1865 Note Realizes Over $250,000 at Auction
We have recently learned that a banknote certified by Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®) realized $264,000 at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries currency auction on Nov. 14, 2019.
The 1865 $500 Interest Bearing Note, Fr. 212f, graded PMG 25 Very Fine, had an altered serial number and the payee’s name removed after it was redeemed, apparently in an attempt to redeem it again.
This 1865 $500 Interest Bearing Note, Fr. 212f, is graded PMG 25 Very Fine. It realized: $264,000. Image courtesy of PMG
It also bears signs that Treasury Department officials discovered that plan, writing the correct serial number by hand on the note and punch-canceling it repeatedly. A hand-written note on the back says: “Writing has evidently been removed from the payee mark on this note SMC June 26/68.” Numismatic experts believe that indicates the note was written by Spencer Clark, head of the National Currency Bureau at the time.
The note, submitted to PMG through its CrossOver service, was part of the collection of well-known numismatist Joel R. Anderson and is the only 1865 $500 Interest Bearing Note, Fr. 212f in the PMG Population Report.
For the full results of the Stack's Bowers Nov. 14 Currency Auction, click here.
