Since they became a popular collector's item in the 1960s, fractional currency sheets have always been scarce. But in a bittersweet sense, the scarcity has only become more prominent since the advent of certification at the grading services. Once the services began "creating" grades that exceeded "gem CU" -- which is to say, CU-67, CU-68 . can you say CU-69?? - the entrepreneurial spirit caught on with some speculators who realized they could cut these sheets up themselves, taking great care to trim the notes very precisely, thus creating individual notes of exceptionally high grade.

Typically, the inner four notes of an uncut sheet of sixteen (such as the present example) may yield four "super-grade" CU notes, while an uncut sheet of twenty may yield six "super-grade" notes. In a typical super-heated certification-crazed market, a single CU-68 could bring more by itself than what an entire uncut sheet costs. The point is that while an overall grade of "about CU" may be apt, the truth is that the innermost notes could hold that all-important super-grade potential.

In preparation for his second edition of A Collector's Guide to Postage & Fractional Currency (the highly acclaimed reference and de-facto standard for collectors of the series), author Rob Kravitz performed a survey of known sheets and accumulated the following conclusions:

4th issue sheets all are unique

3rd issue sheets 50-cents sheet is unique 25-cents sheet is unique 15-cents sheet is unique 10-cents sheet is unique 5-cents sheet is unique

2nd issue sheets 3-cents sheet (Fr#1227) has three known 3-cents sheet (Fr#1226) up to ten known

1st issue, perforated sheets five or fewer known of each

1st issue, straight-edge sheets 5-cents (Fr#1230) has 14 reported 10-cents (Fr#1242) has 12 reported 25-cents (Fr#1242) has 12 reported 50-cents (Fr#1242) has 10 reported

This lot may contain an item not certified by ANACS, PCGS, or NGC. While Scotsman Auction Co. is typically conservative in our descriptions of items not certified by one of these companies, we cannot guarantee our grading estimation will match their grade. We highly recommend that collectors seeking items certified by a third-party grading service only bid on items that have already been certified. No lot can be returned because of a variance in judgment with regards to grade.