Damn Near Perfect: Fr. 1179 1902 $20 Gold Certificate PMG Superb Gem Unciruclated 67 Highlights CSNS

This year’s 2012 Schaumburg CSNS (Central States Numismatic Society) paper money show is locked and loaded. The action begins April 18 and concludes on April 22, 2012 with a recovery day in between on April 21, 2012. Judging from the eye-popping notes in this seminal auction’s catalogs, this year’s CSNS should be a thrilling occasion, with notes queued up for both high-end collectors and collectors on a budget.

Here is the schedule of sessions during the auction. Note that schedules are subject to change. Please visit www.currency.ha.com – click here – to see the latest updates to the schedule.

Sessions
1 – Heritage Signature® Auctions Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 15001-15441) – 6:00 PM Central Time, Wednesday, April 18, 2012.
(Internet bidding ends at
10:00 PM Central Time the night before the floor session for this lot)
2 – Heritage Signature® Auctions Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 15442-15976) – 6:00 PM Central Time, Thursday, April 19, 2012.
(Internet bidding ends at
10:00 PM Central Time the night before the floor session for this lot)
3 – Heritage Signature® Auctions Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 15977-16328) – 1:00 PM Central Time, Friday, April 20, 2012.
(Internet bidding ends at
10:00 PM Central Time the night before the floor session for this lot)
4 – Heritage Signature® Auctions Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 16329-16832) – 6:00 PM Central Time, Friday, April 20, 2012.
(Internet bidding ends at
10:00 PM Central Time the night before the floor session for this lot)
5 – Heritage Signature® Auctions Session – No Floor or Phone Bidding (Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 19001-20607) – 10:00 AM Central Time, Sunday, April 22, 2012.
(Internet Proxy bidding ends two hours prior to the session start time.)

With 5 sessions of currency to choose from, how can you go wrong?

We’d also like to expound on what might be one of the finest currency offerings in recent memory.

Heritage has included an exceptionally rare Fr. 1179 1905 $20 “Technicolor Note” Gold Certificate with Lyons-Roberts signatures in Session 4. Normally, these notes surface in Fine-Very Fine condition and don’t cause much of a disturbance. This year is decidedly different: this particular $20 Technicolor Note is graded a god-like Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 by PMG. By all accounts, this is the finest 1905 Fr. 1179 $20 Technicolor Note EVER offered by a third party auction service in history. It is unknown whether anything graded the same or higher has changed hands privately.

This note is so cool that it has its own video – visit the Heritage Auctions website to see it for yourself 8) .

Now for business matters. Before we list the price of this lot, let’s consider rough pricing for other notes in lesser condition:

1. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate Lyons-Roberts Uncirculated/New – $20,000
2. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate Lyons-Roberts Extremely Fine – $12,000
3. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate Lyons-Roberts Very Fine – $3,500
4. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate Lyons-Roberts Fine – $2,000
5. 1905 $20 Gold Certificate Lyons-Roberts Good – $400

*Source: 2011 Official Black Book Price Guide to United States Paper Money

As you can see, the price climbs higher than Mt. Everest as the condition of the note improves. This trend is actually quite common when it comes to Gold Certificates. The bulk of large and small size gold certificates are on average Very Fine at best. These notes saw heavy usage and most were redeemed when the USA fell off the gold standard beginning in 1933. In the following years, the government stopped honoring the notes altogether, making them rather useless for regular folks. That means most people didn’t keep them around but for sentimental reasons or as inheritance items for their children.

Now that we have established price points for the middle portion of the bell curve, let’s zoom ahead to the Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 point that lies FAR away from middle ground.

The starting bid for this lot, #16804, is a whopping $85,000 USD Reserve – in actuality $97,750 with the buyer’s premium. That’s not all folks! Heritage expects aggressive bidding on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and estimates the lot could hammer at or above $120,000.

The moral of the story: Gem Unc 65 notes are swell, but when you start swinging for the fence with Superb Gem Unc 67+ specimens, expect to fork over a substantial amount of cash. In our opinion, this note is well worth the trouble. It’s not likely any other Technicolor Note will surface in the same or better condition, although stranger things have happened. If you happen upon a Superb Gem 68 Technicolor Note at a yard sale, pack your bags and reserve a room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel! The life of luxury and excess is now yours. 🙂

Good Luck to all bidding in the Schaumburg CSNS 2012 auction, and don’t forget, we’ve also got a great selection of notes here at PaperMoneyAuction.com that don’t require taking out 2nd and 3rd mortgages on your home!

All terms, phrases, and auction scheduling information are property of Heritage Auctions, LLC. This article is for news and entertainment purposes only. PaperMoneyAuction.com is not compensated for providing this information. Anyone interested in placing a bid on this note should visit the Currency section of the Heritage Auctions website.