Its been over a month since I posted this question and.. well.. the response has been less than thrilling.
So I'm attempting to make some assumptions on the 3 questions I posted based on some incomplete info I've been seeing over the past month:
1) How many 2003 BEP are out there?Copperpete (in a BER Hi/Low post) mentions that he believes that BEP were released out west and in Central Canada. His statement was in relation to the release of BET and how many prefixes were released in random batches across the country (ie BEL and 2003 BER). I consider this a fairly accurate assessment as we know most BET were discovered in or east of Quebec. Very few of the "lost prefixes" (such as 03- BER) have been picked up in and around Vancouver, Edmonton, and a few in Ontario. I believe that a few batches (or bricks) of BEP had similar random distribution -- but that whole or partial bricks (bundles) were released and I'm assuming that many were collected (or put aside) by collectors.
The short answer to this is:
no one really knows how many BEP made it to circulation. I imagine (and estimate) that as many BEP as 2004 BER made it into circulation (around a million or less) and that it is a short issue but it was released by different means (than 2004 BER). I believe its possible that a good many notes came off the top or bottom of bricks- hence the wide range of serial numbers reported. If you are looking for UNC notes -- they tend to lie around certain number ranges that brick hunters put aside.
2)
Are BEP as rare as 2004 BET or BER? Yes -- I believe so (perhaps rarer) but they don't carry a short prefix or change-over status. I noticed a member offered some BEP for sale yet did not see too many members scramble for them. Collectors do recognize that they're not often up for sale, and they're definitely not as common as other common prefixes, but the jury is still out on how rare they truly are. Since the debate is anything but resolved there are likely a few collectors hoarding notes to see what happens.
3)
Why the discrepancy in Charlton BV? I'm beginning to believe that several established Journey collectors got their hands on UNC BEP when the notes were released. The present demand for BEP may be weaker than either 2004 BER or BET but since its not an official change-over, and no authorities have deemed it that RARE --it will likely lag behind the other two in book value for the next couple years.
Conclusion:
It may take some time yet before there is a good idea of how rare BEP are (kind of like 2004 HOH -less than 240,000- not terribly easy to come by, but not impossible either). There are a great deal more in circulated condition than UNC, but there may be enough in UNC not to create the same kind of demand (as BET or BER). 2004 BER is a change over with high publicity prefix (due to its super scarce 2003 cousin) and the BET is the last of the original $10 Journey series. The hallmarks of these prefixes probably account for their popularity and demand -- yet the BEP could be equally rare making it the "sleeper" of the 3.
