I attended the William H. Kelly Confederate paper money sale held in conjunction with the FUN show in Orlando. Heritage auctions conducted the sale on Thursday night, January 5, 2012. William Kelly collected over the last quarter century of the 20th century focusing on building four complete Confederate money type sets, building eight sets of Montgomery notes, and adding a number of major rare varieties to his collection – making the Kelly collection one of the major collections offered (both publicly and privately) over the past century. Indeed, the hallmark of this sale was the 32 Montgomery notes – eight of each type ($1000, $500, $100, $50) – a quantity never before offered in one sale. The last major sales of Confederate notes were the Western Reserve sale and Mayer sale of Montgomery notes (13 examples) in 2007. The Western Reserve sale was noted for its breadth and depth in rare varieties and variety scope in general. The Kelly sale was noted for Montgomery notes. An aside, it would be interesting to conduct a whist match between Kelly’s collection and the Western Reserve Collection sold in 2007. I believe Kelly realized more money, but the Western Reserve collection would win the whist match due to completeness and larger spread of different rarities. Both are great collections in their own right! This sale would give us an idea of what mid-grade type as well as some better type notes that were cancelled or had problems would go for at auction. However, due to 32 Montgomery notes, many players’ finances were constrained for the rest of the sale which would impact prices realized at this particular moment in time as well as sales of Confederate money on the bourse floor. Like all major currency offered in Heritage sales, these Confederate notes were third party graded, in this case primarily by PCGS. I generally like PCGS as the more consistent third party graders of the major two firms. I still like CC&A the best for being the most conservative and using collector-oriented grading, however, PCGS is quite respectable. They’ve become quite adept at grading uncirculated notes as well as detecting problems and repairs. I disagree with their definition of VF – most of their F-15 to VF-30 notes grade somewhat lower on the collector-oriented scale. They also use “Choice” to mean something different than eye appeal – they use it to designate a note with less circulation than the base grade, but too much to make the next higher grade. Most collectors view “Choice” as a note with superior cut and eye appeal as documented in Collecting Confederate Paper Money – Field Edition 2008 by Pierre Fricke (me). This will be reflected below where I give my grade and PCGS’s grade. 16267. T-5 PF-1 PCGS Extremely Fine 45 PPQ. This note was pressed and had too many faint folds for XF. Very Fine, plus. $2,185 16268. T-5 PF-1 PCGS Very Fine 35 Apparent. About Very Fine. Cancellations repaired, net Fine. $1,150 16270. T-6 PF-1 PCGS New 62 PPQ. Uncirculated, plus. $2,530 16271. T-6 PF-1 PCGS New 61 Apparent. Not Unc, but AU with edge repairs, net VF. $2,185 16276. T-7 PF-4. PCGS Choice New 63. Choice Uncirculated to me. Nice and it went really cheap! $3,220 16279. T-7 PF-4. PMG Very Fine 25 Net. About Very Fine, net Fine, plus. Some rust/staining, minor. $1,725 16280. T-8 PF-2. PCGS New 62. Uncirculated, plus. Nice. $ 690 16281. T-8 PF-8. PCGS AU 58 PPQ. Choice AU+. Better than the Unc note. $ 805 16282. T-9 PF-2 Rare double for Treasr. PCGS New 62. Uncirculated, plus. Went cheap! $1,495 16284. T-10 PF-16. PCGS Very Fine 25. Choice Fine to Very Fine. $1,495 16286. T-11 PF-4. