March 2025 Greensheet Market Analysis: Auction Previews Headline Start of Spring

The next major auction sales will be the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Spring 2025 Showcase Auction on March 31, and the Heritage sale associated with the Central States Numismatic Society show on April 29.

Large Size Legal Tender Notes and Silver Certificates will feature prominently in the Stack’s Bowers event. Among the former are the two highest value collectible series of 1869 Rainbow Notes, a $50 (Fr.-151) in PMG Very Fine 30 and a $100 (Fr.-168) in PMG Choice Extremely Fine 45. It is not unreasonable to expect a strong middle to high five figure price for the $50. Stack’s Bowers sold a Very Fine 35 for $96,000 last August, and Very Fine 20s are selling in the $40,000 to $45,000 range.

With only about thirty pieces accounted for and many of them in public collections, the $100 Rainbow is rarely offered for sale. This will be just its third appearance on the market since 2020. The sale that year, by Stack’s Bowers was for a PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 from the D. Brent Pogue collection that was knocked down for $312,000. The more recent result was for a PMG Very Fine 25 at the 2023 FUN show where it sold for $66,000. The note being sold now went for $138,000 in 2012 as a PCGS Currency Extremely Fine 45.

A half dozen Silver Certificates are being highlighted. The one that will turn the most heads is one of four known Fr. 284 Triple Signature $10 Silver Certificates of 1878. In addition to the standard signature of Glenni W. Scoffield and James Gilfillan, this has the autographed (rather than engraved) countersignature of J.C. Hopper for the Assistant Treasurer of the U.S. This piece is making a quick return to the market. It went for $312,000 in January 2023 and $126,500 in 2007.

Another potential six figure result should be expected for an 1880 Black Back $50 Silver Certificate (Fr.-328) in PMG About Uncirculated 55. It was part of the Joel Anderson Collection in 2019 when it realized $132,000. About thirty examples are known today, but eight are unavailable to collectors. There is only one note graded higher, with most in Very Fine or lower. The obverse features the bust of Edward Everett, the orator who spoke before Lincoln at Gettysburg, a Senator, and Millard Fillmore’s Secretary of State in 1852 and 1853. A piece of useless trivia about Everett of interest only to people of a certain age is that his grand-nephew, Edward Everett Horton was a prolific actor in the mid-twentieth century and a narrator on the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show.

One of the highest graded Silver Dollar backs (Fr.-262), 1886 $5 Silver Certificate in PMG Superb Gem Uncirculated 67 should also see a mid to high five-figure result. The enormously popular note is part of a run of high-quality examples with serial numbers starting with B217.

Another popular type note, a “Tombstone” $10 1908 Silver Certificate (Fr.-304) PMG Gem Uncirculated 66, is hitting the market for the second time in a year after selling for $43,200 last May.

Finally, we will see how much of a difference a low serial number makes when a $20 Silver Certificate with the bust of Daniel Manning and the facsimile signatures of Rosecrans and Hyatt (Fr.-313) hits the block in a grade of PMG About Uncirculated 55 and a serial number of B12. When this note was sold by Lyn Knight for $109,250 in 2007, the catalog said that it had only been sold at auction once before in over one hundred years.

With a new administration now in Washington, changes are in store for American paper money. The next series of U.S. currency will have the signature of Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury and a new to-be-named Treasurer replacing Janet Yellen and Marilynn Malerba on the 2021 series. It will be some time before the new series becomes a reality. A permanent treasurer has not yet been appointed, and only then can work begin on new printing plates. A recent Wikipedia entry states that Patricia Collins was appointed Acting Treasurer on January 20, 2025. Patricia Collins is also listed as the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing since March 24, 2024. The BEP has not responded to our request for clarification.

The joint term of Yellen and Malerba lasted only 2 years and 64 days. We do not yet know the full range of series 2021 notes printed since the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has published no update since September 2024. As of that report, 2021 notes were issued only in denominations of $1, $5, $10, and $100. Based on the latest reports, $10 was an extremely limited run. With 44,800,000 notes printed for the Cleveland and Kansas City districts, and 64,000000 for Richmond. There were also 3,200,000 star notes printed for Kansas City, a potential rarity in the making.

BY Arthur Friedberg, Contributor