Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) is thrilled to announce that it has discovered a new variety of the 1915 10 Dollar Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Note, which has been given the Friedberg number 817b. The Friedberg number refers to Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg’s Paper Money of the United States, the authoritative reference of US currency. The discovery note features hand-signed signatures rather than the engraved or stamped signatures seen on previously known varieties and is graded About Uncirculated 58 EPQ. It will be included in an upcoming Heritage Auction Galleries sale.

Chad Hawk, a grader at PMG, discovered the note. Chad commented, “This discovery is very special to me. I’ve been blessed to see some of the world’s finest notes, but this will stick with me forever.”

On its potential impact, Chad noted, “This discovery is important because it will encourage collectors to keep looking, because discovery notes are out there, waiting to be discovered. If more notes of this type surface, we may be able to find out why they began signing and hand-stamping the signatures in the first place. As Federal Reserve Bank Notes were among the first transitions from Nationals to Federal Reserve Notes, this discovery could help us understand more about the transition from signed notes to engraved plates.”

Federal Reserve Bank Notes came into existence with the creation of the Federal Reserve System. Two separate issues were issued: the series of 1915 and the series of 1918, and they are avidly collected and studied. The 1915 10 Dollar Notes from the Kansas City issuing bank carried the signatures of Teehee & Burke (Register and Treasurer of the US) and Cross & Miller (Cashier and Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City).

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Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, conducted an auction of exceptional international banknotes in New York City on October 27-28, 2008, compiled of two premier collections, “The East Bay Collection of International Banknotes” and “The Eduard Kann Chinese Banknote Collection.” Consisting of more than 2,100 total lots, the auction realized $1,119,585. It was held at the Hilton Times Square, with live auction simulcasts in Hong Kong and Germany. The auction was spearheaded by Bowers and Merena in conjunction with sister companies John Bull Auctions, Ltd., of Hong Kong, and Heinrich Köhler Auktionshaus of Germany.

“This auction put Bowers and Merena on the map for world currency,” said Ron Gillio, Numismatic Acquisition Coordinator and World Coin and Currency specialist for Bowers and Merena Auctions. “It is virtually unprecedented to have two collections of this caliber in one auction, with banknotes not seen on the market for many years. We traveled the world viewing these notes and the interest among collectors was major. And the really great news for collectors is that there is much more ‘East Bay Collection’ to come in future Bowers and Merena auctions.”

“The East Bay Collection” is believed to be the largest collection of international banknotes ever to come to market. Assembled over the course of 40 years by a private collector in Northern California, it consists of more than 30,000 notes representative of over 150 countries. The collection debuted in the October auction with Chinese and related Asian banknotes and Russian and European banknotes, and the next installment of “East Bay” notes is scheduled for Bowers and Merena’s Official Auction of the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention in March 2009. The “East Bay Collection” was secured by Gillio, who called it “the most comprehensive collection I’ve ever known.”

“The Eduard Kann Chinese Banknote Collection” was the exceptional collection of the world’s leading authority on Chinese coins and the Chinese monetary system, consisting of more than 500 banknotes. “Kann is very well respected among collectors and several of the Kann lots were sold for well above estimate,” Gillio noted. (more…)

(Irvine, California) — Spectrum Numismatics International of Irvine, California again is expanding its operations with the opening of a World Currency Division.

“We have hired long-time paper money collector and dealer, David Leong of New Hampshire, to be our World Currency Trader. His three decades of extensive experience and knowledge will be a tremendous benefit to collectors as we launch our World Currency Division,” said Peter A. Treglia, Director, Spectrum Currency.

Leong is a contributor to the respected reference books, Standard Catalog of World Paper Money and Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money.

He’s a member of the Professional Currency Dealers Association, lifetime member of the International Bank Note Society and President of the Currency Club of New England. Leong is the founder of PaperM, a company that specializes in world bank notes.

He earned a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineers from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters of Science in Statistics from the University of New Hampshire.

Spectrum Currency buys and sells large type, small type, national, fractional, Confederate, obsolete, error, fancy serial number notes, and now world currency.

For additional information, contact Peter A. Treglia, of Spectrum Currency at 888-828-2646, or e-mail PeterT@SpectrumCurrency.com.

Celebrated visual artist Romeo Mananquil, who migrated to Canada two decades ago, has an ax to grind with the central bank, for which he designed (together with two other Filipino artists) a series of banknotes and coins during the 1980s.

Our sources say Mananquil (who is identified with the flora and fauna coin series) was upset after recently finding out that his design for the now-demonetized P5 note—the green one that depicts Emilio Aguinaldo hoisting the Philippine flag in Kawit, Cavite—was used by the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or BSP, for the P100,000 centennial notes printed in 1999—allegedly without his consent and with some alteration.

Only 1,000 of these notes were issued in 1998 to commemorate the Centennial of Independence from more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. The notes were intended for collectors. The initial offering price was 180,000 Piso ($4175), substantially higher than the face value.

The 100,000 Piso note, measuring 356mm x 216mm (about the size of a legal page), is accredited by the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest legal tender note in terms of size.

Mananquil has sent his lawyers to assert his legal rights over the artwork, lamenting its “economic exploitation.”

Its lawyers argue that the central bank is considered as a co-owner of the artwork and therefore has the right to use it with or without the artist’s permission.

The artist’s lawyers recently wrote the Monetary Board, the policymaking body of the BSP, to appeal his case. Will this debate over intellectual property rights erupt into a courtroom battle?