Heritage-CAA To Offer Long Hidden Collection

Dallas, Texas: Heritage-Currency Auctions of America is delighted to announce that it has been chosen to auction the long hidden collection of pioneer New York currency collector and researcher Malcom A. Trask. This extensive collection, which has remained untouched since the early 1960's, will be sold in its entirety at Heritage CAA's FUN sale, which will take place on January 14-15, 2005, as the official auction of the Florida United Numismatists convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Malcolm A. Trask was a born and bred New Yorker whose interest in numismatics began with coins but soon shifted to currency. He began to collect seriously during the Second World War and soon became a prominent member of the currency collecting fraternity that made New York City the hub of the currency market throughout the 1950's. He attended most of the major auctions of the era, from the later Grinnell sessions through such famous offerings as the Frank A. Limpert sale of 1955 and the T. James Clarke sale of 1956, and was a regular client of Stack's, New Netherlands, and Robert Friedberg, the original author of today's standard currency numbering system.

Malcolm Trask was also one of the earliest serious researchers of large size currency, with a special interest in National Bank Notes, serial number 1 Type Notes, and errors, in an era when most collectors were either uninterested in these items or regarded them as mere numismatic detritus unworthy of serious study or collecting. His notebook from the 1950's contains sections compiling known Territorial National Bank Notes, known uncut and reconstructed sheets of all types of large currency, known Double Denomination and inverted reverse notes, known autographed notes and known serial number 1 type notes. These privately kept censuses represent one of the first efforts to effectively document populations in areas where such research only became available to the remainder of the collecting fraternity years or even decades later.

Amazingly, Malcolm Trask, a family man with four children, pursued his collecting endeavors on his salary as a motorman on the IRT line of the New York City Transit Authority, where he was employed for 46 years. Upon his retirement in 1968, the Transit Authority estimated that he had transported 250 million passengers and traveled more than 2 million miles in the subways.

The Trask collection comprises almost 300 large notes, many of which are uncirculated, in denominations through the $20. Mr. Trask collected Type Notes by seal combination, and his collection is virtually complete. Unlike many other collectors of the day, he also collected serial number one Type Notes, with the collection housing no fewer than six of these items, two Legal Tenders, three Gold Certificates (none of which have appeared on the market since 1952) and one hitherto unreported $5 Federal Reserve Note which represents the only Blue Seal number 1 note of its type known to exist. His collection contains no fewer than five Triple Signature notes, a $20 Gold Certificate, two $10 Silver Certificates, and two $20 Silver Certificates, all of which are new discoveries which are unreported in any current census.

The Trask National Bank Notes are just as exciting as the Trask Type Notes. Highlights include a Series 1875 $1 from the German American National Bank of Washington, DC, which is only the second 1875 ace known from the District and has been off the market since Mr. Trask purchased it in 1956, a serial number 1 Red Seal from Albany, Oregon, purchased by Mr. Trask in 1955, and a gorgeous $5 Brown Back with a fancy title layout from Jackson, Mississippi, obtained by Mr. Trask in a group lot from a 1956 New Netherlands auction. The are many other serial number 1 Nationals, most of which can be pedigreed to the Limpert collection sale in 1955, as well as a small but very significant collection of Westchester County, New York notes (Mr. Trask long resided in Yonkers). Also included is a trio of National Gold Bank Notes, including the finest known $20 from the First National Gold Bank of Stockton, which has not been seen since its last offering in a Numismatic Gallery sale in 1952.

While lot space is limited, Heritage-CAA is still accepting consignments for its FUN auction, with a consignment deadline, November 25th. For information about consigning to this sale, contact Allen Mincho at (800) 872-6467, ext. 327 or via e-mail at Allen@HeritageCurrency.com or Len Glazer at (800) 872-6467, ext. 390, or via e-mail at Len@HeritageCurrency.com Information about the sale can also be obtained by contacting either of these individuals as well.

Heritage-Currency Auctions of America is headquartered at 3500 Maple Avenue 17th Floor, Dallas, Texas, 75219. The catalog will be available in early December.