Stack’s Bowers Galleries is offering the content of a Virginia Judge’s Collection in a series of auctions. During the August Global Showcase Auction following the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money, a portion of the collection’s vast U.S. paper money holdings was offered. More than 60 lots were featured in two auction sessions.

The collection of U.S. notes paid particular attention to unique serial numbers, included those with the coveted serial number 1. There were also anomalies like ladders, with serial number digits in ascending or descending order. The unique characteristics of serial numbers hold appeal with collectors who seek out unusual items, so even lower numbers offer opportunity.

One items sold in the August auctions was a Friedberg 1900-E Series 1963 $1 Federal Reserve note printed for the Richmond, Virginia, Federal Reserve district. Graded by Paper Money Guaranty as Gem Uncirculated 65 Exceptional Paper Quality, the note, which sold for $2,520, features a true ascending ladder with the serial number starting with 1 and progressing to 8 as the final digit. In the pre-sale description, the note was described as “nothing short of magnificent and represents a wish that most of us have likely had at one point at the beginning of our individual journey into the world of numismatics yet one frustrated by astronomical odds and likely a lack of patience. Let this be your chance to claim what you once dreamed of finding all those years ago in circulation or at the hands of your local bank.”

Offerings of U.S. notes from the Virginia Judge’s Collection will continue in the September 2024 Collectors Choice Online Auction scheduled for Sept. 26, with more fancy serial numbers included among the nearly 1,000 notes offered in over 200 lots.

World notes

The early September Around the World auction saw world notes of interest from the collection come to market. The 480 lots in the Sept. 3 sale reflected only part of the collection’s available notes, as the remaining notes are scheduled for the 2024 Maastricht sale in October.

The lot achieving the sale’s highest price was something of a surprise, exceeding its pre-sale estimate by $2,000. A French Equatorial Africa (Institut d’Émission de l’Afrique Equatoriale Francaise et du Cameroun) 500-franc bank note, undated, type of 1957, cataloged as Pick 33 and graded by PMG as About Uncirculated 53 sold for $4,560.

The pre-sale catalog noted this was “a fresh and bright example of this popular and rather scarce French colonial type.” It adds that the piece was “much nicer than typically seen for this type, which is quite scarce to begin with. This is the second highest denomination of this series, and as is often the case, it is scarcer than the highest denomination, which is often the one put away in cash hoards and the like. This example is problem-free, and is bettered by just five examples in the PMG population report.”

The top-priced Canadian note was a Dominion of Canada $5 note of 1912, cataloged in Charlton as DC-21g and graded PMG Choice Uncirculated 63, with its stunning train vignette on the face. One of the early lots in the sale, it sold for $3,360.

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