Welcome to Project 2013B, a project connecting people with matching 2013B 'Duplicated Serial Number' star notes.
Project 2013B is an attempt to connect people with matching $1 star notes (specifically series 2013 with a B seal) that have a 'Duplicated Serial Number' error. This was a printing error by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, in which a range of serial numbers that were printed on $1 banknotes at their Washington DC facility, were accidently printed again at their Fort Worth, TX facility.
Normally, every bill of every denomination will have its own unique serial number, but this was not the case in the print runs of these 'New York' (B seal) Federal Reserve Notes. The main difference between the two bills is a tiny indicator showing if it was printed in Fort Worth or in Washington DC.
To be a valid error note, the duplicated serial numbers MUST fall within one of these two serial number ranges:
B00000001*-B00250000* or B03200001*-B09600000*
Any serial number that falls outside of these ranges, were serial numbers that were NOT duplicated by the Fort Worth BEP facility.
What are they worth?
Typically, one owner will buy the bill from the other owner in order to physically assemble a ‘matching pair.’ Individually, the notes are not worth much, but when paired together, and depending of the condition of the two bills, the value can approach $10,000 (or more!). 😮
Depending largely on condition, and the serial number (a very low serial number like 00000001 would be worth much more than say a serial number like 09563067). Only 20 or so completed pairs have been auctioned off, so the value is still to be fully determined, and the results have varied wildly for pairs with identical grades (condition) to each other. With the average life-span of a dollar bill being 3.7 years, the rarity of a matched pair could become increasingly difficult and rare ($$$) as time goes on.
The error in detail
This duplicated print run only applies to series 2013 bills with the serial numbers in the ranges of B00000001* to B00250000* and B03200001* to B09600000*
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| Location of B seal denoting New York Federal Reserve Note |
The 'star' after the serial number indicates that the bill is a replacement banknote. A replacement banknote, commonly referred to as a star note, is a banknote that is printed to replace another banknote and is used as a control mechanism for governments or monetary authorities to know the exact number of banknotes being printed. The bills being replaced could be faulty ones (where something went wrong in the printing process) or to replace bills that are so worn out that the government pulls them from circulation and destroys them.
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| Location of B serial number suffix, the 'star', and the "Series 2013" indicator |
The difference between a note printed in Washington, and one printed in Fort Worth, can be found in the Face Plate Text. If the number has an 'FW' in front of it, it was printed in the Fort Worth, Texas facility; otherwise it was printed in Washington DC.
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| Locations of key information |
The 'Database'
Project 2013B maintains a database of serial numbers submitted by both paper money collectors and the general public alike. The email addresses of each member are kept private, and only when the project's administrator discovers that both the Fort Worth and Washington printed banknotes have been submitted, does he contact both parties that they have a 'matching pair'.
The database of serial numbers submitted from collectors and non-collectors all over the world, is publicly viewable on this website. It can be viewed HERE, or by clicking the top left icon on the website and navigating to 2013B Database, or through the DATABASE button at the bottom of this website page. The list is a LARGE PDF file of over 1200 pages, so this is not something that most mobile phones can handle. Overall, the list itself is not much use to most people as Project 2013B will contact you when a match is detected for your serial number(s). All we ask is that you provide an email address that you check regularly, and to also check your SPAM folder!
Confirmed Match
Here is an example of a matching pair of notes with this duplicate serial number error that was discovered on this very website:
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| The new graphics are even better! |
Back around 2017, in an attempt to help currency collecting community in finding a matching pair of notes, Mr. Ed Zegers of Maryland and Mr. Karol Winograd of Florida started a project of recording all the serial numbers submitted to them by fellow collectors. For 3 years Karol had been sending monthly project status updates and a spreadsheet of all the notes recorded to date, which by now grew to over 18,500, and 11 confirmed matched pairs! Unfortunately, citing family reasons, as of the end of September 2021, Karol had to end his involvement with the project. And that's where I came in.
With Project 2013B, and as a holder of ten 2013B star notes myself, I maintain and update the spreadsheet copy I received from the Zegers/Winograd project back in 2021, but in a more automated fashion. I hope to expand the website in the future to include collector resources, and information on other collectible and rare banknotes as well.
Submit your bill today!
Have a 2013B $1 star note that is not in the database? Submit yours here:
https://project2013b.blogspot.com/p/submit.html
Submitted prior to October 1, 2021?
The 2013B database does NOT have your email contact information, due to the previous list owners respect for his members' privacy. After putting the message out for over 2 years for Zegers-Winograd past members to send in their contact information to Project 2013B, the remaining serial numbers with no contact info were PURGED. See https://project2013b.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-great-purge-of-2023.html
Past Zegers-Winograd members who did not send in their contact info will have to resubmit their serial numbers: https://project2013b.blogspot.com/p/submit.html
I submitted my bill... now what?
You are not required to do anything else, unless of course your email address has changed. If, or when, a bill is submitted to the database, that has the same serial number as your bill, this website administrator will contact you.
I was contact my bill has a match... now what?
You are contacted within 24 hours of a match being detected in the database (list) of serial numbers. Once BOTH banknote owners respond back, I give them the email address of the other owner and you then begin negotiations. The other owner might only want to buy your bill, or for you to sell yours to them, or you BOTH may want to sell your bills as a matched pair at auction. Project 2013B will give you a fairly long and detailed list of options on how to procede.
A word about email addresses
Rest assured that your email address will NEVER be publicly viewable, nor publicly shared. The email addresses will only be used by myself (the database administrator) to contact owners when their bill has a matching serial number on the list.
Still have questions?
If you have questions that are not answered by this page, please check out my 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQ) page before contacting me.
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| You read teh FAQ first right? |
Project News
Get news regarding this project delievered to your email inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. It's FREE. Approximately once a month it will issue of list of people's 'Owner IDs' who need to contact this website who (for whatever reason) have not responded to my attempts to contact them that they have a bill that matches another bill with the same serial number in the database. Think of it as 'insurance' in case you happen to change your email address and forget to update it at this website, or, rarely checks their email's spam folder.
Got News?
Got any news that you have heard regarding the 2013b series (or even this project itself)? Or found a broken link on this website? Contact me at:
https://project2013b.blogspot.com/p/contact-administrator.html
Stay tuned for more blog posts as news surfaces about these bills, as well as future articles on banknote collecting in general, including other types of rarities that might be in your wallet right now!
Useful Links
Easy to find buttons at the bottom of any webpage help you navigate to various sections of this website.
Serial Number Submission Form: https://bit.ly/submit2013b
Project 2013B Database: http://bit.ly/3KNpX3I
Collector Resources and Supplies: http://bit.ly/3DPo2Y7
My store (currency themed items): https://rdbl.co/3Ms0Jp8
Regards,
'Johnny'
(updated December 9, 2023)
