I found a dollar bill that is....off

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FlaMtnBkr

FlaMtnBkr

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I found a dollar bill on the side of the road while out riding my 4 wheeler. I put it in my pocket with a couple $20. A few days later I got change from a store and put the bills with the others and put the ones next to the one I found. I immediately noticed a difference. The front with Mr Washington was quite a few shades whiter than the other bills. I then put it next to another one and noticed it is about 3/16" shorter (guessing on that). It's not just cut shorter but everything printed on the bill is 'compressed' to fit on the shorter length. That's where the differences end. Everything else looks like a legit dollar bill. The paper feels right and has the red and blue fibers. The print looks detailed and crisp. The serial number is straight and even. I have looked at it with a loupe and compared it to other bills and it looks the same to me.

What do I have? Every thing I have found says all currency is 6.14" long. And it's not like it accidentally got cut a little short. It is actually made to be a little shorter than other bills. And the front is more white. I just can't imagine anyone taking the time to make a really high quality counterfeit one dollar bill. And everything about it looks real other than the two things I mentioned above. I don't really want to take it to a bank if it might somehow be real but with a mistake. I have seen currency errors make the value go up quite a bit. If it somehow was printed shorter, I would say that is a fairly big error. My googling hasn't produced anything about short bills, counterfeit or real. Anyone have any ideas?

If I can find my camera I will take some pics otherwise I only have my 8 MP camera phone which I don't know if it will capture enough detail.
 
I've had bills that have gone through the washer, and/or sat out in the sun that looked quite faded. They even felt a bit rougher. As for the shrinkage, I have no idea. Who would really want to waste the effort to conterfeit a $1. If it were a $20, I might understand.

I say take it to a bank, and see if they can verify the authenticity. Of course, be up front that you suspect it might be fake. Otherwise, they may get you for trying to pass it off.;)
 
I'm sorry but I just can't believe it's counterfeit. And I would turn it in to a bank so they could investigate it if I do decide I think it's fake. Unless another government is making them with nearly unlimited resources I don't buy it. This wasn't made in a garage or warehouse. I can't find the first mistake using a 10X loupe.

Where I found it is a very small coastal town where they used to catch a lot of 'square grouper' in the 70's. That would make quite the local conspiracy theory.
 
Just stop by your bank on a slow day. Any bank teller can spot a counterfeit from three feet away.
 
Why would anyone bother counterfeiting a $1 bill?


Edit: Apparently, there are people counterfeiting very old $1 bills that have collector's value. I know that there are counterfeit silver dollars.
 
Counterfeiters never make one dollar bills, it's not worth their time. It is however possible to shrink paper money. i don't know how but i remember a kid in middle school doing it for the science fair, but his ended up being much smaller than that. I'd keep it.
P.S. $20 bills are the most counterfeit bills.
 
Take your thumb nail and scratch the lapel of the jacket of Mr. Washington. You should feel ridges or bumps in the ink. If you do not, it may be fake, if you feel bumps, it is real. Counterfeiters cannot duplicate the bumps on the lapel of the Pres's jackets.
 
I have see way more fake $1's than any other bill. I used to work farmers markets and got them quite often. The reason for faking 1's is that noone checks them. When was the last time you looked at all the dollar bills someone handed you?

I would go to a liquor store and ask them to verify it, they see fakes all the time. Use their pen to check the paper first.


-Xander
 
I took it by the bank and they ran it through a machine that said it was real. I will still try to post pictures. I have no idea why it would be more compressed in one dimension but it is. Weird.
 
Maybe it's just a bill that went through the washer and dryer. If you're curious enough, you could run a fresh bill through the wash and dry cycle and see what happens.
 
Back in tha day, a little birdie I knew made 20's. He said he had problems getting them to pass the pen test until he tried using starch free paper. The pen test is iodine based and turns black in the presence of starch.
 
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