There were over 30 bids on an 1895 Morgan Dollar, PR67+ Deep Cameo before it was sold for a record $324,000. It brought the total amount of money raised at Heritage’s September 12–15 Long Beach Expo US Coins Signature® Auction to $11,544,441.
Along with the $10,587,005 from Heritage’s US Currency Signature® Auction at the Long Beach Expo from September 11–13, which was topped by a Fr. 2220-E $5,000 1928 Federal Reserve Note. The total for all of the events added up to $22,131,446 thanks to the PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ.
Major General Alexander Macomb’s Congressional Gold Medal was also popular with fans. It had 55 bids before it sold for $240,000. Macomb was one of 27 soldiers of the War of 1812 who were given the Congressional Gold Medal.
The medal was engraved by Moritz Fürst and had a battle scene on the back. Bronze copies were made by the U.S. Mint for many years, but only Macomb’s personal specimen, which he got straight from former President James Madison, was made in gold.
A 1909-O Indian Half Eagle, PCGS CAC Variety 1, MS64, sold for $216,000. In 1909, only 34,200 were made, and the 1909-O Indian half eagle is the only coin ever made at the historic factory with Bela Lyon Pratt’s design. As soon as the coins were made available to the public, some fans saved a few very good examples.
The sale had items from a number of different collections. One of these was the Duffy Family Collection, which had a lot of high-grade silver and gold coins. A 1907 Rolled Edge Eagle, AU55 PCGS, was one of the best lots in the collection.
It was a beautiful example of the second-rarest issue in the whole series, and it sold for $186,000. The Rolled Edge coins were supposed to fix the problems with the Wire Rim pattern coins that came before them, but they didn’t.
For example, the centers of most Rolled Edge coins were not struck very hard, and Mint Superintendent John Landis did not like the design, so it was quickly replaced with the No Periods motif. This beautiful Choice AU model is one of only fifty that were not melted down before being sent out.
A 1907 High Relief, Wire Rim Double Eagle, graded MS67 NGC, which was one of the best examples of this rare coin, sold for $168,000. Augustus Saint-Gaudens believed in the idea that you should come up with an idea and then see it through to completion.
He did this methodically when creating ten and twenty dollar bills at President Theodore Roosevelt’s request. Nearly thirty High Reliefs are listed by NGC in MS67, Plus, and Star grades, but most of those coins are for the Flat Rim type.
Wire Rim pieces are, strangely enough, less common. NGC lists four Wire Rim coins as MS67, one as MS67+, this one as MS67 and one as MS67+. Two of the MS68s are even better.
You can also buy a 1796 Capped Bust Right Quarter Eagle, AU50 PCGS from the Duffy Collection. It sold for $152,400. There were only 963 of these beautiful coins made, and when the No Stars design was taken off later that year, they became a famous one-year design type that Ron Guth called “one of the most historic and important U.S.
gold coins” and Q. David Bowers called “the rarest U.S. gold design.” John Dannreuther thinks that the BD-2 dies were used to make 897 of the first-year coins, and that there are now 100 to 125 examples of this type in all grades.
A 1793 S-3 Cent, AU55, PCGS CAC from the Duffy Collection was the third prize. It had more than thirty bids before it was sold for $150,000. There are very few examples of this quality. There are only two graded in 55 and one finer; there are no CAC 1 examples rated in 55 and none finer.
Among the other top lots at the Long Beach Expo US Coins sale were, but were not limited to:
- A 1797 Small Eagle Half Dollar, O-101a (T-1), AU50 PCGS: $144,000
- A 1792 Half Disme, Judd-7, AU50 PCGS: $144,000
- A 1808 Capped Bust Left Quarter Eagle, AU53: $126,000
- A 1879 Flowing Hair Stella, PR50 PCGS: $120,000
- An MS William Hollingshead Counterstamp on a 1751-R Brazil 6400 Reis AU50 PCGS: $102,000
- An Ephraim Brasher Counterstamp on a 1760 Great Britain Half Guinea VF30 NGC: $78,000
Complete results from the Long Beach Expo US Coins auction can be found at HA.com/1377.
