US large-size notes, small-size obsoletes, gold & silver certificates, star notes, fancy serial numbers, and world paper. Buying notes throughout the DMV.
Coins and currency look like they belong in the same hobby, but pricing them takes meaningfully different expertise. A coin’s grade is determined by surface marks, luster, and strike. A note’s grade is determined by paper handling, ink crispness, embossing, color, and original folds. The grading services that matter for paper money, PMG (Paper Money Guaranty) and PCGS Banknote, use their own grading scales (CU, AU, EF, VF, F, VG, G) with PMG numerical grades from 1 to 70.
Hicks Coins works with paper money in all formats and is genuinely competitive on US large-size notes, silver certificates, gold certificates, star notes, and fancy serial numbers. If your collection includes notes, I’d rather quote them as part of the same visit than have you fragment the sale across multiple buyers.
Most people assume any "old" bill is valuable. The reality is more nuanced. A common-date Series 1957 silver certificate in circulated condition is worth perhaps $2. A Series 1899 $1 silver certificate (the "Black Eagle") in the same circulated condition might be worth $200. A Series 1928 $500 Federal Reserve note in solid VF is worth $1,000+. Identifying which notes are which is the value-add a real currency dealer brings.
Pre-1928 US currency, often called "horse blankets." Silver certificates, gold certificates, US notes, Federal Reserve notes, Treasury notes.
1878 through 1957 series, all denominations. Star notes, $5/$10/$20/$50/$100/$500/$1000 denominations especially desirable.
Series 1882, 1905, 1907, 1922, 1928. Higher denominations are scarce; even circulated examples carry strong premiums.
Issued by individual chartered banks. Virginia, DC, and Maryland charter notes especially in demand locally.
Replacement notes printed with a star in the serial number. Low-print runs trade for significant premiums.
Solid serials (88888888), radar serials (12344321), ladder serials (12345678), low serials, repeaters, binaries.
$500, $1000, $5000, $10000 notes. The last legal high-denomination US currency, always wanted.
Confederate States currency, obsolete bank notes from defunct chartered banks, broken bank notes.
European, Asian, Latin American notes. Pre-WWII especially. Pre-Euro Deutsche Marks, French Francs, etc.
Slabbed currency, encapsulated by PMG or PCGS Banknote, trades in a transparent, dealer-discoverable marketplace much like PCGS/NGC slabbed coins. Auction results from Heritage, Stack’s Bowers, Lyn Knight, and FUN currency sessions establish clear comps for almost any encapsulated note.
For raw (un-slabbed) notes, I’ll often recommend submission to PMG before sale if the note appears to grade in the 64+ range, the value bump usually more than covers grading fees. For obviously circulated notes, we just transact off the raw grade and skip the wait.
Currency Appraisal ServicesText photos of the front and back of each note. Quote within the hour.