Most people see the one-dollar bill as the most ordinary piece of cash in their wallet. It buys a snack, disappears quickly in tips, and usually doesn’t feel exciting. But for collectors, some $1 bills are worth far more than their face value—sometimes selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The secret isn’t in their age or a printing mistake, but in the unusual beauty of their serial numbers.
Every U.S. bill carries a unique eight-digit serial number. While most are unremarkable, a small fraction form patterns so rare they become prized collectibles. Entire websites, like coolserialnumbers.com, exist to help people check if the bills in their pockets are worth more than a trip to the vending machine.
The Patterns Collectors Look For
Some of the most sought-after serial number patterns include:
- Ladders: Digits in perfect ascending order (e.g., 01234567). These are incredibly rare, with only a one in ten million chance of appearing.
- Radars: Numbers that read the same forward and backward, such as 23344332.
- Repeaters: Pairs of numbers that repeat across the sequence (e.g., 01570157).
- Seven in a Row: Notes with seven identical digits in a sequence, like 11111115.
- Binary Notes: Containing only two digits in various combinations, such as 11313111.
Collectors also chase hybrid combinations—like a “radar repeater”—which combine multiple patterns into one bill.
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