The Heritage Signature Long Beach Currency Auction (name and title rights reserved by Heritage, INC.) was by all accounts a success. There was something for everyone. In fact, 670 notes went for between $100-$1000, making this auction an affordable event for collectors on all budget levels.
The higher the altitude, however, the thinner the selection: but boy was it an impressive group of rare notes. In our opinion, the top single note purchase, Lot 16874, Fr. 2221-B 1934 $5000 Federal Reserve Note PCGS 64 VCN, easily qualifies as best in show. This note went for an impressive $132,250 (including Buyer’s Premium). That’s not bad considering the rough national economy.
The set of 1934C specimen notes (front and back specimens) was also noteworthy. Heritage estimated it would go for as much as $20,000, but it only hammered at $12,650 (lot 16610). This was by far one of the better deals of the auction: according to the PCGS census, there only about 2 other 1934C complete sets of these notes in existence, both of which are from different Federal Reserve Banks.
Here’s a closer look at the $5000 note:
To be sure, this isn’t the top grossing lot in Heritage Currency auction history, but it is certainly right up there. A few years ago, Heritage’s private sale of the famous $1000 Large Size Treasury/Coin Note, a.k.a “The Grand Watermelon”, went for just over $2.1 Million to a private collector on the East coast. WOW.
Though the currency auction season is slowing down a bit, there’s still plenty of action here at PaperMoneyAuction.com. We update our listings on a weekly basis (usually Tuesday night after dealers have updated their websites for the week). There’s something for everyone with our selection of over 2,000 cataloged notes.