Rare Confederate Bank Notes Among Highlights Upcoming Auction

Rare Confederate bank notes are among the many notes that are being offered in a Heritage Auctions sale. Bidding is already underway for the CSNS Currency Signature Auction, being held May 3-5, 2023.

Among the Confederate note highlights is an 1861 T-3 $100 graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated (lot 21006) with an estimate of at least $35,000. Bearing serial number 813, this note was included in a second batch of 1,000 sheets of $50 and $100 notes that were taken out of New York City by sea, only shortly before federal forces attempted to intercept them, according to the auction house. The raid of ABNCo and National Bank Note Co. did end any future production or shipments of Confederate fiscal instruments by both companies. The PMG Population Report contains just 49 examples, with this note tied with only one other as the finest graded.

Also featured is an 1861 T-2 $500 graded PMG 20 Very Fine (lot 21003) with an estimate of at least $25,000. This note was printed by the National Bank Note Co. in March 1861, shortly before the Civil War. Stock vignettes, including a train crossing a bridge and a smaller vignette of Ceres, were used for expediency. The PMG Population Report contains only 33 examples of this note, with PMG 20 Very Fine being the median grade.

Another highlight of this auction is an 1861 T-1 $1,000 graded PMG 20 Very Fine 20 NET (lot 21001) with an estimate of at least $25,000. The PMG Population Report records only 25 examples of this note, the highest denomination issued by the Confederacy. Like the previous two notes, this one is also from the James Cole Collection.

Additional notes featured in this auction include:

• a Cut Sheet of Four 1914 $100 Federal Reserve Notes (Boston), each graded PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated (lot 21108), with an estimate of at least $90,000.
• a Wailuku, Territory of Hawaii 1882 $5 National Bank Note graded PMG 15 Choice Fine (lot 20282) with an estimate of at least $60,000.
• an 1875 $20 First National Gold Bank Note (San Francisco) graded PMG 20 Very Fine 20 (lot 20238) with an estimate of at least $35,000.
• an 1875 $10 Union National Gold Bank Note (Oakland) graded PMG 12 Fine NET (lot 20226) with an estimate of at least $35,000.
• an 1862 $100 Legal Tender graded PMG 15 Choice Fine (lot 21043) with an estimate of $35,000.
• a Starkville, Miss. 1882 $5 National Bank Note with Serial Number 1 graded PMG 30 Very Fine (lot 20506) with an estimate of at least $35,000