‘SOLID EIGHTS’ set coming to auction

With the annual American Numismatic Association looming on the horizon, collectors should not overlook Stack’s Bowers Hong Kong Auction. The date is Aug. 6-9, just a week before ANA, and the catalog is not all about world coins or notes. Two remarkable U.S. currency lots are worth more than a passing glance.

For starters, there is a complete denomination set of Federal Reserve notes – $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 – in which all of the seven notes carries the coveted “SOLID EIGHTS” serial number: #88888888. As a bonus, the set includes the bookends for the run of 88888880-9 for the solid eight $20. (See images below, courtesy and © Stack’s Bowers, www.stacksbowers.com.)

Given that U.S. paper money contains 8 digits, the frequency of this specific serial number being printed is one in 99,999,999. Further, the set contains the only known $50 denomination serial #88888888 and one of just four known $2 #88888888s.

Each note has been authenticated by either PMG or PCGS as being both uncirculated and having Premium or Exceptional Paper Quality. The seven grade from PCGS-64 to PCGS/PMG-67.

As Stack’s Bowers comments, “While we have auctioned off hundreds of thousands of paper money lots through the years, we have never handled a lot quite like this.”

But there’s more! A second lot consists of three FRN notes, $1, $10, & $100, dated 1996-2013, all in PMG Choice Uncirculated, and all with “SOLID EIGHTS.” The estimate on this lot is a modest $7,000-10,000.

And world paper collectors should not feel they are being ignored. Far from it. The catalog contains a surfeit of lots to suit most palates. There is room for just two examples here.

From Australia comes a choice WWII Camp Seven Bank 2 shillings of 1941 signed by Mendel and Stahl (S/B-553a). It is a scarce note in any grade, and this example comes in PCGS Choice About New 58 PPQ.

And from Czechoslovakia comes an issued, ABNC-printed 500 Korun of 1923 (P-18a). This is another hard-to-find-but-worth-the-effort piece. That on offer is most unusual in being graded a remarkable PMG About Uncirculated 55. It carries an estimate of $7,500-10,000. (See image above, courtesy and © Stack’s Bowers, www.stacksbowers.com.)

SCWPM prices this note in UNC at $4,200. This is unlikely to be sufficient given that the occasional VF examples that appear on the market fetch prices north of $6,000.

Full details of all lots in the Hong Kong catalog can be checked out online at www.stacksbowers.com.