Fr. 345d. 1880 $500 Silver Certificate. PMG Choice Fine 15. Just two examples of this Bruce-Wyman signed 1880 $500 Silver Certificate of Deposit are known to survive. One note is permanently impounded in the collection of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco while the note offered here is the only privately held example of the catalog number. <p>These $500 notes were printed and issued in accordance with an Act of Congress passed February 28, 1878, and featured the portrait of Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner at right. Sumner is perhaps most notable for being the victim of a vicious caning at the hands of South Carolina representative Preston Brooks on the floor of the United States Senate on May 22, 1856. Brooks had taken offense to an anti-slavery speech titled "Crime Against Kansas" that Sumner had recently given. Sumner was so severely injured that he left the Senate to recuperate. He was reelected in November 1856 and in time was able to return to Washington.<p><p>The $500 Silver Certificates of 1880 feature a large brown Treasury Seal at top center with a brown 500 counter below. This catalog number has the engraved signatures of Bruce and Wyman stacked to the lower right of center. The black printed backs display SILVER in large, ornate letters at center.<p>This example displays darkly printed inks and evenly circulated paper. The design is fully framed by ample margins on both the face and back. The grading service has added a "Minor Restoration" comment to the back of the holder. Any such work appears to be limited in scope and extremely well executed. There are no obviously distracting characteristics about the note to speak of. <p>Just three examples of this type are privately held and available to collectors. Two examples of the Fr.345c are available to collectors in addition to the note now offered. The Joel R. Anderson example of the Fr.345c sold in our August 2018 ANA auction for $750,000 and then again in our August 2019 ANA auction for the same number. This note last traded publicly in an October 2006 auction for $776,250. <p>This is without a doubt an elite level note, essentially unique to the collecting public. No other collector can lay claim to a Fr.345d. This is a rare opportunity to obtain a trophy note of this caliber and one that should be eagerly seized upon.<p><p>
