November 2024 Greensheet Market Analysis: Markets Show Continued Strength, Meeting & Smashing Estimates

There was more to September’s 1,543 lot Heritage U.S. Currency Signature auction than the high denomination notes that are now so popular. They are found in nearly every major sale with a frequency that belies the limited number outstanding. There is even more than the “middle-of-the-book” Interest Bearing Notes and Compound Interest Treasury Notes that Patrick explored in detail last month.

The sale’s leading Large Size type note, the famous Spread Eagle Fr.-167a $100 1863 Legal Tender called AU55 by PCGS Currency, sold for $216,000, less than the $270,250 it realized when last offered in 2016. This is despite a pedigree to the first session of the Albert A. Grinnell Collection on November 25, 1944, where as lot number 37 it sold for $175.00 and failed to meet its $250.00 estimate. It is also a cautionary tale about how the size of the market thins out as prices reach their highest levels.

Other results in the upper echelon of Large Size type notes include: $114,000 for a Fr.-377 $100 1890 Treasury “Watermelon” Note, called PMG Very Fine 20 with restorations—the fourth offering at auction of a Watermelon note in two years. One of the two finest known Technicolor notes, a $20 Gold Certificate of 1905 (Fr.-1180) in PMG Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 reached $108,000. A Fr.-305 Triple Signature $20 1878 Silver Certificate, in PMG Very Fine 30, the best of only three recorded, and off the market since 2016 went for $102,000. The third signature was hand-signed by J.C. Hopper.

A trio of trophy Nationals deserve mention: A $100 1875 Fr.-456 of The National Bank of Baltimore, Maryland in PMG Choice Very Fine 35 EPQ, the better of the two known, reached $120,000. Also from the Grinnell sales, this one was estimated at $270 and sold for $205 on June 16, 1945. A unique Fr.-480 $10 1882 Brown Back from The First National Bank of Colfax, Washington Territory once owned by Amon Carter sold for $102,000 in PMG Very Fine 25. Finally, another Carter note, a unique First Charter Period Series of 1875 $20 from The First National Bank of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory in PMG Very Fine 25 brought $78,000. It is the only 1875 $20 known from any Wyoming bank.

Modern Federal Reserve Note collectors now have more to look for, as after months of releasing no information, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing recently dumped over six months of its Monthly Production Reports onto its website. Although it is not known when notes are delivered to banks by the Federal Reserve System, collectors of current Federal Reserve Notes can now be on the alert for the following 2021 series issues of regular and star notes (as of August 2024):

NOTE: On all denominations other than $1 and $2, the Federal Reserve district is designated by the second letter in the serial number, not the first. All $2, $20, and $50 denominations are still Series 2017A.

• $1 Washington, DC: Chicago (G, G*), St. Louis (H), Minneapolis (I, I*), Kansas City (J)
• $1 Fort Worth, TX: Boston (A, A*), New York, (B, B*), Philadelphia (C), Cleveland (D, D*), Richmond (E), Atlanta (F), Chicago (G), Minneapolis (I, I*), Kansas City (J, J*), Dallas (K, K*), San Francisco (L)
• $5 Fort Worth. TX only: Boston (A, A*), New York (B, B*), Philadelphia (C), Cleveland (D), Richmond (E), Atlanta (F, F*), Chicago (G), St. Louis (H, H*), Minneapolis (I, I*), Kansas City (J, J*), Dallas (K), San Francisco (L)
• $10 Washington, DC only: Cleveland (D, D*), Richmond (E), Kansas City (J, J*)
• $100 Washington, DC: Boston (A), Philadelphia (C), Cleveland (D), Richmond (E), Atlanta (F), Chicago (G), St. Louis (H, H*), Minneapolis (I, I*), Kansas City (J, J*), Dallas (K), San Francisco (l, L*)
• $100 Fort Worth, TX: New York (B), San Francisco (L, L*)

The MIF Paper Money Fair was in Maastricht, the Netherlands from September 24–29. It had over 215 exhibitors from sixty-five countries. The affiliated auction was conducted by Stack’s Bowers Galleries on October 2 from its California offices. Dwarfing all other results, with a $300,000 price that was ten times its low estimate, was a set of nine front and back proofs from the short-lived (c. 1918–1920) Olonets Government. Olonets was a Russian enclave near the Finnish border. The 1, 5, 10, 25 and 100 Rubles are dated 1918 and were intended to alleviate a regional currency shortage. Two notes reached $33,600. One, also at ten times its estimate, was an Estonian 1923 5,000 markkaa (BNB B206a) in PMG Choice VF35 that is at present the only example known to exist in issued form. Prior to the sale, the cataloger was unsure if the price would even reach $10,000. The other was one of the Reserve Bank of India’s Haj Pilgrim 100 rupees (BNB BR205a). The undated example from 1959 was the highest denomination issued. Haj issues are similar to the regular ones but with different prefixes, colors, and the word "HAJ" added. Regular Indian currency was not permitted to be brought on the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, so these, not legal tender in India, were taken by pilgrims instead. Unused ones could be reconverted.