Important Fr. 1351 50c

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Fractional Currency

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Fr. 1351 50c Third Issue
Grade: PMG Ch. UNC 64 EPQ    

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This jewel originally came from the Milt Friedberg Collection and went immediately into the Tom O'Mara Collection until 2005 where it was described by Len Glazer as: 'This stunning Fr. 1351 was from our January 1997 auction of the Milt Friedberg Collection. It was described there, 'This pristine example of this important rarity is either the finest known example or tied for it. Its brightness and flash are equal to the Gengerke piece, and the margins are clearly superior. The note exhibits its full original embossing, and it is a Gem in all respects but for a small brown spot near Justice's upraised arm which holds the scales. When the Encyclopedia was printed in 1978, only four pieces were known, with this one being the plate note. The current total is either nine or ten, with only two others close to this in grade, one of which was the Gengerke piece, Lot 161 of our January 6, 1995 auction which brought $18,700.' The 2005 census is thirteen examples. The O'Mara piece is one of four in or around the Choice grade. The ex-Boyd Stack's example, which is identical to this piece in grade but with slightly inferior centering (the right face margin is extremely narrow), auctioned in May 2004 for $21,850." Both grading services have identical statistics for Fr. 1351. Each service has two entries in its census. In both cases, those two entries were one 63 and one 64; lacking photos to match them up, we have no idea how many notes those four data represent. For sure they represent at least two notes as we sold the PMG 63 and can match it. No matter how the numbers are interpreted, this note is either top-pop or tied for it. When we sold it raw, we called it "possibly finest known", and remain convinced that it is. It realized $29,900 a number that should be eclipsed this evening.'

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