"Hot off the Gov't Press," reads an ad that's appearing in newspapers around the country, "public handover of rare full sheets of money."

But there is no "handover," and the uncut currency sheets are far from rare. And as far as being "this year's hottest Christmas Gift" -- well, the iPod nano and Xbox 360 might have something to say about that.

Designed to look like a news article, full-page ads have run as recently as Tuesday in The Roanoke Times. They appear to be news stories, except for the tiny word "Advertisement" at the top. The ad from the official-sounding "World Reserve Monetary Exchange" has run in newspapers across the country since mid-November, including the Houston Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News.

It offers uncut sheets of uncirculated U.S. currency: $1, $2 and $5 bills in sheets of four as gift sets for the currency collector in your family.

There's no fraud here. The sheets are real and the money is legit. But a little looking shows that it's not necessarily a good deal, and the company making it is known for making big deals out of ordinary purchases.

According to the ad and the company, a sheet of four $1 bills sells for $15, plus $5.95 for shipping and handling. A similar deal -- four singles, plus a portfolio, is available for $24.90 through the company's Web site.

But that's not the only place they're available.

The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing -- which actually makes the money -- also sells uncut sheets of currency for $15 but with no shipping and handling fee.

In fact, that's just where the World Reserve Monetary Exchange got the money, according to Claudia Dickens, spokeswoman for the BEP. The government sells the sheets to anyone who's interested, and even offers up to a 20 percent discount on bulk purchases.

This isn't the only time the WRME has sold something at a higher price that's available from the government.

In 1994, the same company, calling itself the United States Monetary Exchange, ran ads in newspapers, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Chicago Tribune, selling packs of five $2 bills for $24.85, including shipping.

And when new buffalo nickels debuted earlier this year, the WRME offered a roll of 40 coins at face value plus a "standard $7 processing fee plus shipping"; that's $9.00 plus shipping. At the same time, the U.S. Mint offered two 40-coin rolls of buffalo nickels for $8.95 -- less than half the price.

In the same ad for the nickels, the WRME also offered a free "Cross made with grains of sacred sand from Christ's tomb."

The ads are full of breathless prose and questionable tactics.

First, there's the sense of urgency. "The National hotlines will only stay open for 48 hours," states the ad, and "after midnight tomorrow callers will be turned away."

In fact, the ad was placed in The Roanoke Times "some time ago," according to advertising director Debbie Meade, and was not scheduled to run on any particular date. "We keep a queue of ads that run 'standby' -- when space is available," Meade said. This was one.

Although the ad could have run last week or next week (and did run several weeks ago in other newspapers), calling the 800 number gets you a person who is "here to help you beat the deadline." There's no mention that the same money sheets are available anytime on the company's Web site.

The ad provides two "assigned Toll Free numbers" depending on your last name, implying there will be a rush for the bills. But calling either resulted in a wait of less than a minute when we tried on Wednesday.

Then there's the carefully worded "Black Angus Grain Banker Portfolios" available with certain purchases. The portfolios aren't actually made of Black Angus leather; they're made of something colored like Black Angus grain. It's the difference between a celebrity and a look-alike.

Most noticeably, the ad was designed to look like a news article written by "Mary Beth Andrews" from the "Universal Media Syndicate" -- a company name that sounds like a news organization akin to United Press International.

It isn't.

United Media Syndicate is, in fact, a division of Universal Syndications of Canton, Ohio, a media-placement company; i.e., it creates and places ads in newspapers and magazines. (It describes itself as "a direct to consumer marketing company with emphasis on direct mail, telemarketing, collections/recovery, customer service and internet.")

The World Reserve Monetary Exchange is also a division of UniSyn, which did not return calls for comment.

Why did an ad designed to look like a news article appear in The Roanoke Times? According to Meade, it should have had a clearer label.

"Our standards call for ads that have the appearance of news features or news stories to be labeled in specific ways, to make it clear to readers that this is paid content," she explained. "In the case of this ad, which resembled a news story in its design, we made a mistake. It was labeled as an advertisement, but not clearly or boldly enough to meet our standards."

Questionable pricing and advertising tactics aside, how valuable are the bills? The WRME ad touts that the bills might make great investments. "[S]ome uncirculated 1928 one dollar bills have increased in value by more than 6,400%," it reads.

True, but 1928 was the debut year for modern paper money. According to Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers, which specializes in currency and other collectibles, "Some of the early series notes do carry a small premium" but later bills aren't worth much more than face value.

So, while the 21st-century bills being offered by WRME might be valuable someday, you'd probably be better of putting the money in the bank.