A Series 1900 $10,000 gold certificate sold for $1,938.75 in a Heritage Auctions sale that ended Nov. 11, against an estimate of $3,000.

The nonredeemable uniface note features a portrait of Andrew Jackson. Prominent use of gold-colored ink throughout the design make these notes eye catching.

The gold certificate was never intended for circulation. It was used for transactions within the banking system.

The Series 1900 note was graded Choice Fine 15 Net by Paper Money Guaranty, for stains, splits and foreign substances.

In 1933 the federal government required all gold certificates, along with gold coins, to be withdrawn from circulation. The Series 1908 gold certificates were perforation canceled and stored.

During the night of Dec. 13, 1935, a fire broke out in the storage facility and “firefighters tossed many of these notes ... out of the windows of a large filing room on the sixth floor. The lucky onlookers below were able to pick the notes up and go on their way,” according to the catalog.

Unfortunately, not only were the notes canceled, they were also illegal to own at the time.

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