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. F-VF, net Fine. Good buy. $6,900 16291. T-12 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. F-VF to me. Another good buy. $3,450 16293. T-12 PF-1. PCGS Fine 15 Apparent. Fine, net G-VG. $1,150 16301. T-15 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 35 Apparent. VF-XF-CC, mounting on back. Trimmed into margin at lower right. Not a bad CC note and I believe these are undervalued for nice eye appeal. Opportunity to get a high grade T-15 cheap. $2,760 16302. T-15 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 35, COC. VF+-COC to me. $1,955 16303. T-15 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent, CC. Fine, plus-cut-cancelled. $2,760 16305. T-16 PF-10 Whatman. PMG Very Fine 30. VF, plus. A steal. $ 519 16308. T-17 PF-2. PCGS Very Fine 25. F-VF to me. $1,035 16310. T-19 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 30 Apparent. F-VF, net Fine. Too cheap. $2,300 16312. T-19 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 cut-out cancelled. Fine, plus-COC. $ 891 16314. T-19 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. About VF, net Fine. Repaired. $1,840 16316. T-20 PF-9. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. F-VF, net Fine. $ 288 16317. T-20 PF-13 Uncut sheet of 10 notes. VF $4,025 16318. T-22 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 35. Very Fine, plus. Nice and good buy! $1,495 16320. T-22 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 30 PPQ. Choice About VF to me. Another steal. $1,725 16324. T-22 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25. F-VF. $1,265 16328. T-23 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 30. VF to me. $4,313 16332. T-23 PF-3 Rare. PCGS Very Fine 25. F-VF. $5,175 16337. T-24 PF-1 “Reoeivable” error. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. F-VF-CC. This error is actually a “C” that is virtually closed and bleeds together. It appears on several different varieties of T-24 and no longer commands a significant premium. $ 403 16339. T-27 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 20. Fine, plus. Trimmed into margin upper right. Much better than most and a rare opportunity. Went cheap… Rarest Type by census though closing in on T-2. $18,975 16341. T-27 PF-1. PCGS Fine 12 Apparent, CC. Fine-CC. Trimmed into upper margin. A good buy. $10,350 16342. T-27 PF-1. PCGS Very Good 10, COC. VG-COC. Great opportunity to get a T-27 for less than $5K that is decent. Most (including me) had spent all their money by this point! $4,025 16343. T-29 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 35, CC. VF-CC and pressed. Nice color. $ 575 16346. T-31 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 PPQ. F-VF to me. $1,840 16347. T-31 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25. VF, net F-VF. $1,093 16349. T-32 PF-2. PCGS Extremely Fine 40 PPQ. XF. Rare this nice. Cheap! $5,750 16352. T-32 PF-2. PCGS Fine 15 Apparent. Pen cancelled and major repairs. G-VG to me. This is the infamous T-32A in Criswell’s 1996 book with black underprint. There are several problems with this listing in his book. A true, original black overprint would be a T-32 PF-4 new variety, not a new type. But worse, this black overprint was added post War. Rationale – The underprint was nearly pristine, Uncirculated… on a Good to Very Good note. I compared it to the XF T-32 orange underprint in lot 16349 under 10x magnification. The XF note underprint had more wear on it than this G-VG black did! Further, the signatures appeared to be under the black underprint where on the orange note they were clearly above the underprint. Still an interesting post-War curiousity and worth something on a historical basis. Not $29,000 hammer, though. 