By Bank Note Reporter

Bowers and Merena Auctions‘ June 4-7 auction at the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention includes more than 500 lots of U.S. paper money, featured among them a high-grade “Porthole” $5 Silver Certificate star note and a serial No. 1 $10 “Bison” Legal Tender Note.

The No. 1 Bison note is Friedberg 114, the first of the nine Friedberg varieties of the type. PCGS Currency graded it Very Fine-30 PPQ.

Sale catalogers wrote that “this example is absolutely free of any problems and its light circulation actually gives the note a bit more character behind its historical significance. The colors are bright, the paper is fully original and the eye appeal is extremely pleasing. Because the top and bottom margins are incredibly uneven but remain full, we feel this note might have been hand cut and presented possibly to dignitaries.” B&M has assigned a pre-sale estimate of $75,000-$125,000.

The “Porthole” Series 1923 $5 Silver Certificate star note, Fr. 282, is graded PCGS Currency Superb Gem New-67 PPQ. “With huge boardwalk margins, superb inks and paper quality and enough embossing to please even the pickiest of collectors, we actually question whether or not this note would qualify for a slightly higher grade,” catalogers wrote, estimating it to bring $30,000-$50,000.

Read Full Numismaster Article

By Bank Note Reporter

In a June online auction and a July 11 public auction, Downies will be conducting sales of current Australian 2007-dated bank notes, the latest to be issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The auction follows the success of last year’s sale of 2006-dated bank notes.

In 2007, the Reserve Bank ceased its sales arrangement with the Royal Australian Mint in favor of selling first and last prefix bank notes via an annual auction. Consequently, Downies public auction of July 11 and Internet auction from June 18-25 July now provide the only opportunities for collectors and dealers to obtain uncirculated 2007 bank notes direct from the RBA.

The notes will consist of the first and last prefix bank notes dated 2007, e.g., $10 AA07 and GL07, respectively. A major attraction for collectors is that these will bear the new signature combination, Stevens/Henry.

At the July 11 sale these first and last prefixes will include special serial number combinations and complete sets of four notes – $5, $10, $20, $50 – in which the last four serial digits match. The special serials include radar and solid numbers. The bank note sets come as singles, consecutive pairs, trios, quartets, quintets and decades.

Read Full Numismaster Article Here

U.S. paper money discriminates against the blind and must be redesigned to help sight-impaired people distinguish among dollar bills, tens, twenties and other amounts, a federal appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling today, rejected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s contention that changing the bills to differentiate the denominations would be too expensive.

“A large majority of other currency systems have accommodated the visually impaired, and the secretary does not explain why U.S. currency should be any different,” Judge Judith Rogers wrote for the majority. “The financial costs identified by the secretary are not out of line with the costs of other currency changes the secretary has made”, she said.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington ruled in 2006 that the same-size paper currency violates the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination based on disability. An inability to identify the value of paper money without help from others leaves blind and sight-impaired people at risk of being cheated, he said.

Of 180 countries that issue paper money, only the U.S. prints bills that are identical in size and, until recently, color for all denominations.

Read Full Bloomberg Article