Innehållsförteckning för June 2023 från Banknote Reporter

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) has been selected by Kagin’s to grade a massive collection of colonial currency that will be sold in a two-part auction series beginning May 20, 2023. The 375-lot collection of colonial notes is pedigreed to the esteemed John J. Ford, an accomplished collector of coins and banknotes who noted numismatic figure Q. David Bowers once declared as among “the most influential figures in American numismatics.” “Many of the bank notes from the John J. Ford Collection that we graded ahead of the Kagin’s auction are among the oldest paper currency known from the American colonies which later became the United States,” said PCGS President Stephanie Sabin. “We are excited to be encapsulating these historic notes in conjunction with an auction that will be of historic…

It is cause for celebration any time a note turns up from an unreported bank. There should be dancing in the streets when the note turns out to be from a bank that went out of business early so that it issued only early series notes and the survivor is a solid attractive note such as this. This beauty went through the September Heritage auction. Stanton is a small rural town of less than 1,500 people situation in heart of the lower part of Michigan. The town was named for Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War, and is the Montcalm County seat. The bank was chartered April 5, 1881, and liquidated April 30. 1888. The only notes issued were $10 and $20 brown backs from 452 sheets of 10-10-10-20s that…

At the recent Central States Numismatic Society convention near Chicago, Liberty Coin Service acquired a U.S. Series 1918 $5.00 Federal Reserve Bank Note issued for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia as a replacement (or star) note. To date, this is this first discovered surviving specimen of this previously unknown U.S. paper money issue. Said Tom Coulson, Liberty Coin Service owner and general manager, “This note was brought to the show by an East Coast dealer to whom it had been consigned by the long-time owner. That dealer’s business is almost exclusively trading U.S. coins on a wholesale basis, with whom Liberty Coin Service has transacted business for decades. They were not the optimum dealer to market this rarity. However, Liberty Coin Service has a long history of handling new…

It is cause for celebration any time a new $5 micro back 637 variety is found. Jim Hodgson recently acquired the top-grade Series of 1934A San Francisco Federal Reserve specimen from the LB block illustrated here. Series of 1934A 637s from any district are notoriously difficult to find, being among the rarest of the 637 varieties regardless of Federal Reserve district. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of what makes the $5 637 notes among the most avidly sought of all the small-size varieties. Back plate 637 had the most extraordinary life of any small size currency plate documented to date. The number 637 is a plate serial number. Plate serial numbers are from a set of consecutive numbers for a specific type of plate, in…

A rare and highly coveted Greek bank note was among hundreds of world notes certified by Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®) offered in a Stack’s Bowers sale. Stack’s May 2023 Maastricht Auction - Session A - World Paper Money sale was held on May 4, 2023. The top lot in the auction was a rare Greece, National Bank 1923 500 Drachmai (lot 50452) graded NGC 40 Extremely Fine. The reverse shows the Hagia Sophia, a prominent historical and cultural site in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the center of Orthodox Christianity for centuries. According to the auction house, it is believed to have been part of a group that was stolen and spent by an employee of the banknote printer. One of only two examples of this particular note in the PMG…

Action has been slow, but I’ll be able to report prices from Central States auctions next issue. I attended the Central States show, but auctions will be in Dallas, too late for my deadline. In other auction action $5,000 and $10,000 notes remain strong, but calm. Stacks Bowers auctions showed strong prices for Large Size and Nationals, but Small Size were very lukewarm. The good news for collectors is the Central State Show in late April at the Renaissance Schaumburg, Ill. venue was terrific. The show included 600 tables and a bit over 400 dealers. They also had smaller table cost dealers up on the second floor. They have secured additional space for next year, however, and lower table cost dealer tables will be available on the main floor. Everyone…

Two rare notes from Southeast Asia realized over $90,000 each in an auction of over 250 selections from the unparalleled Frank Goon Collection. Noonans offered these notes as Part I of the collection on March 25, 2023. Leading the way was a Singapore ND (1973) 10,000 Dollars - Replacement graded PMG 58 Choice About Unc EPQ (lot 210). It realized SGD 124,000 (about $93,000), well above its pre-auction estimate of SGD 50,000 to SGD 70,000. This is the highest denomination ever printed by Singapore, and one that is now being phased out due to money laundering concerns. PMG has certified only five examples of this particular replacement note, with this one easily being the highest graded. Meanwhile, a Straits Settlements 1930-33 1,000 Dollars Specimen graded PMG 62 Uncirculated (lot 41)…

The Series of 1878 silver certificates of deposits were circulating notes designed and engraved at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing made during the reign of George Casilear as Chief Engraver. His notes were dominated not by vignettes and unique elaborate hand-engraved borders, but instead by ornate lettering. In 1873 he obtained two patents for what became known in the trade as patented lettering. The concept was to engrave an alphabet and numbers of a distinctive style and size where each character was a standalone. These were taken up individually on transfer rolls so that the siderographers could now spell out words or numbers on dies or plates by simply rolling in the needed characters one at a time. The process was very efficient. The services of expensive letter engravers…

Inflation is a chronic problem in Nigeria. The annual inflation rate was at 21.82 percent in January, up from 21.34 percent one month earlier. This is its highest rate since September 2005. Coins typically disappear in an economy where they no longer have purchasing power. In such an environment, bank notes appear in ever-increasing denominations, while the lower denominations vanish for the same reason as the coins. Nigeria is full of economic surprises. During February several publications reported bank customers receiving bags of coins with a total value of ₦2,000 (naira) rather than much less cumbersome bank notes. And these are the lucky customers. Due to the quick changeover in bank notes there haven’t been sufficient bank notes in circulation to drive the economy. On March 6 Nigerian financial institutions…