The Act of 30 June 1864 launches the $ 500 notes with an interest of 10 cents per day through six removable semi-annual coupons, meaning the payment of an interest of 3.65% from the value of the notes every six months along three years. The note itself will be redeemed in bonds or any other means of payment decided by the government within twenty years after the expiration of the last coupon.
Investors were eager to change their notes to get their money back. The surviving specimens of Interest Bearing Notes from the time of the civil war are extremely rare, especially in the high denominations.
The very existence of a note of $ 500 following that act was questioned until a century later when one of them surfaced. It is dated August 15, 1864. Its coupons had been used but the bill itself has not been pin holed or cancelled.
Its condition is graded Very Fine 25 by PMG. It suffered some reworks, probably to remove small stains, and its ink is lightened at the place where the identification of the original bearer was washed. This piece unique of its kind is estimated in excess of $ 300K for sale by Stack's Bowers in Baltimore on November 5, lot 30256.
SOLD for $ 350K including premium