On November 22, 2024, Stacks Bowers held a "Showcase" auction that featured a selection of Santa Claus notes and related items. As major collectors of these types of items, we registered to bid on some lots that would help our collection. Our collection includes 28 Santa Claus Notes which include all known vignettes (one is unknown) and most of the cities that issued them. We also have all but one of the known stock certificates. We also have collections of other related ephemera and tokens and medals.

The "Santa Claus Collection," as this selection was called, only had nine lots with most of them belonging to Candace Kagin. It is not very easy to find issued and circulated Santa Claus Notes, but this sale had four of them with three probably being unique. Most of the Santa Claus Notes that you find today came from the 1990 Christie's sale of the American Bank Note Company archives which John attended. Several other collectors of Santa Claus notes and vignettes were Roger Durand, John Ford and Herb and Martha Schingoethe. All of these great collectors are no longer with us and the sale of their collections were attended by us. Out of these, Roger Durand had the largest collection of Santa Claus Notes and vignettes. In 1988 Roger Durand authored a soft bound limited to 300 numbered copies reference called "Interesting Notes About Christmas." If you have an interest in these notes and vignettes, we recommend you purchase it. All the known and unknown notes and vignettes along with other Santa ephemera are listed in the reference.

None of the prices mentioned in our coverage include the buyer's fee The first Santa Note was Lot 7035 was a PMG VF 20, $5 Howard Banking Company Boston MA. Contemporary Counterfeit with a Type l Vignette. It opened at $1,300 and sold for $1,350. The estimate was $300-500. Lot 7037 was a Pittsfield Bank, MA. proof sheet $5, $10, $20 (Santa Type lll), $50. The note had an orange-tinted lathe underprint and was gradedPMG 62. It opened at $5,250 and was quickly hammered down at $5,500. The 1990 Christies had seven of these proof sheets in varying grades that were sold. The sale by Christie's held in 1990 had multiple lots that contained Santa Claus sheets. Like the one in this sale most of the sheets sold by Christie's were cut up and the Santa's were sold separately. Our collection contains three Santa sheets which includes a similar one to the one sold in this sale.

Lot 7043 was a punch canceled Santa was a Saint Nicholas Bank, 1859 $1 PMG VF Net and Type 2 vignette. This bank issued many different Santa Claus Notes. Estimated at $1,500-$2,500 it opened and closed at $900. If the signatures on the note weren't redrawn it would have sold for a lot more. Lot 7044 contained a very rare Type lll Santa Claus Vignette encountered on an issued note. The $1 Iron Bank of Plattsburgh NY Note was graded VG 10 by PMG. Though this vignette is encountered on a lot of different notes this is the only one that is on an issued note and the others are all on proofs. It opened at $4,900 and sold to a floor bidder for $6,250. The estimate was $3000-$5000. We had an interest in this lot.

Lot 7045 was an $1 Atlas Bank Providence RI Type ll Vignette with a Green ONE Protector. Durand has this note listed as an R-7. Estimated at $3,000-$5,000 it opened at $4,600 which was jumped to $6,250 and was hammered down for $7,500. We already own an $1 Atlas Bank with a Red ONE Protector.

Lot 7048 contained an Issued $5 obsolete Type lV Bank of Milwaukee (2nd 1855), WI. in PMG 15 Choice Fine. Our collection contains an uncirculated remainder on this bank. When we saw it in the catalog, we were amazed and evidently forgot that we saw this note when we lived in Milwaukee. This note is pedigreed to the collection of A. P. "Del" Bertschy who was a good friend when we lived there. Stacks/Bowers (or their name then) sold this note in 2009 for $19,500. This time around it opened at $12,500 and sold for $18,500. The estimate was $10,000-$15,000.

Lot 7050 contained three Durand Type l, ll & lll Santa Claus Vignette Cylinder Dies. The Type lll contained on the back a vignette of Jesus Christ preaching to a group of children. Cylinder dies like this very rarely come to the marketplace. Estimated at $2,000-$5,000 it opened at $3,150 and sold for $4,200.

A lot of eight Santa Claus Vignettes and associated reference material was in Lot 7051. Of better value were four engraved Santa Claus Vignettes (all graded), Two Souvenir Cards, a Christmas Wonder Mining Co. stock certificate with Santa at center, three Durand references - two Interesting Notes about Christmas and the RARE leather hardbound copy of the Durand collection which he had specially made at a high cost. He sent one to us because of our very long-time friendship. Estimated at $1,250-$1,750 it sold for $2,600 after opening at $975.

This portion of the sale closed with Lot 7052 which contained four Santa Claus related Harper's Weekly Prints and Covers. Estimated at $400-$600 it sold for $290. All of the lots in this Santa Claus section were well illustrated in color. With the sale of the Roger Durand, Herb and Martha Schingoethe, John Ford Jr. and Candace Kagin collections we still have our Santa Claus Note collection intact and only lack one unknown vignette and a few banks to be complete.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this sale.

John and Nancy, nickname mrmrsclaus

For all paper money lots in the sale, see:
https://archive.stacksbowers.com/?q=5c7fa14e-9659-4f46-ad11-7344396bb40c