A host of impressive and scarcely encountered large-size and small-size type notes spread across a diverse range of types and denominations are featured in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries November 2023 Showcase Auction of U.S. Currency.

Live bidding sessions on the 347 lots will be at the firm’s Costa Mesa, California, headquarters on Nov. 17.

The sale also features obsolete and colonial bank notes from various sources, including the Caine Collection, with proofs and circulated notes.

A duo estimated in the $200,000 range are a Series 1934 $10,000 Federal Reserve note, Friedberg 2231-C, from the scarcely encountered Philadelphia district, graded Choice Extremely Fine 45 by Paper Money Guaranty, that has been off the market since 2012. It is pedigreed to the collection of professional poker player Johnny Chan. The other at that estimate is a Series 1934 $5,000 Federal Reserve note, F-2221-G, also graded PMG Choice Extremely Fine 45.

Preeminent large-size type notes are a F-1218f Series 1882 $1,000 gold certificate in PMG Very Fine 25 “Stains Lightened” and one of only two Uncirculated large-size $500 Federal Reserve notes, an F-1132-L graded PMG Choice Uncirculated 64. Both are estimated at $150,000 or more.

“Condition rarities” include a PCGS Banknote Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 Series 1901 $10 United States note (the Bison note), F-121m, at $30,000+, and a serial number 33 PCGS Banknote Superb Gem Uncirculated 68 Premium Paper Quality Series 1896 $5 silver certificate, an Educational note, F-268, estimated at $60,000+.

Obsolete notes from the Caine Collection comprise a sizable portion of the sale. Rarities from New England include an 1838 $1 obsolete note from the Bangor Commercial Bank and a $500 proof from the long-defunct Warren Bank of South Danvers, Massachusetts.

The auction also offers a variety of obsolete notes from the Midwest, Antebellum/Postbellum South, and Mid-Atlantic. Notes from Tennessee, Connecticut, Minnesota, Ohio, and Alabama are among the states represented. One of the more unusual, from Ohio, is a $3 Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking $3 note that was issued when the bank was unable to obtain a state charter.

A historically significant offering of Colonial bank notes is highlighted by a pair of exceedingly rare Pennsylvania notes with links to Benjamin Franklin. The first is an Aug. 10, 1739, 20-shilling note, PA-45, graded PMG Choice Very Fine 35, the finest known example of its type. It bears the imprint of B. Franklin and displays a nature print security device on the back that he created, and which remained in use until the 1780s.

The second is a Continental Currency issue of May 10, 1775, $20 note, cataloged as CC-9, graded PMG About Uncirculated 58* Exceptional Paper Quality. Although not printed by Franklin, it is equally significant as it is printed on paper supplied by Franklin and is effectively the forerunner of the first federal issues released in 1861. It has been off the market since 2011 and as the finest known, is offered with an estimated price of $60,000 to $90,000.

The auction also offers three Uncirculated Continental notes bearing the ever-popular Fugio/Mind Your Business motif later employed on the 1776-dated Continental dollars and the Fugio cents of 1787.

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