Costa Mesa, CA Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ first live United States currency auction event of 2021 was a tremendous success that saw nine lots cross the six-figure mark on Thursday night, March 25. In all 525 lots of U.S. realized a total of $4,062,654 during the live session of the auction. (All prices include the buyer’s fee.) The leading lot of the night was the Fr.167a 1863 $100 “Spread Eagle” Legal Tender Note graded Choice Uncirculated 63 by PCGS Banknote. It realized $264,000. A pair of ultra-high denomination notes each sold for $180,000. They were a Fr.2221-K 1934 $5000 from Dallas graded Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ by PMG
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
Choice Unc. Spread Eagle 1863 $100 Legal Tender Note From Karelian Collection
Karelian Collection, including a
Fr.167a $100 Legal Tender Note.
The “
1862 and
1863 is one of the most recognizable and beloved in all of American currency. Engraved by
Joseph P. Ourdan, the bald eagle perched on a rock with wings spread dominates the left side of the note. Green border prints frame the design, which also has ornate black kaleidograph die counters at lower left and upper right and a slightly larger green kaleidograph die counter in the same style just right of center. Printed signatures of
Chittenden and
Spinner are along the bottom border while a red spiked Treasury Seal is near the upper right. “Act of March 3d, 1863” is in the top left corner. This catalog number features dual serial numbers where earlier versions had just one. An ornate Second Obligation back is seen on this example. Second Obligation notes do not mention exchanging the notes for 6-20 bonds as do the
Karelian Collection. This remarkable example is graded Extremely Fine 40 EPQ by
PMG.
This one-year design type features the profile portrait of
William Henry Seward prominently at the center. A large 50 counter is in an ornamental end panel at left while the red scalloped Treasury Seal is found at right.
Just 22 examples of the type are known, six are in government collections and another permanently resides in the
ANA Museum, leaving 15 pieces available to collectors. The print run for this design was 80,000 notes, of which only 23,500 were distributed. Treasury records report that only $1,250 worth (25 notes) are outstanding. This remarkable note carries an estimate of $150,000-$250,000 USD.