MISPRINTED
ONE DOLLAR BILL IS “ONE IN A BILLION”
Authenticated
Conti Note Creates New Error Note Category called the
REPAIR
PARTS Note Classification
As a special gift for his 16
th birthday in 1968, Dennis
Conti received a ten dollar check from a loving aunt. Conti took this check to
his Bridgeport, Connecticut bank and in return, the teller gave him ten brand
new un-circulated one-dollar bills. One of these bills was special, so special
that Conti carefully sandwiched that strange looking bill in between the pages
of his Bible. Since then, he has tried to learn everything possible about the
unusual one dollar note.
Conti’s search for information brought him to contact Treasured Stocks.com
President Jeff Smith -- an
award-winning, internationally recognized coin and currency collector.
The Conti Error Note is truly one-of-a-kind. Upon witnessing this error
note, Smith proclaimed it to be truly “astonishing.” “I have never heard of nor
been witness to anything even closely resembling this note. The best part is
that Mr. Conti has kept meticulous records and documents of authenticity. I am
beyond impressed!” Consequently, Smith helped write and publish the June 2013
article about the note in The Numismatist
(Volume 126, #6, pages 54-56). “This is much more than just an error note,”
Smith said. Because the note was made while BEP engravers were performing tests
of their plates, Smith proclaimed that “It’s special, it’s new, and it has
never been seen before now. I call this category a REPAIR PARTS note
classification!”
Mike Ellis, a member of the Board of Governors of The American
Numismatic Association, encouraged Conti to pursue one more endorsement of authenticity.
He asked Conti to show his note to David Myers.
Thus, on July 1st 2013 Conti took his bill to David Myers of
the Identification Services (IDS) LLC. After over three hours of analysis work
with the application of five spectrographic pieces of equipment, Myers reported,
“I believe that the Conti Note is an original note printed with the BEP [Bureau
of Engraving and Printing]…It is clearly NOT an Error or Specimen, but may be a
test run note to identify plate alignment…” Ellis wanted Myers of IDS to do
this examination because IDS was established to assist in the management of
forensic document examination. Myers himself is Special Agent in Charge of
Florida’s lottery forensic document lab and has conducted counterfeit training
to thousands of law enforcement and military agents from PMG to the CIA. Myers
has appeared on over 20 National TV shows and assisted in many criminal court
cases as an expert witness.
In addition to Myers’ July 2013 analysis and subsequent report, Conti
has been assured of the note’s authenticity by BEP and Secret Service experts
and has obtained and retained numerous documents of testimony.
Two of these important expert testimonies came from BEP’s Robert D.
Bernhard and the Smithsonian’s Dr. Richard Doty. In 2006, Conti traveled from
Connecticut to Washington, DC, after setting up a number of important “expert”
appointments.
Conti showed the note to BEP’s Bernhard, expert in the division of
Currency Processing, who personally escorted the note to show other BEP
personnel. Bernhard wanted to have the people who did the actual printing,
examine this unusual note. They confirmed that the BEP presses, with 20,000
pounds of pressure, printed the additional wording onto this bill but couldn’t
figure out exactly how it happened. None
had ever seen anything like it. The extra text was done at 20,000 pounds,
assuring that BEP presses performed the process.
Following expert analysis and verified genuineness of this note (taking
over three hours and multiple departments including printing, engraving,
inking, etc.), BEP returned the note to Conti as unaltered legal tender.
The value placed on any error note is relative to the error’s rarity.
According to the US Department of Treasury’s BEP, printing currency notes
involves some 65 separate steps; multiple printing steps make errors almost
inescapable. Most of these errors, however, are discovered during numerous levels
of machine and human inspection, prior to placing notes into circulation.
That’s why error notes are fascinating, historical, valuable, and highly
collectable.
Professional collectors have informed Conti that there was a one in a
billion chance this note could have made it all the way from the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing (BEP) to the public’s hands. To a collector, these odds
make it “The Holy Grail” of
collectibles. And because the Conti Note is the only known example of a legal
tender US currency note with words – that don’t belong -- printed on it by the
BEP, Smith of Treasuredstocks.com believes that Conti has uncovered a new note category that Smith identifies as a “REPAIR
PARTS” Note classification.
If you would like more information regarding the
one dollar Conti Note, please contact treasuredstocks.com or call Jeff at 870-670-4255
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For more information
about valuable and historic error notes as well as other collectable coins and currency, please visit our web site
at http://www.treasuredstocks.com/or email jeff@treasuredstocks.com
