DALLAS, TX.- One type of currency that is enjoying an enormous groundswell of popularity among collectors is Confederate currency, which boasts impressive historical significance and a wide variety of notes, featuring multiple designs, denominations, signatures, printing locations and even printing errors.

An exceptional array of Confederate notes will land in new collections when it is sold by the world’s premier numismatics auctioneer in Heritage’s April 28-May 1 CSNS U.S. Currency Signature® Auction.

“This auction features an incredible offering of Confederate currency, including all of the major rarities at exceptionally high grade levels,” says Dustin Johnston, Senior Vice President at Heritage Auctions. “It also includes yet another impressive selection of National Bank Notes, including a trophy-level Serial Number 1 Denver territorial note that would be an impressive addition to any collection.”

Among the Confederate highlights in the auction is a T1 $1,000 1861 PF-1 Cr. 1 PMG Choice About Unc 58 EPQ that is among the finest known for the type. The only $1,000 to be emitted by the Confederate Treasury, the T1 was part of the iconic four-type Montgomery series issued from Montgomery, Alabama, the temporary capital of the then-newly established Confederate States of America. It showcases portraits of two familiar Americans: at left, John Caldwell Calhoun, a South Carolina senator and vice president under President Andrew Jackson, whose portrait appears at lower right. The note offered in this auction was signed by the actual register, Alex(ander) B(aron) Clitherall, and the actual treasurer, E(dward) C(arrington) Elmore. Most remarkable about this piece is its choice condition. According to the PMG Population Report, this representative is the sole finest that the company has encapsulated.

Another prized offering from among the Confederate notes in the auction is an Agent Endorsement “F. Hodges [?], Agent” T2 $500 1861 PF-1 Cr. 2 PMG Choice Very Fine 35. When 607 T2 $500 Treasury Notes were issued in 1861, the common wisdom was that the war would be a short one, with little need for circulating notes over and above the existing commercial bank issues. That proved inaccurate, and the $500 denomination was not seen again until early 1864, when it was reintroduced due to the impact of inflation on the ever-diminishing purchasing power of the Confederate dollar. This note’s grade ties it with two other examples, with only five notes earning higher grades out of the 40 examples presently recorded in the PMG Population Report.

A T35 $5 1861 PF-1 Cr. 271 PMG Very Fine 25 drew inspiration from a $5 Bank of Charleston plate that the bank donated to the Confederate government during the war. Hoyer & Ludwig retained the so-called “Indian Princess” vignette at right and the oval 5 counters in the upper left and lower right corners, but reworked the rest of the design including the text and the vignette in the lower left corner of two slaves working with cotton bales under the watchful eye of an overseer. Only 7,160 examples were printed before production was permanently suspended. T35s are notorious for having problems, restorations, repairs, damage and other impairments, but this remarkable example carries a high grade for the note, free of problems, residing in a “comment-free” holder.

A T48 $10 1862 “XX-3” PMG Choice About Unc 58 has printed signatures and vignettes that were used on Hoyer & Ludwig products. There are two scenarios surrounding its origin that are considered most likely: Either this note was printed by Hoyer & Ludwig during the Civil War, demonstrating printed signatures and simultaneously poking fun at arch competitor Keatinge & Ball by means of the garbled imprint (Keatings & Ball Columbus, SC.), or it was produced at some point after the Civil War, aimed at the burgeoning collector market for Confederate rarities that began in the 1870s. In either case, this is a rare and popular note, and the example offered in this auction carries the highest recorded grade for a T48 in the PMG Population Report.

The auction also features an incredible selection of nearly 650 National Bank Notes.

Included in this magnificent trove is a Serial Number 1 Denver, Colorado Territory - $20 Original Fr. 426 The First National Bank Ch. # 1016 PMG Very Fine 25 that is one of just three Serial Number 1 Original Series $20s known for the entire country and the only one of the three reported from a Territorial bank. When it was offered at auction for the first time in 1945, it realized just $76, but the demand for this magnificent rarity has soared: The last time it crossed the auction block, as part of The Rocky Mountain Collection in 2015, it topped $150,000.

