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This note is not in my collection. Scans courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries
The front features the portrait of Civil War-era General George
Gordon Meade who commanded Union Army troops at the Battle of Gettysburg. The
three ornate zeros in the back look like watermelons, thus given the note it's
nickname "Grand Watermelon".
This note was sold in December 2006 by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas,
Texas for $2,255,000, a world's record price paid for a United States bank note.
"The only other known red seal Grand Watermelon is in the museum at the
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco," said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage.
This note is at the top of the list in the recently-published reference book,
The 100 Greatest American Currency Notes, by Q. David Bowers and David Sundman.
This note is graded PMG VF-35. It is pedigreed to the famous Albert A.
Grinnell collection and was sold at auction by Barney Bluestone for $1,230 in
November 1944.
The anonymous seller of the record-breaking bill is described as "a private
collector who owned the note for a number of years," and the anonymous buyer
was described by Rohan as "a very advanced and sophisticated East Coast
collector of art and rare currency.
The $2,255,000 price is more than double the previous record for a Grand
Watermelon note, paid in a March 2005 auction for a brown seal, graded PCGS
Currency-50. The previous world's record for any bank note was $2,100,000, set
in March 2006 each for a Series 1863 $100 denomination Gold Certificate
(Fr. 1166c) and a unique Series 1891 $1,000 Treasury Note (Fr. 379c), both
privately sold by Heritage.
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