16355. T-33 PF-8 State II. Rare. PCGS Very Fine 30 Apparent. About Very Fine. Cheap. $ 575 16360. T-35 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent, COC. Fine, plus, net VG-F-COC to me. $9,775 16361. T-35 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 25 Apparent. F-VF, net Fine. About right. $32,200 16362. T-35 PF-1. PCGS Fine 12 Apparent. Very Good, plus, net G-VG. $13,225 16364. T-38 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 20. Fine, plus to me. Nice. $4,025 16366. T-38 PF-1. PCGS Fine 12 Apparent. Very Good. $ 633 16369. T-39 PF-9 Military issue – Wharton. PMG 62. AU to me. A more common military issue. $ 546 16370. T-39 PF-16. Military issue – Tilton. PCGS New 61. Unc. A more common military issue. $ 403 16371. T-39 PF-1. James Miller Depositary in Wilmington NC. PCGS Extremely Fine 45 Apparent. XF to me. $ 431 16373. T-40 PF-5. P. B. Bird. 2 known. PMG Very Fine 30. VF to me. Cheap. $ 518 16374. T-41 PF-11. PCGS Gem New 66 PPQ. Gem Unc. Cheap compared to recent prices realized. $ 460 16382. T-41 PF-5. Houston reissue. PCGS Choice New 63 PPQ. Choice Unc. $ 575 16383. T-41 PF-4. Wookey Hole Mill. PCGS New 62 PPQ. Unc. A record price. $5,463 16384. T-41 PF-10 (really a PF-53 1863). Military – Ragan. PCGS New 62. Unc. 1863 notes are underrated in my 2008 book. A more common military issuer. $ 345 16386. T-41 PF-18 (really a PF-52 1863 and much rarer). Whatman. PCGS AU 58 PPQ. Choice AU+. Miscataloging allowed this to go cheap. $ 690 16387. T-41 PF-12. Miltary issue – Glover. PCGS AU 58. Choice AU+. A common military issuer. $ 374 16388. T-41 PF-2. PCGS AU 55 PPQ. AU to me. Underrated in my 2008 book. $ 345 16389. Post War “Z” added. Did not sell. 16390. T-41 PF-15 (really a PF-56 1863). Military – Paxton. PCGS AU 53. AU. A common military issuer. Another underrated 1863 note. $ 374 16391. T-41 PF-64. Whatman with T in 1863. Extremely rare! PCGS XF 45 PPQ. XF to me. $1,840 16393. T-41 PF-20 (really a PF-59 1863). Subsistence dept payment. Ludington. Rare. PCGS XF 45. Choice XF. Good buy. $ 546 16394. T-41 PF-3. Rare. PCGS XF 45. XF to me. $3,450 16396. T-41 PF-25. Little Rock issue. Rare. PCGS Very Fine 35 Apparent. VF-XF. Good buy. $ 575 16397. T-41 PF-12. Military – Severson. PCGS Very Fine 30 Apparent. Common military note. $ 431 16399. T-41 PF-14. Wookey Hole Mill. PCGS Very Fine 30. About VF. Record price. $4,025 16401. T-41 PF-22. Military – Thomason. Rare. PCGS Very Fine 20 Apparent. F-VF, net VG-F. $ 518 16402. T-41 PF-23 (really a PF-62 1863). Military – Harris. Rare. PCGS Very Fine 25. $ 575 16403. T-41 PF-11. Military – Russell. Rare. PMG Very Fine 35 EPQ. VF-XF. $1,380 16404. T-43 PF-1. PCGS Very Fine 30. F-VF to me. $1,093 16405. T-45 PF-1. PCGS AU 58 PPQ. Choice AU++. $2,185 16407. XX-2 T-47 PF-1. PCGS VF 30. VF to me. $5,750 16408. XX-3 T-48. PCGS Very Fine 20 Apparent. F-VF. $7,475 16409. T-50 PF-18 Double Ratification error. PMG Very Fine 25. About VF. A steal and underrated. $1,955 16410. T-51 PF-13 Double transfer error. PMG Fine 15 Net. F-VF, net F $ 345 16411. T-52 PF-9IB. Inverted back. Commonest IB. PCGS AU 50. AU, net XF. Strong price. $2,300 16412. T-52 PF21IB. Inverted back. Rare. PCGS Very Fine 20. Fine, plus. Good buy. $2,415 16416. T-59 PF-24. Double date stamp error. PCGS Very Fine 30. VF. $ 288 16417. T-59 PF-12IB. Inverted back. Double date stamp error. PCGS Very Fine 25 PPQ. F-VF. A steal. $2,990 16420. T-64 PF-1 (really PF-3 dark red). PCGS AU 58 PPQ. AU, choice color. $1,495 A good number of the notes in this section were not Kelly’s notes, especially a lot of the T-39-41 miliatry issuers. There were a couple of records set for price. Both T-41 Wookey Hole Mill notes set new records. The T-52 PF-9IB inverted back was a record as well. One of the military notes over $1,000 was a new record (at least publicly). However, there were a lot of really good deals in this section as a lot of money had been drained from the community by the 32 Montgomery notes. There were a lot more notes in the Internet only section that sold after the FUN show ended. There were some really good buys there too. I congratulate Bill Kelly for putting together a great collection and allowing us to have the opportunity to acquire some of these notes. Have fun and enjoy! Pierre Fricke