2017-06-05 Mon

The only known and existing complete Gem District Set known as the Stradivarius Collection will be showcased at the 2017 International Paper Money Show in Kansas from 8th to 11th June. It is the finest known collection of 1934 Light Green Seal (LGS) $500 Federal Reserve Notes and the only existing gem district set of high-denomination like $500, $1000, $5000, $10000 banknotes. The collector took 20 years to put together these 12 notes and complete the set.

1934 LGS $500s were produced on bright white paper with seals & serial numbers printed in lime green ink. These notes are rarer than the later issued Dark Green Seal (DGS) as it was for a small period of time. These notes were worn out as they were circulated extensively. They were later removed from circulation and destroyed.

A total of 917,628 of the 1934 $500s were printed for all 12 districts, but only 2,028 LGS notes have been graded so far by PCGS and PMG. Most of these fall under the Fine-Very Fine range, 105 are gems. 61 of these Gems were found in a recently discovered hoard. The remaining 44 gems are somewhere floating around in the 11 Federal Reserve Districts. There is one Gem each from Boston, New York, Atlanta and Dallas districts and all of them belong to the Stradivarius Collection. These are the only gems recorded in PCGS/PMG Pops.

All the 12 notes from the collection are in perfect condition in the Stradivarius Collection. The survival rate of an LGS $500 in any grade is less than one-quarter of 1%, making this set an absolute beauty.