Archives International Auctions will hold its 50th sale, billed as “The Milestone Auction,” at the Collectors Club, on East 35th Street in New York on Dec. 3, and at its offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the next day. It will include 1,182 lots in four sessions encompassing U.S. and worldwide paper money, scripophily, autographs, and security printing ephemera.

Among the highlights identified by the firm is a Series 1875 First Charter Period uncut sheet of national bank notes from The Central National Bank of Washington City (District of Columbia). The $10 and $20 notes on the sheet correspond to Friedberg 419 and F-434 and are graded Very Fine 30 by PCGS Currency. 

The estimate is $35,000 to $45,000, for what the cataloger speculates may be the only uncut pair available.

Another uncut sheet, projected at $6,000 to $8,000, is a small-size sheet of six $5 notes from the First National Bank in Reno (Nevada). It is of the Type 2 variety, meaning that the charter number, in this case 7038, is printed four times, twice in black in and twice in brown, instead of just two times in black as on Type 1. Paper Money Guaranty graded it About Uncirculated 58 Exceptional Paper Quality.

An undated (1894) Banco Espanol De Puerto Rico 5-peso specimen note in PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 is expected to go for $2,500 to $4,000. Its black on orange and yellow face has a portrait of Spain’s Queen Maria Christina and a seated child painting flanking the denomination. 

Another specimen with the same estimate is an India paper proof uniface specimen 1905 100-franc note from the National Bank of the Danish West Indies. A street view vignette is in the center, with Denmark’s King Christian IX at left.

One of the most eye-appealing and visually busiest lots is a circa 1740 intricately engraved Spanish share certificate from the Real Compania de San Fernando de Seville. Among the portrayals are a view of the city of Seville at top center; the Virgin Mary with Christ Child; St. Fernando II, below whom is a sailing ship being aided by Neptune. King Ferdinand VI is standing in the center of it all. The document includes an ornate white paper seal. Pedro Tortolero, purportedly the engraver, is seen signing a shipping case at the lower right. The minimum estimated price is $2,500. 

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