By Christopher Dahncke – Currency Auction Associate, Stack’s Bowers Galleries ……
The November 2021 United States Currency Auction from Stack’s Bowers Galleries is now available for viewing and bidding.
One notable offering is lot 20067, a Fr. 1132-I 1918 $500 Federal Reserve Note from the Minneapolis district graded About Uncirculated 50 by PCGS Banknote. It is an astonishing new discovery that Stack’s Bowers is proud to offer to the collecting community. Previously, just one 1918 $500 was available to collectors from the Minneapolis district, with that note last trading hands at public auction in 2005 for $126,500 USD!
The presently offered example in About Uncirculated grade, much higher than the other known example. The margins offer plentiful paper on all four sides, while the primary design stands out in dark black detail. Bold blue serial numbers and the Treasury seal pop through the third-party holder. Depicted at the center is John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, often regarded as among the most influential justices to ever sit on the Court. Marshall served as the fourth Secretary of State from 1800 to 1801, and the fourth Chief Justice from 1801 to 1835. Marshall served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and later passed the state bar and became a lawyer in Virginia, ultimately favoring the passage of the United States Constitution and playing a major role in Virginia’s ratification.
The reverse of the note depicts Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, originally painted by William Henry Powell, as commissioned by Congress in 1855. Powell died in 1879, having lived to see the Discovery of the Mississippi printed only on the National Currency Original $10s of the era, and sadly not this high-denomination Federal Reserve Note. Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541. After an unsuccessful search for gold and silver, de Soto died from fever on the banks of the Mississippi on May 21, 1542.
Our entire November 2021 Auction is now posted at StacksBowers.com. We are currently taking consignments for our monthly Collectors Choice auctions and our March Official Auction at the Whitman Spring Expo. To consign your U.S. paper money and world paper money, contact a consignment specialist at 800-458-4646 or visit the website. For more information on viewing lots or for assistance in registering to bid, email your inquiry to [email protected].
