The FUN Signature Auction for Currency just concluded and there was some interesting stuff sold. Working on a detailed update for a few types I follow, was wondering if anybody participated....looked at the results....or has any thoughts ? I did notice for the first time that while overall pricing was strong, I did see many Silver Certificate bills of the Hawaii and North Africa type go for MUCH LESS than the HA estimate before the online bidding auction commenced. It seemed like the total price including the bp was just at or under the estimate price for HA whereas in the past I'd see that price for the hammer and then they'd tack on the 20%. I saw a few bills go for 30-40% LESS than the price and end up still 20% below the estimate even when you threw in the bp. For those of you more into currency auctions, would you agree with my observations ?
FUN SIGNATURE AUCTION: Right during and after FUN, Heritage has its big auctions for coins, bills, and other stuff. So I thought a review for early-2025 pricing for some of our favorite U.S. bill sectors would be useful. https://currency.ha.com/c/search/re...tems-OpenAuctions-Closed-BrowseCatalog-051914 QUICK OBSERVATIONS: I could have sworn that pre-Covid you get the 40's and 50's for the $500 bill at $1,500 - $2,500 and the mid-60's were in the $3,500-$4,000 range. Both appear to have doubled since then. I'm also surprised at the differences based on block number. Outside of a currency expert, who's going to know the difference ? A higher grade or super-low SN you can tell right away even if you're not an expert or a collector. But NOBODY knows the difference between A-A or C-A or I-A...so why pay up a HUGE premium ? Seems a waste to me but it's not my money. All prices include buyers premium. LARGE DENOMINATION: Block number matters, I'm not sure why it sometimes drives the price up a multiple from identical bills with grade and SN but different block. A PMG-55 for the A-C block $500 went for only $4,080 but the A-A in PMG-50 went for $8,400. A PMG-65 in the C-A block went for $16,800. A D-A PMG-55 went for $4,320. A D-A PMG-64 went for $13,800. An E-A PMG-35 went for $2,880. An F-A PMG-66 went for $20,400. A G-A PMG-63 went for $6,600. A PMG-40 Star Note went for $16,800. A PMG-63 I-A went for $13,200 while a PMG-53 went for $5,520. Did NOT determine much pricing variation between DGS and LGS. Another A-A PMG-65 went for "only" $9,000 compared to the pricier one in the C-A block sold earlier....it didn't look as new and bright, FWIW. A PCGS-65 with no PPQ or EPQ (looked like an older holder) went for only $4,800. A PMG-65 with EPQ, same block, basically same type of SN, went for $9,000 right before it. I guess when you are spending $5-$10K, you are smart enough to know the differnce between a medium-quality and high-quality bill and willing and able to pay up for the latter. For $1,000 notes....A PMG-66 $1,000 bill went for just over $19,000 (w/bp).....65 was $10,800 . A PCGs-40 was $5,280. A PMG-50 A-A went for $6,000... a PCGS-65 PPQ went for $14,400. An E-A PMG-58 PPQ went for $7,200...BUT....a D-A PMG-55 (no PPQ) went for $8,400 or $1,200 more just for a different block and 3 grades lower. Hmmm.... UNITED STATES NOTES: I was surprised that a top-notch star note, SN 00003273 PMG-65...beautiful UNITED STATES NOTE...but still.....$42,000 w/bp ?? The SN is moderaly low....it's a star....but still.....I saw PMG-69 Silver Certificates earlier in the day that were just over $1,000. US Notes seemed to really jump in price when you went up in grade....the price more than doubled from 67 to 68 for the most part....conversely, a pretty low serial number (#32) jumped the price about 50% from similar PMG-67's.. $2,400 got you PMG-67 and PMG-66 with SN's of #32 and #28, respectively. To get a "multiplier effect" with the price doubling or tripling or quadrupling, it would appear the SN needs to be single-digits. OTHER STUFF: A PMG-68 $100 2017A with SN 33333333 went for $6,000. I would have thought it would go for a lower price if you had asked me beforehand, but I guess the high-denomination, 68 grade, and solid serial number jack it up. Must be fewer of these, even though they are moderns.
