GREENSHEET: Activity Across the Collectible Currency Market

The next two major conventions for currency dealers and collectors are the Chicago Paper Money Expo (CPMX) and the Whitman Baltimore Spring Expo. The annual paper-centric CPMX show takes place for the 22nd time March 18-20, Friday through Sunday. There are more than 40 currency dealers and paper money specialists scheduled to set up and Lyn Knight Currency Auctions will be conducting their familiar sale in conjunction with this show, as they have in the past. Session one of the sale consists of 593 lots of world paper money, which includes an excellent run of notes from the Bahamas, a nation whose notes are strongly in demand in today’s market. The second session of the auction consists of U.S. paper money in all of the major categories: colonials, large size type, nationals, and small size type. Colonials are highlighted by a 1777 $6 Virginia note graded Very Choice CU64 by PMG, a very scarce grade for this type. The large size type section of the sale is marked by a host of fancy serial number $1 Black Eagle notes, including five solid serial notes. There is also a 1917 $1 Legal Tender (Fr. 37) with a “100 Million” serial number, E100000000A. There are over 350 national bank notes on offer, with 48 hailing from California, the largest group in the category. A number of these come from banks in a closely grouped cluster of cities in southern California, including Corona, Ontario, Redlands, Riverside, and Upland. The fancy and low serial numbers theme continues in the small size notes in the Knight sale, and two lots especially merit a closer look. One is a 90 note “Super Repeater” set of $1 Federal Reserve Notes, and the other is a 90 note “Super Radar” set of $1 FRNs. To visualize, a super repeater serial number is when the serial number sequence goes “H09090909B” and a super radar is when the number sequence is, for example “D05555550C” or “L70000007D.” These two sets contain all possible combinations for these two types of eight-digit serial numbers. Rounding out the small size selections is a fresh 1934A $500 star note graded XF45EPQ by PMG.

The Whitman Baltimore show will be held March 31st through April 3rd and features an U.S. currency auction conducted by Stack’s Bowers. Early in February Stack’s Bowers announced that they had acquired the paper money auction firm Manifest Auctions, and that material previously consigned to Manifest will become part of the Baltimore auction. One of the notes highlighted in the press release was one of the ever-popular 1934 $10,000 Binion hoard notes. Stack’s Bowers also sold an exclusive selection of paper money as part of their Rarities Sale which was held on February 10th in New York City. This group included a half dozen rare Massachusetts colonial notes pedigreed to the massive John J. Ford collection, and a Series 1934D Federal Reserve Note $5/$10 double denomination error which sold for $25,850.