Found in a house in England, evidence indicates they were bought in the 1960s for the equivalent of about $5 each. The plastic bags mean condition is not altogether clear, but as a ballpark figure, what would this group be worth now to a US dealer. I just do not see very many 19th C US notes in the UK, although I sold quite a lot of them in the late 60s when they were fairly cheap. I want to make a fair offer for them.
Each note is different, but a couple nice designs in there. Depends on rarity of the bank. The Exchange Bank, Wapello, and Bank of Illinois are definitely nice. Might go $50 or higher, just on design desirability alone.
$100 State Stock Bank is spurious production and not contemporary to the time. The last one might be spurious as well, no Haxby listing apparently.
You may be right on the Indiana State Stock Bank, but the Ft. Wayne & Southern looks legit to me and might be a discovery note if it's not in Haxby. The best single note of the lot is the $2.50 State Bank of Illinois. Fractional obsolete notes are in high demand and the buffalo is a great image. I'd say $500 would be a fair purchase price.
I just did a little research and you have several good notes. The unlisted $5 FW&SRR is on one dealer's price list at $300+. You might look though his inventory: http://vernpotter.com/VernPotter/Obsolete Currency.htm. Also, I'm not finding that Exchange Bank of Michigan City $1 note anywhere -- that might be a scarce one. MEC, if you have a Haxby, could you check on that one?
Don't have, just quoting from descriptions found on Heritage... I too could not find the Exchange Bank in Indiana anywhere on Heritage...
I agree with gsalexan that the Fort Wayne and Southern Railroad note looks legit. Haxby only includes banks. I think the auction descriptions are misleading in that being a railroad company, this note is not just not listed in Haxby but is actually outside of the scope of the work. As for the top note, it is actually a Michigan City and South Bend Plank Road Co. note payable at the Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Co. in Grand Rapids, MI. There are examples of this company on HA, but they are all later notes payable at the Exchange Bank of H.J. Perrin & Co. of Michigan City, IN. after the payable location was switched. Again, I believe that this note would be outside of the scope of Haxby. I stand by my conservative estimate of these notes selling for a total of AT LEAST $700 on the open market. Don't see this kind of conversation on this board very often
Once again, thanks for the opinions. While searching the contents of the house these came from (all the fun of burglary without the illegality) I came across three more notes in pretty average condition. 2 CSA $100 and North Caroline fractional. I know enough to say these are not chewing gum replicas but that's about all. My guess would be that an 1862 note would be more valuable than one from the end of the war when the presses must have worked overtime.
Type 40 and Type 56, both have counterfeits but those look legit. The type 40 counterfeit is not easy to detect, gotta look for the little dudes in the locomotive. Notes are common, in fine condition they are $30 notes maybe? The type 40 (the top one) probably has issue and/or interest stamps on the back. I actually like those, I actually was picky about mine (the "straight steam" variety vs. your diffuse steam) to get the "tri-color" stamps on the back...
The 50 cent North Carolina fractional note is also fairly common. You'll find them selling on eBay for $20-40.
Just resurrecting a zombie thread to say that I should get my hands on these in the next couple of weeks. Needless to say lawyers were involved, and death, and muddle, and some money. As soon as I can I will post good pictures of all the notes minus the horrible plastic bags. I have got my hands on a 'Washington and Independence 1783 United States 'coin' (small bust) and some Columbian and St Louis Exposition exonumia from the same source which I will post pictures of when I can find my camera.
