As someone who carries very little to no cash on them, there have been many times when all I saw when I looked into my wallet were two one-dollar bills. I'm sure many of you can relate.

I guess I just didn't realize that I actually had $300,000 on me instead of just two bucks. To be honest, I'm sure that my two one-dollar bills were only worth two dollars, but there are lots of one-dollar bills out there that carry a much higher value than their face-value, but you have to know what to look for.

So let's get into that.

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It's all about the serial numbers. (Getty Images)
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Conceptual of poor woman during Coronavirus recession, economic crisis.
Check the other side. (Getty Images)
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Why Do Typos Or Misprints Make Something More Valuable Anyway? How Does Screwing Something Up Make People Want It So Badly?

It's mostly due to the fact that the printing of currency is an incredibly tightly controlled process. However, like anything conceived of, and run by, human beings mistakes can and do happen. It's just that they happen very rarely when it comes to the printing process for our money.

When they do happen, the world of numismatics (which, according to the United States Mint, is a nice, polysyllabic word for "the study and collecting of things that are used as money, including coins, tokens, and paper bills.") gets very excited about it, especially when there's a potential for a big payday.

woman holding wallet with u.s. $1 paper bills showing
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United States one dollar bills in macro photography.
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The Added Value To These Particular One-Dollar Bills Is Not Because Of An Actual Misprint Or Typo, It's Because Of When And Where They Were Printed

It started back in 2014, when the Federal Reserve sent out an order to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing for a new issue of one-dollar bills. Those bills were printed, all 3 million-plus of them, with no issue.

The problem occurred when another order was sent out in 2016 for another set of one-dollar bills...with the same serial numbers as the previous set from 2014.

That means that two printings, one from New York, one from Washington, DC, both carried the same serial numbers. That's a problem because all currency is supposed to have unique serial numbers, not shared serial numbers. That's where the value comes in.

close up of $1 US dollar banknote
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Here's What You Need To Know If You're Planning On Checking Your Supply Of One-Dollar Bills

The good news is that there are over 6 million of these dual-serial numbered dollar bills floating around in circulation, the bad news is that to be valuable, you'll need two 1 dollar bills that have matching serial numbers. More good news is that only 9 matching pairs have been found so far.

According to WealthyNickel, dollar bills that could be worth thousands have three indicators:

    • The Series date located near the photograph of George Washington should read "Series 2013."
    • The bill must have a "B" Federal Reserve Seal above the serial number.
    • The serial number must end with a star (*) and fall between B00000001* – B00250000* or B03200001*-B09600000*

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Gallery Credit: Chandler Friedman

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