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How Rare Are Fancy Serial Numbers?: by Dave Undis

1) Fancy serial numbers like solid, ladder, radar and repeater numbers are rarer than regular serial numbers and can increase a note's value. 2) There are approximately 100 million possible 8-digit serial numbers but some numbers are removed from production or replaced, affecting exact counts. 3) Specific fancy number types like radars and repeaters each have approximately 10,000 possible numbers, while more restricted types like super radars or double quads each have around 90 possible numbers.

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62 views5 pages

How Rare Are Fancy Serial Numbers?: by Dave Undis

1) Fancy serial numbers like solid, ladder, radar and repeater numbers are rarer than regular serial numbers and can increase a note's value. 2) There are approximately 100 million possible 8-digit serial numbers but some numbers are removed from production or replaced, affecting exact counts. 3) Specific fancy number types like radars and repeaters each have approximately 10,000 possible numbers, while more restricted types like super radars or double quads each have around 90 possible numbers.

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teresa
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Paper Money • July/August 2011 • Whole No.

274 293

How Rare are Fancy Serial Numbers?


By Dave Undis

N
OTES WITH FANCY SERIAL NUMBERS COMMAND
a premium from some currency collectors. A solid serial
number, a radar, a ladder, or several other types of fancy
serial numbers can make a note worth much more than
other notes with the same denomination, from the same series, and
in the same condition. Just how rare are these fancy serial numbers?

Modern United States currency features eight-digit serial numbers from


00000001 to 99999999. There are 99,999,999 different eight-digit serial numbers.
To keep things simple, we’ll assume that all serial numbers are equally likely to
appear on a randomly selected note. In reality, some serial numbers are harder to
find because the Bureau of Engraving & Printing usually removes them from pro-
duction before circulation, replacing them with star notes. Also, print runs don’t
always start at 00000001 or go all the way up to 99999999. But this doesn’t really
affect our analysis much. (To make some of the arithmetic below simpler, we’ll
sometimes include the non-existent 00000000 serial number, making a total of
100,000,000 serial numbers, but we’ll always remember to remove that non-exis-
tent note from our totals.)

In a solid serial number, every digit is the same. There are nine solid serial
numbers: 11111111, 22222222, 33333333, 44444444, 55555555, 66666666,
77777777, 88888888, and 99999999.
294 Paper Money • July/August 2011 • Whole No. 274

In a ladder serial number, each digit is one number higher (or lower) than
the previous digit. There are six eight-digit ladder serial numbers: 01234567,
12345678, 23456789, 76543210, 87654321, and 98765432. (There are eight if you
also count 34567890 and 09876543.)

In a radar serial number, the second four digits are the reverse of the first
four digits. Examples are 11188111 and 20066002. In a repeater serial number, the
second four digits are a repeat of the first four digits. Examples are 11181118 and
20062006.
In calculating the number of radars and repeaters, it’s useful to divide the
eight-digit serial number into its first and second halves. Consider the first half.
There are 10,000 possible numbers: 0000 through 9999. Now consider the second
half. Again, there are 10,000 possible numbers. Of these 10,000, only one will be
the same as the first half and only one will be the reverse of the first half. So there
are 10,000 repeaters and 10,000 radars. These totals include the non-existent
00000000 number and the nine solids. Excluding these, there are 9,990 radars and
9,990 repeaters.

A super radar is a special kind of radar. A super radar is a radar in which


the middle six digits are all the same. Examples are 71111117 and 98888889.
Paper Money • July/August 2011 • Whole No. 274 295

There are 99 super radars: 01111110, 02222220, 03333330 … 97777779,


98888889, and 99999999. Nine of these are solids. Excluding these, there are 90
super radars.

A super repeater is a special kind of repeater. A super repeater is a


repeater in which the first two digits are repeated four times. Examples are
26262626 and 78787878.
There are 99 super repeaters: 01010101, 02020202, 03030303 …
97979797, 98989898, and 99999999. Nine of these are solids. Excluding these,
there are 90 super repeaters.

A radar repeater is both a radar and a repeater. Examples are 26622662


and 87788778. There are 99 radar repeaters: 01100110, 02200220, 03300330 …
97799779, 98899889, and 99999999. Nine of these are solids. Excluding these,
there are 90 radar repeaters.

In a double quad serial number, the first four digits are all the same and
the last four digits are all the same, but a different number. Examples are
11114444 and 22226666. There are 99 double quads: 00001111, 00002222,
00003333 … 99997777, 99998888, and 99999999. Nine of these are solids.
Excluding these, there are 90 double quads.
296 Paper Money • July/August 2011 • Whole No. 274

In a seven-in-a-row serial number, seven digits in a row are all the same.
Examples are 11111112 and 35555555. For each of the nine solid serial numbers,
you can make 18 seven-in-a-row serial numbers: nine by changing the first digit
and nine by changing the last digit. For example, the nine seven-in-a-row serial
numbers you can make by changing the first digit of solid serial number 99999999
are 09999999, 19999999, 29999999, 39999999, 49999999, 59999999, 69999999,
79999999, and 89999999. You can also make 18 seven-in-a-row serial numbers by
changing the first or last digit of the non-existent 00000000 serial number. So
there are 180 seven-in-a-row notes.

In a seven-of-a-kind serial number, seven of the digits are all the same.
Examples are 44444424 and 99899999. For each of the nine solid serial numbers,
you can make 72 seven-of-a-kind serial numbers: nine by changing each of the
eight digits. You can also make 72 seven-of-a-kind serial numbers by changing
each of the eight digits of the non-existent 00000000 serial number. So there are
720 seven-of-a-kind notes. This includes the 180 seven-in-a-row notes.

In a binary serial number, only two numbers appear in the eight digits.
Examples are 10100111 and 11181888. To see how many binary serial numbers
there are, pick two different numbers from zero through nine. 20% of all serial

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