Solid number note tops auction

Originally posted by Bank Note Reporter on April 1, 2014

A 1953 $2 Legal Tender note with solid serial numbers, A11111111A, in PMG 64 EPQ Choice Uncirculated took top honors, bringing $28,000 in Lyn Knight Currency Auctions sale, March 6-8. The sale, which was in conjunction with the Chicago Paper Money Expo at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill., featured the Mel Wilmore Collection of Fancy Serial Numbered Notes.

Prices do not include the 15-18 percent buyer’s premium.

According to the lot description, the rare $2 was first “bought by Mike Abramson from David Klein in 1987 for $3000. Mike sold the note to John Whitney from his 1999 fixed price list, and Mel [Wilmore] purchased this prize from the John Whitney Walter auction in 2004.… A total of only eight solid serial numbered $2 1953 – 1963 Legal Tender Notes were printed.”

Also from the Wilmore collection, and bringing $18,000, was a 2003 $10 Federal Reserve Note star with serial DA00000001. “We believe that only two serial #1 star notes on the #1 district Federal Reserve Notes have ever surfaced over the years,” wrote the cataloger. “The only example we can recall is the $5 2006 FRN IA00000001* sold by Mike Abramson. That note and its mates in the same pack were eventually re-sold for over six figures after the pack was split up. Serial number #00000001 notes are always in demand, while #00000001 star notes are often the centerpiece of even the most advanced collections. BUT…A Serial #00000001 STAR on DISTRICT #1 is an offering we cannot ever recall appearing at public auction before.”

The note was graded PMG 65 EPQ Gem Uncirculated.

One of four-known $10 Federal Reserve Notes with serial 99999999, a 1934B in PMG EPQ Choice Unc B99999999D, went for $10,800.

A progressive set of seven Federal Reserve Notes and one Silver Certificate, serials 00000009 – 99999999, in grades ranging from PMG 58 EPQ to PMG 66 EPQ was hammered at $17,000.

Bringing $12,500 was a progressive up-ladder set of nine $1 Silver Certificates, 00000001 – 23456789, in grades PMG 63 to 66 EPQ.

An intact 100-note pack of 1996 $100s Federal Reserve Notes with serials AB88888801V – AB88888900V, graded Gem Unc, sold at $12,000.

For additional information on this or future Lyn Knight Currency Auctions, visit lynknight.com

This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in the piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.