2018-01-17 Wed

A set of extremely rare Australian World War I occupation notes for German New Guinea was sold for $168,000 by Heritage Auctions on 4th January. The notes were of the denominations 5-, 10-, 20-, and 50-mark and their grades varied from PMG Very Fine 35 to About Uncirculated 53. The 100-mark issue was the only missing note from the series.

A 1,000-dong specimen note issued between 1955 and 1956 by a South Vietnamese National Bank of Viet Nam, graded PCGS Currency Gem New 65 Premium Paper Quality was sold for $40,800. The beautiful coloured note features one of South Vietnam’s most sought-after designs.

A 10-ruble note from the third issue of assignation rubles, dated 1788, graded PMG VF-25 with minor repairs sold for $33,600 while a 25-ruble note from 1803, graded PMG VF-30, Repaired, sold for $28,800. Assignation rubles were the first paper money of Russia that was issued by banks set up by Catherine the Great and circulated from 1769 to 1849. These notes were replaced by state credit notes after their withdrawal from circulation in 1843. An 1857 25-ruble note graded PMG VF-25 was sold for $21,600.

Several Hawaii Territory national banknotes are also known as “trophy notes”. These were released when the islands were an independent kingdom. Two such undated $100 silver certificates by American Bank Note Co. issued in 1879 were sold at the auctions. One originally belonged to Eric P. Newman collection and sold for $45,600. It was an unissued and unsigned note graded Choice AU-58 by PCGS Currency. The other note was also of the same type and was sold for $31,200 even though it was only graded Good 6 by PCGS Currency. This was because very few high denomination notes were released, out of which almost all were degraded due to harsh tropical climate.