Web notes
Template:Infobox RareCurrencies
Web notes are a type of United States currency named after the "web-printing" or printing on continuous rolls of paper similar to a newspaper press but exponentially more complicated than a newspaper press.
Because of a need for greater quantities of $1 FRN's, the BEP sent out a REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) (year 1985) NO. BEP-85-73 to procure a web-fed intaglio printing press to drastically increase the production of currency notes within the confines of their current (1985) 14th & C street facility. T
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing installed the Web Currency Press was supposed to be much more efficient than current sheet-fed intaglio printing equipment which used flat sheets somewhat similar to your everyday computer printer.
The affected notes are dollar bills from Series 1988A to Series 1995. They are legal tender and are not considered error notes, although they are valuable due to their rarity.
Intaglio - Web Currency Press
In May 1991, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) installed a intaglio web press at the Washington, DC printing facilities to produce FRN $1 bills. BEP officials hoped that the press would replace the conventional sheet-fed intaglio presses by switching to a substantially more efficient and less expensive method of intaglio printing notes and the plan was the begin with the $1 note and move up to the $5, $10 etc..
There are several differences between the two types of presses:
Intaglio (standard) sheet-fed press (Giori)
- Sheet-fed press uses precut to size. (32 bills, 4 by 8, approx. 21.25" by 26" )
- Intaglio prints twice, once on each side for front and back in separate runs. (COPE) Currency Over Processing Equipment) then stamps the serial numbers, and plate numbers.
- 32 notes printed, in three stages
- Delivered over 8,000 notes for the Giori I8 sheet-fed currency press.
- Newer $5,10, 20, 50 100 are now printed initially by the "Similton" perfecting offset press, both front and back at once, in perfect registration, then off to the intaglio process front and back.
Web Press (Web Currency Press)
- Built by Hamilton-Stevems, Hamilton Oh.
- Fed by a continuous paper roll
- Printed both sides of a note simultaneously
- Created 96 notes per revolution of the plates
- Printed both sides of the notes and sheeted them into piles of up to 5000 sheets for further processing (COPE)
- Delivered 10,000 sheets in 35 minutes according to final specs from manufacturer when tuned and running perfectly. The "Sweet spot" of the machine was around 7500 sheets in 35 minutes and there was still substantial error notes.
The continuous-roll printing process (Web printing) is somewhat similar to the printing of newspaper presses, whereas intaglio visually resembles stamping (metalworking)|metal stamping or what is called a "high-pressure printing process". The Web Currency Press was it's official name and was a true intaglio (Water wipe) press which printed the back of the note first in Intaglio then was dried and the front was printed intaglio then dried and sheeted into 32 note sheets.
Problems arose with the Web Currency Press. The main drawback was its inability to sustain long continuous runs compared to conventional (Giori) sheet-fed presses, resulting in a high rates of rejected notes. Many insiders believe the project was sabotaged because it had such a high rate of throughput (production), nobody including press maker Giori wanted the machine to work. Besides if successful it would displace a substantial part of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing's workforce. There were stories of operators literally throwing wrenches into the machine.
It is true that the quality of the prints were subpar because of operator error amd other circumstances, compared to the established method and due to these factors, the web press was discontinued in July 1996.
Because of a need for greater quantities of $1 FRN's, the BEP sent out a REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) (year 1985) NO. BEP-85-73 to procure a web-fed intaglio printing press to drastically increase the production of currency notes within the confines of their current (1985) 14th & C street facility. Instead of printing one side of a square sheet of 32 notes at a time, the web-fed press used 96 engraved images or plate-cylinder to print the back of the note, then another 96 image engraved plate-cylinder to print the front of the note. Both sides of notes were printed from a continuous roll of paper. The Alexander-Hamilton intaglio Web press printed both sides of intaglio at the same time. The web-press was actually designed as a full-blown production press as opposed to an experimental press. The notes were issued in Series 1988A, 1993, and 1995. Because of mechanical problems, operator error, as well as the sometimes poor quality of the notes, production was ended in July 1996. Web notes can be identified by the back plate number next to IN GOD WE TRUST and the removal of face check letters and quadrant numbers.[1]
Identifying web notes
A currency note that was printed on a web press (referred to as a web note) can be identified by two distinct characteristics.
The following images illustrate the differences. The top note in each image is a web note; the bottom note is a sheet fed note.
The red box indicates the face plate number on a web note, which is near the bottom right corner, where the blue boxes indicate the face plate number in the bottom right corner and a position indicator number in the upper left corner on a sheet-fed note. Also, on sheet fed notes, the plate numbers are preceded by a letter; in some cases FW may precede the letter on the lower right corner; this indicates that the note was printed at the BEP facility at Fort Worth, Texas.
On the web note, the back plate number is just to the side of TRUST in the motto IN GOD WE TRUST (red box). On the sheet fed note, the back plate number is to the lower right corner of the central white space (blue box).
Web notes were made for three series of dollar bills.
| Series | Treasurer of the United States | Secretary of the Treasury |
|---|---|---|
| 1988A | Catalina Vasquez Villalpando | Nicholas F. Brady |
| 1993 | Mary Ellen Withrow | Lloyd Bentsen |
| 1995 | Mary Ellen Withrow | Robert Rubin |
Key issues
Of the series, Series 1988A bills hold the two key issues (issues with the most collector value).
Notes of the New York FRB and the Atlanta FRB are the two keys. FRBNY used the B-L serial number block, while FRBA used a Star Note serial number block (F-*), with the specific serial numbers in place of the dash. While an accurate print run has never been disclosed by the BEP (as the figures were combined with the intaglio runs), estimates are 1,920,000 notes for the B-L serial number block for the FRBNY, and 640,000 for the F-* serial number block for FRBA.
FRBNY B-L notes can fetch from $300 for circulated examples, to $1,300 for uncirculated examples. FRBA F-* notes can fetch from $600 for circulated examples, to $1250 for uncirculated examples.
References
- A Guide Book Of United States Paper Money: Complete Source for History, Grading, and Prices by Arthur L. Friedberg (Compiler), Ira S. Friedberg (Compiler), and Q. David Bowers. ISBN 0-7948-1786-6
Portions of this article use material from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing website, which is in the public domain.