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Web
Press Notes
Valuable information on Web notes - the Rare Experimental US Paper Money! Some Questions answered. |
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FACT: THE WEB PRESS IS DEAD AND GONE. Web Notes will never be made again. The Federal Reserve Experiment with the "Web Press" created one of the most unique and unexpected collectibles in the history of Paper Money.
The publishing of this information to you, the collector or dealer, has made it clearer as to what Web Notes are all about. It is certain that you will find yourself coming back again to reference the information on this web site. Please feel free to use our Web Note Search utility and large collection of compiled information. Thanks for stopping in ... come back anytime! A Web Note is a type of US $1 bill printed by the BEP (Bureau of Printing and Engraving). They are commonly referred to as Web Press Notes, Web-Fed notes, or simply, Webs. These notes are different from typical $1 Federal Reserve Notes that you find in circulation every day, although at first glance you may not know it. As a matter of fact, even some "paper money experts" to this day can not distinguish the difference between the two. The Web Note was the US Government's last ditch effort to make the production of the One Dollar Bill cost effective. A Web-Fed Press was built which printed one dollar notes on a roll , much like a newspaper. Traditional methods of printing US Paper Money is on flat sheets. This press was eventually completed and produced a limited number of notes while simultaneously printing sheet fed notes on the traditional presses. The notes printed on the "Alexander-Hamilton Web-Fed Press" were produced for the following series: 1988-A, 1993, and 1995. The Press cost Hundreds of Millions of Dollars! Of course, the US Government and US Taxpayers picked up the tab. The vast amount of errors, and instability of the press led the government to abandon the entire project and sell the equipment for scrap Metal! A Web-Fed Note is a product of this press and is considered RARE! Very Simple. Look at the photos below ... notice the little tiny "A 47" in the lower right of this bill labeled "C"? This is a typical "plate position indicator" containing tiny letters and numbers. This is NOT a web-fed note.
Another way to identify a Web Note is on the Reverse of the note. On the back of the note, both sheet fed and web fed have plate numbers as well, but they are found in a different location. See photos below:
This is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive, so frequent in fact, that it has its own page dedicated to it. You can Click Here for more information on how "worth" is defined, but if you are looking to find out a web note's rarity and market value, use our Web Note Search Tool, find your specific note in the appropriate grade (if available) , and use the price guide. Roughly 80% of that figure can give you a great place to figure out a note's market value. Which are the Rarest Web Notes? The rarest notes known, or unknown are usually, but not always the most highly valued. By searching through the Web Note Database, you can obtain information on any known web note, rarity, value, etc... Keep in mind that these can change at any time, in the event that our information is updated. Look specifically at the "Rarity Number" on each datapage when conducting a search. Just for the record,
ALL WEB NOTES ARE RARE ... but the "Rarest if the Rare" are
always of interest to the hard core collector. What is a "Series", a "Block", a "Run" and "Front and Back Plate" number? A Note's "series" is clearly marked on the bottom right hand side of ANY federal reserve note. The "series" is the year (Ex. 1993, 1995, or 1988-a) that the plate was created for that batch of notes. It does not neccesarily represent the year that the note was printed. A "Block" is the Letters before and after the serial number on any federal reserve note. These letters indicate what Federal Reserve Bank they were issued for. For example, look at any $1 bill ... if the serial number reads " A 23234587 C " then the block is "AC". A "Run" is a unit of production consisting of 200,000 sheets or 6,400,000 notes. There are 15 Runs to a block. You can tell what Run you have simply by using our "Run FINDER Utility" on our Web Note Search Page or using the table located in our "Terms" page. The "Front and back Plate Numbers" are actual numbers printed on any web note or federal reserve note. Also referred to as a "Plate Combo". The number is located in the front on the lower corner or upper right on the rear of the note above the "E" in "One". They represent actual mechanical pieces used in the printing process. See "How do I identify a Web Note" above for a photo depicting this information. YES. Although They are now VERY FEW and FAR BETWEEN, occasionaly web notes are still found in circulation today. The average life of a 1 dollar bill according to the Federal Reserve is 18 Months ... so these notes are obviously a dying breed and unlikely to show up regularly. Those that do surface are often old, tattered and beaten from years of wear. This is especially evident in regard to the 1988-a's. Even by the time the public caught on to the existance of web notes, most of the first produced were old, worn, and shredded. This is why1988-a's are much tougher to aquire than 1993 or 1995 series. In fact, the 50 rarest notes out of the entire 230 plus combonations are 1988-a series. If you are going to collect web notes, you want to get your hands on ALL THE 1988-A NOTES THAT YOU CAN! Money is often "tucked away", temporarily lost (perhaps in a dresser drawer), or stuck in a safe only later to be spent like a normal bill, so keep your eyes peeled ... A "non-web" is a production of notes using stock from regular intaglio printing. Apparently, the BEP, either due to an error, or just because they didn't have enough web-fed notes to make a complete "stack" of 200,000 sheets used this stock of paper for the overprinting. This is a rare occurance and only show up in Series 1988-a block BL notes, 1988-a F Star notes, and again in series 1995 Block BH. These notes are collectible due to their significance to the Web Press and strange mix up of the two processes. Why do Web notes only have Front or Back Plates up to #10? Only a real "Web Head" would ask a question like this. According to our sources, the BEP actually produced 11 plates to print all 3 series of web notes , not 10. The 1 - 10 plate numbers can be identified throughout the entire list of known notes. A gentleman who actually worked on the Alexander Hamilton Web-Fed Press as a mechanic contacted us at one time during our research of these notes. He was responcible for the actual printing of the webs and told us that the 11th plate was "dropped on the ground and destroyed" when unloading it off the truck prior to the tooling of the unit. Who else would know that? The Web Note Vocabulary is extensive ... where do I start? Start on our "Terms" page. This page was created to clearly define the jargon and terminology related to web notes, paper money, and related knowledge. A major reason why most dealers shyed away from Web Notes was because of the numerous district plate, block, and run combos. Thying to comprehend all this is like learning a new language. However, like anything else, give a little time and knowledge you will quickly catch on. Even the "experts" were confused in the beginning, in fact, so was the BEP themselves ... and they are the ones printing these up! When a collector found a F-Star Web Note in circulation, the BEP didn't even know they produced them! Talk about confusion!!! Later ... BEP officials announced some star webs were printed but they didn't know how many. How is this possible! Does the US Government even know what, and how much currency they are producing? How can I search out a specific Web Note? Again ... use our Web Note Search Tool. You can find any note. Search by Series, Block, Run and Front/Back Plate numbers. |
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As
time goes on, more information will come forth about web notes. More indexing
will take place in all currency books. More dealers and collectors will
take notice as to what they have missed. Web-fed notes are rising in value
every day. When the day comes, and it will, when paper money is no longer
used, and polymer (plastic) material takes it's place ... all paper money
will explode in value!
