Dave Bowers recently shared with us his notes on John S. Dye and his publications. Wendell Wolka points out that one of Dye's publications sold yesterday (3-February) on eBay after a furious round of bidding. To see an illustration of the item and a full auction description, go to http://www.ebay.com/ and search for Item #1210799102.

The seller described the item as follows:

"A 79 page booklet entitled "Dye's/ Counterfit (sic) Detector/ and Universal Bank Note Gazetteer;/ With Correct Rules By Which/ Spurious And Counterfeit Notes May Be/ Detected At a Glance/ Also/ A list of All Fraudulent and Broken Banks and Altered Notes; and a list of all the Solvent Banks, with Rates of Discount, Cincinnati:/ Published by John S. Dye./ 1850/ E. Morgan and Co., Stereotypers. Contains 27 pages of illustrations of worldwide gold and silver coins and US value in addition to material mentioned on cover. Condition is good - very good, water stain on cover shows up as a few smallish dots on first interior page. Still bound, but a bit loose, overall interior pages are clean, and bright. All pages are present, no tears. Book starts on page 3, as they count the cover as pages 1 and 2., something I've seen before in early paper books."

The lot opened at $9. About two hours before the sale closed, the lot stood at $845. When the dust finally settled, the closing price was $1225. There were fifteen bids placed by seven distinct bidders.

The pamphlet was listed under the U.S. Obsolete currency section.