Currency was once one of the most overlooked areas of numismatics, but has
now captured the interests of many collectors. Less than one year after the
first piece of currency to smash the $1 million sales mark was sold, Heritage
Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas has more than doubled that record price, and
has accomplished this feat no fewer than twice.

An East Coast collector
has purchased two notes, a Fr. 379-c Series 1891 $1000 Treasury Note along with
a Fr. 1166-c Series 1863 $100 Gold Certificate for $2.1 Million each. The 1891
$1,000 Treasury Note and the 1863 $100 Gold Certificate are rarities not only
for their respective issue, but also for their type, as no other examples of
these two types are available to collectors. Both notes have been off the market
for more than two decades, having resided during that time in the collection of
Dr. and Mrs. Edward Dauer. Both of the notes are illustrated on the front cover
of the Dauer’s award winning book American History as Seen Through Currency,
published in 2003.

In the mid-1980’s Dr. and Mrs. Dauer purchased the
Series 1891 $1,000 Treasury Note for more than double the previous record for
highest price paid for a single piece of currency. It is only fitting that this
note again sold for nearly twice the record for most expensive note. Only two
notes of this design are known; the other, which features a different signature
combination, is permanently impounded in the Smithsonian Collection. This note’s
first public sale was in 1944 as part of the Albert A. Grinnell Collection of
U.S. Paper Money where it realized $1,425, a mere $75 more than the 1890 $1,000
“Grand Watermelon” Treasury Note in the previous lot.

The second $2.1
million note is the Series 1863 $100 Gold Certificate, which is the finest of
only three examples known and the only one in private hands. The other two
examples are permanently impounded in the Smithsonian’s collection and
unavailable to collectors. The U.S. Treasury also released $500, $1,000, $5,000,
and $10,000 Series 1863 Gold Certificates with only single survivors of the
$1,000 and $5,000 notes known. Since both the $1,000 and $5,000 notes also
permanently reside in the Smithsonian, the $100 also holds claim to the highest
denomination available to collectors.

These two notes, which are unique
in collector hands, are required to form the ultimate collection of U.S.
Currency and it is again unknown how long they will remain unavailable to other
serious collectors attempting to achieve the same goal. The buyer has indicated
that he will now try to complete a set of large currency by type and design, as
he now has two of the key pieces that make such an achievement possible.

Details on the sale www.heritageauctions.com/currency.
While you are there, take a second to browse around the heritage site. It is an
amazing collection of the best that the collecting world can bring.