Colonials and Obsoletes in Demand

While there is not a huge paper money dealer presence at the World’s Fair of Money^®, the absence of any other major summer show gives those willing to make the trip an opportunity to do a fair amount of business. There are important auction lot viewing sessions, as Stack’s Bowers always holds an important sale of both U.S. and world paper money in the week following the show. The catalogs are not released as of this writing, but they already feature major collections, often of Latin American material. If prior shows so far this year are any indication, the wholesale trading should be robust.

Among the most active areas of the market is in the non-Federal currencies of America: Colonial, Obsolete, and Confederate States. This is evidenced by the multiple specialized online auctions that have been held recently by Heritage and Stack’s Bowers. Over the first half of 2025, Heritage has held two Colonial-focused sales, two Confederate currency Showcase sales, and one focused on Obsoletes, with two more coming in late July and early August. Stack’s Bowers has held one each of a Colonial specialized auction and a Confederate currency sale, along with items in their regular monthly Collector’s Choice sales. Whether the demand is coming because of the sales, or the sales are coming because of the demand, prices have been strong to say the least. In Colonial paper money, the price trends have meant that essentially a market reset in some areas has or needs to occur. In the recent Stack’s Bowers Spring Colonial auction, the top lot was a South Carolina $100 note from the series of February 8, 1779, commonly referred to as the Coram issue. Graded a pleasant PMG VF35, the note sold for $7,200 against a paltry estimate of $600 to $800. To be clear, this is not a Colonial note that is extremely high on the scarcity scale, relatively speaking. Recent sales over the past three years include a note in XF40 for $1,150 and an AU50 at $1,320. Many other lots have sold above the high presale estimates to varying degrees. On the Confederate currency side, we are not seeing the peak prices of 2021–2022, but choice problem-free examples that are deemed premium for their respective grade are trading very strong. The same can be said for Obsolete currency; while it is a much larger field with many subgenres of collecting that makes generalizations challenging, the top prices paid for the best notes has certainly taken the next step. At Whitman, we are hard at work to create future publications on the topic of Obsolete currency to further fuel the interest in these historic pieces and bring more collectors into the fray.

Just as it is with United States paper money, it is important to highlight important single-owner collections of world paper money. Back in mid-June, as part of their HKINF Signature sale, Heritage offered the Toele Collection of Dutch paper money. Perhaps the best-ever collection of this kind to come to auction, the prices realized were commensurate with the rarity of the items. Four individual notes sold for greater than $50,000, a major accomplishment for any world paper money collection. The top lot, a fully issued 100 Gulden from the very early history of the Nederlandsche Bank dated in the early 1800s (1810–1820), sold for $114,000. Very likely the only note of its type and denomination in existence, this is a historically important piece of financial history from a country with a rich banking and merchant tradition. A total of 21 lots brought greater than $10,000 and reviewing the collection allows one to see incredible examples of banknotes engraved and printed by Royal Joh. Enschede, the primary banknote printer for the Netherlands throughout its history. Many abstract and artistic designs proliferate, and some are rarely seen, especially in high grade. Another aspect that struck me about this collection is the circumstance, and how it illustrates the evolution of the collectible paper money market. Here, a landmark collection that was formed in the Netherlands was sold by an American auction firm—which started many decades ago with only U.S. coins and stamps—and the sale was held in conjunction with a numismatic convention in Hong Kong. It is truly a global market!