Three important Irish bank notes far exceeded expectations when they were sold at the Dix Noonan Webb auction of British, Irish and world bank notes on Feb. 24 in London.

The highest price was registered for an extremely rare £100 note from the Irish Free State dated Sept. 10, 1928. It was described as having light handling and About Uncirculated to Uncirculated, and probably in the finest condition of the few examples known. It sold for £39,680 ($51,737) including a 24% buyer’s fee against an estimate of £12,000 to £16,000.

The other two notes to top expectations were Bank of Ireland Ploughman specimen notes: a £50 issue and a £100 note, both dating from around 1929; each sold for £32,240 ($42,036). Neither of these had appeared in auction for decades and had been expected to fetch £5,000 to £6,000 each.

The three notes were part of the John Geraghty Collection and were all bought by an overseas collector with an interest in rare notes from all countries. The superb collection was put together by the late John Geraghty and his son Sean, and consisted of 54 lots, which realized a total of £183,656.

Elsewhere in the auction, a rare 1942 100-dinar note from the government of Iraq, well known for its portrait of King Faisal II as a child, sold for £29,760 ($38,802) against an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000 and was bought by an advanced collector of Iraqi paper money and coins.

An extremely rare undated (1973) 500-riyal note from the Qatar Monetary Agency, graded Choice Uncirculated 64 by Paper Money Guaranty, sold for £17,360 ($22,635) against an estimate of £8,000 to £12,000. It was purchased by a collector from the Middle East.

Andrew Pattison, head of DNW’s bank note department, commented, “These two notes were part of the Gemini Collection — a fabulous group of notes put together several decades ago. Iraqi notes of all kinds are currently selling for records sums of money and this is among the rarest. However the note from Qatar was originally acquired from circulation in the 1970s! The price achieved shows a truly monumental increase in value.”

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