A $50 National Gold Bank Note from the Thomas M. Flynn collection sold for $373,750 and headed results of Heritage Auction Galleries? $13.8 million paper money sale April 17-18.
The $50, issued by the First National Gold Bank of San Francisco, Calif., was an Original Series note graded very fine by Heritage. Flynn told catalogers he acquired it in a private transaction in 1973 from Amon Carter Jr.
The two-session auction of about 3,600 lots featured Flynn?s collections of U.S. and Canadian bank note, including more than 1,000 large-size notes encompassing nearly every Friedberg number from Fr. 1 through Fr. 1225.
The Flynn notes were offered without reserves. Items from other consigners also appeared in the sale.
Flynn?s 1890 $100 ?Watermelon? Treasury Note, Friedberg 377, sold for $195,500. The note was graded by Paper Money Guaranty as About Uncirculated-53 Net, and was described by catalogers as the highest-graded $100 ?Watermelon? certified by PMG or PCGS Currency as of the sale cataloging. This note design is nicknamed the ?Watermelon? because of the appearance of the large zeroes on the back.
Flynn also consigned to the sale his landmark collection of Federal Reserve Bank Notes. A note from this set came in third in the auction at $161,000. The note was a Series 1915 $20 from the Atlanta district, Fr. 822a, graded PMG Extremely Fine-40.
A 1914 $20 Red Seal Federal Reserve Note, Fr. 952b, PMG Extremely Fine-40, hit $138,000.
Small-size notes enter the sale?s top results with a Series 1934 $10,000 Federal Reserve Note, Fr. 2231-B, that sold for $126,500. This note was once part of the Binion?s Horseshoe Casino accumulation of $10,000 notes, 100 of them that were displayed for years in a person-sized, horseshoe-shaped frame. This note was graded Gem Uncirculated-65 by Currency Grading and Authentication.
Another 1934 $10,000, same Friedberg variety, graded CGA Choice Uncirculated-63, went for $109,250.
Also bringing $109,250 was a Series 1934 $5,000 Federal Reserve Note, Fr. 2221-K, graded Extremely Fine-45 by PCGS Currency.
Realizing $103,500 was Flynn?s 1915 $20 Federal Reserve Bank Note, Fr. 830, in PMG Choice Fine-15; as well as his 1928 $100 Gold Certificate, Fr. 2405, PMG Gem Uncirculated-66 EPQ.
A 1914 $100 Federal Reserve Note with red seal from the Minneapolis district, Fr. 1080a, PMG Very Good-10 Net, hit $97,750.
A Federal Reserve Bank Note, this one a 1915 $20, Fr. 822, in PMG Very Fine-30, finished at $92,000.
Among other remarkable prices, a star replacement Series 1928A $2 Legal Tender Note, Fr. 1502*, in PMG Gem Uncirculated-65 EPQ sold for $63,250.
Top Canadian bank note lot was a Halifax, Nova Scotia, $100 from The Bank of Nova Scotia dated Jan. 2, 1919, graded extremely fine by catalogers. It brought $46,000 and came from the Flynn collection.
Overall total for Heritage?s April 17-18 paper money auction was $13,791,851.10. All prices reported here include buyers? fees.
The sale was held in conjunction with the Central States Numismatic Society convention in Rosemont, Ill.
For more prices realized or other information, visit Web site www.ha.com, or contact the firm at Heritage Auction Galleries, 3500 Maple Ave., 17th Floor, Dallas, Texas 75219-3941; telephone (800) 872-6467.