Among the finest known of its kind, this Pittsburgh, PA - $50 1875 Fr. 446 The Union National Bank Ch. # 705 PMG Choice Extremely Fine 45 is an exceptional example of this very rare type and denomination, one of barely 100 First Charter Fifties for the entire country and one of just 13 examples reported for all Pennsylvania banks. It is the only 1875 $50 known from this Pittsburgh bank.

An exciting discovery, this Sioux Falls, SD - $5 1882 Brown Back Fr. 472 The Union National Bank Ch. # 4629 PMG Choice Very Fine 35 is a gorgeous note that hails from one of South Dakota’s most obscure and short-lived issuers: a bank that opened in 1891, issued a handful of $5 Brown Backs and then disappeared forever in 1899, leaving just $540 outstanding in 1910. This piece is the first note of about 2,800 South Dakota National Bank Notes to be reported from this charter — a miracle of survival considering this bank’s minuscule issuance of National Bank Notes.

Among the most important National Bank Notes known from the entire state of Florida is a Serial Number 1 Pensacola, FL - $10 1882 Brown Back Fr. 485 The Citizens National Bank Ch. # 4837 PMG Choice Very Fine 35 EPQ, one of just two Serial Number 1 $10 Brown Backs reported for all Sunshine State banks combined. This offering also comes from one of the state’s scarcer banks, an institution that issued Brown Backs and Date Backs only before liquidating in 1911. It made its initial public appearance in Heritage’s 2008 FUN auction as part of The Sunshine State Collection.

Another coveted group is error notes, on which mistakes can send rarity and collector demand soaring. One example is a Dual-Denomination Error Fr. 2071-K $20/$10 1974 Federal Reserve Note. PMG Very Fine 30 EPQ — an example of the famed Dallas “$30” note that was the last dual/double denomination to escape the BEP. Serial number K46598254B saw circulation until one lucky recipient received it and put it away. The news of these “$30” notes coming out of Houston hit in the summer of 1978 and sent one Dallas paper money collector/teller to go through a significant amount of $20 packs looking for the K-B block Holy Grail. It was reported that it was believed by the BEP that 10 sheets (320 notes) had been printed with the double denominations. The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank retrieved 160 examples from a still-sealed BEP shipment, while the Houston Branch of the Dallas Fed was able to corral another 120 of these escaped errors. These 280 notes were returned to the BEP for destruction. The remaining 40 double denomination errors proceeded into circulation and were eventually found by the public or withdrawn from circulation and destroyed in the course of normal banking procedures. Today, double denominations always create excitement, and they have rightfully earned their “King of Errors” title.

Another popular error note that will be in play in this auction is a Dual Denomination Error Fr. 1960-J $5/$10 1934D Federal Reserve Note. PMG About Uncirculated 55 EPQ — the so-called “Kansas City ‘King of Errors’ Dual Denomination.” A long-held collection finally has come to light, adding one more serial number to the census for this Kansas City dual/double denomination. This is the most populous of the four different small size double denominations that escaped the BEP in the 20th century.

The auction includes lots from named collections, including the Westchester Collection, which counts among its 122 lots a Cooperstown, NY - $2 Original Fr. 387a The First National Bank Ch. # 280 PMG Fine 12 that is the only reported original series “Lazy Deuce” for the bank, which is the only popular charter that operated in the community that hosts the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is the second chance for collectors to acquire important notes from this exceptional collection; more than 130 lots found new homes in January when they were sold in Heritage’s FUN U.S. Currency Signature® Auction.

Auction attractions also will include more than 100 lots from The Charles River Collection. Among the highlights is a Boston, MA- Revere Bank $20 Mar. 1, 1860 G12a Proof PCGS Banknote Choice Unc 64, a spectacular multicolor Proof from this short-lived but well-known Boston institution. This note was produced by the ABNCo. Two representatives of this design and denomination in Proof form are known to the collecting community, including this example and one other, which served as the Haxby Plate Note.