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Negative Essay Denomination Set in Purple Milton

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 37,500.00 USD
Negative Essay Denomination Set in Purple Milton
<B>Negative Essay Denomination Set in Purple Milton 2E5R.2b, 2E10R.5b, 2E25R.1a, 2E50R.1c.</B></I> This group was one of the highlights of Milt's Collection when we sold it in January of 1997. It was described then, "Without a doubt one of Milt's most significant items, this perfectly matching <B>Superb Gem New</B></I> set is composed of the Negative Essay backs of all four denominations, each of which is printed in a matching deep purple. Each of the four notes is on cream white paper, and each is a flawless impression. All four notes show an incredibly deep embossed effect far more pronounced than normally seen on Essay notes, and each of the four represents a miracle of survival as they are 100% as-printed. Only the 50¢ example has ever before appeared publicly, that being in NASCA's sale of the Rockholt Collection, where it was lot 2304. It realized a hammer price of $2,400 fifteen years ago [now 23 years ago] on an estimate of $1,000-up. In a collection full of superlatives, it is difficult to single out one or two truly top items, and furthermore, the superlatives become redundant in an offering of so many benchmark pieces. But at the risk of the following assertion's failing to make its deserved impact, it is this cataloger's opinion that this lot and the following [the identical blue set, which also follows in this O'Mara sale] are Milt's two finest treasures." We feel the same way today as we did when we wrote that description eight years ago. These four notes and the four in the next lot are irreplaceable Fractional treasures that massively raise the level of the collection that contains them.