DALLAS, TX.- A Netherlands Indies Javasche Bank 1000 Gulden 1.7.1864 Pick 51r Remainder PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 sold for $198,000, nearly 10 times its pre-auction estimate and a record for Netherlands Indies notes, to lead Heritage’s World Paper Money Signature® Auction to $2,224,435 October 17.
“This is an absolutely magnificent banknote, the only example from 1864-88 graded by PMG,” says Dustin Johnston, Vice President of Numismatics at Heritage Auctions, of the note that is only known in an unissued Remainder form. “It rose to the top of an exceptional special collections of Netherlands Indies notes in the auction, most of which are either exceedingly rare or unique outside of institutional collections.
“The 1000 Gulden was the headliner in this auction, which included very strong results for Dutch Colonial material, especially notes from Netherlands Indies and Suriname.”
Two more Netherlands Indies notes, an exceedingly rare Javasche Bank 300 Gulden 2.5.1864 Pick 49Br Remainder PMG Choice Uncirculated 63 and a Javasche Bank 500 Gulden 1.6.1864 Pick 50r Remainder PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ, drew winnings bids of $84,000. The 300 Gulden, offered in this auction for the first time at Heritage, is third-highest denomination of the series, and at the time of cataloging, this Remainder was the only example of the type graded in the PMG Population Report, across all dates from 1865 to 1890, in all known formats. The 500 Gulden is exceptionally rare, one of just 6,000 that were printed with the 1864 date, of which it is possible no others are available today to the collecting community.
Another fantastic Dutch colonial banknote that was among the top results was a Netherlands Indies Javasche Bank 200 Gulden 1.1.1864 Pick 49Ar PLNI17.6.u. Remainder PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ that brought $45,600. This is the first example graded by PMG, and to date remains the only example of this denomination from the series graded in the PMG Population Report. No signatures or serial numbers were applied to this unused note.
More than two dozen bids came in for an India Princely States, Hyderabad 5 Rupees (1920-36) Pick S263cts Color Trial Specimen PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ that sold for more than 11 times its pre-auction estimate when it closed at $33,600. This auction marked the first time this excellent prototype, featuring a beautiful and desirable Waterlow & Sons engraving and one of only two Color Trial Specimens on the PMG Population Report, has been offered at Heritage.
Arguably one of the rarest of all world banknotes, a Suriname Surinaamsche Bank 1000 Gulden 31.6.1898 Pick 59p Proof PMG Choice Uncirculated 64, reached $28,800. One of just a handful of Specimen, graded survivors that remain within the reach of collectors, this note was, at the time Heritage’s catalog for this auction was printed, the first and only 19th-century 1000 Gulden of Suriname graded in the PMG Population Report across all known and available formats.
A Panama Banco Central de Emision 20 Balboas 1941 Pick 25a PMG Very Fine 25, an example of the extremely rare highest denomination of four denominations that were printed when the Central Bank of Issue of Panama issued a set of banknotes in 1941, sold for $26,400. Bearing the coveted low serial number 000076, the offered example is one of just 14 currently graded in the PMG Population Report.
Other highlights in the auction included, but were not limited to:
• A Greece National Bank of Greece 500 Drachmai 1923 Pick 77 PMG Extremely Fine 40: $22,800 — tied for the highest-graded among just three examples in the PMG Population Report
• A Suriname Surinaamsche Bank 1000 Gulden ND (1925-1948) Pick 84r Remainder PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ: $22,800
• An Iraq Government of Iraq 100 Dinars 1931 (ND 1936) Pick 12a PMG Very Fine 20: $21,000
• An extremely rare Morocco Banque d’Etat du Maroc 4 Rials = 40 Francs 31.2.1917 Pick 1s Specimen PMG About Uncirculated 55 EPQ: $16,800
• An exceptionally rare Guadeloupe Banque de la Guadeloupe 1 Franc ND (1920) Pick 12 PMG Choice About Unc 58 EPQ: $13,200
