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Topic: Polymer $50 mismatched serial numbers  (Read 4099 times)
Camerinvs
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« on: November 30, 2021, 11:39:42 am »

Hello all,

My first post! Last summer on eBay I won a Macklem/Carney $50 polymer note with mismatched serial numbers. I am told that errors of this sort are quite rare in polymer notes, so I thought I should post it here

1---to document it
2---to hope for some feedback, including maybe other examples of mismatched numbers in this series.

The note is high grade, though not perfect.

walktothewater
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« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2021, 01:29:20 pm »

Welcome to CPMF @Camerinvs!

Great note & thanks for sharing.

Here's a link to a thread where this topic was discussed before.
https://cdnpapermoney.com/forum/index.php?topic=14267.0

As far as I know, only the BA International (A prefix) have had issues on their serial numbers but they've (AMC & AMF) been double printed.
https://cdnpapermoney.com/index.php?topic=15061.0

ShareBear
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« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2021, 08:18:49 pm »

I wonder if BCS or PMG would grade this note.  I stopped looking for mismatched serial numbers when the Polymer Series came out due to it being hard to certify.

 

Camerinvs
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« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2021, 01:22:50 am »

Thanks for the feedback so far.

waktothewater, I posted a link to this topic in the thread you mentioned.

ShareBear, is it that mismatched serial numbers are easy to fake?
ShareBear
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« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2021, 06:50:02 pm »

Polymer notes the SN is not easy to fake but can be done.    I have seen the China Commemorative with 8888888 where the SN was close to a solid 8 but not and one of the 8s was faked and sent into PMG for grading.  It could have slipped through easily as legit.

Camerinvs
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« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2022, 02:42:30 pm »

So, my question remains: Why are polymer notes hard to certify?
Archey80
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« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2022, 07:05:41 pm »

No it should be quite easy, I would suggest sending it or taking it to BCS grading to confirm authenticity, curious what paid if you don't mind sharing.

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Camerinvs
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« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2022, 07:51:51 pm »

Ah, OK, I couldn't see why polymer would be a problem.

As for how much I paid... well... I was very lucky. It was an eBay auction last July; one of about 250-300 items (coins and notes, mostly Canadian). The main picture was the front and the description was just this: 2012 CANADA 50 DOLLARS BANKNOTE. So, without clicking on it, there was no way to know that it was an error note. My maximum bid was $250, assuming I wouldn't win. Well, there were only 5 bids, and I got it for US $40 (= C $49.83) + taxes & shipping. Obviously nobody had noticed the mismatched serial numbers.  ???
Archey80
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« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2022, 10:25:06 pm »

Wow congrats, makes you want to go over every single listing  :'(

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walktothewater
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« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2022, 01:16:18 pm »

I agree that its a beauty. I also highly doubt it was "faked" whatever that means. For some bizarre reason, if there's one aspect of a banknote forgers often blunder on, its the font of the serial number & this one looks bang-on to me.

It also happens to be in great shape (if you do decide to certify it) @Camerinvs. I'm pretty sure Steven Bell (from BCS) would certify & attribute this mismatched SN error note. He would let you know if he doubted its legitimacy beforehand too. 

Camerinvs
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« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2022, 06:47:17 pm »

Yes, if I were to sell it, I would first have it certified. Thanks, walktothewater, for the reference. For the time being, it's filling my Macklem/Carney spot!

And, in reply to Archey80, I checked it out more closely because I just didn't see the point of putting up a regular circulating note for auction, even in reasonably high grade (it is very lightly circulated).

Ah, and I always forget to point out that if you look closely, the "2" on the right side is slightly higher. This may be part of the reason why there's a mismatch. Also, it would mean that the same kind of equipment is used for serials numbers on polymer that was used before 2011 (the possibility that it had changed with polymer was suggested in another thread).
 

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