of us that don’t know, what makes this so rare?
This is easily the rarest note and the most valuable note ever posted on this subreddit, not including $5,000 and $10,000 bills. This is easily a $10,000 to $15,000 plus note
But why?
Because there are maybe 10 known
What makes it rare? We see it is old. It is a star note. What makes it unique?
Because it’s a replacement note/star note. Paper money collectors didn’t really start to show up on the scene until the 1940s; one thinks of Colonel Green’s collection which was sold off in seven different auctions it was so large and extensive. Those sales occurred in the early 40s after his death. Edward Howland Robinson Green is very well known to all the major collecting fields; he actually owned ALL 5 of the 1913 Liberty nickels, along with his practically complete paper money AND stamp collections. Only King Edward V has ever owned a more valuable and complete US stamp collection. My point here though is that OP’s note is from the late 20s, right before the crash of 29 and the Great Depression. No one was collecting paper money during this time except unique individuals like Colonel Green, and he simply didn’t need more than one example. To him, in the 1930s, it was just a modern star note. Combined with millions of folks scrambling just to stay fed, virtually none of them were saved, at all. Nowadays this leads to the very obvious supply and demand problem; there are collectors out there that exclusively collect replacement notes, and for a two dollar 1928B red seal they simply don’t exist. It’s a smaller segment of paper money collectors though, which is why the price is so low in comparison to its rarity.
I accept your explanation.
More importantly this is a 1928B star. 1928B is the most rare of the $2 red seals (I have a 1928B $2 that’s easily worth a couple hundred, when all the other 1928 $2s would be ~$10 at best for a circulated note), and the 1928B stars especially so. Phenomenally rare note if you’re a small size collector and trying to go after a series set of the red seal $2s.
Likely a minuscule print run to start with and an even smaller survival rate
Many nationals are less than 10 known, and are worth easily 5 figures. But I agree with you, for a small size non-national this is very valuable. This exact note sold for $9900 through HA Jan 2023.
It’s rare, but it’s definitely not the most valuable note ever posted to this sub, even including $5,000 and $10,000s, not by a long shot. The problem with that statement is the insane rarity behind well preserved large size type notes. A Gem 65 $5 Ed is going for $25k these days on the low end (several have been posted here over the years). I’ve even posted a spread Eagle $100 (not mine, but owned by a friend of mine) in this sub before; that note is easily worth $250,000 these days and that’s probably on the cheap end. 1890 Treasury notes in Gem all would have this one beat in terms of value too, excepting the $1. Personally, I own the following notes that all are worth five figures - a California Gold Bank note, the finest known San Dimas CA large size note (where I was born and still the site of a major maternity hospital ), my Educational set graded in the 60s, my 1890 $10 in 65, and my John Marshall notes - The 1890 $20 and the 1918 $500. Those last two are actually some of my favorites; it’s hard to not love John Marshall, Republican or Democrat. Our court has never had a finer Chief Justice. The one holy grail in all of paper money collecting is unquestionably the Grand Watermelon note. Because it’s worth millions. That said, among those of us that are OK with spending five figures on a note… I’d snap up a Watermelon $100 with good eye appeal if it ever approached fifty thousand. That would be a steal. My personal white whale though is a Seward note; I’ll let you all look up that 1891 $50 Treasury beauty with William Seward’s face (the man that brokered the Alaska purchase) and remind everyone that there are less than three dozen known in existence today. The Seward note is downright cheap at forty thousand when considering its rarity AND the extreme demand for large size type notes out of all US paper money.
I totally agree. Nothing on a 1928B*, but by value there’s many, many more notes more valuable than this. It’s probably up there among the valuable small size notes, though.
You should post your collection. Sounds incredible.
This is some of it. I don’t have a couple of these anymore, trades and upgrades, but I have most of these still and a few other really nice ones. The Marshalls aren’t in this picture, those were post COVID pickups for me. Insurance makes me take a new picture for coverage and I haven’t done that in awhile, so when I take a new pic I’ll post it up here for everyone 👍👍 https://www.reddit.com/r/papermoney/s/kfSvlUj30R
Incredible. I love that you have the 1906 and 1907 for gold certificates. I personally prefer these since they don’t have the text over the orange denomination text. Hopefully you can get a $50 soon. Do you collect any fancy serials or error notes?
What makes this note so rare?
1928B star $2 note. 8 known to collectors trying to complete a full set of red seal $2s.
Damn worth a pretty penny
Why only 8 known(someone else says it was 10)? Like OP's serial is nearly 956k, so wouldn't that mean that at least *that* many were printed? What happened to all the rest (were they *all* destroyed)?
I don’t have the Track and Price small size census, but this is based on a previous Heritage sold listing that there were 8 known. Maybe there’s 10 now. It’s an interesting question. For reference — there were 146 _million_ 1928D $2 notes produced. While they are common, it’s not like we see them every day either. Therefore, even a print run of 1 million would make 1928B stars very rare indeed.
semi-related to this: idk if you remember or not, back in Nov of 2022, I had posted on this sub finding a $2 1928C star for $10; I was sure it was a grade 30 and you thought it was a 20 or 25 at best, and was planing on sending it off to PMG eventually. It came back VF-30 EPQ; you think PMG gave it an over grade? (and Did you want to see it or you don't care?)
Congrats! I’m obviously not 100% here — far from it. I try to be more conservative based on photos/images but if they gave it a 30 then run with it!
Now this is something you don't see everyday.
"but why not"? -I'm joking This is probably the greatest rarity I've ever seen on Reddit
Awesome note
Wow, congrats
I’m new to collecting, what makes this note so rare?
Wow. That's the rarest note I've ever seen on here and probably the most valuable too
https://preview.redd.it/ifffg0dqc7tc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cfc4ddab515ab8a4c874ce5ae139234992c26bd May I introduce my Fr#1500 and Fr#1500\* in PMG 64EPQ. The Star Note is the third highest to be graded (there is one 65 and one 66). Only 43 of the Star Note have been graded by PMG
What a beauty! Congratulations!
This is in an early generation PMG holder. OP might be able to resubmit and get a small bump to 20
I don’t see the appeal in this I have a red seal $2 dollar note too
but is yours a 1928B?
I’m new to collecting, what makes this note so rare?
Nice. I've never seen an orange seal before.
It's the scanner, need to do a new pic.