Sorry if I sound cynical, but error notes are not good investments as they don't generally go up in value over time and they appeal only to a small segment of the collecting community, mainly specialists in the area. Has there ever been a sudden interest in a certain error type that sent the market upward, even briefly? I don't ever recall that happening.
I would tend to agree with the above comments. I think it's instructive to consider paper money errors relative to postage stamp errors and coin errors.
POSTAGE STAMP errors have been immensely popular for over 100 years with some of the most famous errors (e.g., inverted centres, colour errors, missing perforations) selling for many thousands of dollars, and even hundreds of thousands in a few notable cases. In the case of postage stamps,
ink printing errors tend to fetch much higher prices than
folding/cutting errors COIN errors have never caught on in the same way as postage stamp errors and most are available in the $20-$200 range. Coin collectors tend to seek
perfection and errors are really the antithesis of perfection, at least that's the way I see it.
PAPER MONEY errors are certainly popular with some collectors but, as with coin errors, they have never attracted the really big money. As with postage stamps, I would tend to feel that
ink printing errors (on an otherwise perfect note) are likely to have much better upward price potential than
folding/cutting errors. I don't personally feel much attraction to notes that have all sorts of strange paper appendages although I know some collectors just love 'em like that. I still prefer my bills in original high-grade condition with WIDE EVEN MARGINS!
« Last Edit: October 07, 2006, 07:55:14 am by Ottawa »
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" Buy the very best notes that you can afford and keep them for at least 10 years. " (Richard D. Lockwood, private communication, 1978).