There is a Fr. 2220-E $5,000 Federal Reserve Note from 1928. This PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ from the Ronald R. Gustafson Collection was the first coin in the event. It is the best PMG-graded Series 1928 in this value and the only known best Series 1928 $5,000 from any district.
Based on the PMG Population Report, only 22 Series 1928 $5,000s have been rated for all districts. This note is the only one at the top of the list.
A $10,000 1928 Federal Reserve Note with the serial number Fr. 2230-E was another valuable item in the sale. PMG About Uncirculated that got a bid of $384,000 and won. Series 1928 $10,000 notes are very hard to find.
Out of all the districts that PMG has rated, only seven Series 1928 $10,000 notes have been found, compared to 113 Series 1934 $10,000s.
Experts who keep the census have only found 10 Series 1928 representatives from all areas put together… Even that number is not accurate, because the only examples from New York and San Francisco are in the collection of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
That means that only eight are still in collectors’ hands, and this beautiful example is the second-best of those eight.
A lovely Fr. 2220-J $5,000 1928 Federal Reserve Note from the Gustafson Collection was also sold for $228,000 and was graded PMG Extremely Fine 40. This one of only two known 1928 Kansas City $5,000s is very rare; it was one of only 720 made in total.
It was bought by the seller when Heritage auctioned off the huge Taylor Family collection in 2005. At the time, Stephen M. Sullivan’s Small Sized High Denomination Notes said it was the only one of its kind. Since then, a PCGS 40 copy sold in 2014 has joined the list of unique notes.
The Gustafson Collection had a number of notes with the highly sought-after Serial Number 1. It also had one of only three known Serial Number 1 Fr. 2200-C $500 1928 Dark Green Seal Federal Reserve Notes. PMG about 55-dollar bills that had never been used, which sold for $114,000.
Heritage experts say that there are only two other regular serial number 1 examples left in the world. These are a Series 1928 Chicago note in the Smithsonian Institution and a Series 1934 New York note.
A Series 1934 star from Kansas City could also be added to this small group. Another note with serial number 1 in the Gustafson Collection was a Serial Number 1 Fr. 1950-K $5 1928 Federal Reserve Note.
A PMG Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ that sold for $40,800 and a $20 1928 Federal Reserve Note with Serial Number 1 Fr. 2050-F. There was a bid of $21,600 for a PMG Choice Uncirculated 63.
A beautiful Fr. 167a $100 1863 Legal Tender PCGS Choice About New 55PPQ coin sold for $216,800. The $100 Legal note is very rare and looks great. It is called the “Spread Eagle” note because the front has a picture of an eagle with its wings spread wide.
This note is one of only 23 in the Track & Price count, which is one more than in 2016. But five of those examples are out of reach for collectors: two are in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection, one is in the ANA Museum’s collection, and one is each in the collections of the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and Kansas City. This means that collectors can only get 18 examples.
Notes with very low serial numbers, like the Serial Number 3 Fr. 2221-B, are always in great demand. $5,000 Federal Reserve Note from 1934. Extra Fine 40 PMG that had more than a dozen bids before it was sold for $192,000.
The Long Beach Expo Currency auction also had the following top results, but not all of them:
- A Fr. 2221-H $5,000 1934 Federal Reserve Note. PMG Very Fine 25 – from the Dwane Johansen Collection and one of just seven known: $120,000
- A Fr. 203 $50 1863 Interest Bearing Note PMG Very Fine 25 – one of just six available to collectors: $120,000
- A Baltimore, MD – $100 1875 Fr. 456 The National Bank of Baltimore Ch. # 1432 PMG Choice Very Fine 35 EPQ – the finer of just two reported: $120,000
- A Fr. 377 $100 1890 Treasury Note PMG Very Fine 20: $114,000
- A Fr. 1180 $20 1905 Gold Certificate PMG Superb Gem Unc 67 EPQ – tied for the finest graded: $108,000
About Heritage Auctions
It was started in the United States and is the biggest fine art and collectibles auction house. It is also the biggest collectibles dealer in the world. Heritage has branches in Beverly Hills, New York, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
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It has more than 1,750,000 registered bidders and free searchable archives of more than 6,000,000 past sale records that include prices paid, descriptions, and photos that can be enlarged. Media are usually given permission to use photos as long as they give thanks.
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