Stack's Bowers Galleries Offers Rare Proofs from Early Banks in US States

Dozens of Proofs from early American banks are among more than 300 notes certified by PMG® in a Stack's Bowers Galleries auction this month. Online bidding is already underway for the May 2026 Premier Collectors Choice Auction - The Caine Collection of Obsolete Bank Notes, which concludes on May 28, 2026.

The top lots include a Nebraska, Omaha City 1857 $3 Proof graded PMG 65 Gem Uncirculated EPQ (lot 98310), with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000, and an Illinois, Vienna 1860s $10 Proof graded PMG 65 Gem Uncirculated EPQ (lot 98176), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. Proofs represent a preparatory stage in the design process prior to a note’s approval for production. These come from a time of frontier banking: The Nebraska note preceded statehood there while the Illinois note is from the southern tip of the state just a few decades after it joined the union.

Other PMG-certified highlights in this auction include:

• a Minnesota, New Ulm 1859 $5 Remainder graded PMG 65 Gem Uncirculated EPQ (lot 98257), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Minnesota, Owatonna 1859 $10 Proof graded PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated (lot 98258), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Minnesota, St. Cloud 1859 $5 Proof graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated (lot 98261), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Minnesota, Saint Peter 1859 $3 graded PMG 20 Very Fine (lot 98265), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Mississippi, Grenada 1830s $100 Proof graded PMG 62 Uncirculated (lot 98272), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Mississippi, Vicksburg 1837-40 $500 Proof graded PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated EPQ (lot 98286), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Nebraska, Omaha City 1857 $10 Proof graded PMG 65 Gem Uncirculated EPQ (lot 98312), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000
• a Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh 1860s $1,000 Proof graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated (lot 98439), with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000

Estimates are provided by the auction house.