Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Banknote Reporter

The BEP accidentally duplicated some serial numbers on the $1 star notes for New York in the Series of 2013. A particularly tenacious group of collectors has worked for years to pair two notes with the same serial number from this mistake. They finally pulled it off in October 2019 when Jay Cook pulled together the B04175975* pair illustrated here. Since, three additional matched pairs have been discovered. This is the story of how it happened. This is the type of numismatic tale I love the most, one of long odds, serious dedication, persistence, and selfless cooperation. The BEP intermittently releases monthly reports of the completed notes that they have printed. A few very serious collectors diligently peruse and compile these reports looking for items of potential interest. The principal…

I enjoyed the selection of World Currency offered at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries January 2020 NYINC Auction. There was a strong selection of Canadian currency offered. I also enjoyed seeing the variety of notes offered from Bermuda and the Bahamas. In particular with regard to Canada, I kept an eye on lot #30135, a Bank of Ottawa 5 dollars, 1900 note graded by PMG as VF-25 EPQ. The lovely gold undertones set off the pleasing blue serial numbers. At left is a stoic portrait of Charles Magee and the center vignette features the parliament building. The note was estimated at $20,000 to $25,000 and hammered in above that estimate at a solid $30,000. I also kept watch on lot #30171, a PS186r Colombia Estado Soberano de Panama 1 peso dating…

Heritage Auctions is having its Central States World Currency Signature Auction in Schaumburg, Ill, from April 22-27. Included in the offering is a rare P-57a 1954 Fiji Government 20 pound bank note. Fiji is an archipelago of around 300 small islands located remotely, around 1,300 miles northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. The note color is red on a lovely red and green underprint. The coat-of -arms is at center. The watermark is a Fijian head. This PMG graded VF-30 note is a denomination that is rarely available at auction. As Heritage’s cataloger says, this note “amazingly survived the weather conditions of the Fiji islands in this condition. At the time of cataloging, there are only three graded examples registered in the PMG Population Report, and none are graded above…

Stack’s Bowers Galleries is having their first United States currency auction event of the year in Baltimore, Md., from March 18-20, 2020 during their Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring Expo. Headlined by the D. Brent Pogue Collection of United States Paper Money, the U.S. Currency sessions will feature more than 600 live lots with estimates totaling in excess of $11 million. The D. Brent Pogue Collection comprises approximately 230 notes encompassing large size type notes, small size type notes and National currency. Many of the notes are among the finest examples known for their type. The collection was also assembled with an appreciation for serial number 1 notes and rare “Star” replacement notes. Among the highlights of the collection is the finest graded Fr.167a “Spread Eagle” 1863 $100 Legal Tender…

Here is something you don’t see every day, $1 and $2 Series of 1875 nationals where the siderographer at the BEP put stars adjacent to the left plate letters to indicate that he reentered the subjects on the plate. He used rolls to repress the intaglio images into the plate to refurbish worn vignettes. This Fall River plate is the only documented case of a 1-1-1-2 plate with reentry stars. The work was reported to the Comptroller of the Currency on Sept. 20, 1878. No Series of 1875 $1 or $2 notes have been reported from the bank according to the National Currency Foundation census.…

A woman who made a purchase at the January 2020 Florida United Numismatists (FUN) Show in Orlando got an unexpected bonus in her change: a $20 bill with a valuable error. She immediately submitted the note to Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®), which confirmed that the 2013 $20 Federal Reserve Note (Boston) had an authentic—and quite rare—mismatched serial number error. A PMG-certified modern U.S. note with this error is likely worth hundreds of dollars or more, resulting in a tidy profit for the woman who discovered it in her change. For instance, another 2013 $20 Federal Reserve Note — a Richmond example graded PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ — with a mismatched serial number error sold for $1,140 at a Heritage Auctions sale at the January 2020 FUN Show. Meanwhile, in…

Surprises and Missed Opportunities FUN has come and gone. I didn’t attend, but I monitored the auctions closely. Almost $10 million in sales later, I think we can expect a better year in 2020. Fractional Currency prices were mixed, but top grade notes went very well. Experimental notes were surprisingly weak, but otherwise prices seemed solid for nice notes. Fractional collectors are very fussy, however, so really good buys are available for Extra Fine and lower grades. A Fr. 1300 25-cent third issue note with full surcharges (quite a scarce note) brought only $526 in Very Fine. Small size notes were mixed and Changeover pairs did not sell well. I missed a 1929 Minneapolis $5 star that sold in Very Fine for $501. The Minneapolis stars in particular are rare,…

The 2020 Jan. 8-14 FUN Currency Signature Auction and Jan. 9 - 13 FUN World Paper Money Signature Auction both offered a wide range of bank notes for collectors to consider. The U.S. auction listed items from 16 featured collections including the Baby Face Nelson Cash Hoard and the Hyman S. Lebman Cash Hoard. Most of the notes from the hoards pretty much stayed within and close to their estimates. The notes with $5 and $10 denominations were offered the most. The highest-populated currency categories in the auction were National Bank Notes, Obsolete Bank Notes, Federal Reserve Notes and Legal Tender Notes. Large size notes outnumbered small size notes. The highest-priced note in the National Bank Note category was lot #21666, a $5 1882 Brown Back Fr. 477 bearing the…

Every once in a while, a national goes by that simply takes your breath away. This 1902 plain back from Key West is just such a note. It appeared in Stack’s Bowers’ Spring 2019 Baltimore sale as lot 6008. It is flawless with full top margin and brilliant penned signatures of the cashier and vice president. They didn’t win any penmanship awards but their signatures add greatly to the note, especially for a 1902 blue seal where signatures were usually rubber-stamped. Key West is the southern most town in the continental U. S. at the end of the U. S. 1 causeway built to the island. The bank was a modest affair and notes from it always have been in high demand. This note is in a holder with a…