First National Bank
of Ceylon, Minnesota
Small Size - 1929 - Type 1 - US$10

US National small size US$10 bank Notes issued in 1929 by the First National Bank of Ceylon, Minnesota with Charter Number 6029. Uses the front and Back plates of the Federal Reserve Notes with just the change of Bank Name. .
Denomination : $10
English : Ten Dollars
State : Minnesota
City : Ceylon
Bank : First National
Charter : 6029
Seal Color : Brown
Size : 156x67 mm
Year of Issue : 1929
Bank Serials : 1 - 541
Plate Prefix : A-L
Printed Notes : 3246
Known Notes : 6 (T&P)
Status : Signed 4
HA/1929_CeylonMN_T1_10D_0321_f.jpg&HA/1929_CeylonMN_T1_10D_0434_f.jpg&LKA/1929_CeylonMN_T1_10D_0531_f.jpg
Click on image to see 3 more known notes >
Fr. 1801-1 $10 1929 T1 FNB

Front: Printed in Black Large Numeric 10 on top and smaller on bottom corners both left and right, TEN DOLLARS centered on bottom border.
Centered on Top border NATIONAL CURRENCY Below in small text SECURED BY UNITED STATES BONDS DEPOSITED WITH THE TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Engravings of Alexander Hamilton in center oval identified below in scroll as HAMILTON
SERIES OF 1929 to upper left and lower right.
US Treasury Signatures in upper:
left E. E. Jones Register of the Treasury (1929-01-22 to 1933-05-31)
and right Walter O. Woods of Kansas, Treasurer of the United States (1929-03-04 to 1933-05-31).
Labeled space at bottom for hand Signatures of Bank F. H. Koenecke (1914-32) Cashier on left and (235,321,434) G. W. Gruber (1920-31) or (531) H. H. Christensen (1932-32) President on right.
On left in 6 lines THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CEYLON MINNESOTA WILL PAY TO BEARER ON DEMAND TEN DOLLARS . On right in 3 lines text REDEEMABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY OF THE UNITED STATES AT UNITED STATES TREASURY OR AT BANK OF ISSUE. over Hugh TEN on brown Seal of the US Treasury.
Plate position A to L+ on upper left and lower right.
Bank Serial Number on lower left and upper right. Large Charter Number 6029 on left and Right vertical. Back: Printed in Green THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA centered on top in arc.
Large Numeric 10 with TEN overlayed in the four corners. TEN DOLLARS centered on bottom border.
Center engravings of an image of United States Treasury building in Washington DC identified below in rectangle as U.S. TREASURY

Based on signatures printed later, Serials 235,321,434 were issued between 1929-32 and Serial 531 in 1932. The Year on the 531 Note remained 1929 although a new President of Bank's signature was printed on the note in 1932.

Auctions

Year Date Type $ Grade By PQ Sold US$Serial P Auction Date Source LotImg
1929 1929T1 1020 110.00D000434AJ 1985/03/27 Hickman&Oaks 165
1929 1929T1 1020 880.00D000434AJ 1998/06/24 Christie's A. 45
1929 1929T1 1020 3,450.00D000434AJ 2012/03/12 Lyn Knight A. 2437 Y
1929 1929T1 1025 PMG 1,586.25C000235AC 2017/01/07 Heritage A. 20912 Y
1929 1929T1 1020 PMG 660.00A000321AG 2019/09/09 Heritage A. 21811 Y
1929 1929T1 1040 570.00F000531AL 2019/11/07 Lyn Knight A.60394 Y
1929 1929T1 1030 PMG EPQ 900.00D000434AJ 2020/01/08 Heritage A. 21294 Y
1929 1929T1 1025 PMG 720.00C000235AC 2023/11/14 Heritage A. 83210 Y

This First National Bank of Ceylon Minnesota 1929 $10 with serial C000235A had sold in a Heritage Auction in 2017 Jan 10th for US$1586. When it was listed again with No reserve on HA weekly Auction on 2023 Nov 14th I got interested. A total of only 20 banknotes of Ceylon MN are known of any date or denomination. Most are in Museums and only 10 of them have gone on public Auction. I had been collecting images for my webpage but they had been clearly out of my reach to buy.

Internet Bids ended at 6:30 AM in Sri Lanka and my last minute bid of US$460 was the highest. To get to Bid Live on Lot 210 took about 150 minutes or about 42 seconds on average per lot (85 lots per Hour). Watching the Live bids on those leading up to lot 210 did not prepare me to bid on Lot 210 where I was clearly pressured into bidding more than I expected to and won this Ceylon MN 1929 US$10 National Banknote for US$790 including 20% Buyers Premium, 6.625% SalesTax, and Service & Handling. I was glad I had kept a screen capture to remind me to be more on guard the next time.

Bidding on an AI Auction

The Heritage Auction online was conducted by an AI Auctioneer.
I am told this is now standard for the HA weekly Auction.
The HA automated AI Auctioneer was very smooth and predictable to watch. The Audio was clearly computer-generated. There was a fixed 5 seconds fair warning, 5 seconds after a bid, which reset whenever a new bid came in. On rare occasions, the AI Auctioneer even switched back and reopened a just-closed lot when a late bid live came in just after it closed. There was no video stream of a Live Auctioneer. All one saw were still images of five Auctioneers that kept changing in a cycle after every 10 lots. However, what I did not expect was the Audio and screen output in extra red text specific to me when I was bidding, urging me to bid to Win. One had hardly time to read this text which only created confusion as to which bids had come in, particularly as this was my first exposure to it. It was aimed at getting bids without realizing how much one was bidding.
Before using HA Bid Live I should have read their clear guide.

I sent this Feedback to Heritage Auctions
The Five Lines of Red in the "Real Time Auction Info" Panel is far too much for a bidder to read while bidding and just adds Confusion. Please shorten the loooong statement
Your $XXX Maximum has been
outbid by a bid of $YYY! You are
NOT Winning.
Click the Red Bid Button below
to Bid again
A short brief single line in Red like
Outbid by $YYY! Bid Again
is all that is needed as all the other information is already in that Panel. I hope HA make note of this feedback.

In 2024 bid US$600 and paid US$800 to get the same note which had sold by the same Auction House in 2017 for US$1600 including buyers premium. That collector probably got only about 30% of the investment back. Addicted collectors may keep buying, but will anyone invest in banknotes in this costly environment.

Click for References and other notes from Ceylon, MN, USA