US Currency Guides
Every guide on the site, grouped by what you are trying to work out. If you are here about one specific note, the denomination pages in the bar above are the faster route.
Identify and check a note
Serial number checker
Type your serial and see which collector patterns it matches, with the exact odds of each. Free, runs in your browser.
Reading serial numbers
The anatomy of a modern serial: district letters, series letters, block letters, and how numbering runs work.
Star notes
What the star means, why replacement notes are printed, and how to judge whether yours came from a scarce run.
Spotting a counterfeit
Feel, tilt and check — the security features on each denomination and the checks that actually catch fakes.
Silver certificates
Blue seals, red seals, and what the 1935 and 1957 $1 certificates people find in drawers are really worth.
Grading and condition
The 70-point scale, what separates Very Fine from Extremely Fine, and when third-party grading pays for itself.
Collect, value and preserve
Collecting paper money
Choosing a focus, first purchases, archival storage, and the mistakes that cost beginners money.
Damaged and mutilated currency
When your bank can swap a note, when you need the BEP, and how to package a redemption claim.
Reference data
Bill dimensions, paper composition, the three dollar bill myth, and redesign background.
Background and history
Denomination guides
One page per denomination, covering the portrait, the design history, security features, and what moves the note above face value.
$1 bill
George Washington and the Great Seal.
$2 bill
Jefferson, the 1976 series, and the rarity myth.
$5 bill
Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial.
$10 bill
Hamilton and the Treasury Building.
$20 bill
Jackson and the White House.
$50 bill
Grant and the US Capitol.
$100 bill
Franklin and the 3D security ribbon.
$500 bill
McKinley, discontinued but still legal tender.
$1000 bill
Cleveland, last printed in 1945.