A $20 Bill Is Selling For Half A Million Dollars Because It Was Printed With A Del Monte Banana Sticker On It

Over the years we’ve become a pretty cashless society. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are even less likely to be handling money. But when we do have cash in hand, how likely are we to actually look at the bills – really study them and what’s on them?

It’s probably not often that we look over our money, but we should do it more often since there is a $20 bill with a produce sticker on it that is being auctioned off with a starting bid of $100,000.

The unique $20 bill is referred to as the “Del Monte Note,” and as far as obstructed error banknotes go, it’s pretty well-known. What makes it so special is that it has a banana sticker permanently stuck to it, but also has its U.S. treasury marking and serial number printed across the top.

The way that the error came to be is entirely unknown, but it has made the Del Monte Note quite popular and well-known.

The $20 dollar bill was first discovered back in 2004 by an Ohio college student after they withdrew cash from an ATM. According to a Heritage Auctions press statement, the bill was later posted by this college student to eBay where 12 people bid on it and someone paid $10,000 for it. Later in 2006, it was sold again on eBay for $25,300.

According to CoinWeek, the vice president of Currency Auctions at Heritage Auctions, Dustin Johnston, stated, “Collectors immediately fell in love with it. The placement of the ‘Del Monte Ecuador’ banana sticker is ideal because it covers part of the printing details and is overlaid by part of the Treasury Seal and the bill’s serial number.”

Given that it has not been auctioned since 2006, we can expect the price tag to have increased significantly since. And if you’re hoping to put in a bid on it, you better have some serious cash on you as the minimum bid required stands at $514,800.

What do you think of the Del Monte Note? Let us know!