Do you have one? These $5 bills worth over $2,000 could be hiding in your wallet (2024)

FAQs

What are the hidden messages in a $5 dollar bill? ›

The Five Dollar bill also has some interesting hidden items:

Next, much like the Ten Dollar bill, the Five also has "micro text" printed near Lincoln's name. Finally, take a look at the roof of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the Five Dollar bill. Several state names are printed there.

It all has to do with their unique serial numbers. According to GOBankingRates, $5 bills with serials such as "G88888888A” or "B55555555C" could be worth thousands due to them carrying a "solid" serial number — meaning all digits in the serial are identical.

Security Thread

Hold the note to light to see an embedded thread running vertically to the left of the portrait. The thread is imprinted with the text USA FIVE and a small flag in an alternating pattern and is visible from both sides of the note. The thread glows blue when illuminated by ultraviolet light.

A strap is a package of 100 notes. All straps must contain 100 notes of the same denomination and must have only one band around them. Include only U.S. currency.

Under regulations issued by the Department of the Treasury, mutilated United States currency may be exchanged at face value if: More than 50% of a note identifiable as United States currency is present.

Many stores and merchants will not take torn or drawn-on bills, and even vending machines struggle to take heavily wrinkled ones. The good news is that even if a bill is torn in half, you can tape them together and exchange them at a Federal Reserve bank for fresh notes, as long as the serial numbers match.

Hold the note to light to see an embedded thread running vertically to the right of the portrait. The thread is imprinted with the letters USA and the numeral 5 in an alternating pattern and is visible from both sides of the note. The thread glows blue when illuminated by ultraviolet light.

Follow these simple steps to check whether your banknotes are genuine. There is a hologram on the foil patch on the front of the £5 note. If you tilt the note, the image will change between a brightly coloured picture of Britannia and the number 5.

Walk into any bank and ask for them! For $100 they will hand you a banded stack of $1 bills. You can even ask for brand new ones, though you may have to try more than one bank. At your bank.

How much is a bank stack of $5 bills? ›

In the United States, a standard bank strap, which is used to bundle and organize currency, typically contains 100 bills. This means that there are 100 $5 bills in a standard bank strap. So, the total value of a bank strap of $5 bills would be $500.

A strap consists of 100 bills of the same denomination…regardless of the denomination… whether $1, $2, $5…or $100. A brick fresh from the Federal Reserve is a 100 bills, but typically your own bank will halve that and strap them in 50 bill straps.

The Latin Around the Pyramid Speaks To American Exceptionalism. “Annuit Coeptis,” which is written above the pyramid, means “Providence Has Favored Our Undertakings.” Below the pyramid, the words “Novus ordo seclorum” mean “A New Order of the Ages,” which refers to the United States' historic form of government.

The $5 note features a portrait of President Lincoln on the front of the note and a vignette of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the note. The Great Seal of the United States, featuring an eagle and shield, is printed in purple to the right of the portrait of President Lincoln.

Hold the note to light and look for a faint image of Secretary Hamilton in the blank space to the right of the portrait. The image is visible from both sides of the note. A black seal to the left of the portrait represents the entire Federal Reserve System.

A "star" sheet is used to replace the imperfect sheet. Reusing an exact serial number to replace an imperfect note is costly and time consuming. A "star" note has its own special serial number followed by a star in place of a suffix letter.