Heritage Currency Auctions of America Offers Over 3,300 Lots at Central States this May!

April 13, 2005 Currency

Heritage Currency Auctions of America Offers Over 3,300 Lots at Central States this May!

Dallas, Texas: Heritage Currency Auctions of America (H CAA) will present its Spring 2005 auction as the official currency auctioneer of the Central States Numismatic Society, with the auction anchored by two of the most important collections offered in many years, the Tom O'Mara Collection of Fractional Currency and the Jim O'Neal Collection of United States Type Notes. Also to be offered will be major holdings of Colonial Currency, Obsolete Currency, Error and Small Size Type Notes, and National Bank Notes.

The H CAA auction will take place May 5-7, at St. Louis' America's Center Convention Center, 701 Convention Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri. The convention center is also the site of the Central States Numismatic Society show, as well as the location for lot viewing for the CAA auction as well as other Heritage sales.

The 3,300 lot auction features the aforementioned O'Mara and O'Neal Collections, Part II of the Richard Merlau Collection of Large Size Star Notes, and the Illinois Bank Hoard of National Bank Notes, as well as other important properties from over 150 individual consignors.

The Thursday evening session opens with an unusually broad selection of Continental and Colonial Currency, highlighted by a Vermont Colonial grading Extremely Fine and estimated at $20,000-up by the cataloguers This is followed by a 200 lot selection of Obsolete and Confederate Currency, with the session concluding with a small but interesting selection of Military Payment Certificates and related items.

The Friday night session opens with 250 lots of Error Notes and Small Size Type Notes. This section is filled with rare and scarce items, including a pair of Large Size mismatched serial number type notes, a Gem Uncirculated 1933 $10 Silver, several serial number 1 Small Size Type Notes, and a pair of $5,000 Federal Reserve Notes, one a Gem Uncirculated Series 1928 example from the Boston district valued at $85,000-$105,000 and the other a 1934 New York district example bearing the lowest serial number of any $5,000 bill in public hands, B00000003A.

This is followed by the Tom O'Mara Collection of Fractional Currency, an 800 lot extravaganza which is the finest collection of Fractional Currency ever formed. It contains by far the nicer of only two complete sets of regular issue notes by Friedberg number in existence, over 60 inverts, including a number of unique pieces, over 100 courtesy autographs, virtually complete sets of both Wide and Narrow Margin Specimens, and President Andrew Johnson's own Fractional Currency Presentation Book. It also includes a magnificent assortment of over 100 Experimentals, Essays, Proof, and Progress Proofs, including over 15 ultra-rare Negative Essays. This is followed by over 200 lots of additional Fractional Currency from other consignors, making this offering an event that will be remembered by Fractional collectors for many years to come.

The Saturday night session is led off by the Jim O'Neal collection of War of 1812 and Large Size Type Notes. This collection is so replete with rarities that the abbreviated mention here scarcely does it justice, but contains a plethora of early pieces including the unique fully issued and uncancelled Act of February 24, 1815 $3 note. While most standard currency texts leave collectors with the impression that between the Revolutionary War and 1861 there was literally no Federal Currency, the O'Neal Collection proves exactly the opposite was the case, as it contains not only a superlative selection of War of 1812 issues but also a quartet of U.S. Loan examples from the 1830's and 1840's. These precede a trio of high-grade Demand Notes, including a truly extraordinary Fr. 2. A virtually complete high-grade type set of Legal Tender Notes is highlighted by a spectacular Fr. 167a $100 1863 Spread Eagle which traces its pedigree back to the Andrew Shiva Collection, the finest known Fr. 174 1880 $100, an Fr. 185d $500 Mansfield note, and an Fr. 187j $1,000, and a denomination set of Compound Interest Treasury Notes includes the Fr. 192b $50 and 193b $100, both pedigreed to the Harry Bass Collection.

A true labor of love and one of Mr. O'Neal's collecting passions was the Interest Bearing Notes issued to fund the Civil War from early 1861 through 1865. His collection will mark the finest offering ever of these excessively rare notes, and includes the likely unique Fr. 195c $100 and Fr. 195d $500 Proofs, the ex-Bass Collection Fr. 199 $100, an incredible run of Proofs from the unique Fr. 202a through the Fr. 202d in both varieties, the finest known Fr. 203 $50 Interest Bearing Note, and excessively rare Proof examples of the uncollectible Fr. 210 $1,000 and Fr. 211 $5,000 notes.

The Silver Certificates again offer an assortment of rarities, including high-grade $50 and $100 1880 examples, along with an 1891 $100 and a uniface Proof of the excessively rare Fr. 346e 1891 $1,000. This section is highlighted by the first Silver Certificate ever issued, the serial number A1 Fr. 306b $20 1878 bearing the Wyman countersignature.

The Treasury Notes and Gold Certificates represent another area where rarities abound, with the serial number B2 $50 Fr. 376 Seward grading Gem Crisp Uncirculated vying for top billing against the finest known Series 1890 $100, known as the "Watermelon Note" due to its ornate reverse design displaying a pair of oval zeroes. Also worthy of mention is a Fr. 378 1891 $100, which is one of fewer than a dozen known examples of the type. Among the Gold Certificate rarities is a Fr. 1166b, one of four of these excessively rare notes known, a gorgeous Fr. 1217 $500 1922, an excessively rare Fr. 1218f 1880 $1,000, and a very high grade Fr. 1219e 1907 $1000.

The O'Neal Type Notes are augmented by a selection of rarities from other consignors as well, including a Fr. 11 $20 Demand Note specimen, serial number 1 examples of Fr. 275 and Fr. 317, a lovely Fr. 1216 $500 Gold Certificate, and several unique large stars from the Merlau holdings including a Fr. 778 star and a Fr. 1128 star, as well as a serial number E2 $100 star from the Richmond district that is the lowest serial number star of any series known to exist.

The session concludes with an offering of nearly 800 lots of National Bank Notes, highlighted by the National Gold Bank Note holdings of Jim O'Neal, which include $10 notes from Oakland, Petaluma, Santa Barbara and Stockton, $20 examples from Stockton and San Jose, and a $100 from Petaluma which is one of only two such examples known. Also offered is a run of high-grade San Francisco specimens, including a regular San Francisco $20 as well as the prohibitively rare white paper San Francisco 1875 $20, the highest grade example of its kind reported. There are numerous serial number 1 notes and sheets, including a newly discovered Red Seal from Lafayette, Indiana, an all serial number 1 $50 sheet from Rockford, Illinois, and a trio of Red Seals from the Germania NB of Milwaukee, Wisconsin bearing serials 1, 2, and 4. Also worthy of mention is an extremely rare $50 Value Back from New Orleans, a run of Illinois Nationals, and a group of newly discovered Texas Nationals, which includes a host of never before offered large size rarities.

Catalogs for this landmark auction can be purchased for $50 each, which is also the price for a one year subscription to the next three H CAA catalogs, a figure that is rebated in full with any successful purchase in this auction, by contacting Nicole Jewell at (800) US COINS (872-6467), ext. 272, or by mail at 3500 Maple Ave., 17th Floor, Dallas, TX 75219.

For further information about this sale, call Allen Mincho at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 327 or Len Glazer at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 390. Or visit HeritageCurrency.com and click on the "consign" tab. Or simply email Allen Mincho at AllenM@HeritageGalleries.com or Len Glazer at Len@HeritageGalleries.com.