Thursday night’s landmark sale of the Joel R. Anderson Collection Part I saw a number of previous price records fall as several lots achieved never before seen price realizations.
In all, the 64 lots offered in Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ sale of the Joel R. Anderson Collection Part I realized $7,912,140, with an incredible seven lots surpassing the $500,000 mark.
A packed auction room witnessed an incredible Fr.183c 1863 $500 Legal Tender Note graded Very Choice New 64 PPQ sell for the impressive sum of $900,000. That realization smashed the previous $621,000 record price paid for the note when it sold last in 2005.
The finest known Fr.185m 1880 $500 Legal Tender Note, PCGS Currency graded About New 50, blew past estimates to sell for a record $504,000. The note last crossed the block for $281,750 in 2005.
One of the auction’s top grossing lots was the only privately held Fr.187b 1880 $1000 Legal Tender Note. The PCGS Currency graded Choice About New 55 example set a record, selling for $960,000 after spirited bidding. The previous record for the note was $862,500 when it was last sold in 2008.
Also approaching the million dollar mark was the Fr.186d 1863 $1000 Legal Tender Note graded Choice About New 58 which sold for $960,000.
So-called "Middle of the Book" notes did extremely well, with the unique Fr.207 1861 $50 Interest Bearing Note, graded Very Fine 25 by PCGS Currency, realizing an astounding $576,000. The previous price record for the note was set in 2005 when it was sold for $172,500.
The only publicly available Fr.209a 1861 $500 Interest Bearing Note brought a record $660,000 when it crossed the auction block as part of the Anderson Collection. The PCGS Currency Very Fine 25 graded note had last sold in 2005 for $299,000.
Lastly, the Fr.1218g 1882 $1000 Gold Certificate graded Extremely Fine 40 by PCGS Currency, sold for $576,000. This note is the finest of two in private hands and had last sold for $264,500 in 2005.
Part II of the Joel R. Anderson Collection will be offered this August as part of Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ Official Currency Auction of the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
For more information on the Joel R. Anderson Collection or about Stack’s Bowers Galleries please contact Stack’s Bowers Galleries President Christine Karstedt at 800-458-4646 or at ckarstedt@stacksbowers.com. Vist the company at www.Stacksbowers.com.
At last, some different fare expressly for the notes and currency collectors among us. I certainly hope someone here stepped up and grabbed a couple of these beauties!
$500 – $1000 dollar notes from the 1800’s. That would have been a fortune back than…and appear to be worth a fortune now lol There have been some big money auctions lately. I often wonder how high these pieces of history can go in price before they tap out.
Mouse
Mouse,
Even looking at a much shorter time frame, serious money can occasionally be made even from common circulating currency. As a simple concrete example, if anyone in my family had had the foresight to hold on to even a handful of the 1945-55 U.S. Army Austrian Occupation scrip we all used back then, we would be able to procure quite a tidy little sum in greenbacks in exchange for them now. But how many of us knew then what we know now? In our case, no one.
I agree with that, if I would have known than what I know now i would have retired long ago lol. I have had my eye on a Canadian auction and may bid on a $1000 Canadian note graded at a 66. The Canadian government has made the decision recently to take all legal tender status from these notes, not for commerce but will be recognized at face value at a Canadian bank upon return.I am not a fan of giving bills or precious metals back to my banks or government – thus increasing its collectible long term value. I… Read more »
Mouse – Think of it…if only we could have had 20/20 vision aimed toward the future instead of looking into the past, what a head start regarding financial security – and who knows what else – in life that would have made for! 🙂
Old Collector
Top dog paper is kickin tu$h it seems…. Watermelons @ $1M…..Mouse they are really rare in top grades & there are A LOT of people with too much $ & not alot to put it into, the market is a lot thinner than for US Coins but they always draw bids & attention, so beautiful, I collect paper but there are well beyond me, I am still working on a ‘type’ 02 NAt; $100 & 1918 $20’s….
Hey, it’s never to late to stash away a few choice *notes $1.,$2.,$5.,$10.,$20.,$50.,$100., for a family member, many years down the road! Just write do not open until year 2200, who knows they might light a *candle in your honer*, when your all but forgotten here on earth. :
Joe Brown – Maybe put a whole bunch of assorted currency and a sizeable pile of shiny (precious metal) coins into a time capsule that can’t be opened until x number of decades – or centuries, if you really want to teach your descendants patience – later, and then, “Open Sesame”, voila’! Just a thought. 😉
Old Collector
*god knows, i* hid or forgot about, or just can*t find where i* hid, some trinkets not worth much now, over my years! I* say good luck if or who ever comes across one of them, when ever fond.
Old Collector – i* did my version of a time capsule with a small die,cast * chest with a small cartoon *pirate stamped on top, i* put a handful of *culls, mostly steel war time cents, & a few badly pitted *war nickels, & berry*d it a few feet down on the side of a hill at the *ball field just across the street, from my home that i* grew up in, just can*t find the */map, its someplace down my folks basement, i* think! Tried without the *map with no luck tho, need a *metal detector!*smile.
Joe Brown – The bad news is that you can’t find your own old time capsule. The good news is that perhaps someday in the future someone else will have the excitement of finding all of that WWII era coinage (regardless of its condition)! 😉
Old Collector
that,s more than fine with me, could have been found, or somebody could have been watching that i* wasn’t aware off, *god*knows! One other thing i* buried in my folks side yard was our *cat*+*, went to take a peak, some years ago, but i* must of buried *my cat* under one of the other cellar windows, it just wasn’t their! ❗ :hmm:
Love all the time capsule tales, I would love to do one. Could you imagine them opening up a box of $2 bills in say 2300, they would have no idea. Perhaps would be more valuable as “Charmin’ by THEN…I won’t know but my head will be with Ted .4oo Williams’…… mayb
Chas Barber- throw in a coin & currency book with it, they will figure it out! The *splendid *1 T*W
Chas Barber & Joe Brown – By 2300 they likely will have long done away with anything but electronic transactions and might even be conducting the latter via telepathic signals from mind to mind. Who knows! 😉
Maybe, more likely an ongoing debate about cents costing the mint $1,233.01 to mint EACH (in 23oo)
Except, that’s forty more years from now than the entire amount of time that has elapsed since the founding of our country until the present. I think we we can readily surmise that the changes in our way of life, especially at the current rate of technological progress, will be even greater from now until then than they have been from the nation’s earliest beginnings until now. Consequently, I would be inclined to imagine that something as historically primitive such as the everyday use of physical coinage and/or currency as a standard means of personal financial transactions will be a… Read more »