Fr. 1220. 1922 $1000 Gold Certificate. PMG Choice About Uncirculated 58 EPQ.Even though one could conceivably consider $1000 Gold Certificates issued under the Series of 1922 "common" thanks to the population recorded in Track & Price and other census databases. This specimen is anything but that owing to something that offers a distinct contrast against its fellow survivors. The exemplar for this series and denomination is a mid-grade specimen often seen in the company of a comment such as "Minor Repairs." Fortunately, this specimen managed to live a very easy life compared to its fellows and clearly fell victim to fortunate circumstances perhaps at the bottom of a safe deposit box or period cash hoard where it avoided the heavy-handed dictates of Executive Order 6102 that undoubtedly claimed many of its peers through the redemption process.
Roughly 75 years after it was first printed, and 65 years after Roosevelts infamous order; this note finally made its way to auction in 1998 where it realized an exceptional sum for the period of $39,600. In that time only a single note has come close to this specimen in terms of the graded assigned. In 2008 and 2013 an example graded About Uncirculated 55 by PMG (E26709) managed to realize $115,000 in 2008 and $96,937.50 in 2013. By comparison this example is superior in every aspect, and one would be remiss to overlook the qualities that allowed this note to grade as it did. A sublime orange-gold expression is brought to form by the Treasury overprint and stands further expressed in a bold brilliance often lost upon most Gold Certificates at this grade level. Evidence of minimal circulation is perceivable and demonstrated by a light vertical fold while the margins remain sharp along with the corners. Yet perhaps most importantly is the originality retained and the seldom applied EPQ designation from PMG for "Exceptional Paper Quality" which has only been applied to two other notes out of the 28 pieces recorded in the PMG Population Report making this a truly exceptional entry among the pieces that compose Part II of the Shores Collection. PMG Pop 1/None Finer.From the Shores Collection Part II.
Provenance: Currency Auctions of America sale of May 1998, lot 1989; Stacks Bowers sale of the D. Brent Pogue Collection Part VI: Masterpieces of United States Paper Money March 2020, lot 6154.
