Yeah...never seen any Casascius 2011 with print that dark. I have seen pics of a few 100 bars and none looked that dark.
I agree. The owner of this says he got them all from Casascius in 2011, and did a copy/paste of the 'receipt' email. I dont think there is anything going on here, but can never be too careful with a 100 BTC coin.
That said, it appears that the bold bits make this bar unique. 1UP in price!
Of note is that the 500 & 1,000 btc bars dont have the firstbits printed at all.. they are lasered (if i recall).
I can't speak to the single Version 1 500 BTC. But the lone Version 2 500 BTC (redeemed) does have firstbits appearing on the outside.
Of the 5 1000 BTC bars...I'm certain that at least one of the two versions has firstbits on the exterior.
The bars were some of the first pieces...so it's very plausible Mike played with different formats, early on. Would be great to know definitively.