Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania in PMG Choice Extremely Fine 45 grade.
Track and Price’s census reports this $50 as the earliest and the only first charter note from this
Allegheny County issuing bank. First charter fifties have always been heralded rarities, with only 103 documented in the
National Banknote Census. Only 14 are listed as XF or better, and two of those are in museums. The majority of the remaining 12 have limited auction histories and just one other example even has a picture in the database.
The note displays art-like appeal and intricate details which are typical of the era. One would almost want to frame this piece and display it as art given the Americana motifs. At left is a highly detailed design of
Obsolete US Currency Highlights: Polar Air and Polar Bear Notes
Obsolete currency collectors are often drawn to notes with visually striking and dramatic vignettes. Notes from the
Continental Bank of Boston have provided collectors with green and black printed remainders that feature bold vignettes and have been popularly collected for years – Polar Bear Notes. The March
PMG.
As freezing arctic air has swept across much of the country, the image found on the
$3 Continental Bank note from this sheet seems particularly appropriate. Titled “The White Bear”, the vignette by
American Bank Note Company (ABNC) engraver
F.O.C. Darley displays four men in a small boat about to be overturned by an attacking polar bear. The scene is one of the most recognizable in all of obsolete currency, if not American currency as a whole. The type is listed as No. 24 in
Karelian Collection, including a
Watermelon Note” or “
Baby Watermelon” (as opposed to its $1,000 “
Grand Watermelon” counterpart) due to the distinctive large zeros found on the back of the note that bear an unmistakable resemblance to the fruit.
The face portrays Admiral
David Farragut at right with a large 100 counter just left of center. Engraved signatures of Treasury officers
Rosecrans and
Huston are seen along the bottom border. A large brown spiked Treasury Seal is near the center.
Watermelon notes are represented by just one catalog number, of which 120,000 were printed and issued. Today only 35 examples are known, and of those, at least seven are in government or institutional collections and unavailable to collectors. The 1890 $100 Treasury Notes were replaced by the
Precious Metals Auction, a new auction platform for buying bullion with no buyer’s fees.
The interest in bullion has seen a steady increase over the past several years, as interest in this historically stable investment category grows. Bullion is available in a wide range of formats across several precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is thrilled to present a valuable new resource for today’s bullion collector through these Precious Metals Auctions, expanding their already-extensive array of auction venues.
The bidding in the Stack’s Bowers Precious Metals Auction will be represented by a percentage of the “spot” metal prices, which will be fixed immediately before the auction begins and remain unchanged throughout the course of the auction, eliminating bidder’s market risk of precious metals price changes during the auction. Starting bids begin at as little as 90% of the metal “spot” price. Once a lot is hammer
This price was closely followed by an
1891 $50 Treasury Note graded PMG 64 EPQ that was bid up to $360,000.
High denomination
1869 “Rainbow” notes that featured a combination of rarity and great condition attracted strong bids as an
1869 $50 graded PMG 65 EPQ brought $300,000.
Among
Serial Number 1 First Charter Series of 1875 examples from the
First National Bank of Lincoln, Illinois performed well. The
$100 note, graded PMG 55 realized $300,000, while the
$50–also graded PMG 55 and the only example known for the Friedberg number–was bid to $288,000. A
Series of 1880 $100 Silver Certificate graded PMG 65 EPQ sold for $264,000, the same price realized by a
In addition, Stack’s Bowers Galleries sold seven out of the next 10 highest priced notes in 2020 (resulting in 16 of the top 20), including the following: