United States paper money listings have been added to the NumisMaster online pricing and information service powered by Krause Publications.

“All of the photographs and listings found in the Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money are now available online, with quick searches that take you right to what you’re looking for,” said George Cuhaj, paper money market specialist at Krause Publications.

And accessing the price listings online means having the most up-to-date prices at the click of a mouse. Just log on to www.numismaster.com

“The escalation of the currency market creates a need for current pricing and the most accurate information available,” Cuhaj said.

The United States Paper Money Guide includes all non-coin monetary issues of the United states, including large-size, small-size, Fractional Currency, National Bank Notes, error notes, pre-Civil War Treasury notes, Silver and Gold Certificates, Military Payment Certificates, encased postage and postage stamp envelopes. Current market values are listed in up to four grades of preservation. (more…)

By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

On Nov. 14, the firm of Robert Siegel, operated by Scott Trepel, auctioned an ‘Inverted Jenny’ 24¢ U.S. airmail stamp, of 1918, at the firm’s galleries in midtown Manhattan. It is an error of the first official U.S. airmail stamp. The airplane in the center was mistakenly printed upside down.

This stamp has been independently authenticated, but it was not independently graded. Trepel grades it as ‘Extremely Fine’ with “only a trace of a hinge.”

Trepel was also the auctioneer when the Siegel firm set the auction record for a philatelic item, something relating to postage, a little more than two years ago. On Oct. 19, 2005, the only existing plate numbered block of four ‘Inverted Jenny’ stamps sold for $2,970,000.

In September, Jay Parrino, a famous coin dealer, sold a different ‘Inverted Jenny’ privately for exactly $1 million. It has Very Fine grade centering along with a never hinged original gum on the reverse. Parrino sold it to a Hollywood movie mogul who started buying stamps from Jay when they were both kids. He has also collected coins.

On Nov. 14, the bidding action was intense. As the price realized includes a 15% buyer’s fee, the same as at coin auctions, it makes logical sense to adjust all bids to incorporate the ‘buyer’s fee.’

Bidding started at around $335,000. More than five bidders, at least one by telephone, were involved as the level rose to above $400,000.

I was glad to see another coin expert at the event. Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auction Galleries, came to bid on this ‘Inverted Jenny.’ Rohan’s first bid was $460,000.

A telephone bidder came back with a bid of about $490,000. Rohan then pushed the level well above $500,000. A New York City stamp dealer, who asked that his name not be mentioned, waved himself in at nearly $550,000 ($475k+15% = $546,250).

The phone bidder returned with a $575,000 bid. This amount almost tied the previous auction record for a single ‘Inverted Jenny’ when the Siegel firm auctioned a different single on June 3, 2005, for $577,500. In the original sheet, the ‘Inverted Jenny’ (in position #57) that was auctioned in June 2005 was right next to the one that was auctioned on Nov. 14, 2007, at position #58. Long ago, a dealer who owned the whole sheet noted the position numbers of each of the one hundred ‘Inverted Jenny’ stamps. (more…)

Adapted from an autobiography by Holocaust survivor Adolf Burger, the Austrian Stefan Ruzowitzky’s film The Counterfeiters tells the true story of Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history. Set up by the Nazis in 1936 in an effort to weaken Allied economies by flooding them with fake banknotes, it was carried out by detainees in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where a unit of jailed printers, typographers, graphic artists and others were overseen by Nazi camp guards.

The Counterfeiters is a suspense-filled, engaging and entertaining film. It is also very uncomfortable to watch, not just because of the horrors is depicts and insinuates, but also because it pushes us to judge the men in the ‘Golden Cage’. (more…)