Banknote Reporter

For this month, we are going to travel to the Lake Erie area and visit a small Ohio city. I recently read that Ohio has one of the largest diasporas in the country; it seems everywhere you go you meet someone who came from Ohio. Despite this, Ohio is replete with prosperous small towns and lovely vistas. It may have been considered the center of the Rust Belt a few years back but in my opinion, Ohio is on the rebound. So, let’s take a journey to the shores of Lake Erie and visit lovely Chardon, Ohio. Chardon is a small city in north-eastern Ohio, approximately 30 miles (40 minutes’ drive) east of Cleveland, and easily reached via U.S. Route 6 and State Route 44, south of Interstate 90. As such,…

It is cause for celebration any time a new $5 micro back 637 variety is found. Jim Hodgson recently acquired the top-grade Series of 1934A San Francisco Federal Reserve specimen from the LB block illustrated here. Series of 1934A 637s from any district are notoriously difficult to find, being among the rarest of the 637 varieties regardless of Federal Reserve district. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of what makes the $5 637 notes among the most avidly sought of all the small-size varieties. Back plate 637 had the most extraordinary life of any small size currency plate documented to date. The number 637 is a plate serial number. Plate serial numbers are from a set of consecutive numbers for a specific type of plate, in this case,…

Action has been slow, but I’ll be able to report prices from Central States auctions next issue. I attended the Central States show, but auctions will be in Dallas, too late for my deadline. In other auction action $5,000 and $10,000 notes remain strong, but calm. Stacks Bowers auctions showed strong prices for Large Size and Nationals, but Small Size were very lukewarm. The good news for collectors is the Central State Show in late April at the Renaissance Schaumburg, Ill. venue was terrific. The show included 600 tables and a bit over 400 dealers. They also had smaller table cost dealers up on the second floor. They have secured additional space for next year, however, and lower table cost dealer tables will be available on the main floor. Everyone…

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) has been selected by Kagin’s to grade a massive collection of colonial currency that will be sold in a two-part auction series beginning May 20, 2023. The 375-lot collection of colonial notes is pedigreed to the esteemed John J. Ford, an accomplished collector of coins and banknotes who noted numismatic figure Q. David Bowers once declared as among “the most influential figures in American numismatics.” “Many of the bank notes from the John J. Ford Collection that we graded ahead of the Kagin’s auction are among the oldest paper currency known from the American colonies which later became the United States,” said PCGS President Stephanie Sabin. “We are excited to be encapsulating these historic notes in conjunction with an auction that will be of historic significance…

A rare and highly coveted Greek bank note was among hundreds of world notes certified by Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®) offered in a Stack’s Bowers sale. Stack’s May 2023 Maastricht Auction - Session A - World Paper Money sale was held on May 4, 2023. The top lot in the auction was a rare Greece, National Bank 1923 500 Drachmai (lot 50452) graded NGC 40 Extremely Fine. The reverse shows the Hagia Sophia, a prominent historical and cultural site in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the center of Orthodox Christianity for centuries. According to the auction house, it is believed to have been part of a group that was stolen and spent by an employee of the banknote printer. One of only two examples of this particular note in the PMG Population…

Two rare notes from Southeast Asia realized over $90,000 each in an auction of over 250 selections from the unparalleled Frank Goon Collection. Noonans offered these notes as Part I of the collection on March 25, 2023. Leading the way was a Singapore ND (1973) 10,000 Dollars - Replacement graded PMG 58 Choice About Unc EPQ (lot 210). It realized SGD 124,000 (about $93,000), well above its pre-auction estimate of SGD 50,000 to SGD 70,000. This is the highest denomination ever printed by Singapore, and one that is now being phased out due to money laundering concerns. PMG has certified only five examples of this particular replacement note, with this one easily being the highest graded. Meanwhile, a Straits Settlements 1930-33 1,000 Dollars Specimen graded PMG 62 Uncirculated (lot 41) also realized…