The Stack’s Bowers Galleries November 2011 Official Auction of the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo will feature more than 8,000 total lots, including over 950 lots of U.S. currency and in excess of 4,200 lots of U.S. coins, plus an additional 2,800 lots of world coins and world paper money. Lot viewing will be conducted by appointment at the firm’s Irvine, California, headquarters October 27-November 2, at the firm’s New York office November 8-11, and onsite at the Baltimore Convention Center November 14-19. The auction will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center beginning Tuesday, November 15, and concluding Saturday, November 19. There will be four U.S. coin sessions and one U.S. currency session, which is slated for Friday, November 18.
Spotlighting the session, and continuing an emerging Stack’s Bowers Galleries tradition, are 10 stellar Continental Currency and detector sheets from the Bunker Hill Collection. Forefront of these is a Unique May 20, 1777, First United States sheet, an exemplary specimen of the elite class of Continental Currency items. Each bill is signed by Hahn and Houston and all Dollar denominations are included in the two-by-four bill alignment: $30, $2, $3, $4, $8, $7, $6, $5. For the first time, border cuts bearing the words UNITED STATES rather than UNITED COLONIES were employed, and catalogers believe this sheet to be unique; the only example of which Stack’s Bowers Galleries has ever seen or heard. Also significant is a complete set of issued May 9, 1776, sheets, also Unique.
The finest known Revere “Sword in Hand” note, an August 18, 1775, 4 Shillings graded PCGS Choice New 63 that last sold in Ford over six years ago, will also be a showcase item. This No.351 Paul Revere “Sword in Hand” Issue is engraved and printed by him and signed by Thurber and Plympton, and is described as Choice Uncirculated – the bill remains essentially as printed, as if it were just taken from the press in Revere’s shop long ago, in 1775.
The auction offers an impressive array of United States currency, beginning with a highly comprehensive selection of New Jersey Scrip notes from the Thomas F.X. O'Mara Collection, which was formed over two decades. Obsolete Currency will follow with exceptional highlights from Minnesota, featuring several new discoveries, rare obsolete proofs, and Pennsylvania proofs from the Kensington Collection are also included. A diverse assortment of Postage Envelopes with key rarities will be offered from the Chester L. Krause collection. Federally issued currency will then attract bidders with a remarkable complete pack of 1917 Legal Tenders Notes, crossing the block only a few lots into the large size offering.
The small size notes include several pleasing high denomination gold certificates followed by a significant error section. National banknotes will be well represented with a newly discovered 1902 $20 Plain Back note from the Quaker City National Bank of Philadelphia which, although not rare as a type, has a currently unique six-digit ascending ladder serial number. Also of importance is an original pack of one hundred Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, $5 type two notes on charter number 580.
U.S. currency highlights of the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official November 2011 Baltimore Auction include:
All lot descriptions and images in the November 2011 Baltimore Auction can be viewed online beginning in late October at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries website, www.stacksbowers.com. Printed catalogs are available upon request by calling 800.458.4646. Online bidding and pre-auction bids will be accepted at www.stacksbowers.com; by e-mail at auction@stacksbowers.com; by phone at 800.458.4646; by fax at 949.253.4091; and by postal mail addressed to Stack’s Bowers Galleries, Baltimore November 2011, 18061 Fitch, Irvine, CA, 92614. Interested bidders are also encouraged to view lots onsite in Baltimore in November and bid in-person at the live auction, or live online through the Stack’s Bowers Galleries website. A complete auction and lot viewing schedule is available at www.stacksbowers.com or by calling 800.458.4646.