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ASBURY PARK 1882 GOLD CERTIFICATESLast week we discussed a group of rare U.S. gold certificates that are the subject of a lawsuit. Four of the notes sold in a recent Heritage auction. Reader Ron Haller-Williams (our "Googler-in-Chief") kindly located the auction listings so we could illustrate the notes here. Thanks! -Editor Lot 17165: Fr. 1215d $500 1882 Gold Certificate
Fr. 1215d $500 1882 Gold Certificate PCGS Very Fine 35.
When we handled the Cookson Collection of Gold Certificates in 1999, we auctioned the $50 Fr. 1191 and the $100 Fr. 1204 with the Large Red Spiked Seal. At that time, we all speculated that no collector would ever get to own a $500 Gold with the Large Red Spiked Seal. That note was near the top of everyone's "never likely to turn up" list. Here it is. The note is in a comment-free PCGS Very Fine 35 holder. It is broadly margined with fully fresh ink colors and not a hint of a defect save for the light traces of circulation commensurate with the assigned grade. When this cataloger and another Heritage representative picked up this consignment last Spring, we entered the small town bank's safe deposit area knowing what four notes we were about to see. Knowing what's there and actually seeing it are two very different things. This note is transfixing. To read the complete lot description, see:
Lot 17166: Fr. 1218d $1000 1882 Gold Certificate
Fr. 1218d $1000 1882 Gold Certificate PCGS Very Fine 35.
One is held by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where it was examined in 1993 and graded Fine. The second was delivered by the Treasury Department to the Smithsonian Institution in 1978, and has been graded as Very Fine. The third and finest of the three known is an About New, that was initially owned by Albert Grinnell and sold on March 10, 1945 as lot 566 by Barney Bluestone. That note has changed hands twice privately in the last 15 years. CAA/Heritage sold it on January 7, 2000 for a then record price of $935,000 and it was re-sold at the 2006 Memphis auction for $1,092,500. It has been off the market since that time. The currently offered note is now the second piece in private hands. To read the complete lot description, see:
Lot 17167: Fr. 1218e $1000 1882 Gold Certificate
The final note of the previously three known presents an interesting mystery. It was the plate note in the early editions of the Friedberg catalog and bears serial number C24623. No one knows the origin of the photograph and it appears to have never been seen by any living collector or dealer. At the Memphis show this year, Heritage distributed a "Wanted" poster with a picture of that note offering a nice grade small size $500 to anyone coming forward with the current whereabouts of the Friedberg plate note. Arthur Friedberg, the son of the original author, Robert Friedberg, has no idea where his dad obtained the photo. None of the various currency population report owners have any idea of its whereabouts and a collector friend with close ties to all the major government institutions has been unable to locate the note or any information about it. No one has come forward with even a hint of its whereabouts in the past seven months and we feel quite confident in referring to this present offering as "Unique In Private Hands." To read the complete lot description, see:
Lot 17268: Fr. 1218f $1000 1882 Gold Certificate
To save space I didn't illustrate the fourth note. The Asbury Park Press article said there were originally 13 gold certificates in the group - what were the other 9, and where are they now? -Editor To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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