Skyjack ransom money drew bids two to three times higher than expected at a Heritage Auction Galleries Americana memorabilia auction June 13.
Part of a $200,000 ransom paid to D.B. Cooper in a 1971 hijacking, 15 $20 Federal Reserve Notes that were found on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Wash., brought $37,433 combined.
Even a note fragment brought $358.
Two lots tied for the top price of $6,572. The notes were Series 1969 $20s that had handwritten initials of investigators who examined the notes after they were recovered in 1980 by an eight-year-old boy named Brian Ingram of Mena, Ark.
Ingram consigned the notes to Heritage and retains 70 more. What he found were the only notes ever recovered from the ransom money.
The notes were certified by PCGS Currency. Each holder has a label showing the FBI?s artist sketch of the hijacker, who bailed out of a passenger jet Nov. 24, 1971, over the Pacific Northwest with the money and was never found or heard from again.
Prices quoted include a 19.5 percent buyer?s fee.
